Making the Decision - Do I Stay or Do I Go?

If your company is asking you to relocate to a foreign country, then you have a big decision to make. Can you pass up this opportunity of a lifetime? Are you the kind of person who can pull up stakes, leave your comfortable American home, familiar city, friends and family, and take up the challenge of living abroad? Will you accept the challenge of making your home away from the comforts of home?

Think of the challenges of moving within the United States, say to California or Wisconsin or Texas, and the cultural adjustments involved for you and your family, even just moving from the West Coast to the Southeast or Midwest. You will be dealing with different upbringings, values, school curriculums, home values, and activities. Now think of relocating to Germany, South Africa, or Peru, and the additional logistical issues when you throw in learning a new language, dealing with immigration officials, medical access, traveling long distances, cars and money. Are you up for it? Can you do it?

If you are reading this book, then you are on the right path. Researching this potential life change is the best way for you to evaluate your chances for success, or failure. Only you can decide what is best for you and your loved ones, and Cultural Crossroads will help you evaluate the factors that can assist you in making this life-changing determination.

Once granted the option to move abroad, many would-be expatriates are like juggernauts, ready for the experience. The excitement gets under their skin. This is the chance of a lifetime! Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to go abroad – and get paid to do so?

Unlike the freedom of travel merely for brief work or vacation, expatriates will be making a new "nest." It may not be possible to visit the country before making the big move, but virtual resources can be good preparation. Scope out homes, taste the culture and imagine living abroad for an extended period of time. Create a virtual day and imagine that far from home.

As part of the research, keep a list of pros and cons updated as knowledge accumulates. As the cons list grows, consider solutions and resources to make the new country the best fit for you and your family. Move cons to the pros side as problems are solved with resources – virtual and real – in this new country.

"I had always wanted to travel the world," writes one expatriate, Marisa. "I wanted to see everything, but had chosen a more practical profession. So I was thrilled when my company offered me a promotion and a posting in Hong Kong! I accepted before even thinking about it, a decision I haven't regretted, but that came with its own issues that manifested all too quickly."

Take a breath. Sit down and begin planning out what toll the move could possibly have on your family, your career, and yourself. The move may bring about good changes – a chance at increased pay or promotion, a chance to experience a foreign country, a chance to introduce children to another language early on. But other changes might not be so simple. Deciding to move abroad r