While doing my daily RSS Feed reading on blogline, I came across this post that certainly has my attention. I totally agree with what it says on the post. If you ever plan to stay in other country for more than a year, you should take time to visit that country before you move. Thing may not always be the way you expect. The culture, the reality and the society don’t look pretty after the first sight.
You can read the original post from mytropicalescape.com, which has some travel related topics.
If you are thinking about moving overseas and can afford it PLEASE take a trip and spend some time in the country that you are planning to move to. Sometimes the reality of a country is not what the soon to be expect dreams about. A tremendous amount of frustration and wasted energy can be avoided if a pre-move trip is made.
Especially, if you are going to Asia, the climate, living environment, culture and even government policy may cause you some troubles. If you visit those countries for vacation, you may not feel the pain. Once you moved to the country for a period of time, you start seeing different things that you don’t expect. So set a schedule and visit those countries before you move.
I will recommend a backpack trip to those countries. Don’t carry luggage. You may need to catch the train and find your luggage too heavy. 
You should always spend at least 2-3 weeks in a country before you move there and visit a few times.
Are you the same Terence Chang that went to Union College?
@Natalie:
No. I am not. Your question inspired me!
Thank you for stopping by from JohnChow.com
Wow, you and the other Terence Chang even look the same. His name was Terence Kwan Yu Chang. Anyway you take some beautiful pictures, I love the pictures of China you took and would definitely love to go down that scenic river with the green mountains!
@Natalie:
I have link back to your blog and hoping you can find the Terence Chang you knew. Ask him to stop by my blog. I would like to build a funny Terence Chang social network for all “Terence Chang.”
You can help me on this one at Are you Terence Chang?
Thanks!
Terence ~ thanks for the pingback! I have been a little dormant lately getting a new business up and running. Glad to see that you are doing very well in the Technorati ranking.
@Mark:
You are welcome. I always love to read your travel relate topics. That opens my eyes. Wondering what new business you are up to these days!
You are very right. It is a good idea to spend a bit of time in the place you are thinking of moving to before you actually make the move. You may be in for the surprise of your life. I must say however that when I moved to New Zealand I had not been here before but so far everything is going well. My wife would mention moving to China or Hong Kong now and then and we went there on holiday last year and now she is having second thoughts about spending a few years there. This had to do with some of the things you mentioned in your post such as the climate, living environment, culture.
@Gerri:
I did not know that you are at New Zealand. I thought you were at New York. I lived in Asia for 30 years. Now I am used to the dry desert weather in Arizona.
Boy I can vouch for this post. I imagine moving to another country especially. I am in the U.S. and my family moved across the country to just another state. After 2 years I hated it and had to go home. I’m not sorry for the experience, but we went what we talked about with friends.
ABSOLUTELY visit before moving anywhere!
Tee hee, just thought it was a great post that I could relate to! Have a great day – Earthshines
@earthshines:
I did not know that travel cross states will have such an impact. I only visit less than 10 states. I doubt that I will be able to live one year in each states.
Terence
You raise a good idea.But most people cannot afford visiting a country before moving to it. The financial aspect is difficult to fulfill.
@Clement:
That’s a brutal fact! Not many people have financial support. I always enjoy my travel, but I guess not many people can have the enjoyment. Especially, when the company sent you to a place you don’t want to go.
Thank you for stopping by!