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Ten Truths About Being 30 & Living Abroad Solo

August 24, 2015 by Rika 16 Comments

We’re gonna get straight into the nitty-gritty here folks. I turned 30 this year after three years of living the expat life solo, and I’ve learned a thing or two (or 10). Sometimes it fucking sucks and sometimes it rocks my socks. So I made a list for you, because I’m a nice person. Or because I’m a bit snarky sometimes. Who knows.

me turning 30 abroad solo
credit: jackson photography

Here are five shitty truths about being 30 and living abroad solo:

1) You will check Facebook daily, and daily you will not be able to figure out who half the people in your newsfeed are. You just want to see what your friends from home are up to….well, what they’re up to is getting married and changing their Facebook name to something you don’t recognize, changing their profile picture to a picture of a newborn baby, and writing status updates about mortgage payments and 3am feedings. You will be able to relate to absolutely zero of this. You will mildly protest all your friends turning into strangers by posting fabulous photos of you on the beach drinking margaritas at 11am. Your friends will not care because they are too busy with their mortgages and babies.

2) There is such a thing as a two day hangover, and it arrives basically as soon as you turn 30. Sorry. This will be especially rough for you if you’re in an expat location like mine, where drinking at 9am is both an acceptable and expected activity.

3) No one really knows what the hell you’re doing wherever you are, and so, “when are you coming home?” is basically the only thing you’re gonna get out of people these days. When you answer, “I don’t know” or “maybe next year”, the conversation will grind to an awkward halt.

4) Your friends will silently (or not-so-silently) judge you for not spending eleven billion dollars to fly home for their wedding. Fun fact: they will not visit you once during the years you’re living in some fantastic destination.

5) You will constantly, constantly, have people assuming the only reason you’re in your expat location and staying there for any length of time is because you’ve met a local and are in a relationship with them. (Like, for no other reason would anyone want to live abroad….?)

And here are five awesome truths about being 30 and living abroad solo:

1) You can basically ignore all your friends and family asking when you’re getting married and having kids by simply claiming a poor foreign internet connection, closing the laptop, and heading off to the beach instead. Sorry Grandma, can’t hear youuuuuu!

2) You might have a two day hangover, but no one here is judging… because everyone is always hungover. And you got that queen size bed in your studio apartment allllll to yourself to roll around in feeling like death but kinda luxurious cause you don’t gotta share with bae. Also you can just yell to your neighbors kids to please go to the pulperia and bring you a gatorade and they will do it for like a dollar. (Not that I’ve ever done that. Cough cough. Yep. Never.) That’s way easier than pleading with a boyfriend to please go out and get you some crackers so you don’t die.

3) No one knows what you’re doing! You can do anything you want! If I want to sit on the dock all day in a tutu with a pet iguana drinking wine spritzers and blasting Spice Girls on a boombox, no one here is going to tell me I can’t. Actually, it will probably start a party.

4) You can get out of basically any event you don’t want to go to back at home by sending screencaps of flight prices. I have no Tyga to buy me flights and $320,000 Ferraris, sorry people, the RSVP is a no gracias.

5) You can make up imaginary partners whenever you need to – if locals are harassing you (make up imaginary boyfriend from your home country) or if your parents are harassing you (make up imaginary boyfriend from your adopted country). Everybody wins!

I always have to put disclaimers on posts like these because people get offended. So here is the disclaimer: if you are my friend or family, obviously I love you even if you are posting too much about your kids diapers (honestly though please stop) or asking me all the time when I’m coming back. Everyone else, feel free to be offended!


Have you ever lived abroad solo? Did I miss anything? (Also: are you a scientist who can explain why the hell hangovers suddenly get 487 times worse once you turn 30? REVEAL YOUR SECRETS.)




Guys, make sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter … there’s lots of extras posted there that don’t make it onto the blog. I also have Google+ if anyone even uses that? And I’m on Bloglovin’, so you can follow me there too! Plus it makes me try to post more than once a month. So there’s that.

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Filed Under: Expat Living, Figuring It Out, Home, Life, Real Talk Tagged With: Funny, Hilarious, Musings, Things to Know Before You Go

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alex, Denglish Speaker says

    August 27, 2015 at 5:43 am

    omg 4 and 5. dying right now. I feel ya!

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 28, 2015 at 8:20 am

      Yeah girl!! I know you feel me on the expat stuff!

      Reply
  2. Brandi says

    August 27, 2015 at 4:08 am

    I’m an expat and live abroad – but not solo.

    I can say, even with a partner, no one seems to visit (weird!) I live in Scotland. We have whisky. And accents! And castles! Why does no one want to visit me here but whinge when I can’t get home constantly?!

    Also, my dad asks me when I’m having a kid more than anyone else..

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 27, 2015 at 5:06 am

      Ummm, *I* want to visit Scotland!!! Whisky, accents and castles are pretty much all the best things.

      Reply
      • Brandi says

        August 28, 2015 at 2:16 am

        Well, you are always welcome! As of the beginning of the year we’ll have a spare bedroom. And I have a cat. 😉

        But seriously, I’m from a small town (less than 2,000 people) and no one really travels..

        Reply
        • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

          August 28, 2015 at 8:20 am

          Not sure I’ll find a travel deal from Roatan to Scotland, but you never know!! 😉

          Reply
  3. Jenn says

    August 26, 2015 at 5:12 am

    I love this post, and I love this life!
    I started out traveling alone, and just married a man I met on my travels. Life on TheRoad is never gonna stop, the only difference is that now I have to share that bed when I’m suffering the hangovers 😉

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 27, 2015 at 5:07 am

      That’s an amazing love story to meet during travels!! I thought that would happen to me when I set out but here we are years and years later and no one 🙂 Not sure I’d like having someone see me in my horrible hungover condition anyway though 😉

      Reply
  4. Lucy says

    August 25, 2015 at 1:22 pm

    Great hilarious post! We are 25 and 28 traveling and EVERYONE is getting married, having babies, buying second houses blah blah blah! I can hardly relate to anyone anymore. But being able to fake internet connection failure is definitely a plus when I get sick of all the same old questions! Our families are big into sending photos of things we can not get abroad as a mean way to say come home. Like momma’s home-made chocolate cake. Assholes! Thanks for your honesty!

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 26, 2015 at 3:35 am

      Hahah – I have a lot of friends from home who tag me in pictures of sushi and other delicious food they know I can’t get on my little Caribbean island… jerks hehe 🙂

      Reply
  5. Justine @thetravellush says

    August 25, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    Ahaha, this is hilarious. And so true! I’m 33 and living in SE Asia with my boyfriend. So I’m not solo but I can totally relate to pretty much everything you’ve said. The Facebook thing feels especially weird. I feel like my feed is 95% babies and wedding photos!!! Such a different world than the one I’m living in!

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 26, 2015 at 3:34 am

      A lot of this is just for anyone living abroad isn’t it! The Facebook thing is so bizarre. It feels like a lot of my friends are strangers now – new names and all they want to talk about is their kids. I find it hard to relate and it’s a little sad, but I guess that’s just life 🙂

      Reply
  6. Sue says

    August 25, 2015 at 5:59 am

    So much of this rings true! My loved ones use to always ask when I was next visiting more than when I was coming home. I explained to my olds that every trip I made back to Australia meant another year living in London

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 26, 2015 at 3:33 am

      Ooooh, that’s a great line – gonna borrow that!

      Reply
  7. Ashley says

    August 25, 2015 at 2:25 am

    Haha I love this- I’m 25 and freaking out because everyone’s apparently getting married all of a sudden!

    Reply
    • Rika - Cubicle Throwdown says

      August 26, 2015 at 3:33 am

      Wait till you’re 30 and they start getting divorced – you’ll be smug and free entertainment on your FB newsfeed! I was so bummed out when I was 25 and everyone was getting married, but now that I see so many of them getting divorced, I think I might have dodged a bullet!

      Reply

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i’m rika!

hiya! i'm a canadian paralegal-turned-scuba diving instructor-turned EFL teacher-turned digital nomad. i left my cubicle in 2012 and haven't looked back since. i'm a serial expat, but right now i'm back in canada on hiatus for a while. welcome to the place where i say things.

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