Lost in Translation

Of course, one of the things that comes up when you start thinking about moving is: But I don’t speak the language. It can just feel totally impossible to move somewhere where you don’t speak a word.

When I boarded the plane to Spain I realized that I actually didn’t know how to say hello in Spanish. Not “Thank you”, or “How are you”, or “Please give me a beer, I am lost and friendless.” I don’t really know why this hadn’t struck me before. Any doubts about how the hell I was going to manage without a word of the local language had been swept under the carpet of blithe naivety. “I’ll be fine,” I told myself. “I’ll pick it up in no time.”

If I had known quite how hard it is to learn another language, I suspect I might have got on the first plane back home again. Learning Spanish is HARD. They have a million verb tenses, and they have different genders for their nouns (Mrs. Chair, Mr. Car etc.) and they roll their rrrrrrs and use a terrible thing called the subjunctive which I really will never understand. And they speak so fast! After 7 years here, I am still only adequate.

Having said that, nobody could ever have prepared me for the undiluted pride I took the first time I went into a pharmacy and bought toothpaste. I had to pull out my phrasebook to look up  “Please can I have”, and “toothpaste”, and “ Thanks,” but I walked out of there with my damn toothpaste thank you very much. (OK, it was “herbal” flavored and quite startlingly disgusting but still.) I had no idea what joy it would give me to make a friend who doesn’t speak a word of English. To get a compliment on my pronunciation. To listen to Spanish radio and understand what they are talking about (turns out it’s always football).

There is so much more to it than that too. I am not really shy when I meet English speakers anymore. I mean, they’re just so easy to talk to! I am much more direct because I have to be - my Spanish doesn’t lend itself to “if it were possible, I might be...” type phrases, so I have mastered the ability to say “Yes I want to...” or “No I don’t like...” - no easy feat for a Brit. There are subtler things too - the way that Spanish allows you to “have” years, rather than “be” a certain age, with the sense of achievement that implies, is frankly a much better way to think of ageing.

So, all I’m saying is - Yes, by all means, be nervous about not speaking the language - it’s scary as hell at times. But NO, that isn’t a legitimate reason not to move. That’s just an excuse. You’ll get by just fine, you’ll pick it up because you have to, and you will experience a sense of overwhelming joy with every step forward.

Written by Rosie.

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

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Home for Christmas

As I sit in my childhood bedroom, indulge me in this little reverie about what it is to Go Home for Christmas.

Friends and family gathered, festive traditions upheld… These can be a heart-warming reassurance that life as you knew it before continues to roll on in much the same way. For some this can be a little depressing, especially if you discover, following an impassioned argument about the correct distribution of Christmas lights, that all those little frictions and traits are just as prevalent as they used to be. Maybe you haven’t Grown as a Person as much as you supposed. But that’s ok, no one ever does.  

Back in London, I feel a bit like a Ghost from my own Christmases Past, and memories which are usually misted by distance, come into sharp focus again. This can be good or bad, or a mixture of both. Whichever it is, there is no doubting its poignancy.

No matter how you feel about it, going home reminds you where you come from and can offer you a reaffirming sense of identity. Rigorous questioning from friends and relations can also provide you ample opportunity of coming up with a convincing illusion that you actually know what your plans are for the future.

It is great to be able to recharge the batteries and nestle into your comfort zone for a while, riffle indulgently through old photos and possessions and eat a more-than-excessive amount of home cooking, which is always the best.

All this equips you with renewed vigour to charge off again and continue your battle with the Spanish subjunctive, save starving children in Africa, or whatever it is you are doing when you are skipping.

Happy Christmas one and all!

Written by: Katie

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

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Run TO and not FROM

Beware the temptation to think that, by moving abroad, you will leave all your troubles behind you. More often than not, problems come from within - and you might as well recognize now that, as long as you are there, they will be too.  

Therefore, it is best to focus on the positives. Think about what you are going to gain rather what you are going to escape from. For example:

Did my decision to move to Madrid come from that moment I found myself standing on the platform of a South London station on a rainy Monday morning, feeling wretched, out of control, burdened with worries and desperate to run screaming for the hills?

Or did it come from that moment the previous afternoon in Madrid, a glass of rioja in my hand and a plate of quite possibly the best Jamon Iberico in the world in front of me? I choose jamon. I ALWAYS choose jamon. 

So, before you spend too much time glowering around you and thinking: “I can’t wait to get away from all this”, take a moment and write a list of 5 things you want to achieve from living abroad, for example: 

• Learn a new language 
• Experience different cultures 
• Meet different people 
• Face new challenges 
• Spend more time skiing/sunbathing/hiking/surfing

Take some time over it and really get to the bottom of why it is you want to go. If you identify your expectations now, it will be a lot easier for you to meet them when you’re there.

Written by: Katie

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

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Do you really want this?

When I announced to my friends that I was moving to Spain the response from many was overwhelming: “How wonderful! I wish I could do that.”

My response was repeatedly (and probably annoyingly): “You can!”

We’ve already looked at ‘Can’t’ so what I want to address here is ‘Don’t Want To.’ This means a brief exploration of that torturous word: SHOULD:

·         I SHOULD do more exercise

·         I SHOULD lose weight

·         I SHOULDN’T spend any more money

This is a word our conscience uses to beat us over the head. It usually achieves very little other than bring out the sulky teenager in us all who immediately wants to eat a brick of cheese while lying on the sofa shopping online. Or maybe that’s just me…

My announcement to my friends triggered the SHOULD response: “God dammit, that sounds cool, I should do something like that but I can’t because of all these reasons I’m busy making up right now.”

As if being the type of person who wants to live abroad makes you instantly much more interesting and glamorous. It doesn’t. It means you are interested in a particular set of experiences which you know you can find if you spend some time living out of the country in which you were born. That is all.

My point is, please don’t move abroad because you feel you SHOULD. It is totally fine to not want to. 

Wanting to stay put and live your life in one place is just as awesome and can be as challenging, invigorating and stimulating as living abroad. Moving abroad isn’t for everyone, and should only be undertaken if you actually want to.

And it’s not for everyone, not because it is too challenging or adventurous for some faint-hearted home-bodies. It just very simply comprises a bunch of experiences that not everyone wants to have.

And that is fine.

The first thing you have to rule out is: I’m doing it because I feel I should. That might get you on the plane but will leave you a bit high and dry once you actually arrive.

Written by: Katie

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

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But what about my job? And other excuses…

Look, let’s be honest. If you are reading this blog at all, chances are that your job is not so great right now. It’s not a vocation. It’s not your dream job. It’s just…a job. Maybe a very good job, maybe something you’ve fought hard to get, maybe something you enjoy. Or maybe not. But frankly, I’m guessing it’s primarily a way to pay the bills.

If you are likely to lie on your death bed, wishing you’d stayed in your current job – then for God’s sake, stay there! If not… then how on earth did your job even end up in this conversation?

I’m not suggesting you kiss your career goodbye. Unless you are a particularly blessed individual, I’m guessing you’ll need to work in your new location. I’m just saying that it is very easy to get sucked into thinking that your job is vital to who you are. You spend all day doing it; you are likely surrounded by other people who do the same thing – it is not necessarily healthy to distance yourself from the activity that takes up most of your time. But now might be a good moment to step back, take a deep breath, and let it go.

Don’t panic – just because you’re moving to a new country, you’ll still be able to find work. You might just have to let go of some of your preconceived ideas about your career. Which can be a very good thing!

In the words of Seth Godin “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.”

Written by: Rosie

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

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Let’s start with ‘Can’t’

It is extraordinary, when you think about it, how many rules we set for our lives: Accepted truths about how life is and how we expect it to be, what we think we are capable of, and what we believe to be our limitations. From infancy we develop an understanding of ourselves and our environment as it is presented to us – from our own perceptions, from the feedback of others. Even throw-away comments made in the playground have a deep impact. It is these rules which keep us so deep in the ruts we find ourselves in.

I can’t count the number of times I've heard people say: “I’m rubbish at this”, “I can’t do that”, “oh that’s just the way I am”. Have you ever experienced the elation which comes from succeeding in something you had written off as something you just “can’t do”? What about ‘non-runners’ completing a marathon, ‘shy people’ pulling off a public speech, someone overcoming their fear of heights and abseiling down a wall… Just take a look at that person’s face, at their insane grin and dilated pupils – I bet you anything that at that particular moment, they believe they could accomplish anything. THAT’S what I’m talking about.

When we talk about skipping the country we don’t mean in a sneaky back-door short-cut-from-all-my-troubles sort of way, but in a bold, brave, life-embracing partition-wall-toppling, liberating sort of way.

In a new environment, with different influences and different people around you, you have a great opportunity to push yourself, break out of your comfort zone and achieve things you didn't believe you could – but find that you CAN.

That’s what skipping the country is all about.


Written by : Katie

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

Drop us an email at howtoskipthecountry@gmail.com or add a comment below - we’d love to hear from you.

Skippers’ Stories – Part 3: gus

So, my time to tell you a little story about “how I became a skipper!”.

Long story short, I simply had no choice, did I?. i can´t stand the heat, and being sweaty all day wasn't funny when growing up in the Canary Islands, so I had to find a place where I could cool down a bit. So I choose london (truth is that at the age of 17, I got lucky enough to win a sort-of-willy-wonka trip to good old blightey, and got hooked to london pride and scratchings). Not totally a lie, but almost close enough to reality. Anyway, lets start over.

With ants in my pants, I wasn't going to stay in the islands for long. By pure chance, I discovered the magic world of animation while at university and that took me from LPGC.to another island (Mallorca) where I became 24/7 a rat lab to craft what would become my passion and profession. That was back in 98, sooo last century, I know. So a small recess to charge batteries with the family around and next frog leap... to another island, this time “the big rock”, as a colleague like to call it. I landed briefly in Birmingham but shortly I moved down to test my cockney rhyming slang in East London with my barrow boy flatmates. I wandered around working on multiple and different gigs, from TV animated series for kids, videogames to blockbuster movies. I really enjoyed the whole ride, and still miss the Soho thrill, but... life catches up, kids and London are not a great combination and we decided to give homeland a chance ( I have to say the TV series is better than s-pain). 

This to me feels like the end of part#1 of my skipping journey.

I learned what being a naive skipper meant when I lost a room I was about to rent, because I did not put a deposit down. That, I thought to myself was a lesson and I put a hundred pounds down on the next one I thought I was moving to... and when I found something better, I had lost that money too... I definitely learnt a few lessons, but that made me wiser, and poorer. 

During the almost 7 years I lived there, I kept learning all the time: How a different culture and society worked and behaved. I learnt the rules, I didn´t accept what I didn´t have to, but I respected them. It wasn´t for me to change after all. 

I loved the feeling of being a Londoner as much as it shocked me to feel isolated when I first arrived in the sticks, with no friends, no family…

I know I have been, and still am a skipper, since I am not Spanish* I am still skipping, and hopefully will keep it that way, trying to convince our daughters of the multiple benefits that comes with travelling the world, knowing other cultures and learning to see things with different eyes.

Someone once told me “Once a skipper, always a skipper”, so who know what future holds.

whatever comes next 

there is only one thing for sure, 

it will always be digested 

with a banana. 

canarian, but of course!

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

Drop us an email at howtoskipthecountry@gmail.com or add a comment below - we’d love to hear from you.

Skippers’ Stories – Part 2: Rosie

Any country-skipper will tell you that coming up with a good reason for just what you are doing in your newfound land is one of the most tricky - and frequently asked - questions you’ll face. When you don’t have a good, sensible answer (I came for work/love/language school etc.) it takes you a while to get a nice polished response going. At first, your heart sinks, and you think, “God, that’s a really good question – what the hell AM I doing here anyway?” Cue existential doubt, soul-searching, and chocolate.

Actually, I still don’t have a really good answer for why I have been living in Madrid for the last 8 years. The difference is that I am now much more comfortable with that. Basically, I moved here on a whim. I came to Spain for a friends’ wedding, fell blindly, hopelessly and irrevocably in love with the country, and moved here 6 months later. My plan was to come over, learn Spanish in 6 months (HAR HAR) and then return to “real life”. 8 years on, life here is about as “real “as it gets – I have a job I love (most days), a husband, and a baby on the way. As it turns out, Spanish is actually quite difficult to learn – fortunately!

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? Drop us an email at howtoskipthecountry@gmail.com or add a comment below - we’d love to hear from you.

Skippers’ Stories – Part 1: Katie

Seeing as we’re here to advocate life-altering decisions, we thought it would be a good idea to start with our own stories and what Skip the Country meant to us.

Mine is a classic pre-30s parachute jump. I had what women’s magazines like us to think is the Holy Grail: Job, flat, boyfriend. Everything was mapped out and I could see where I was headed. The problem was, I didn’t like it. Instead of settling into the nice groove I’d made for myself and continuing to chug forwards, I was clamoring to get out. There was a BIG experience calling to me that I just couldn’t ignore.

I had travelled a huge amount in my 20s, but I still felt there was one challenge I had yet to tackle: living abroad.  I wanted to order my drinks, chat to my local shop keepers, get my hair cut, set up a bank account and buy toothpaste in a new language; I wanted to know the gems, quirks and rhythm of a city that wasn’t London; I (let’s face it) wanted to have a year-round tan, be fluent in Spanish in 2 months and be photographed in a neck-scarf, cycling with a baguette in my basket/on vespa being pursued by Gregory Peck / [insert your own generic European fantasy here].

And, all that aside, I wanted direct, easy access to jamon iberico.

I chose Madrid for a combination of the above aspirations (some of which turned out to be more realistic than others… )  and also because Rosie had been suggesting I did so over the course of the many visits I made to see her while she was blazing the trail for me. Apparently I’m extremely suggestible.

So, on April 15th 2011 I landed in Madrid with one suitcase and two job interviews lined up. And that was that.  

Written by : Katie

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? Drop us an email at howtoskipthecountry@gmail.com or add a comment below - we’d love to hear from you.

Want to skip the country?

Hello. And welcome! We’re very pleased to see you here.

If you are thinking about moving country, or are even just toying gently with the idea, you’ve come to the right place. Take note: extended perusal of this blog may result in major, life-changing decisions. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

We hope to show you how to take that small, nagging idea that you might just, possibly, like to try living in another country, and turn it into your new reality. We know what we’re talking about - we’ve all gone through it ourselves and lived to tell the tale! You can read more about our stories over here.

I picture you reading this in your office (at work! you naughty thing you!), cup of coffee close at hand, rain hammering on the window. Maybe you just got back from a wonderful holiday and are wondering why on earth you came home. Maybe you always meant to travel but life got in the way. Maybe you just hit your thirties, and are looking around you and thinking - is this it? And so you daydream about sipping cocktails on a tranquil beach, or sharing a plate of tapas with your newfound Spanish friends, or window-shopping on the Champs Elysee after work…

But then reality kicks in, and you remember your real life, your friends, your career path, and all the rest of it - and somehow, it all just seems too impossible.

But actually, it really isn’t impossible. Quite the reverse. In fact, moving to another country - for those of us born in the Western world with the unspeakable privileges of wealth, education, and freedom - is not only possible, but easy.

The hard part is waking up at 65 and realizing that you never lived the life you dreamed of. That you were too scared - or worse, too sensible - to even try.

You are not stuck. You just need an idea, a bit of planning, a bit of a push and the courage to leap into the unknown. My guess is that, if you’re reading  this blog, you’ve already got an idea for what you would do if you could. Paris? Thailand? Madrid? The Maldives?

We have made it our mission to lend a hand with the planning and give you the little push that you need to get going. We’d like to give you all the help we wish we’d had when we moved, so you can avoid making the same mistakes we did. And we’d like to share with you just how gloriously wonderful it can be to just GO! Skip the country, run for the hills, leave all your safe little plans for a nice normal life behind you and let yourself soar.

After all, what have you got to lose?

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? Drop us an email at howtoskipthecountry@gmail.com - we’d love to hear from you.

Written by: Rosie