On becoming / being an expat

I think there’s at least a couple of folks here who are or have lived as expats. What have your experiences with it been like? What advice would you offer to those considering it? Pros, cons, locations, logistics, practicalities, etc?

Couple of my buddies left the US when they were discharged, c. 1972 for reference. One of them lives on an island in lake somewhere near Great Slave Lake. (We flew in so I have no idea where.) He’s my hermit model. Very peaceful and seems happy. He picks up his mail once a month and leaves with the items that he might be interested in.

On the other extreme another friend from back in the day lives just off Carnaby St. Gregarious, raucous, and makes the Bobbies nervous when he’s had a pint more than is good for him.

So, those two are bookends for my expat friends. Most of the rest have passed on. All of them chose carefully, they found the place that worked for them. One of them herded cattle on the Argentine pampas. He’d wanted to be a cowboy from childhood but it was my hint that got him into the saddle for real. Happy man.

Some spectacular failures, of course. Some as bad as it can get with a combat veteran. C’est la vie.