Reasons to Travel

20 Reasons You Should Live Abroad at Least Once in Your Lifetime

Amsterdam sunset
Photo by Werner Kunz

1. You want to become more self-confident.

2. You want to know with full certainty that you can rely on yourself to problem solve and manage difficult situations on your own.

3. You want to foster your creative side (and become more creative in the process!).

4. You crave novelty and variety.

5. You want to feel/become more independent.

6. You long for some excitement and adventure.

7. You want to see and experience the world for yourself (rather than relying on what you see in movies and in the news).

8. You want to get to know people from a culture that’s vastly different from your own.

9. You want to challenge yourself.

10. You want to escape your normal life for a while (put some distance between yourself and  a painful circumstance).

11. You want to get a sense of history and your place in it.

12. You want to get in touch with your cultural roots.

13. You feel as though you don’t belong in your own culture and want to see if perhaps another country or culture might be a better match.

14. You crave freedom from the ordinary.

15. You’d like to gain a fresh perspective on your home culture.

16. You wish to understand how much of an influence your own culture has had on your beliefs and attitudes.

17. You wish to understand yourself better (what makes you happy, your life’s purpose).

18. You want to see yourself and the world in a new light.

19. You want to feel unique or different. (Maybe this isn’t the best reason to move abroad, but all of us would likely be lying if we said it wasn’t nice to feel special – and being a stranger in a strange land can definitely do that).

20. You’d like to make friends with people from around the world and develop friendships that will last a lifetime.

Got any to add?

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Reannon Muth
Reannon Muth is a full-time writer, social media consultant and owner and manager of the Taken by the Wind travel blog. Born in Hawaii, Reannon has lived in five countries, at Disney World and on a cruise ship. She currently lives in fabulous Las Vegas.