The married couple began thinking about it in 2016 following the presidential election. They were growing dissatisfied with the U.S. political landscape and yearned for the chance to explore the world beyond their Birmingham, Alabama, home.They figured Canada would be a good place to start, but a 2017 trip to Vancouver made them realize it"didn't feel like home."
Buying the dip on a cheap stock? Don't do it ‘just because the price has gone down,' says investing chiefThis process sparked the idea behind Expatsi, which started as a weekend project. The website features a 10-question quiz for people to input their living preferences and also asks what you plan to do in your new home country — study, work or live out your retirement years.The couple created the resources expressly for"people like us" who want to leave the U.S.
These curated trips are more than a typical vacation. In each city, travelers attend an educational seminar led by experts to discuss the ins and outs of immigrating, covering financial planning, visas, health care, real estate and other legal matters. Beyond attending seminars and group outings, travelers are encouraged to experiment with the mundane:"You want to stay in a neighborhood you might want to live in and walk to the grocery store and cook a meal and imagine what your life will be like," Barnett says.
So far, Expatsi travelers have mostly been women ranging in age from 22 to 80 with a cluster around 40 to 65, Barnett says. The group included some couples, though most were solo travelers, and were either people who could work remotely as digital nomads or were planning to retire abroad. Looking ahead, Expatsi is planning for its next trip, also to Portugal and Spain, in September. The company hopes to run eight trips in 2025 and expand to new markets, including around Mexico, France and Italy.As for Barnett and Andrews, their preferences led them to Merida, the capital city of the Yucatan state just off the Gulf of Mexico.