Categoría: Expat Living

I meet tourists everyday who say they want to move to Costa Rica. And then what they say immediately after that is, “I guess I have to wait until I retire…” (insert sad face here).

Guys! This is simply just NOT the truth.

I moved here when I was 29 years old without being retired (and I am not rich), and it was really not that hard. Of course moving to another country has its challenges (which I tell you more about in another article), but the point is, if you are dreaming of moving to Costa Rica or another country, I want to let you know that YOU CAN!

In this post, I will share with you how I quit my job and moved to Costa Rica (without being retired!) and how you can do it too in 4 simple steps!

How I Quit my Job and Moved to Costa Rica

The reason why I moved here in the first place was because I met my husband, who is Costa Rican, on my first trip to Costa Rica (you can read more about our story here). I had fallen in love with both him and Costa Rica all in that same trip. Even if I hadn´t fallen in love with Fernando, I´m pretty sure I would have still ended up moving to Costa Rica on my own anyways. It just felt like home to me. I´m originally from Wisconsin, and had always dreamed of living somewhere tropical (I hate winter!)…I just had no idea it would come to fruition in another country! But on that first trip to Costa Rica, I just felt it my gut. This is where I was supposed to be.

After returning home from that trip (I was living in Minneapolis at the time), Fernando and I started skyping for hours every day. The falling in love part happened really fast, and 5 months later I was back in Costa Rica. We had talked about me moving there and I needed to go back to spend more time with Fer in person (it felt too crazy to be in love with someone via skype) and also see if I really could see myself living in Costa Rica. We traveled around the country together and long story short- the answer to both questions was YES! We got engaged on that trip and then I returned back to Minneapolis to start the process of actually making the move.

The actual process was pretty simple. I made the decision, quit my job, sold my stuff and moved. If you are considering moving to Costa Rica (or another country), keep reading to see the 4 steps I took and that you can take to do it too!

How You Can Too in 4 Simple Steps

1. Visit Costa Rica for More Than Just a Week

It happens all the time. You came to Costa Rica for a one week vacation, fell in love with the pura vida lifestyle and now you want to quit your job and move here. AWESOME! However, the reality is that vacationing in Costa Rica and actually living here are 2 completely different things. In fact, about 60% of expats end up moving back to where they came from! So before you completely pick up your life and move here, I highly recommend giving it a “test drive” first to see if it really is the right move for you.  What you should do during your test drive:

• Stay for at least a month (3 months would be even better)
• Don`t stay in a hotel, rent a house or an apartment in a local neighborhood
• Make friends with the neighbors and talk to as many locals as you can!
• Travel to the different areas that interest you to live
• Do normal everyday stuff like go to the bank, the hardware store, the post office, etc. to get a feel for what life is like
• Test out if you will need a car (rent a car for part of your time here, and then use public transportation the other half)

2. Make the Decision to SAY YES!

This seems like a no-brainer, but I think this is the step that holds most people back from ever making the move.

You need to SAY YES with conviction!  Feel confident in your choice!

I knew I wanted to live the kind of life where I could watch the sunset everyday, not be stuck in traffic on my 45 minute commute home from work when it was already dark out!

You can do this no matter how crazy other people think you are.  Trust me, I had my fair share of naysayers, Debbie Downers and Negative Nancys… who all thought I was insane for dropping my “American Dream Life” to move to a less developed country.  But I didn`t care.  I knew in my gut that moving to Costa Rica was the right choice for me, and it was one of the best choices I`ve ever made in my life.

Live your life for YOU, not for other people.

3. Make an Action Plan & Execute It

This step is super exciting, like packing for a vacation except on a much bigger scale!  There will be a lot of logistics that go into making the big move, so make a list of what you need to do and then ACTUALLY DO IT. Seems super simple in theory, but just like anything else in life, humans have a hard time with change and many people just do not take action. So make your plan and take action.

To prepare for my move to Costa Rica, these were the logistics I needed to take care of before I could leave:

• Quit my job
• Find out what the penalty was for breaking the lease of my apartment (it was $1200 so I just had to bite the bullet)
• Make a plan for work (like I mentioned before, I was not rich or retired and needed to figure out how I would make money!)
• Rent an apartment (this one was easy for me because I was moving in with my fiance, and he took care of that part)
• Sell my stuff (furniture, car, extra clothes, etc)
• Prepare my cat for the move (vet visit, current vaccinations, buy him an airline ticket)
• Buy my ONE WAY TICKET!  
• Get some quality family time in (I dedicated 2 weeks of pure family & friend visiting time before I left)

Depending on your current life situation, your action plan could be just as simple as mine or you may need to add a couple extra things (like if you have kids- where will they go to school?).  So think about your needs and figure it out one step at a time.  There will be moments where you feel like you`re stuck and you might start to doubt yourself, but do not get discouraged. Every logistical “problem” has an answer!

4. Go and Don`t Look Back

 
At this point, you`ve already “practiced” living in Costa Rica, you`ve SAID YES to the move and you`ve taken care of the logistics. Now, get on that plane and go!

For me, this was the hardest part. I think I cried for about 24 hours non- stop with my family and friends before I actually got on that flight. It is not easy to leave the people you love and who love you, and I will not lie and tell you that it gets easier. Four years later, this is still the hardest part for me and really the only thing that I don`t like about living here. But this is part of the sacrifice I had to make in order to follow my heart and live the life I wanted to create for myself, together with my husband. I`m grateful everyday for the life I`m living and am so happy I gave this gift to myself!

The good news is that if making the move doesn`t turn out the way you expected, you can always go back to where you came from! I was confident to make the move because I knew that if it didn`t work out for any reason, I could just go home. I could get my job back. I could get a new apartment. I could buy new things again. Life would go on.

So go and don`t look back!….unless the person behind you on the plane is kicking your seat, then you can look back and give them the eye! haha!