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The Expat Chat

The Expat Chat is a podcast devoted to inspiring over 50's to take more affordable long term travel and lifestyle choices - be it for 3 months or 3 years. We interview intrepid adventurers taking their travaticals or 'travel sabbaticals' as a means of reinvigorating and reinventing their lives...often for a fraction of their cost of living back home. If you want the travels of Rick Stearn with the freedom of Tim Ferriss this podcast is for you.Subscribe today.
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Now displaying: May, 2018
May 9, 2018

It seems in this day and age most of the world has been explored. Trying to find a destination which isn’t crowded with tourists and cameras is an increasingly difficult job. Today’s interviewee however has found the perfect place to live where few people will bother him.

For most people the idea of a job for life would seem like perfect security. For Christian Bruttel life in the German education system as a teacher was enjoyable but he felt trapped, as if his life was already played out. When the opportunity to become a guide on the remote island of Svalbard came up he leapt at the chance to follow his dream.

Four years on he’s mastered everything from chasing off polar bears to building igloos and he has the photos and memories to prove it.

Christian joined us to discuss one of the most unique jobs in the world, why Svalbard is a place of such great beauty and how living in this unique location has changed his perspective on life.

You can check out Christians stunning photos and even purchase prints at his blog http://polarchris.blogspot.com/

 

What I learned from Christian’s interview:

  1. I have to admit to having no idea about Svalbard (or Spitzbergen as it’s also known ) before I spoke with Christian but the picture he paints of some of the truly unique experiences there now makes me want to go. Where else can you find a place that gives you polar bears, whales, icebergs, igloos and the Northern Lights in a ready-made package? It sounds reasonably affordable to get to despite the limited opportunities for flights.
  2. Thanks to melting ice Christian does have the excitement of seeing things that may never have been seen by human eyes before but the melting is a reminder that our planet is susceptible to change and we must do all we can to protect areas like Svalbard for the sake of all of the planet.
  3. Remember Christian had no experience of this and have never been into the Arctic but he has developed a skill and a passion over the last 4 years. There are lessons for all of us in the journey he has made.
May 6, 2018

Heading: How to Downsize for the Big Trip Ahead

One of the biggest and most emotional stages of preparing for an expat life is downsizing and leaving your current home. It’s a process fraught with emotion and the job of determining what passes the test of fitting in your suitcase or backpack for the travels ahead is daunting for most people.

Today we speak to personal organizer Donna Donaldson about the process of preparing for your big move abroad. Donna has years of experience on helping people to downsize and declutter their homes and gives us a few great pointers on how to go about it without it turning into arguments, the tricks she uses to determine what stays and why you should think twice about putting things into storage

For more great advice from Donna check out her free decluttering report at http://declutterandorganizeit.com or for personal assistance her website http://organizeit.com.au

What I learned from Donna’s interview:

  1. Remind yourself what you are doing it for. If you focus on the big picture (the trip) each time you are looking at an item and deciding if it stays or not it will make it easier.
  2. Don’t buy anything new. Resist the urge to keep adding stuff during the purge process. Tell friends and family you are traveling and you don’t need more clutter for birthdays or Christmas, and definitely don’t take the junk they are clearing out!
  3. Get a good system for paperwork. Only deal with it once and stop all junk mail. Scan important documents you need such as tax records as even in storage they are vulnerable to damage.
  4. Purge in waves. It is less intimidating and as you get better at it you will find it easier to keep eliminating more and more at every step.
  5. If you do have new stuff coming in make sure you remove one item at the same time – better still be tough and insist that several items must leave for every new arrival.
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