When trying to find tutors, many people will use the internet. Someone wanting to study Spanish in London might type Spanish classes London into a search engine. I think that many students like to have classes at their home as it is more convenient although having classes at the tutor’s home is often cheaper. Obviously any saving obtained in this way would be lost if the tutor lives a long way from the student. Some students prefer to travel to the tutor as they might feel self-conscious at their own home.

We also have tutors from South America so we can also cater for students who wish to learn Latin American Spanish. There are certain differences between European Spanish and Latin American Spanish, especially regarding pronunciation. Latin American Spanish tends to be less harsh and one major difference is that some of the letters are pronounced differently. One of the main advantages of one-to-one tuition over group classes is that the student has far more opportunity to communicate in Spanish than in a group class. In a group class there might be as many as fifteen other students (although many courses have smaller class sizes of five or ten students). Even in a smaller class of only five students, the maximum amount of time that a student might talk would be 20 minutes for each hour if all students have the same opportunity to speak. In a group class it is more difficult for a tutor to help an individual student with their particular weaknesses. Language House offers one-to-one tuition in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Italy. In group classes a large part of the class might concentrate on areas where the student is already strong and doesn’t require much practice. In a one-to-one class the student can easily express what they need help with and the tutor can tailor the classes to the student’s needs. Although one-to-one tuition is more expensive than group classes, it is likely that the student will progress more quickly.

Next, and again before you start your list of long distance moving companies, the next critical question is, what do you want them to move? If someone is paying your removal expenses, it might as well be everything. But if you are paying yourself, then its time to get very, very focussed on what is worth spending thousands of dollars shipping across the Pacific.  I’d start with electrical items: if you live somewhere that the voltage is different from Australia’s 220V – I wouldn’t bother shipping any electrical items that can’t manage dual voltage (most laptops can). Even if you do have the right voltage, the plugs will need to be changed – that at least is fairly minor.  Clothing is also a huge amount of volumn (most international moves are quoted on volume not weight) –  if you are moving to a very different climate, than you may find that most of clothes won’t really be used. If you are moving to Perth, you don’t need winter coats, gloves, hats and boots. You probably won’t even need a jumper until you acclimatize after a couple of years!

Furniture is also a consideration. Australian houses tend to be large and open plan, if you furniture is designed for a small dwelling, it may, frankly, not really work. Although your bedroom suites may be OK, you really might want to consider whether shipping lounge and dining room furniture is a priority, especially as Australian houses rarely have a separate dining area.  He’s a word to the wise: Australia has very strong sunlight – the UV will fade anything red particularly badly. It might be kinder to sell a nice red couch, before it fades to a nasty pink in a year or two.

There are some items you just cannot have shipped, they are too dangerous. This includes most household and garden chemicals, in fact liquids of any kind. Any item which is contaminated with dirt or vegetation ie your lawn mower, will need to be decontaminated – it might less trouble just to sell or dispose of your gardening tools and buy new ones on arrival.

Tips on moving to Australia rarely start with the advice to cull your possessions – but I do really believe you can save yourself a lot of money on international shipping companies, but simply cutting out 50% of your possessions before you move. And if you sell the surplus you will make a bit of cash on the side as well.

And real is where he starts. I love the fact that the first thing Mike does in this book is to try to talk you out of it – by pointing out some of the other countries in the region that people retire to, and then continues to point out the downsides of Bali – yes this is a real book written by a real person, who is NOT contracted to Bali’s tourism department to put a positive spin on the ugly side of Bali (lack of decent roads and sewerage infrastructure  and corruption being some of the biggies).

Many expats seem to only want to hang-out with other expats – you do wonder why they bothered moving. Mike points out that the Balinese are very welcoming to foreigners who are staying long-term- and if you make an effort it may well be easier to be accepted by the locals than in many other countries.

Mike’s 100-point moving list – is a must-read – even if you are not moving to Bali – if you are moving anywhere overseas – you need to have it!

The book runs to over 110 pages – and covers all the main issues for anyone considering moving to Bali either for retirement or to start a business. Main topics covered include:

• Why Bali?
• Preparation and Planning
• Adapting to the Culture
• Banking and Finance
• Health and Health Insurance
• Driving and Buying a Car
• Housing and Buying Property
• Employing Staff
• Where to Live in Bali
• Visas

US and the rest of the world  Readers:     UK Readers: 

The interesting thing is that some parts of the world this is common practice, in other parts moving overseas is very rare.

The British are probably champions at moving overseas for retirement. The reasons aren’t hard to figure out: the notoriously bad British weather and the cultural history of moving overseas as part of ruling the world with the British Empire. These days the British tradtiionally like southern Europe – where the living is cheaper and the EU removes the issue with visas.

Canadians and Americans, particularly from the colder areas,  have tended to migrate south for better weather with Panama and Costa Rica particularly popular overseas retirement destinations.

New Zealanders have traditionally not moved overseas for retirement. Maybe its the universal pension which is only payable if the retiree lives in NZ for 6 months of the year. Or maybe its just the expense of moving from that remote country – particularly before the airfare wars of recent years. Or maybe the New Zealanders just think that the trade of for lifestyle and cost is fair enough in their home.

The Australians too have tended not to move overseas in retirement. Residents of the cooler southern states have been fueling Queensland’s population boom for years. Also Australian’s invented the sea change where downsizing from large expensive captial cities to small, less expensive town usually on a warm coast.

Things maybe  starting to change for Australians though. Most Australians are now funded by their own superannuation savings. And those savings have been heavily reduced in the last few years.

In addition the  boom of coastal real estate and the drop of some city values means that downsizing with a sea-change is not as easy or as lucartive as it was 5 or 8 years ago.

So what are the options for Australians looking to retire overseass – and why haven’t they realised that there is an obvious answer sitting on their doorstep? Well stay tuned for the next post …

Bank accounts are an issue if you don’t have them – my top tip is that when you leave a country don’t be in too much of a hurry to cancel credit cards and bank accounts.  If there is even the slightest chance of return if just for a holiday – leave at least one account and one credit card open. You may need to find a local address but mail forwarding services have other uses as well.

Why keep accounts in an overseas country? Well it makes it easy to sort out final bills and get refunds from utilities and rental bonds and similar.  Also it means if you do return for a visit or longer you have easy and cheap access to the local currency. And of course it gives  you the charge to play your own forex game especially if you have any residue income from the country.

One of the issues that we have is that we have worked in Australia so will have Superannuation which we have to leave behind – at least for a few years before New Zealand changes the rules. Thats annoying but at least we might get to use if for  a couple of holidays – another good reason to leave accounts behind.

With today’s electronic non-paper banking then the only statements we will have to deal with are those from the credit card company – not sure why they insist on sending us a piece of paper every month but they appear determined to!

So think about your ongoing banking needs every time you move overseas – or am the only serial gypsy with the issue?

A lot of people would think that going from the United States to the United Kingdom will be as easy as they thought. One big reason is the language. They speak English in the UK too don’t they? However, the language is not a problem; it is the culture which you have to consider first.

Yes, language is the same. They speak English. But does every English word mean the same for them as how we were used to it? Just like different countries, each and every one of them uses local slang. And if used incorrectly, you might run into a fight with a local. You need to study not merely the use of words properly, but you should also know about using the words casually.

Simple driving matters too. Are you already used to driving at the wrong side of the road with a right-hand vehicle? You must take note of that and learn how.

Aside from these facts, there are several more things to consider. The best thing to do is research. The internet has a wide library of facts and figures for a researcher and this will be of great help to you once you have decided on moving overseas.

Leave yourself enough time – don’t expect to finish work one day, move out fo the house the next and hop on the plane the third day! It just won’t happen and you will stress yourself out a lot. The last time I moved overseas we moved out of our home weeks before we left the country  it gave us time to finsih off all the lose ends and take a breath before we left for the next big adventure! Remember that you have to finish off all the little things -the mail redirect, the medical records pick up, the giving away the items you aren’t taking: food and similar things.

I’m not sure if I’d go that far but I would say that moving house can be a big deal. When moving house the key is to get down to the detail level early – you really need to think about all the issues you are going to encounter. Unfortunately many people don’t have the luxury of time when it comes to relocating because the move is caused by sudden event such as job assignment or even a new job. Moving for work can be particularly difficult for the family of the person affected. It maybe that the move is to a place they don’t particularly want to live in.

Nevertheless whatever the reason for moving house you are going to have a list a mile long to work your way through. Start with the essentials: where you are going to stay when you arrive in your new location and what you are going to do with your old home.  A major relocation is easier if you are already renting.  Getting out of a rental lease is a whole lot less hassel than the decision making around what to do with a house you own. Do you keep it or sell it? Rent the house out? Get relatives to look after it? The possiblities are endless and all come with their own lists of pros and cons.

Getting down to the nitty gritty of moving house is all about lists and packing! Start with a good  clear out. There is no point packing what can be got rid of. Sell stuff on line or take it to the local op shop. Give it away. Just get rid of stuf you haven’t used or don’t  remember you even own. How many shoes does one woman need? What about your kitchen is it full of electrical gadgets that you never use? Sell them. Have you got 10 potatoe peelers when 2 would do – somethings really just aren’t worth keeping.  Tidy and pack as you go.  You can start to pack some items as soon as you know you are going. Things such as out of season clothing and seldom used books might as well go into boxes now rather than later. Its a waste of money to paya packer to do this type of grunt work – save the professionals for packing your fragile and precious items.  Analysis what is worth taking with you particularly carefully if you are moving to a dramatically different climate -  maybe time to sell the extra winter coats and boots if you are moving to Florida or Spain!

Aside from packing there are a million other things to do when moving house. List all utilities- then get in contact with them several weeks before your move date to get final readings and disconnections arranged. Remember its not just power and water these days:  cable TV, broadband, mowing contractor allneed to be made contact with.  Make sure you start keeping a list of important dates such as final readings so that you don’t forget in all the mad panic.  If you have children then the list of things to do gets even longer. You need to inform schools at each end of the house move and make arrangements. Ensure that the kids are enrolled in their new school as soon as possible. Sports and social activiites also need to be cancelled or at least informed that your kids are not going to available for the final games of the season or the school’s disco.

One thing to remember is that almost everything will sort itself out. There is no point about getting too stressed. Take a deep breath, step back and learn to say no to the unimportant stuff – or delegate it. A great thing to do is to arrange a final house clean for after you move out – by professionals – it saves you having to keep cleaning supplies at hand.

Its also important to arrange a mail redirection so that your mail follows your house move. Its incredibly difficult to remember to change every item of mail over – or at least the ones you care about. Getting the redirected mail with their bright stickers on the front is a good way to remind yourself to contact the sender. If you are just moving locally than maybe consider a PO Box to solve the problem for the next time that you are moving house!

The big down under is well-known for a lot of things. It is distinguished for its outstanding quality of living. Australian’s are noted for being friendly people and are very fond of interpersonal relationships with community members. You are not alone when you think that Australia is the right place for you to spend the rest of your life at.

Travelers wanting to live in Australia must obtain a Migration Visa and there are lots of categories to fall under. If you are a skilled individual working professionally for a number of years, this is not a big problem for you. Australia is constantly in need of skilled professionals and tradesmen and if you are one of them, an Australian Visa is definitely just waiting for you.

There are several free online assessments available for people who plan in moving overseas on the internet. All you need to do is register and answer all the relevant information needed to assess your capability to obtain a Visa. Once this is done and you received an eligible score, the migration helper will automatically offer you their services for Visa processing and assistance in lodging your migration applications. Visit www.immi.gov.au for more information in moving to Australia and see some links of accredited migration assistance service partners.

First of all, make sure that you have all financial assistance that your family needs upon moving. Fix all matters before leaving your country of origin. Setting up bank accounts which is usable in both Australia and the country you are departing from is recommended. Also, the country you are departing from may limit the amount of money you bring.

Prepare for your travel itinerary. Contact any relatives or friends who are living in Australia for any assistance you might need in relocating. Having someone to help you when you get there is essential since you need to adjust to the norms of the country and a resident will be the best one to do this.

Bring all your important documents so when you finally need them, you won’t need to ask your remaining relatives to send them to you. These are your birth certificates, school records, legal documents, health records etc. They are needed when you apply for a bank account, school entry for your children and hospitalization.

If you are planning to bring household equipment or food, check if they meet with Australian standards. Each item brought in should be declared, if not, this may cause your entry to be delayed when caught. It would be best if you already have arranged for a house or apartment to live in since renting is a bit costly. Moving to Australia is not as hard as long as you stay focused on what you need and what your goals are after you arrive.

Besides leaving your loved ones and friends at home, you are also in for a lot of work to be done. You have to be very careful in hiring your overseas moving company. Remember that these people are going to be handling your most prized possession because if they aren’t, why are you bringing them? If you find the perfect overseas moving company, they would definitely take away your headaches.
When deciding on a moving company, there are a lot of things to consider. Call them and don’t hesitate to inquire about their rates. You might also want to contact different companies to make some comparisons. Ask around and gather information from previous customers. Try to get as much reviews as possible.
Research on what type of packaging material they use. How about their policies? Will they be able to compensate on lost or broken items? These are just a few important factors you need to think about.
Ask them as well if they will do the packaging entirely themselves or if you need to pack everything and they will just need to do the loading and unloading. To completely take all the hassle away, choose one who does all the packing. This will actually make everything easier and convenient since they know how to arrange certain items to avoid breakage.

It is really a tough decision to make. There are a lot of matters to consider. Think about the expenses of doing it yourself against having someone else do it. Most importantly, think about your convenience and the difficulties of choosing the right overseas moving company. In the end, everything will turn out fine.