My Top Tips for Expats Living in Europe

Who among us hasn’t dreamed for a holiday to never come to an end?

I know I am guilty, and in fact, I will freely admit that this precise thought is pretty much the very first thing that goes through my mind after checking into a hotel at the start of a trip. Yes, the pull to make a holiday permanent is a strong one, and for many of us, it’s somewhere in the heart a romantic European city where that thought evolves into us pondering something along the lines of:

‘I wonder what it would be like to live here?’  

I can speak from personal experience as all it took was one extended visit for me to start thinking about how to move to Amsterdam. I had a fantastic two years living amongst the canals and the windmills of Holland, but I did learn that being an expat in Europe is not well-and-truly like being on one big long holiday. There are plenty of logistical and cultural hurdles to hop over before you feel fully comfortable in your new home, and the following are just a few of the tips for expats living in Europe that I have come up with based on my experience.

I hope they can help make your expat experience just a little bit more enjoyable.  

Set Up a Soft Landing

So you’ve decided you are going to move to Europe? Great! Where are you going to live? Finding a home in your new European city will undoubtedly be priority number one, and despite the prevalence of the internet which allows apartments, neighbourhood, and cities to be extensively researched ahead of time, you still have to be there in person to truly evaluate a new home.

So I recommend booking a short-term apartment for at least one month after you arrive, because it will give you a soft landing and allow you to not be under tremendous pressure to find a place to live. We booked an apartment on Airbnb, but in our infinite wisdom, we only rented it for a week. A week was nowhere near enough time to find an apartment in Amsterdam and, in what seemed like no time at all, we were scanning the internet and scrambling for another temporary place to move our stuff. This will  free you up to do things like set up utility accounts, shop for furniture, and get an early start on figuring out ways to travel more throughout Europe once you get settled – and we’ll get to more about that last one in a minute.

Diversify Your Networking

You may have visions of sitting at sidewalk cafes striking up conversations with friendly locals that blossom into lifelong friendships. Or you may have visions of meeting tons of other expats like yourself and going out with them to explore your new European home together. Those things could happen, or more likely, making new friends will be a little trickier than you expect, as it’s just a fact of life that friendships don’t develop as easily when you are out in the real world as compared to back in your school days.

You will need to put in a little effort to find connections, but when you do, make sure to try to meet a mix of both locals and expats. Websites like Meetup are fantastic for meeting other expats, but not necessarily for mingling with locals – and their insider’s perspective of your new city is invaluable. My tip is to find a one- or two-day-a-week part-time job, as it can do wonders for meeting locals. Most of the people we met in Amsterdam came from our two part time jobs, and I am happy to say that we still stay in touch with them to this day. But where to find such a job? Well, the sites you are used to using at home shouldn’t be relied on, as nearly every country has their own national version of a Craigslist or Gumtree. For example, in Holland, Marktplaats was the best resource for finding jobs online. If you want to still give a try to that sidewalk café idea, Spotted By Locals is a great site for finding out where to hang out with locals in Europe.

Make Living Far from Home Take You Far

One of the main draws to living in Europe is the opportunity to get out and explore the rest of the continent in your spare time. But that can be complicated. How so? Well, when living in Europe, you are still going to want to see see your friends and family often (right?), so many of your holidays to ‘Rome’ can turn into trips back ‘home’.

This was a common theme among the expats we knew in Amsterdam who talked wistfully of the days when they would come to Europe on holiday and just be travellers as opposed to living there and not seeing as much of the continent as they hoped.

A solution to this can be airline loyalty programs, as they will allow you to accumulate rewards towards future travel on those flights back home to see family. Simply keep track of your miles or points, and then cash them in for that spontaneous sun-soaked weekend trip to the Mediterranean – or wherever else you fancy. For the most part, the loyalty programs are straightforward, but you need to pay attention when it comes time to actually cashing in the reward, so make sure to learn how the booking process works if you want to use points for flights.

Take Time to Be a Tourist

Piggybacking on from the last bit of advice, the importance of taking time to be a tourist cannot be understated. I think we all know that time flies, and it especially flies by when you are in a European city for a short amount of time as an expat. Don’t assume that you’ve got forever to check out that museum or see that famous building. Go, go as soon as you can. The last thing you want to end up doing is scrambling around during the last couple days ticking sights off your list like we did at Keukenhof Gardens. Most cities in Europe offering free walking tours, and they will both inform you and entertain you, and you know the tour guide will bring their ‘A’ game once they know there is a local on the tour.