Those who can should try living in different parts of the world. It really broadens your appreciation for life and other cultures. Of course, how you feel during and after the period depends greatly on where you are and whom you meet along the way.

I'm always amazed at how many people from my home country (US) I talk to who say, "oh I can't afford to go there". For less than $1500, usually, you can go to the opposite side of the world. And quite often, the living expense is lower than where you came from.

The biggest challenge most people have is that they have a lot of financial and physical anchors - stuff, a house+mortgage, car(s), etc. But I can say from my experience living both types of life that a life of a small amount of stuff and near total freedom to roam is fantastic.

It's a big world, and it's a shame to go through life without really experiencing much of it.

Naturally there is an adjustment period in a new region, but if approached with an open mind an a bit of patience, it can surprise you and become your favorite place to be (and way of life to live).

All that said, it's important to realize that what we may see in movies is typically very carefully framed. Bali is great, but depending on where you are you might experience peace and tranquility or crazy frat party atmosphere. And "The Beach" in Thailand is idyllic - if you are shooting a movie and you can get the place to yourself. Otherwise you need to travel around to find the nice (also beautiful) quiet beaches. Any movie you've seen about Amsterdam may be true, but it too has quite varying character depending on where you go, whom you're with, and what you're seeking.

Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are high on my list to try next.

The thing I’m always missing from these pieces is how. How do the rest of us emigrate, without being anglophone and teaching English, or a “digital content creator”? Or for example, “Scott” moving to Japan with his Chinese wife. How do the visas even wok out?

Moving to the (rich part of) EU from the non-Western world is certainly not easy.

I don’t know if I should read these pieces as “I can transfer freely with full job security worldwide” or “I sold everything and fought hard”.

Otherwise all I’m reading is “you should travel. It’s fun.”

It's not necessarily movies that make people move. My dad met a guy whose dad moved to the US from Germany. Why? During Elvis Presley's Army stint, he was deployed to Germany. This man was also in military service and ended up serving next to Elvis; this sparked a desire in him to move to the US.

I know the article was about movies that persuaded viewers to _go_ to a certain country, but I am reminded of a former colleague who explained to me that it was actually a TV show ("The Mechanism", a drama about political corruption in Brazil) that finally convinced him he needed to take his young family and _leave_ Brazil for a better future.

Of course I had to give it a watch after a review like that. Good show.

This was a pleasant read and as a serial immigrant I can relate to moving countries on a hair trigger impulse. Like one line in a movie that reveals something about a different culture which captures your imagination. Makes me chuckle.

Reality is never quite like the movies but there's definitely something there. You do get some sense of fulfillment and you do usually get to experience what you wanted... The problem is usually not that the culture doesn't have what you thought it had (it often does), the problem is that there are often unseen downsides that simply did not occur to you and you could not imagine being a problem before you made the move since they are not a problem in your own culture. You don't notice what your culture gets right.

Although I probably had not watched it for more than a decade before I actually emigrated from the UK to the USA in 1989, I have never been able to shake the feeling that the original TV show "Starsky & Hutch" played an outsize [0] role in my conception of America and my reasons to want to be here.

[0] not sole or even primary, just outsize.

For me it was Baywatch and Dallas. Both happened to be out of touch with the reality I was faced with when I arrived.

Some countries offer Digital Nomad Visa which is very beneficial for people in software professions and remote-able jobs.

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