I Left America 20 Years Ago. Here's What I Wish I'd Known.
It was 2004. I was standing in a rainy square in Amsterdam, with two suitcases, a phrasebook I could barely use, and a feeling that was equal parts terror and exhilaration. I had just walked away from a "good" job in corporate America, convinced there had to be more to life than 9-to-5s and a two-week vacation.
I thought I had prepared. I'd saved money. I'd researched visas. What I hadn't prepared for was the loneliness of navigating a foreign bureaucracy, the challenge of making real friends, or the sting of feeling like a perpetual outsider.
Over the last two decades, I've built a life—and multiple businesses—across three different countries. I've made the mistakes so you don't have to. I learned how to find housing without getting scammed, how to understand the local tax system without hiring a thousand-dollar lawyer, and how to build a community that feels like home.
It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. And now, I want to share the roadmap.