My Story: My Journey to Moving Abroad

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Have you ever thought about moving abroad?

I did for nearly 8 years until I finally made it a reality! I wanted to share my story of how I was able to get here because often times people see the end result, but forget the long journey to get there. Here is my journey from studying abroad to MOVING abroad over 5,000 miles away from my hometown in Texas all while having a normal 9-5 job!

2015: Studied abroad in Strasbourg, France

During my college years, I had the opportunity to study abroad for the summer in Strasbourg, France in addition to taking international business courses and obtaining an international business certificate at my college’s business school. The thought of living and working abroad had been a goal and dream from early days in college and only ever grew over the years.

2016: Graduated college with honors, majoring in Finance

As a numbers gal at heart, I majored in Finance in college where I graduated with honors and the International Business Certificate. While part of me wanted to take a gap year, I did the “responsible” thing and enjoyed about 2 months before starting my first Corporate America job as a management consultant.

2017: Started working in consulting [for nearly 6 years] traveling weekly at times and always maximizing my vacation days!

Then, I worked in management consulting for nearly six years where I worked a mix of long hours and had the opportunity to travel nearly every week for 2+ years. I heavily pursued personal travels in addition to my work travels by taking countless weekend trips going to see friends and family instead of going home, always maximizing my PTO days, weekends, and holidays, any training that required travel, you name it. I was addicted and even had the opportunity to travel internationally for work to Malaysia, where I then took a trip to Thailand since it was the longest work commute I had ever made!

2019: I gave up apartment life since I was rarely home

Since I was on the road so much, I ended up giving up apartment life when my lease ran out in September 2019. This was BEFORE the pandemic and everyone thought I was a bit crazy [before it was normalized shortly after in 2020 to embrace the corporate nomad lifestyle. I had several more months on my current client that I travel every week for and a big trip to Australia and New Zealand at the end of the year. Here is when I got hooked on working remotely and traveling without a large monthly rent payment, allowing me to have more budget to spend on travel and long-term stays.

2020: The world changed and I began working remotely. I started a 3-month work remote trip which turned into nearly 2 years on the road!

Everyone knows what happened in 2020 and for me, that meant no more work traveling and living at home with my parents for a few months. As much as I love family time and being home, I was desperately itching to get back on the road! So I decided to embark on what I thought would be a three-month trip to Colorado, Utah, and 1-2 other states. As the world remained closed longer than expected, my job stayed remote which allowed me to stay on the road for longer. This led to TWO YEARS of working remotely and slowly traveling around the western half of the United States. To be safe, I focused my route on outdoor activities to national parks, skiing locations, and to safely visit friends and family with plenty of covid tests along the way.

2021: I learned to ski during the pandemic

What better time to learn to ski as an adult than the pandemic? This allowed me to stay in Utah for not only one but two full ski seasons! I took several lessons and made a few great friends while I was there as well!

2022 [April]: I had to go back to Texas, my home state, to update a few items for the car to stay on the road legally!

As my second ski season came to an end, so was my car registration. This meant the long journey back to Texas to update my registration to allow me to legally be on the road had come. This also meant a very long solo drive back in some of the most boring and empty stretches of land… during this time, I also began applying for jobs internationally as the world was slowly starting to open back up!

2022 [July]: I signed my offer to move abroad to the Netherlands

Long story short, the interviews went well and I was able to sign my offer to move abroad!! Eekk!

2022 [October]: I landed in the Netherlands [for the first time ever!] and all by myself!

It took a few months for visa approvals and other documents to be signed, then before I knew it was on a flight to a country I had never even stepped foot in before!! It was a huge risk – a new country, a new city, a new job, new everything. Oh, and I moved all by myself.

2022 [December]: I returned to Strasbourg, France for its iconic Christmas Markets!

Ever since my study abroad in Strasbourg, France also known as the capital of Christmas, I knew I had to one day return for their Christmas markets! This was a HUGE full circle moment 7 years later now visiting just a train ride away while LIVING in Europe.

2023: Present Day!

Nearly 10 months into the biggest adventure yet, I have truly fallen in love with this adorable tiny country in the EU. It has begun to fill like home, I’ve thankfully made some incredible friends, I’m constantly humbled by learning Dutch every day, I’ve had some entertaining dating stories, and I can really see myself staying here for the long term and it becoming my home.

With wanderlust,

Haley