Here are 11 reasons to live abroad (when you are ready!)

Expatriate assignments may be good for your career and pocket book, but here is a list of the top advantages for living abroad according to Chelsea, aka "The Portable Wife." Living abroad allows you to:

1. Become more self-reliant
2. Live in a culture that fits your values
3. Increase your opportunities for travel
4. Expose yourself to different ways of thinking
5. Improve your communication skills
6. Learn to appreciate the little things
7. Develop a clearer sense of self
8. Expand your social (and occupational) network
9. Strengthen your resume
10. Decrease your cost of living
11. Have an uncommon life experience

Depending on where you go, all of these may not be true, but many of them will. We have seen many articles related to all of the above advantages, some of which we have even highlighted previously on our Trending Topics page, like:

• Why you might want to consider working abroad
• 10 things we gain from living abroad
• What are the biggest reasons for taking an expat assignment?
• "The shortest path to oneself leads around the world"

For those in the midst of withdrawal from the lack of being able to sooth their wanderlust, I saw today that more countries were easing their travel restrictions. In fact, this report shared that, "Just over half of destinations worldwide (53%) have now started easing travel restrictions introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic." Worldwide ERC also posted on Sept. 11 that "the U.S. federal government will remove limitations on where international flights can land in the U.S. as well as plans to eliminate enhanced medical screenings of international passengers arriving to the U.S."

For many, that is great news, and people are likely to jump back into international travel right away. For others, it may take a little more time before they start to take advantage of the many benefits to going and even living abroad. How soon will you get back to travelling internationally?