I love Paris in the summer.

It seems to me that the further north you go, the stranger the people get. Well, if you believed everything you see in their films, that is.

White Night Wedding is an Icelandic film, set in the middle of summer when it’s light all day and all night long. That’s kinda weird in itself. This is part comedy, part drama. Would have been better as one or the other.

Movie #: 24

Who am I kidding, I knew it was going to be crap but I just couldn’t resist. For serious SATC fans only.

Movie #: 23

I saw this cute little English movie today. Tamara Drewe goes back to the little village where she grew up with intentions of selling her late mother’s house. Once there she manages to get in trouble with the locals and all the men who seem to be after her. Quite a quirky movie with some of the characters kind of half done but it was fun anyway.

Movie #: 22

For the last several decades, though, Emma has been living an expat lifestyle all over the world– in Dubai, Scotland, Switzerland, and now finally in Malta.

Here’s what’s most intriguing about her, though… she’s always worked. Even as a 70-year old widow in Malta, she still has a job.

I recognize that a lot of people are scared to expatriate simply out of financial anxiety; they don’t know how they could find a job, make money, and pay the bills. Even with three children to take care of, though, Emma never let that uncertainty stop her.

You see, Emma always had supreme confidence in her own abilities to add value everywhere she went; she’s hard working, intelligent, and resourceful, and she knew that she would always be able to put those qualities to work for someone everywhere she went.

She was right. Even in male-dominant cultures like Dubai in the 1970s and 1980s, Emma was able to find work and thrive. Moreover, she religiously saved her wages, believing in the old adage “waste not, want not.”

For this reason, she says, she has been able to accumulate substantial retirement savings, even though she never held an extremely high paying job.

Read the full article at Sovereign Man, a really interesting blog about living the expat lifestyle. About the blog:

I’m a student of the world, and I believe that travel is the greatest teacher. My knowledge is practical, and hopefully of significant use to you. Off the top of my head I could quote you the price of beachfront property in Croatia, where to bank in Dubai, the best place to store gold in Singapore, which cities in Mexico are the safest, which hospitals in Asia are the most cost effective, and how to find condo foreclosure listings in Panama.

I believe that in order to achieve true freedom, you have to be able to make money, control your time, and eliminate the mindset that you are subject to a corrupt government that is bent on degrading your personal liberty.

You don’t have to be a slave to geography anymore; live where you want, how you want.

You can take control of your time and spend it how you want, not how others tell you

You can live a luxurious and worry-free lifestyle overseas that would be unaffordable elsewhere

You can make money anywhere, whether it’s China, Panama, New Zealand, or online

My second impression of the city was not as good as the first which is surprising seeing as the weather was much better this time around, well, except for the Saturday when it rained like cats and dogs. The city is pretty, don’t get me wrong, I love the Flemish style architecture. It just seemed a little like peasantville to me.

I know a lot of Parisians (real Parisians) look down on those from the provinces and sometimes I completely understand why. They’re a backward lot!

Disneyland Paris

Seeing as L is THE expert on Disney, she showed us around and explained how it all worked. We started at the very tame Haunted House and then went on some other tame, but fun, rides including:

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• It’s a Small World
• Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups
• Autopia
• Le Carrousel de Lancelot
• The Land of Fairy Tales

My favourite was probably the carrousel and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. I was pretty dizzy after the tea cups, lol. The least interesting was the Land of Fairy Tales boat ride but seeing as we didn’t have to wait to get on, no biggy. The Autopia was the most disappointing because we waited for almost an hour and it was pretty boring. We should have skipped that and gone home.

The more exciting rides were of course the roller coasters. We only did two, Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones, because we ran out of time. I know they aren’t super big roller coasters but I love that kind of thing so was happy. I wasn’t expecting the 360 on the Indiana Jones ride so that was a bit of a shock, lol. Felt a bit light headed after that

I’m going to try to go back next week before F heads off on holiday but it’ll all depend on the weather. Thanks to L for showing us around!

I’m sure if I went to the hairdresser every 6-8 weeks as they suggest, I’d end up with a crew cut within the year.

Here are the 7 most common excuses for not becoming an expat according to Escape From America Magazine:

1)     “I couldn’t possibly relocate at the moment because I have school-age children, and I wouldn’t want to upset their educational progress.”

There are thousands of international schools spanning every continent and almost every single nation in the world – what’s more, if you commit to a permanent move abroad your child could well settle in to a local educational establishment.  You may even discover that they thrive in a new nation and through the medium of a new language.

2)     “I’d love to retire abroad but I have a medical condition that restricts me.”

Remember that there are doctors, hospitals, clinics and drug stores abroad!  What’s more, healthcare and dentistry overseas can be anywhere up to 75% cheaper than in the US for the same or even higher standards of care and medicine!

3)     “I’m not ready to retire, I still need to earn an income so I couldn’t possibly expatriate.”

According to a well-respected international survey of expatriates conducted by HSBC, a leading bank of the world, expatriate professionals earn on average 25% more than their peers back home.

4)     “I’d love to move but I’d miss my family too much.”

Think about the fact that the technologically advanced age we live in means that you can speak to people all over the world for free thanks to the likes of Skype.

You can bet your bottom dollar that they will come and visit and stay for prolonged periods of time and embrace the life you’ve steeped yourself in very willingly.  So, you’ll be able to enjoy quality time with them very single year rather than you all taking each other for granted when you see each other every day as you currently do!

5)     “I couldn’t do what you’ve done, I’d just be so lonely.”

I have never had more friends in my life than since I have become an expat.  Expats stick together, and expatriate friendships forged from a common place of excitement and adventure tinged with some trepidation are firm and lasting – surviving distances of thousands of miles when one or other in the friendship group relocates somewhere else!  So, no matter how many friends you think you have now, I can guarantee you will make more friends, and in some instances much better friends, once you move abroad.

6)     “I’m a patriot so I couldn’t become an expatriate – I’d be turning my back on my country.”

Just because you love everything about your current country, if you still want to expand your horizons and see more of the world, why shouldn’t you move abroad?  Not living in a country doesn’t mean you have turned your back on it.  Hell, Americans still have to pay tax back to the good old US of A when they expatriate anyway, and how much more ‘love’ can you show your country than contributing to its tax coffers!

7)     “I have too many ties that I just can’t sever so I can’t move abroad.”

This is the underlying restriction that really limits every single person, no matter which excuse they choose to voice about why they couldn’t possibly move abroad.  ‘The ties that bind’ us are an illusion – you are not physically tied to any one object, commitment or person, (unless you’re kinky), but if you choose to think of yourself as being restricted in life by your life, that is exactly what you will be.  You will be restricted in your choices, your opportunities, your happiness and your chances in life…and the only person placing those restrictions on you is you.

I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons people come up with for not following their dreams of moving abroad. Take action or stop complaining about your miserable lives, one or the other.