If you’re thinking of moving abroad, one of the first things to decide is how you want to do it. If you missed my article on some ways to choose, start there. In this article, I’ll delve a little deeper into 7 key differences between the expat and full-time travel lifestyles.

It would take a novel to go into all the aspects of each lifestyle. The intention of this article is to give you an overview on some of the potential pros and cons of each lifestyle. Clearly, what you consider a “pro” or a “con” is subjective. See what your gut reaction is to the lifestyle scenarios as a starting point in your lifestyle research.

Within the full-time travel category are numerous types of traveler which I will expand on briefly:

• Digital Nomads, travelers who have a business of their own they travel with or freelance work.
• Remote Workers who work for a company/someone else, and travel. (Unlike an expat, they change locations rather than living in one place.)
• Retirees who are not working while traveling.
• ‘Sabbaticalees”, on paid (or unpaid) leave.
• Career Breakers who quit a job to take a break and are not working.
• Part-time travelers who spend part of the year traveling, and part of the year in a fixed location they consider a home-base

While a typical full-time traveler is more likely to plan around a tourist visa, often 90 days, a digital nomad can apply for a digital nomad visa, allowing them to stay in a given country much longer. Remote workers likely have to check with their company to resolve visa and payment and healthcare, and work around a specific time zone.

Though there are subtle differences in each type of full-time traveler, to keep this article from being a novel, I’m including all these types of traveler in that “full-time traveler” category.

Home Base

First, let’s talk definitions. What’s the difference between an expat and a full-time traveler?

Expat

An expat moves to one physical location and lives there for the duration of their assignment. They have a location to call “home” and a place to store their stuff inside it.

Full-Time Traveler

A full-time traveler moves around regularly. While a digital nomad visa could lengthen the duration of time they can stay in a given country, it’s still temporary. “Home” becomes, literally, wherever they are at a given time. They live outside the scope of consumerism

Conclusion: If having a home base is important for you, then you have options. You could choose to be an expat, or, as a full-time traveler, keep a home base, if finances allow, and use it for part of the year. Your choice could also be based on stuff. If you love consumerism, expat life will be a better choice. If you want to escape consumerism, full-time travelers pack light so don’t buy as much. (One of many reasons this lifestyle is so much less expensive than having a fixed lifestyle.) If you accumulate too much while traveling, full-time travelers tend to donate that excess to charity before moving on.

Friendships / Community

Expat

An expat can create a reliable circle of friends, see them repeatedly, and develop deep connections. They can also take classes, meet locals, volunteer and become a part of the community in which they live.

Full-Time Traveler

Full-time travelers are more transient. They’ll likely make many friends around the world, however, the duration of their stay in one place will impact how deep those connections are. Once they move, they have to recreate their circle of friendships. Nonetheless, they can get involved in their local community while there, and because of the shorter timeframe of their visit, may feel more compelled to do more, more quickly.

Conclusion: If you thrive on meeting lots of new people and enjoy the idea of having friends around the world from many cultures, full-time travel is a great option. If you prefer having the same circle of friends and seeing them frequently, expat life will be more comfortable.

Cultural Exploration

Expat

An expat will get to know one culture very deeply. They’ll experience the nuances of a culture to an extent that will allow them to ultimately feel part of it or notice how much they do not.

Full-Time Traveler

A full-time traveler will experience the culture of many places. While they may not get as in-depth with a culture as an expat, they will nonetheless have a much better feel for it than a tourist. When cultures don’t align, they have the freedom to change and try to assimilate elsewhere. They become global citizens.

Conclusion: understanding foreign cultures is one of the beautiful parts of traveling the world. It lets us transcend prejudgments and misunderstandings and allows us to learn a lot about ourselves. You get to choose whether to learn one culture in depth or explore many. Full-time travel to many places allows you to develop compassion and understanding, which helps a lot with understanding that the news you read may not give you an accurate perspective of a given country.

Money

Expat

Expats have a defined salary (and bonus, if applicable). They have a reliable income source. They’ll probably have a local bank account and ATM card and withdraw one main currency.

Full-Time Traveler

Full-time travelers, unless they’re a remote worker, normally have fluctuating income. If they’re retired, then they’ll have Retirement savings and possible Social Security to work with. They have a bank account in their country of nationality, and look for an ATM card with the lowest fees and withdraw multiple currencies as they travel.

Conclusion: If having reliable income and benefits taken care of for you is essential, then the expat lifestyle is better for you. If you have your own business, and/or are willing to create and adhere to a budget, then traveling full-time will give you the freedom you’ve worked for. One lifestyle allows you to be more carefree with Money, the other requires more budgeting.

Routine

Expat

An expat has a built-in routine. They have a job with specific work hours, assignments, and deadlines.  They may only be able to enjoy and learn about their new area on weekends, if not working.

Full-Time Traveler

A full-time traveler creates their own routine. That goes for work, and play. They travel when they want, where they want.

Conclusion: If you thrive on making your own routine, being a full-time traveler is a great choice. If you struggle with motivation and need someone else to create your routine and your work, being an expat is the best option for you.

Freedom To Explore

Expat

An expat has a job, so, local explorations will typically be at weekends, and as with any job, you’d need vacation time to explore more remote places. Like a job wherever you are now, you’d have the same constraints with regards to seeing the world around where you live and work. In this lifestyle, work is still at the center, and travel and life revolve around it.

Full-Time Traveler

A full-time traveler arranges their life around exploration. The typical working full-time traveler can set their own schedule, so they can leave parts of each day or week open to exploration. The caveat here are remote workers. They may have to work a specific set of hours based around a specific time zone. That means, if you travel far, you may end up working in the middle of the night. The choice, however, remains in your hands.

Conclusion: If you want to revolve your life and travel around your work, and put other people’s expectations first, then the expat life is a great choice. If you prefer to revolve work around your travel and life, and have more freedom choosing your work hours and what you do with your time, then being a full-time traveler is a better choice.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps the biggest consideration in your lifestyle choice is your why. Why do you want to move abroad? While escaping politics may be the initial motivation, underneath that, you need to think about the purpose of the move. Do you want to relocate, or do you want to travel to explore and find adventure? Do you want to stay in one place, or, do you want to explore many places? Do you want to travel at your own pace, or do you only want to travel on vacation? Are you wanting to explore a travel lifestyle, or do you want to live someplace else?