Netherlands > Expat Experiences

Who are you?

My name is Austyn Smith and I'm a podcaster, blogger, and mother of four.


Where, when and why did you move abroad?

We moved two years ago (2017) from the United States to the Netherlands (just south of Amsterdam) for my husband's job.


What challenges did you face during the move?

I moved with a two-month-old baby and three other children into a small hotel while we waited for our shipment to arrive. This was a logistical nightmare as the kids were bored, the baby was constantly woken up from the noise, and I was sleep deprived.    more ...

Who are you?

My name is Lindsay Rubino, and I’m a freelance writer and editor from New Jersey in the U.S. I’m 30 years old and have lived abroad for 6 years in total.


Where, when and why did you move abroad?

I moved to Belgium in August 2013 to join my boyfriend, who is Dutch.    more ...

Who are you?

My name is Stuart Billinghurst. I’m an accident prone Englishman and the writer of InvadingHolland.com.    more ...

Who are you?

I'm British but the Netherlands has been my home since 2000. My husband is Dutch, and my three sons have both Dutch and British nationalities. I'm a writer and blogger and you can find my stories in expat anthologies such as Dutched Up!, Once Upon an Expat and Knocked Up Abroad Again.    more ...

Who are you?

I'm an American freelance journalist who was born in Los Angeles but spent most of my adult life in Newport Beach, California (of reality show The OC fame). After graduating from UCLA in 1973, I launched my career as a travel writer for the American Automobile Club (AAA). Since 2012, I've shared passion for my adopted city at UnClogged in Amsterdam: An American Expat Plumbs Holland.    more ...

Who are you?

I was born and raised in Southern Russia (where tomatoes get special treatment from that natural sunlight that makes them taste like juicy candy; something like Italy, only Russian.) I bake good French bread plus cakes and cookies for a living and hold a degree in English Metaphor. I view myself as a writer. My beginnings are still modest. I started with a blog, it happens to circle around food, but not just that.    more ...

Who are you?

Lisa Jochim

Where, when and why did you move abroad?

I moved from the USA in July, 2011 with my husband and youngest child who was 15 at the time. My husband took a new job with a new company.

What challenges did you face during the move?

The language difference is a big challenge but we were so happy that most people in The Netherlands speak English.    more ...

Who are you?

Juliet Thompson Hochman. Can't quite let go of my maiden name.

Where, when and why did you move abroad?

We moved from Portland, Oregon to Amsterdam in the summer of 2012 so that my husband could take a job with Nike Europe. In truth, he came out to Amsterdam eight months ahead of us so our two sons could finish elementary school and middle school in the US.

What challenges did you face during the move?

Really none. Nike does a good job supporting their expats and I am a pretty organized person, so it was just logistics. My lists had sublists. This was complicated by our staggered move and the fact that our older son is at boarding school in the US. But everything got to where it was supposed to go.    more ...

Life has taken many turns but it's all led to where I am now, a writer and American expat living in the Netherlands. This adventure was a long time coming, and began three years ago when my husband took a position with an international organization here in The Hague. We came when our son was in high school and our daughter was in middle school, but now find ourselves parenting across continents and time zones: she continues at the international high school here but he's graduated and back in the US attending university.

Ever since childhood I've been fascinated by international events, wanting to travel far and wide, see the world and experience new countries and cultures. A turn living in Mexico during college only whetted my appetite for more, and I made it my career. Along the way I met and married an Adult Third Culture Kid who grew up in Italy and had lived for a time in England. We've always traveled and wanted to give our children the experience of living in another culture and seeing the world from different perspectives; finally an opportunity came along we couldn't pass up.    more ...

I'm Julie, 27 years old, French (Parisian).

I moved to Rotterdam end of April 2011 to follow my partner who has been transferred over there.

What challenges did I face during the move? I didn’t know I must register to the cityhall and give some papers to get the sofi number to be considered as citizen. I needed this number to find a work, to be paid, to open an account, to get an apartment.. for almost everything here. And also, as we are not married, I had to do a lot of paperwork to do more. He didn’t have to do it as expat.    more ...