‘Expat Truth Will Out as the Money Dries Up’ Apparently!

The comments made by readers in relation to a recent article in the international version of the Telegraph shocked me this week.  The article was written by an expat living in Spain who was recalling the deterioration of life within an expatriate dominated community following a particularly appalling crime perpetrated over 5 years ago.

The comments that followed publication of the article online came from people from all walks of life with very differing opinions of course – and that’s one of the wonderful advantages of opening up your articles to comments from the public!  But what struck me was how there was an undertone in many comments from those particularly in the UK of quiet satisfaction bordering on glee that the expat ‘truth’ is apparently finally coming out now that the money is drying up abroad.  The ‘truth’ being that it’s not perfect abroad…

It was as if those who had read the article had failed to understand any point it raised or made, but instead focused on the fact that bad things can happen abroad, so therefore the idea that moving abroad can bring about positive changes must be a myth.  This led me to thinking, do people really believe that expats have been lured abroad by lies, and forced into saying it’s all wonderful and so much better than Britain, but that now because many expats are being forced home because of the weak pound and weak economies internationally they are allowed to voice the ‘truth’ that it’s actually not all that amazing abroad after all?

Perhaps the problem actually lies in the fact that we Britons as a race seem to loath other people’s success; we feel sick when we hear of others who are having a perhaps better life than us.  We are a disgustingly jealous nation on the whole, and one that cannot genuinely, openly and without any malice or envy be happy for others when they achieve anything positive in life.  Therefore, why am I even surprised that there are those in the UK who apparently ‘hate’ expats who have moved abroad and actively gone in search of a better life? 

Why am I surprised that Brits would rub their hands together in glee when an expat repatriates and say to them - ‘I told you so’ - when they learn that living abroad was not necessarily a case of the streets being paved with gold?

And yet, I am surprised. 

At Shelter Offshore we try and show how amazing it can be to live abroad and integrate into a new community, immerse oneself in a new culture, learn a foreign language and embrace international opportunities – but there we are seemingly flaunting something that others can then envy it seems? 

How bizarre! 

Whilst we promote the obvious advantages to living, working, travelling or buying property abroad, we also point out the realities, the potential pitfalls or negativities – and as a bottom line we attempt to impress upon all readers that there is nowhere perfect on this planet, and that we all just have to find somewhere that we’re happy to call home.  So why can’t those who choose to remain onshore living in the UK accept that those who move abroad just want to take a different path in life?  Why do they have to somehow assume that by moving abroad they’re implying that they’re ‘better’ than those who remain?  Because it is only someone who has this attitude that could believe that those who leave are doing so to snub them personally – and it is only someone who has this attitude that could then assume that ‘the truth will out’ now that more expats are being forced to repatriate because of money matters than ever before!

Nowhere in the world has escaped the economic decline that the UK is suffering from – therefore jobs have been lost and livelihoods and lifestyles negatively impacted all over the world.  Expats as well as locals have been affected – but some expats who have also been further impacted by the weakened pound or who have ties in the UK that they can return to have come ‘home.’  Some will come back and say living abroad was not right for them, others (the majority) will just settle back in to life in the UK and either remain or pack their bags and go again when they can afford to, or when the time is right. 

It’s not a case of life abroad being ‘rubbish’ and that the only thing keeping some people overseas was money – it’s a case that everywhere in the world has its own problems, everywhere in the world has its own advantages, and we as citizens that herald from a democratic nation are fortunate enough to be able to choose where we live and work in the world full stop. 

So no, the so-called ‘expat truth’ is not coming out now that the money has dried up for some expats who are having to repatriate, it’s more a case that globalisation has given us all a greater opportunity to explore the world with ease, and it has also caused the situation where global economies are inextricably linked to the point at which expats and locals all over the world have suffered fiscally speaking from the global economic meltdown!

To the embittered Britons who read articles about those living abroad and feel unhappy – don’t slate them and their lifestyle, don’t revel in any stories of hardship and seethe when you hear positive and successful expat accounts.  Look within yourself – if you would be happier living abroad then move.  If you’re ‘happiest’ living in the UK then just accept that fact as being your personal truth.  No one can say whether it’s right or wrong when it is right for you – just as no one can say whether it is right or wrong for an expatriate to live in Spain, Cyprus, Argentina or Australia if it is right for that individual…