The Struggles & Joys of Living Abroad ~ Guest Post by Julie of Alone with my tea

Today we're heading for the oceans and mountains of Brazil as seen through the eyes of my friend Julie of Alone with my tea! I've been following Julie's travel and lifestyle adventures for over a year, through her final months living in Brazil to her current settlement in southern Alabama. Since I have never lived abroad, Julie volunteered to share some of the highs and lows of being an ex-pat, and I hope you enjoy her story as much as I did!

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Awkward selfie at the Christ the Redeemer Statue!

Hello there! I'm Julie, and I blog over at Alone with my tea. I started my blog as a way to document my "creative" attempts, but it has since morphed into a travel and lifestyle blog. Thanks to Katrina, I now get to share on Thrifty Gypsy's Travels a little bit of my experiences living abroad!

Exactly eight days after saying "I do," my new husband and I started the long trek from Los Angeles, California, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My husband actually grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, and is fluent in Portuguese, so I thought that living there would be a breeze. I was wrong...

First of all, the struggles. Living in a foreign country means learning a foreign language. At one point in my life I was almost fluent in Spanish, and that definitely gave me a leg-up when it came to learning Portuguese; however, the Carioca accent confused me to no end! Luckily, my husband gave me some important tips, and I was able to pick up the language quickly! Learning the language is an important part of living abroad. Your time will be so much more enjoyable if you try to connect with the locals!

The second struggle we had was adapting to the high cost of living in Brazil. One Brazilian real doesn't go far! We were able to live on our small salary, but we weren't able to save, and we didn't buy anything that wasn't completely necessary all year. Make sure you research the cost of living where you are moving. Take into consideration exchange rates and the price of every-day items, such as food!

The biggest struggle we had was our job and living situation. Our employer "provided" (we had to pay rent) a "furnished" apartment that looked like this:

And then we found out that our rent was actually $300 more than what they originally told us. Also, the employer refused to help me get my work visa, which in Brazil is a huge hassle. Many other things happened that made us extremely disappointed in our work situation, and even though we were hoping to stay in Brazil indefinitely, we ended up leaving after one year.

My number one piece of advice to someone looking to move abroad - make sure you thoroughly research your prospective employer! Ask for references of past employees - talk to as many people as possible to find out exactly what kind of situation you're getting in to!

Ok, now the fun part. The joys of living abroad!

First of all, this view, which was only a 10-minute walk from our apartment:

Secondly, the people. One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting new people. Brazilian people are so friendly and nice! Whenever I told them I was trying to learn Portuguese, they would chat away. Even the taxi drivers had some interesting stories to share!

Thirdly, the food! My other favorite part of traveling is experiencing new food. I loved Brazilian cheese bread (pão de queijo), all-you-can-eat steakhouses, tropical suco, and feijoada.

Pão de Queijo

Last but not least, the adventures. We got to visit a beautiful town in the mountains of Brazil, the historic village of Paraty (famous for their cobblestone roads made by hand and their historic distillery of cachaça), all the wonders of Rio, including the Christ the Redeemer Statue, Sugar Loaf, Parque Lage, and much much more.

Overlooking the roofs of São Paulo

Brazil's mountain range

In conclusion, there will always be struggles and joys when traveling anywhere. Do I regret my time in Rio? Not at all! Would I live there again? YES... but with a different employer!!!

Thanks for letting me share some of my experiences living abroad!

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You can read more about Julie's adventures at Alone with my tea or can follow her on social media!

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Linking up for #TravelTuesday!

Playing "Travel Make-Believe"

My travel addiction knows no bounds and is rarely quenched. So even though we do not have any firm international or major regional travel plans on the calendar right now, I can't resist drawing up mock itineraries for various vacations and travel scenarios for the future.

It serves two purposes - one, it keeps me from getting too antsy/depressed when there are no pending travel plans. And two, travel research is never wasted time! If a last-minute travel opportunity presented itself, I'd already have a few ideas as to what I could visit and experience at a number of different places.

With Danny's past business trips to London in mind, I've been fixating lately on getting another taste of my favorite city while squeezing in some family time in Germany, too. And with a little help from a few travel booking sites, I've got an eight-day getaway mapped out for under $2,000 (USD), including airfare! Not too shabby for a multi-national Europe trip, huh? Granted, we would be hypothetically taking advantage of costs being eliminated or reduced due to a business trip status, but hey, that's what being a thrifty gypsy is all about!

So if you're in between travel plans, you might want to consider playing "travel make-believe" to do the research legwork for a future trip. You never know, it may be the motivation to start saving those pennies so you could turn the make-believe into reality!

Have you ever played "travel make-believe?"

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Buckingham Palace

Hypothetical U.S. to London to Germany Itinerary:

Day 1-2
In my scenario, Danny would leave for his business trip mid-week and hit the ground running while I'm still in the states, chomping at the bit for my turn. Granted, his business trip doesn't permit any room for sight-seeing, but working in the London office is still ten times cooler than working in the home office!

By Friday, the weekend (and the trip!) will finally have arrived, and I'll catch a red-eye from Dulles to Heathrow. Let the adventures begin!


Day 2

Piccadilly Circus and a double-decker bus!

London is very accessible for travelers, particularly when landing in Heathrow, due to the convenience and prevalence of public transportation. While Danny is hustling in the office, I'll take the Tube into central London, drop off my carry-on in his hotel room, and hit the ground running in Piccadilly or the British Museum. Maybe I could meet up with another blogger for tea - a quintessentially English activity that has yet to be crossed off my bucket list.


Day 3
Having already conducted a whirlwind tour of London in 2014, I'll take the opportunity either to revisit some of the sites that left me craving for a more leisurely exploration, such as Westminster Abbey, or seek out new sites within the city or with a manageable day trip to Windsor, St Albans, or Canterbury!

Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, Bavaria, Germany

Day 4
Another day of solo sightseeing will satiate more of my thirst for London, but by evening, Danny's business trip will be over and we'll be making our way to Frankfurt for family, friends, and familiar places! If this trip actually materialized this year, it would be the first time we've ever been able to visit twice within the same year.


Day 5-9
What does one usually do when visiting Germany? Drink delicious beer and nibble on tasty sausage, of course! I'll leave the beer-drinking to Danny, but will savor the opportunity to continue practicing my German skills in the comfort of visiting with family.


Day 9-10
Although we'll be kicking and screaming, all good things must come to an end, and by days 9 and 10 (falling on a Saturday and Sunday), it'll be time to return home. Usually we fly home the day before going back to work, but with Baby Gypsy making me more tired than usual, this hypothetical trip will probably end in time to give us a day to recover at home before the work-week starts.


Hypothetical Washington D.C. to London to Frankfurt Costs:
$00.00      - Danny's flight from Dulles to London for business trip (covered by work).
$1,061.00 - Katrina's round-trip flight from Dulles to London.*
$80.00      - Parking for car at Dulles.
$00.00      - Hotel in downtown London for five nights for Danny/two nights for Katrina (covered by work).
$150.00    - Food/expenses for one in London.
$148.00    - Round-trip London to Frankfurt tickets for two.*
$297.00    - Rental car for five days in Germany.
$00.00      - Lodging in Germany (family).
$100.00    - Food/expenses for two in Germany.
$1,836.00*

*As always, the price of plane tickets is a fluctuating factor that may end up being more expensive than anticipated due to when they're bought and how far in advance. In this case, I chose a fly-out date of the Friday before Labor Day weekend.

Talking Travel with AloneWithMyTea

Julie and her husband Peter 

Good morning! Today I'm taking over lifestyle and travel blog AloneWithMyTea to chat about thrifty travel and to blackmail myself with a few embarrassing travel stories (thank goodness my mother doesn't have a blog or I'd never be able to show my face in public again!).

I've been following Julie of AloneWithMyTea for over a year now, through the final months of her life in Brazil, to a few crazy weeks in California catching up with her family and friends, and to her current settlement in southern Alabama. Her blog covers a wide variety of topics from lifestyle hacks, blogging tips, and of course travel stories, particularly those detailing her experiences abroad and even some culture shock from moving to the Deep South!

Next week Julie will be taking over my blog to talk about some of those travel and culture experiences, but in the meantime be sure to check out some of my favorite posts such as when she "enjoyed" a cup of tea in Romania, that time she kissed an alpaca in Peru, and her musings on patriotic feelings as an ex-pat.

Have you ever kissed anything crazy while traveling?  :)

Linking up for #TravelTuesday!