After more than a year of being back in the United States, I've decided to move back to Europe. In this chapter, I'm going to tell you the five reasons why. Hopefully, if you're thinking about making a move outside of the US to Europe or any other corner of the world, this can help you with your decision too.
This has been a lot harder of a decision than I thought it would be. Honestly, I didn't know until this week what I was going to do. I've kind of been going back and forth between just staying here in this really nice and comfortable apartment that I love or getting back on the road and going out to different countries again. But after contemplating it for a few months, I think it's the right decision for me.
The first reason why I started thinking about going abroad is that coming back to the US was always something temporary for me. I never thought that when I came back, I would stay here forever. So it got to the point that after being here for almost—I think it'll be a year and a half when I actually leave—I just started feeling a little bit restless and asking myself: if I could live anywhere in the world, why would I live here?
At first, the reasons were very much related to my family. I was helping my parents with our senior dog, who sadly passed away last year. My sister was also pregnant with her first baby, and then she suffered a very traumatic experience at work. I also wanted to be here for the birth of my baby nephew. They are now doing better—he's over a year old now.
I felt like the reasons why I came back to the US—to have a break from traveling and help my family with different things—have now been completed. Of course, I want to be around to visit my family, and I can still visit them from anywhere in the world, and they can visit me. But I feel like the main reasons I came back have been fulfilled, and now I'm here thinking: okay, so what's next for me in my life?
The second reason, which you can probably relate to if you're from the United States, is simply the cost of living. It's always been pretty expensive to live in the US compared to other countries because of our economy and the fact that it's a developed country. But over the past few years since the pandemic, things have gotten insanely expensive. Prices have doubled, tripled.
When I first moved to Miami for three months in 2020, right before the pandemic started, my rent was $1,200 per month. This apartment that I'm in right now was $1,800 per month back in 2020. This year, in 2025, my rent is $2,800 per month. That’s just an insight into how much prices have gone up. Everywhere I've lived in Miami over the past few years has just increased from $1,200 to $2,800.
For this rent price, you could live anywhere in the country for a one-bedroom apartment—or anywhere in the world. Being able to work remotely and live wherever I want in the world is a huge advantage. It's really beautiful here, really convenient, and the lifestyle is easy—but it’s very difficult from a cost-of-living perspective. I don't live a crazy lifestyle; I don't buy lots of stuff, but just existing in this country is eye-wateringly expensive.
I found myself thinking: if I can live anywhere in the world and don’t have to be here right now, then why would I stay? Of course, I have friends here and things like that, but I could have the same lifestyle for a third of the price in most other countries—or a much better lifestyle for what I pay to be here. It’s actually cheaper to leave and go to another country than to stay here and pay rent, buy groceries, and take Ubers. Cost of living is definitely a factor. It feels like a big waste of money when I could cut my expenses in half—or by two-thirds—by moving.
The third reason is that Europe simply feels like home. I love it there, and every time I go, I don’t want to leave. When I did an exploratory trip to the Netherlands in April this year, I really didn’t want to leave. The only reason I came back was that I have this apartment, all my stuff, and furniture—I felt like I needed a home base.
I really miss the amazing food, the lower cost of living—even though it's more expensive than a few years ago, it’s still a fraction of what it is here. I miss the lifestyle, the more relaxed pace of life, and the fact that you don’t get that rat race feeling. Even in big cities like London and Paris, people still have a good balance in life.
I miss the people, the community. I don’t know exactly why, maybe it’s because Europe is more condensed compared to the US. There are a lot of travelers, so it’s easy to meet like-minded people. I’ve even walked the streets of Lisbon and run into people who recognized me. It feels like a small community compared to living in a big city like Miami, where it’s rare to bump into someone I know. There are expat groups, meetups—it’s just different from the US.
I miss the bike culture in the Netherlands, taking public transportation everywhere. Even though I don’t have a car here, I rely heavily on Ubers. I miss being able to get on the metro, tram, train, or book a $50 flight anywhere in Europe. From here, I just paid $400 to fly from Miami to Jacksonville last week—it’s just crazy. For $400 in Europe, I could spend a year taking public transportation. I miss the diversity, the history, the culture, and all the things Europe has to offer.
Another big factor is my work. When I’m not traveling abroad, I can’t make news about travel. I can talk about it, but I really like to show it, like I did with the Netherlands, Norway, and other countries. I also help people move abroad for a living. I’ve had a relocation company since 2011, and up until the pandemic, I spent all of those years living in the countries I helped people move to.
The main countries I help people move to are Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Costa Rica—the list goes on, but those are the top seven. I haven’t been living in those countries recently. I went back to Costa Rica temporarily to deal with an administrative banking issue, but I don’t see myself living there again soon. I love Mexico—I’ve been traveling there since I was 16—but most of my clients are moving to those top five European countries.
Being in Europe is helpful for my clients, my business. I talk to so many people every day—hundreds of inquiries per month—and it’s helpful to be in the countries I’m making news about and helping clients move to. Being there in person, understanding time zones, and keeping up with changing visa rules provides extra benefit. None of my clients are moving to Miami, so that’s another reason to go back.
The last reason is one of the biggest. If you’ve been following my journey, you know I’ve wanted citizenship in Romania and a European passport. I’ve been working on this all year. A couple of weeks ago, I received my grandfather’s naturalization card from the Office of Genealogy in the United States. This shows his immigration card from Romania and when he became naturalized in the US.
The next step is to go to Romania, learn the language, and pass the language test and interview to get my Romanian passport. I’m thinking it might take a minimum of 3–6 months. I’ll apply for a digital nomad visa or another type of visa to stay in Romania and continue collecting the documents for citizenship.
This week, my landlord asked if I would renew my lease, which is coming up at the end of October, so I had to decide. I plan to take the next couple of months to downsize my belongings and prepare to leave this apartment—not letting this comfort zone hold me back from what I feel is next in my life.
This comes not just from the reasons I mentioned, but also from an intuitive knowing that it’s time to do something different. That feeling is something you should never ignore. From talking to thousands of people moving abroad, the idea of living abroad starts as a tiny thought—“Oh, I wonder if I could live in Italy someday”—and grows until you finally can’t ignore it. After watching hundreds of videos or reaching out for help, you finally take action.
It’s the same for me. When I feel it’s time for a change—whether it’s a job, relationship, or location—I follow that intuition. That’s what I’m doing now.
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