What does living abroad really mean? Obviously, it depends where you are located. The definition of where you are currently living or where you are currently not living is necessary in order to be able to define where living abroad might be.
We were allowed access to the logs of an expatriate web site and discovered that visitors were arriving by using keywords like:
Living abroad for Americans
Living abroad for Australians
Living abroad in the UK
All of these are helpful in clarifying what living abroad means to the individual searcher.
Living abroad or living overseas therefore really means living anywhere except in the country where you are currently located. That also translates into living away from home, whatever home means to each individual.
I would like to imagine a world where home could be anywhere, but is also everywhere. In that case, living abroad would still be living at home.
This is possibly a utopian dream, as we certainly have a long way to go before most can agree to their differences and accept people as they are - as very different as they may be. After all, the difference in cultures is really part of the fun of travelling and meeting people. How boring life would be if we were all to live the same way, talk the same way, do the same things and eat the same food. Life for travellers, perpetual travellers, global nomads and people living abroad would lose a lot of its meaning.
We must therefore strive for better understanding in this world - better understanding of the different cultures and the different peoples. We should not be harsh on those who have not travelled, but accept that travellers have been exposed to different influences. This should not give rise to envy. Our goal therefore, should be to help enable people to have the personal freedom to travel.
Cheap airfares and exchange programmes are encouraging the trend for more travel abroad. However, this trend stands in danger of being crushed if travel restrictions and excessive bureaucracy are allowed to get in the way.
