Blogs by and about expats are a great place to find information, ideas, tips, and get a general feel for what it might be like to live elsewhere. Here are a dozen interesting expat blogs I’ve found recently.

Europe

Expat in Germany provides information about living in Germany (and a little bit about Canada). The author is a Canadian serial expat who’s also lived in Thailand, S. Korea and the US.

Not From Around Here, subtitled “Stranger in a Strange Land” is all about the adventures of a US transplant to the UK.

Emtpy Nest Expat is an American who seized the moment (kids grown, no grandkids yet) to lace up her traveling shoes. She’s lived in the Czech Republic and is currently in Istanbul, Turkey.

Adventures in Expat Land is the blog of an American writer living in the Netherlands, where her husband works with an international organization.

Latin America

Monday or Something is not an expat blog, per se, but an interesting account of what it’s like to live in a place for one month, then move on. So far the author’s published from several locations in Panama, Nicaragua, Belize and Honduras.

The Mexile looks at Mexico and the UK from a British point of view. Back in England now, he lived in Mexico for five years and loved it.

An Expat Life in Nicaragua, an American in San Juan del Sur for the past four years.

Rewired and Retired in Nicaragua, another couple who moved from the US to Nicaragua, in this case a tiny island. They’ve been happy there for seven years.

North America

With more than a dollop of the dry wit and self-deprecation the British are famous for, Culturally Discombobulated looks at the Big Apple. His take on Pop Tarts and hurricanes is hilarious. . .

Expatlogue chronicles the adventures of a British family newly arrived in Ontario, Canada.

Asia / Pacific Rim

Expatria, Baby is a tongue-in-cheek look at living in Japan with a small child. The author is Canadian, her husband is Swiss, and they’ve been in Japan for about four years.

In Search of a Life Less Ordinary follows a Brit married to an Australian who lived in Canada for a while and are now located in Sydney.

As future expats trying to decide where to live, we have to balance all sorts of important issues: quality of life, health care, affordability, weather and climate seem to top everyone’s lists. The Economist recently ranked cities worldwide for Quality of Life.

1. Vancouver, BC, Canada
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
6. Helsinki, Finland
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Perth, Australia
9. Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand

Here’s their explanation for what went into a top rank:

“Cities that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. This often fosters a broad range of recreational availability without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure. Seven of the top ten scoring cities are in Australia and Canada, where population densities of 2.88 and 3.40 people per sq km respectively compare with a global (land) average of 45.65 and a US average of 32.”

The City of New York is in 56th place, mostly due to perceived threats of terrorism and the amount of crime.

Unfortunately, the best city to live in might not be the best to do business in. . .

For Business, Check a Different List

If you’re planning to support yourself abroad by starting a business, though, you might want to take a look at another list, released in May.

The World’s 26 Best Cities for Business, Life and Innovation takes a very different tack.

1. New York, New York, US — best in “cultural vibrancy,” entrepreneurial environment and international tourists, but bad commute times characterize the #1 city on the list. (No mention here of terrorism or crime. . .)
2. Toronto, Canada — Quality of living, clean air and lots of leisure activities as well as an excellent entrepreneurial environment, but cost of public transportation is high
3. San Francisco, California, US — Best educated population, lots of leisure activities and life satisfaction, and a terrific entrepreneurial environment put San Francisco on the list despite it’s lack of foreign capital investment
4. Stockholm, Sweden — For a small city (under 1 million), Stockholm is very impressive. It’s #1 in “clean air, digital economy activity, entrepreneurial environment, green space, intellectual property protection, Internet access, R&D spending, political stability, and traffic congestion, #2 in broadband quality, business trip index, libraries with public access, life satisfaction, literacy.” On the downside? It’s last in “skyline impact” and taxes are high
5. Sydney, Australia — near the top in nearly all categories, multiple surveys say it’s the best place to start a business. It also has the highest-cost public transportation
6. London, England — has a lot going for it, including the best end-of-life care, financial and business employment and attracting foreign investment, but hampered by high real estate costs, commute times and an older workforce
7. Chicago, Illinois, US — Lifestyle satisfaction, a good digital economy and entrepreneurial activity, but not much foreign capital investment or tourism
8. Paris, France — Tops in protecting intellectual property, a highly educated population, good public transportation and lots to do, but not an easy place to do business and high taxes
9. Singapore — Low crime, low traffic congestion, easy hiring are all good, but Singapore comes in last in renewable energy
10. Hong Kong, China –low inflation, low crime rates and easy hiring are attractive to business investors, but it also has the most expensive business space and not enough hospital beds
11. Houston, Texas, US — low cost to own business space, low commute times and low cost of living in general are good for Houston, but it ranks last in investing to create foreign jobs and international tourism
12. Los Angeles, California, US — rated #2 in “entrepreneurial energy,” LA has a big digital economy and plenty of leisure time activities, but it’s at high risk for natural disaster and is poor in transportation and infrastructure
13. Berlin, Germany — low traffic congestion, best commute times and low carbon footprint make it easier to do business in Berlin, but the average age of workers is high
14. Tokyo, Japan — Good healthcare, plenty of Fortune 500 company headquarters and lots of research and development in Tokyo, but it’s got the highest cost of living and is the most susceptible to natural disasters
15. Madrid, Spain — The city’s infrastructure is good, but unemployment is high and the city does poorly when it comes to starting a business and ease of hiring
16. Seoul, S. Korea — Math and science are king in Seoul and it’s got the best broadband quality, but it also has the weakest currency
17. Beijing, China — It’s an easy place to visit, with loads of hotel rooms and good airport access and public transportation, but it’s at the bottom in terms of carbon footprint and traffic congestion
18. Abu Dhabi, UAE — lowest crime rate, and an easy place to hire, low air pollution and commute times and good access to hospitals are big pluses, but has the worst carbon footprint of any city on the list
19. Shanghai, China — best at attracting outside capital and creating jobs, but poor literacy rates and difficulty getting visas bring down its ranking
20. Mexico City, Mexico — tops the list for cost of living and skyscraper construction but has the worst air pollution and poor purchasing power
21. Moscow, Russia — the city has a lot of green space, a well educated population and has the lowest risk of natural disaster, but that’s more than offset by the climate, uncertain political environment which adds to business risk, and lack of protection for intellectual property
22. Santiago, Chile — cost of living, tax rate and commute times are excellent, but the city doesn’t have much green space, its hospitals are overtaxed and international flights are inadeqaute
23. Istanbul, Turkey — lower air pollution, more skyscraper construction than most other cities, but inflation and quality of life are not so good
24. Sao Paulo, Brazil — great carbon footprint, comfortable climate, not so great crime rate, tax rate and infrastructure
25. Johannesburg, South Africa — did well in terms of cost, but not so much for health care, crime, and broadband quality
26. Mumbai, India — best of the bunch in terms of renewable energy use, but hurt by inflation and low wages

photo by iwona_kelly on flickr

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A few days ago, I posted the results of International Living’s 2010 Annual Retirement Index. Topping this prestigious list are

1. Ecuador
2. Panama
3. Mexico
4. France
5. Italy

Today I’m looking at a very different list: this one includes the 10 Most Suitable Countries for American Expatriates.



According to the website Expatify.com, they considered these important criteria:

• How receptive is the local culture to Americans?

• How popular is the country for American expats already?
• Can you manage speaking only English?
• Is there overlap between local and American customs?
• Ease of finding jobs and affodability?

If you truly want to immerse yourself in a very different culture, this is not the list of countries you should consider. But if you want to go someplace where you can fit in fairly easily, consider the following countries:

1. Argentina

2. Thailand
3. Czech Republic
4. Australia
5. Italy
6. Brazil
7. Spain
8. Mexico
9. South Africa
10. Costa Rica

Every year, Mercer conducts a Quality of Living survey. Results for 2010 were announced a couple of days ago.

Vienna, Austria, keeps its #1 spot for another year. Top 10 cities worldwide for quality of living are:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Vancouver, Canada
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Munich, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Sydney, Australia

The first US city on the list is Honolulu, at #31. Singapore, at #28, tops the list for Asia. Central and South America and Africa are no shows, at least among the top 50 choices.



Mercer’s results show Paris, France at #34, a far cry from France’s high rankings on most quality of life indices.

Mercer bases their rankings on “detailed assessments and evaluations of 10 key categories and 39 criteria or factors” including:

• Political and social environment
• Medical and health considerations
• Public services and transport
• Consumer goods
• Economic environment
• Schools and education
• Recreation
• Housing
• Socio-cultural environment
• Natural environment

Mercer’s goal is to help companies and governments figure out how much to pay their international employees — so they really don’t evaluate the 221 cities on their list in the same way you or I would when choosing a place to live.

You can read more about their methodology here.

This year, Mercer also provided an Eco-Ranking for the first time, rating cities on such environmental concerns as water availability, water potability, waste removal, sewage, air pollution and traffic congestion.

Top 10 Green Cities include:

1. Calgary, Canada
2. Honolulu, US
3. Ottawa, Canada
4. Helsinki, Finland
5. Wellington, New Zealand
6. Minneapolis, US
7. Adelaide, Australia
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Kobe Japan and Oslo, Norway (tied)

Singapore again topped the list of Asian cities, coming in at #22. Africa was represented by Capetown, South Africa, #30. South America almost made the list, with Point-A-Pitre, Guadaloupe (one of the Windward Islands in the eastern Caribbean) coming in at #49.

While these lists provide some interesting comparisons and information, don’t take them as gospel in deciding where you might like to live as an expat.

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A couple of days ago, Limbaugh, self-proclaimed leader of the far right, told an on-air caller he will leave the country if health reform passes. Read the article

Limbaugh said he would go to Costa Rica. The only problem with that plan? Costa Rica has universal health care.

According to International Living:

“Costa Rica has universal health care, one of the best health systems in Latin America.

“Statistics from the World Health Organization frequently place Costa Rica in the top country rankings in the world for long life expectancy, often even ahead of Great Britain and the United States, even though the per-capita income of Costa Ricans is about one-tenth that of the U.S. and the U.K.”

Never known for his consistency, Limbaugh is now denying he would move there. Instead, according to the Huffington Post:

“I said, ‘Look, there are insurance companies who don’t want to be put out of business.’ … They are establishing health care clinics with quality doctors in places like Costa Rica. They’re going to continue to sell policies to people who have the ability to fly down there and get treatment. If I have to get thrown into this massive government health care insurance business and end up going to the driver’s license office every day when I need to go to the doctor, yeah, I’ll go to Costa Rica for treatment, not move there.”

I guess Limbaugh has totally missed the point that the only so-called reform bills in play right now would provide a massive giveaway to the insurance companies and make the Wall Street bailout look like a kid’s birthday party by comparison.

In any case, it made me wonder where Limbaugh might go if he really did decide to leave.

Socialist Europe? Not a chance. Let’s take a look at what Rush might find in English-speaking countries outside the US, since I’m sure the guy who bleeds red-white-and-blue wouldn’t want to live among those who wouldn’t understand his harangues.

1. Canada. With their single-payer, government sponsored health care, that would be a “no”.

2. Great Britain. National Health Service. No go.
3. South Africa has a combination system, which includes both public and private plans.
   

   “South Africa’s health system consists of a large public sector and a smaller but fast-growing private sector. Health care varies from the most basic primary health care, offered free by the state, to highly specialised hi-tech health services available in the private sector for those who can afford it.”

4. Australia. According to a government website:
   

   “The Australian Government funds universal medical services and pharmaceuticals and gives financial assistance to public hospitals, residential aged care facilities and home and community care for the aged. It is also the major source of funds for health research and provides support for training health professionals and financial assistance to tertiary students.

   State and territory governments provide a variety of direct health services, including most acute and psychiatric hospital services. State and territory governments also provide community and public health services, including school health, dental health, maternal and child health, occupational health, disease control activities and a variety of health inspection functions.”

5. New Zealand’s medical care is also public.
   

   “New Zealand’s healthcare system is funded mainly through general taxation. Treatments are usually free or subsidised. Medical treatment is generally very good. Private healthcare is also available.”

6. India might be a possibility. Their system is mostly private, and medical tourism is big business there. On the other hand, to live there Limbaugh would have to put up with an enormous non-white population.
7. African countries where English is the official language – Kenya, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to name just a few. No way would our boy Rush live amongst Africans. Unless he could be king, maybe.
8. Island Caribbean nations. There are a few Caribbean islands where English is spoken. But in Saint Lucia, for example, the public expenditure for health care is twice the private expenditure. In Jamaica, health care is free to all citizens and legal residents. Oops. Barbados has government-run clinics, in addition to the public hospital.

Face it, Rush, the civilized world provides health care for its citizens. You want to help your buddies in the insurance business? Support the current bills and they’ll love you forever. This Congress doesn’t have the spine to provide health care.

For the rest of us? There are lots of great places in the world to live where health care is available and affordable. And where we don’t have to put up with Limbaugh’s shenanigans.

As someone who plans to move to another country so I can afford health care, Limbaugh’s “support the poor insurance companies” position nauseates me. How about you? Let us know what you think by clicking the comment button below.

International Living’s annual Quality of Life Index. Every year, IL produces a Quality of Life index, which usually differs quite a bit from their recommendations on best places to retire. France has topped the list for several years running.

1. France (was #1 last year as well)
2. Australia (moved up from #5 in 2009)
3. Switzerland (down one spot)
4. Germany (up from the #8 spot in 2009)
5. New Zealand (up from #9)
6. Luxembourg (down from #4)
7. USA (down from #3)
8. Belgium (down from #6)
9. Canada (a big jump up, from #19)
10. Italy (down from #7)

Top Ten Retirement Havens from Live and Invest Overseas

1. Argentina
2. Belize
3. Chile
4. Croatia
5. Dominican Republic
6. France
7. Malaysia
8. Panama
9. Uruguay
10. Vietnam

Mercer’s Best Cities for 2009:

1. Vienna, Austria (1st)
2. Zurich, Switzerland (2nd)
3. Geneva, Switzerland (3rd )
4. Vancouver, Canada (tied 4th)
5. Auckland, New Zealand (tied 4th)

Forbes list of The World’s Most Expensive Cities to Live. According to Forbes, the 10 most expensive cities are:

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Hong Kong, China
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. New York, USA
9. Beijing, China
10. Singapore

2009 Best Retirement Havens, according to International Living:

1. Cuenca, Ecuador
2. Merida, Mexico
3. Coronado, Panama
4. Punta del Este, Uruguay
5. Calitri, Italy

So there you have it. Some highly respected lists from 2009, and one for 2010.

Best wishes for a happy expat New Year!

According to Forbes.com, Bahrain scored the top spot in HSBC’s recent survey of 3,100 expats. They admit this might be a fluke — only 31 responses came in from Bahrain, compared to 450 from the UK, for example. But it’s an interesting list, nonetheless. Canada moved down from its No. 1 spot last year to No. 2, followed by Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, and in the No. 10 spot, the US.

Read the article here, and see the scored list of countries here.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute is multi-layered expat novel, which was made into a TV mini-series in 1981. It has been one of my favorites for a long time, not only because of the expat themes, but because it also features a strong female protagonist who overcomes some truly daunting obstacles. Author Nevil Shute is interesting in his own right. A prolific author, with over 20 novels to his credit, Nevil Shute Norway was by profession an aeronautic engineer and pilot. Shute became an expat himself. He was born in 1916 in London, and emigrated with his wife and daughters to Australia in 1950 following World War II. His books strongly reflect his love of airplanes and flying, and his adopted country. He died in Melbourne, Australia in 1960.

London, After World War II

The book is divided into three distinct sections: London just after World War II, Malaya during the War, and subsequently in Malaya and Australia. When we first meet her, Jean Padgett is a young woman, living by herself in London after the end of World War II. She receives a letter from solicitor Noel Strachan who informs her that her uncle Douglas Macfadden has died, and that if she can prove she is his niece she may be entitled to part of his estate. Jean meets with Mr. Strachan and discovers that Mr. Macfadden, whom she barely remembers, was reasonably well off and has left her his entire fortune. However, being a confirmed bachelor and not trusting a woman’s ability to handle her own financial affairs, Jean’s legacy is to be held in trust for her by Mr. Strachan and his partner until she reaches the age of 35.

During the War

Jean shares her history with Mr. Strachan over the next several months. He learns that she lived as a young child in Malaya (modern-day Malaysia), where her father worked in the rubber industry. Jean and her brother Donald learned to speak Malay, and their mother encouraged them to continue using the language even after they went to England to attend school. After finishing school, Donald got a job in Malaya, and Jean went to live there as well in 1939, working as a shorthand typist. War had broken out, but the family felt Jean would be safer in Malaya than in England.

However, Malaya was taken over by the Japanese. Jean’s evacuation to Singapore was slowed down when she detoured to help a family with three young children, and she was captured by the Japanese along with others who had not made it out in time. The men and older boys were removed to a prisoner of war camp, but there were no accommodations for female prisoners or children. Instead, the Japanese Captain ordered them to march, under guard, to Kuala Lumpur, from whence they would be transported to new prison camps being built in Singapore.

There was no prison camp for women, in Singapore or anywhere else, and the group was marched from one end of Malaya to the other. After months of forced marches, near starvation and lack of medical attention, and during which two-thirds of the original number died, they found a safe haven in a small village. Their Japanese guard had fallen ill and died, and Jean persuaded the headman of the village to let them stay and help with the rice planting in exchange for food and shelter. They stayed there for three years, until the war ended.

At one point during their travels, the women and children had come across several Australian prisoners who were driving trucks for the Japanese. The men felt sorry for the women, and obtained some food and medicine for them. One of the men also stole several chickens for the women, and when the theft was discovered, he was punished so severely that he died while the women were forced to watch.

After the war, Jean returned to England, went to work for Pack & Levy, a firm that made high-end shoes and handbags, and tried to forget her war experiences. Her brother Donald had died while a prisoner of the Japanese, and their mother had also died.

After the Legacy

Jean leaves her job and goes to Malaya to dig a well as a way of thanking the village that sheltered her during the final three years of the war. While chatting with the well diggers, Jean discovers that Joe Harman, the Australian prisoner who had stolen the chickens for them, had survived his ordeal and recovered after months in the hospital. She decides to travel on to Australia to see for herself how he is doing.

Jean and Joe are reunited, after a few twists and turns, and fall in love. Jean never does return to England but marries Joe. After learning how girls from the small Outback town near the cattle ranch that Joe manages leave home and move to cities thousands of miles away because there is no work for them, Jean starts a business employing a few young women to make fancy alligator shoes and handbags like those she became familiar with while living and working for Pack & Levy in London. This starts a snowball effect: instead of leaving for the cities, the girls who work for Jean stay in town, get married, and start families. They leave their jobs, and more girls come to work for Jean, which attracts more stockriders and other male workers to the town. Jean opens up an ice cream shop to give them someplace to spend their money. The shop employs a few more girls, attracting more men to the area, and giving Jean ideas for more businesses. The town is gradually transformed from a dusty Outback hole to a vibrant little community, with plenty of entertainment for the young families. The initial source of all this growth is Jean’s inheritance, doled out to her in small pieces by Mr. Strachan according to the terms of his trusteeship. Ironically, the Macfadden family money was earned by a grandfather, who worked in one of the “gold towns” of the Australian outback, towns which had boomed during the country’s gold rush, and then gone bust.

Postscript

Fascinating to me is the fact that the middle portion of the story is based on a true circumstance, and the author explains in a note at the end that he expects to be “accused of falsifying history.” In fact, he states, the forced march of the women happened in Sumatra in 1942, not in Malaya. According to Shute:

“A party of about eighty dutch women and children were collected in the vicinity of Padang. The local Japanese commander was reluctant to assume responsibility for thse women and, to solve his problem, marched them out of his area; so began a trek all round Sumatra which lasted for two and a half years. At the end of this vast journey less than thirty of them were still alive.”

“In 1949 I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Geysel-Vonck … Mrs. Geysel had been a member of that party. … In the years that followed Mrs. Geysel marched over twelve hundred miles carrying her baby, in circumstances similar to those which I have described. She emerged from this fantastic ordea undaunted, and with her son fit and well.

“I do not think that I have ever before turned to real life for an incident in one of my novels. If I have done so now it is because I have been unable to rsist the appeal of this true story, and because I want to pay what tribute is within my power to the most gallant lady I have ever met.”

Vienna State Opera

Forbes Magazine has published a list of the top 20 cities in the world to live in. Europe took the most honors, with three of little Switzerland’s cities (Zurich, Geneva and Bern) in the Top 20 and Vienna, Austria at the top of the list. There were two from Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) and two from New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington). Canada was represented by three provincial capitals, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. The USA, Central and South America, Asia and Africa were conspicuous by their absense. Read the whole article.

The study was conducted by Mercer, and you can read their version here.