{"id":17914,"date":"2015-04-01T08:26:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T13:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=17914"},"modified":"2021-08-23T10:44:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:44:06","slug":"useful-tips-on-moving-to-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2015\/04\/useful-tips-on-moving-to-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Useful Tips on Moving to Colombia (and Abroad)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Emigrating to a new country can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience whichever way you look at it &#8211; we&#8217;re talking about<strong> relocating your entire life, meeting new people, finding new places to live and hang out, setting up new phone contracts, bank accounts etc<\/strong>&#8230;it&#8217;s a tough thing to get your head around. As a blog largely written by expats in Colombia, we know all too well what the challenges are as regards emigrating to a new country, specifically Colombia (you could probably guess that part though, right?!). <strong>Being an immigrant to a new country can be scary, exciting, life-changing&#8230;one thing it always is, is tricky!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>HiFX recently produced <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hifx.co.uk\/blog\/?p=90\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a really useful checklist infographic<\/a> running you through the basics (and more complex parts) of relocating to a new country:<strong> it lays out the process step-by-step, and even offers a helpful timeframe<\/strong> for your move. I&#8217;d highly recommend checking it out. And here&#8217;s my contribution to the whole thing:<strong> some top tips that got me through my move to Colombia:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_17503\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17503\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2015\/02\/paway-centro-ecoturistico-amazonico-mocoa\/attachment\/129\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17503\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17503\" src=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/129.jpg\" alt=\"Paway Centro Ecoturistico Amaz\u00f3nico, Mocoa\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/129.jpg 800w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/129-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-17503\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moving abroad can make you feel lost and confused&#8230;(much like I am in this shot!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Figure out where you want to live <i>well <\/i>in advance<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is essential,<strong> especially if you&#8217;re moving to a big city<\/strong> like Bogota with varying characteristics throughout the city. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a hotel or hostel for weeks, blowing your moving budget on a room you don&#8217;t even want! Do some research: for instance, <strong>I chose Chapinero for its proximity to bars, cafes and culture, as well as its central location<\/strong> between the north of the city, and La Candelaria. Sub-tib: find some websites or Facebook groups with room listings early, <strong>so you have an idea of what&#8217;s available and prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Try and make some pre-friends&#8230;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pre-friends?! Basically, using the vast web of social media that we have at our fingertips,<strong> get in touch with some people<\/strong> (other expats can be useful, as they can share their experiences) before your move. In a huge, strange city <strong>this can be the difference between a few miserable weeks and a great introduction to your new home.<\/strong> For Colombia there are great expat Facebook groups and Internations as well. If you have a specific interest or hobby, see if there&#8217;s a group for it (CouchSurfing can be good for that) and get in touch. <strong>You can even email us here at See Colombia: we&#8217;re always happy to meet new honorary Colombians!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13782\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13782\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2014\/03\/salsa-in-colombia\/gringos-salsa\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13782\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13782\" src=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Gringos-Salsa.jpg\" alt=\"Gringos Salsa\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Gringos-Salsa.jpg 800w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Gringos-Salsa-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13782\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Night&#8217;s like Gringo Tuesdays can be a good way to meet other expats&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Learn a bit!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This one is purely subjective, but I feel it&#8217;s made a huge difference to my 3+ years as an expat in 2 countries &#8211; <strong>do some research, buy (and read) some books&#8230;learn something about the history, culture and people of your future home<\/strong>. It&#8217;s great to speak the language obviously, but I have found that people really respond to even the most basic knowledge of their country. Ignorance is never the best position to be in, so fix that! <strong>A bit of local knowledge could even save you from more serious problems<\/strong>&#8230;<a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/09\/books-you-should-read-before-coming-to-colombia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">We have a good list right here of some excellent books to read<\/a> before coming to Colombia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be open to new things<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This might seem obvious, but you&#8217;re in a new country now, and what might seem forward is just people being friendly and welcoming&#8230;<strong>accept all (reasonable) invites.<\/strong> Colombians are often more open that English people so I had to learn early on that what seemed overtly friendly was just Colombians being Colombians. <strong>This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point; learn and understand the culture you&#8217;re relocating to, and adjust your conceptions accordingly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9598\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9598\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/08\/yet-more-reasons-why-colombians-are-simply-the-best\/colombia-paraguay-wcup-soccer\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9598\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9598\" src=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/happy-colombians-e1385567902306.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Colombians\" width=\"800\" height=\"521\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9598\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And hopefully you&#8217;ll met plenty of these Colombias&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hopefully this post helps a little if you&#8217;re planning on moving here<\/strong> (or anywhere for that matter); these are obviously just my little tips, and, with prior expat experience in Venezuela, my move to Colombia was pretty smooth to be honest. But<strong> if you <i>are <\/i>planning a move here don&#8217;t hesitate to contact me with your questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Emigrating to a new country can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience whichever way you look at it &#8211; we&#8217;re talking about relocating your entire life, meeting new people, finding new places to live and hang out, setting up new phone contracts, bank accounts etc&#8230;it&#8217;s a tough thing to get your head around. As a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":17919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[115,4,97,1632,1],"tags":[2735,356,2882],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.4 (Yoast SEO v18.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Useful Tips on Moving to Colombia (and Abroad) - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2015\/04\/useful-tips-on-moving-to-colombia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Useful Tips on Moving to Colombia (and Abroad)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Emigrating to a new country can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience whichever way you look at it &#8211; we&#8217;re talking about relocating your entire life, meeting new people, finding new places to live and hang out, setting up new phone contracts, bank accounts etc&#8230;it&#8217;s a tough thing to get your head around. 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In nearly 4 years in the country, I have visited 31 of Colombia's 32 departments, and that last 1 is on the way! Colombia has been my home for years and I'm still not bored of exploring its diversity and magic, and getting to know its wonderful people. 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