Category: Relocating & Living Abroad

Could you really leave America and move abroad in just 30 days? In this video, we work through the challenge[…]

Albania can be affordable. That doesn’t mean affordability should be the reason you choose it. In this video, we talk[…]

What is it really like to have a baby in Albania as an American? We sat down with Annie in[…]

Before we left the United States, we spent years watching housing debates play out where we lived — particularly in Santa Cruz. Again and again, we heard the same explanations for why housing had become so expensive: shortages, regulations, market forces. What was missing was any real connection between those outcomes and the local decisions…

🇦🇱 I went to the dentist in Albania — and for the first time in decades, it didn’t feel like something to dread. In this video, I walk you through a real, everyday dental experience here in Shkodër — from panoramic X-rays and professional cleaning to multiple fillings — and then break down what it…

Since arriving in Shkodër, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about finding a place to live — and whether we can refer people to a real estate agent here. Rather than answer those questions ourselves, we thought it would be more helpful to hear directly from someone who works in the market every day….

When people consider a move to Albania, one of the most common pieces of advice they hear is to buy electronics before they leave — computers, phones, cameras, all of it. In our experience, that advice just doesn’t hold up. So for this video, we documented a couple of electronics purchases we made here in…

What is healthcare in Albania actually like? We went in for our first health screening in Shkodër to see how the system works — private hospitals, public care, insurance, and real out-of-pocket costs. If you’ve ever wondered whether you need insurance to access care abroad, this is what we experienced on the ground. In this…

A year isn’t long enough to become a local. But it is long enough to see what daily life actually asks of you. When we arrived in Shkodër, Albania in April of 2025, everything felt new. Every walk through town felt like reconnaissance. Every café was a discovery. Every small interaction carried a little uncertainty….

Americans can live in Albania longer than most visitors. But after one year, we still have to leave for 90 days. After spending a full year building a life in Shkodër, Albania, we’ve reached a moment that surprises a lot of people who dream about living abroad. Because even though Americans get special treatment when…