Welcome back to Passport to Wealth.

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I'm your host, Arielle Tucker.

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And today we're joined by Monica Virga-Alborno, a former Fortune 500 energy engineering

executive turned entrepreneur who is redefining what conscious family travel and

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intentional international living looks like for the modern global family.

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Originally from New Jersey, she's now based in Norway.

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Monica is an engineer and a 14-year expat who has lived on four continents, explored more

than 80 countries.

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and is raising two globally rooted children.

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Her work is driven by passion for experiential learning, intentional motherhood, and

building global communities that empower families to live, travel, and grow with purpose.

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Monica is the founder of Wander Wild Family Retreats, the only established retreat company

in the Americas that openly welcomes children and creates holistic, immersive experiences

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specifically designed for families.

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And as soon as I read this,

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I just always think about the Kinder Hotels in Europe.

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I don't know you're familiar with the Kinder Hotels in Europe, but I love how in Europe we

have so many retreats and getaways that are for children.

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And that's so, it's such a different feeling than what we have in the US where it's like,

okay, you just go to the Hilton and it's just like, it's the Hilton and kids are allowed

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and kids under 12 stay free.

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But it doesn't necessarily mean they're welcome.

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So I love the work that you're doing here.

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She's also the creator of Wander Her Wild.

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a growing digital community for modern mothers and the host of the Wander Her Wild

podcast, which is ranked one of the top 10 % podcasts worldwide.

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Congratulations, Monica, that's huge.

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She writes on subtext and contributes to several major publications on parenting, mindful

living, and conscious family travel.

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And we'll be sure to link all of your links below so people can find you and connect with

you.

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But I mean, we're really talking today because you, like me, you're from the Northeast US,

you're originally from New Jersey, you found yourself now living in Norway.

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And I'm so curious, like you've traveled 80 countries, you've lived on four continents.

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What did this, what inspired this move and what did the journey for you to Norway even

look like?

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Yeah, thank you so much for having me on.

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I'm really excited to chat today and share about Norway and life here and also just how I

ended up here.

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Yeah, after moving to quite a few different places around the world.

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um I studied petroleum and natural gas engineering in university and I was seeking

employment opportunities that were global from the beginning.

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So when I was in my early 20s, I knew I wanted to have some type of lifestyle that

immersed myself in

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travel while I was also building a career.

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So I knew that from a pretty early age and so I was fortunate enough to receive an

opportunity right after university, well while I was in university but as soon as I

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graduated, um was able to move to the Middle East for my first assignment with this global

Fortune 500 company.

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So it's American-based, you know we do business in English, there's people from all over

the world, all corners that work for the company, so it was such an incredible opportunity

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that I had.

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that I had some stability.

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Like I knew that I had this company that was helping me relocate when you're 24 years old

to a country you've never been to.

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You don't know a single person there.

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um So I had kind of, think that initial entry point to global living that was really

wonderful if you can find an opportunity like that.

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ah And that just kind of started me on this journey and path of working for the same

company and just moving from country to country.

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And I was

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as they say, uh an international mobile position.

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So they could call you that week and say, hey, you're uprooting your entire life to go to

wherever, which is exactly what happened to me.

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was, I was working in Kuwait.

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I had a boyfriend there who is Saudi Arabian, who's now my husband.

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um And I was actually in a, in a technical training in Siberian Russia.

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So I was working in Kuwait.

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That's where I was based.

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Had we had like communal living.

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So

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Well, I shouldn't say communal living, we have, um, like everybody that works for the

company that's international all lives in the same building.

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So you have this really nice community base where everyone is in the same apartment

building.

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You have shared living spaces, like a pool and a barbecue space and that kind of stuff.

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So I was living in that type of environment.

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Um, and then I was in Siberia and Russia for technical training.

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And while I was finishing up the training, they had my boyfriend and I, cause we were a

dual career.

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So we had this opportunity to.

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We were pretty serious like pretty quickly.

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So we joined ourselves to dual career meaning that they're supposed to try and create

moves for you both together Because you never really know where you're end up uh And they

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had us on conference call and they were like, yeah, you guys are moving to West Africa

like in like a week So pack up your bag and go and I've been living there for almost over

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two years And we were like, okay, cool.

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Let's go.

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You know, we don't have kids.

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We Are young like let's just let's just do it.

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And so it was that kind of lifestyle that was really incredible to be able to have such a,

um I think really unique thing that not everyone gets to have, where you have a certain

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base of stability with this global company that you can rely on to help you with the move

and the transition.

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Not that it's totally easy, there are still complexities picking up and moving, but they

do help with the housing and the relocation and um the visas and all that kind of stuff.

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So that was really wonderful.

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And that's how we ended up in Angola.

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I ended up in Angola for five years and we wanted to start a family and it's a malarial

country.

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There's dengue fever.

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There's lots of things where it's complicated to try and start a family when you're there.

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Like it's not really safe to be trying to have a family there.

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So that's when we requested to move somewhere.

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And once you request, they kind of change your contract.

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So we ended up...

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um

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giving away some perks of being international, some financial perks.

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We had this really nice stipend for travel allowance that we could splurge on these

incredible trips every year and stuff.

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So we lost a little bit of that when we decided to move somewhere that had more stability

and we changed our contract to being a resident, which means that they could no longer

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just call us and say, hey, you're moving tomorrow.

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So we traded the mobility for stability and we also took some financial.

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setbacks, but we felt like it was worth it because we'd saved up money.

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You know, we had two incomes in engineering and we're now living like my, what I would say

is my dream life in Norway because just we love it here so much.

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And we've just, we've really just made this home and now we've, you know, had two kids

here.

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We have two homes here and we are considering, you know, this is our, our future.

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This is where we're going to stay.

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I'm so curious, did you, you said that you knew at a young age you wanted to have an

international lifestyle.

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Did you go into oil and gas because you recognized that that would give you the

opportunities that you were looking for?

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like, how did you, how did you pick that?

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little bit.

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Like I was always really good with math and science and I loved it.

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ah And I had a high school teacher tell me like you should look into engineering.

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I don't have any engineers in my family.

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I was the first one in my family to go to college ah and we don't have any family that

lives internationally.

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Like we like my parents never got a passport until I lived abroad.

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know so yeah so was kind of really out there but they had always instilled in me like

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we have a very strong family base, like our family, not even just my core, but the

extended family.

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I like to consider the attributes that gave me is like, always had this really good

foundation that was behind me and I knew I could always go back if, um yeah, things got a

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little crazy.

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So that always kind of gave me the confidence to go and explore the world and do these

things.

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But yeah, I mean, I think I was smart enough to understand that oil and gas at the time

when I graduated was

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booming and you know people were seeking like I had three job offers before when I was

starting my senior year like and great job opportunities so I think I was like okay I'm a

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female in a very male-dominated field and there's so many opportunities with this and I

really enjoy engineering and you know um it's related to earth and mineral sciences I've

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always had a strong connection to the earth um and nature so

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And I felt like I could contribute things that were innovative and forward thinking.

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And yeah, that's kind of why I got into it.

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I think that was, it was strategic, but also like something that I felt like I could do a

lot with.

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Yeah, that's so cool.

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mean, and I think I always tell people it's so much easier to move abroad when you're kind

of like young and building your career.

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You can take a lot more risk, right?

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You're not, you don't have kids.

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You didn't have a husband at this point.

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Like you could kind of really define who you are and you can kind of be a little bit

scrappy if you need to be, right?

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It's so easy.

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So I love that you just followed that dream and I would encourage anyone listening to this

who's thinking about moving abroad, like follow that dream.

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And even if you're older, you can still explore.

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But obviously, there are some different risk considerations than if you're 22 and just

starting out and able to just take your knapsack and go.

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I was kind of in the similar boat with you.

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I really knew I wanted to go abroad very, very young and was willing to just figure out

how to make it work.

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So I think that's so cool.

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OK, so take me back to you're in Africa.

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And you and your husband decide that you want to be more stable.

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Did you have a list of countries that you could pick from?

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Or how did you decide, how did you pick Norway?

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Yeah, so in short, like we didn't pick Norway, we got very, I think there is some like

weird um manifesting and just like luck that also played into it.

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But in a position on us, like there's two of us, so they have to do two international

moves in a company as big as us, know, 200, we have at the time, it was like a little over

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100,000 employees globally, right?

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So big company you're talking about here.

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um

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And we're also two different nationalities.

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He has a Saudi passport, I have an American.

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So kind of like figuring that out.

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And we're both engineers, so we can't report to one another.

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So the company has to take time.

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So I think we started talking about our move maybe like a year before it happened.

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And they started looking for opportunities.

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And they put you on a list for like, these are people who want to move.

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And we want stability.

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So they have certain countries that are green.

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Like we were working at the time I was managing operations across 26 countries.

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in Africa and a lot of them were high risk countries, right, for security and safety and

health.

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ah So we wanted to go somewhere that was green, that had a good healthcare system, that

had good safety and security.

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ah And so those kind of countries they were looking at sending us to.

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And I didn't want to go back to the States because that was also an option, right?

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But I was like, still want to stay somewhere abroad.

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So they came up with a few different places, I think, and there was also ah

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something within our our relationship dynamic like one of us has to be the uh lead in the

career so I was the lead in the career and they look for a position for me first and then

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they find a complementary position which I think they do in quite a lot of companies when

they're relocating to people like that.

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um So yeah so I had a door open for me but I would say it took maybe like 10 months-ish

before

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We started the conversations and then like I had to obviously like trans, they had to

bring somebody to replace me in Africa that was international.

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So the whole thing takes time.

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have to be really patient.

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Um, but it was worth it.

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And then when we ended up in Bergen, Norway, we didn't know anything about Bergen.

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Um, but my husband had always said, I really want to live somewhere that has mountains

that is next to the ocean and has snow.

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And I was like, coming from the States and like, I don't think there's like anywhere.

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like very few places like that and especially in like art in oil and gas and like I don't

know if that's gonna happen and you really can't see out my window right now but there is

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snow there's mountains and there's um the sea like literally right out our window so I

don't know it's kind of crazy how that happened and we didn't we didn't find Bergen Norway

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like it just kind of found us like weirdly

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oh I love that though.

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And I think though if you have discussions with yourself, with your partner, I really

believe this and I, it sounds crazy, but I really do think you mentioned a bit of

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manifesting.

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I do think like you have to say what you want.

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Like, you know, you kind of have to have discussions and you have to think about it and

you have to look for opportunities.

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Like life doesn't just happen.

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You kind of, you have the opportunity to create a life and it sounds like that's what you

guys were able to do.

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Yeah, yeah, and we're gonna get more into, I'm sure, like life in Norway, which I just

feel so grateful and appreciative for because life is easy and lovely and we're one of the

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happiest countries on earth, like ranked over and over again.

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But like, we worked really hard to get here and like we know what it's like to live in

other countries that you don't necessarily have all the opportunities that we have now

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that we can give to our kids here.

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So it's yeah, it's pretty amazing.

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And I do just want to take a pause and moment and say, you and your husband are both

non-EU citizens, right?

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So you're basically both like the third country citizens in Europe, right, as we would

say.

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it's a lot harder.

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It's a much harder path.

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to get into Europe when you're not EU and when you are like a third country passport

holder, which US citizens are in that group.

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And so I think it's just important to also say like your job provided a huge part of this

opportunity.

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And I want to highlight that because I think people sometimes can just think that,

especially Americans, we have this assumption we can just show up anywhere.

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And that's not really the case, especially a country like Norway.

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You really have to have a reason to be there, right?

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an economic reason?

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Are you working for a company?

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Do you have enough money where the Norwegian government is just happy to have you?

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um There's not a lot of like remote work opportunities or, you know, to be in Norway,

unless you know something that I don't, which if you do, I'd love to share that on the on

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the podcast for people.

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actually glad they brought that up because I'm here on a skilled worker work permit,

right?

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My husband and I both are, we're engineers in the oil sector.

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So we were brought in here as skilled workers.

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So it's a totally different process when you're applying to work here, if you're a skilled

worker, because you're demonstrating that you're able to do a job that a local can't do,

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because they want to hire as many locals as possible, obviously.

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So yeah, that was a big part of us both being able to move here and also stay here.

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Yeah, yeah, so this goes back to years of decision making and I just, yeah, that's why I

say it because I do know Norway is one of those countries where I hear people, I would

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love to move to Norway and it's like, okay, what are you adding to Norway that they

actually want you to move there?

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um

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OK, so let's talk a little bit about some of the cultural shocks that you first arrived,

like that happened to you when you guys first arrived, both personally and professionally.

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Like, what was it like to go from, you know, you're on an assignment in West Africa on

that kind of those globally mobile executive assignments to now you're a local um working

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in Norway.

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What was that like?

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Yeah, it was crazy.

201

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It was actually a pretty big culture shock just to be more in like a Western country

again.

202

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um Like things at work were they have really good boundaries, which are incredible, but it

was a little shocking.

203

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Like at four o'clock, the office is empty.

204

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Like everyone is gone and they lock the office doors after five.

205

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Like they don't want you there.

206

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um They want you to go take your rest and reset and come back refreshed.

207

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And my personal experience is that I

208

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And I worked also in employee productivity in Norway here.

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People are way more productive when you're working like that.

210

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It's just insane.

211

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And people are just, they get along better, there's better teamwork.

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It's just, it's so different.

213

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So that was huge.

214

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I was like, everyone's leaving at four?

215

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Like I used to leave the office at seven and then I'd get back on a conference call after

dinner.

216

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Like it was so different.

217

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uh So they really respect boundaries and work life balance, actually, legitimately.

218

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Um, so that was a big shock.

219

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And I think also just how everything moves so efficiently here.

220

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Like the, I was kind of used to this idea of like taking mass transit is not reliable and

can be dirty.

221

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And it's like a second class type thing, but here everybody takes mass transit.

222

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It's very clean and it's very reliable and it's incredible.

223

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And most families only own one car here.

224

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Some people don't have any cars here.

225

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Um, and it's.

226

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You you take the ferry, you take the bus, you take the the B-Ban and we call it, which is

like a tram train.

227

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um But yeah, I think that was the other thing where it's like, my God, everything is so

efficient and everything is so well planned that to make the people's lives easier here,

228

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like every single thing they have in place is to make your life easier as a citizen and or

as you know, as a resident.

229

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And you can just see it, you can feel it.

230

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And that was huge.

231

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there were things I was noticing from the States growing up that I'm like, my gosh, we

should be doing that.

232

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Why aren't we doing this yet?

233

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ah every time my parents are coming here, I'm like, yeah, we should be doing this at home.

234

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So I think that was the other big shock was just how efficient a lot of things are here

that I wish the US could catch up on.

235

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um And yeah, that work-life balance, those were the two things that really stick out.

236

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So tell me more about work-life balance.

237

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The office, like basically everyone's leaving at four.

238

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And what about days off?

239

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How many days off do you get in Norway?

240

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So everyone has, and it doesn't go by seniority, like everyone's entitled to a certain

amount of days.

241

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Like, so we have 25 days off per year, like vacation days, and then you have holidays.

242

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They do give like Christian holidays here.

243

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So it's like Easter, but Easter you have like Easter Wednesday.

244

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So you have like almost like a week of Easter break, which is a big one.

245

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And then also Christmas and New Year's, they give you like the day before the day after

Christmas, New Year's day, New Year's Eve.

246

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So you have almost like

247

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10 days-ish off those periods of the year, plus 25 vacation days.

248

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then, ah you know, and I would say as well, I said the office closes at four, but

obviously the company that I was working for and the operations are 24-7.

249

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So if you're working on overtime hours, there's always people that are on call, but

there's a really strong system of who's on call and you're getting compensated really well

250

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for that, which was different from some other places I had been working before.

251

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Because you're still working for an American company at this point, right?

252

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You're just in the Norway headquarters.

253

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And it's interesting to me, there's all these jokes, and I know this from, I've worked in

Germany and Switzerland, there's a lot of, uh Europeans love to make fun of American work

254

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culture, which is kind of nonstop, right?

255

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uh And so I'm curious.

256

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Was there like any pushback?

257

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They're like, no, the American has arrived in the office and she's going to work over her

lunch break and be in the office till 9 p.m.

258

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Like, I mean, did you feel any of that?

259

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No, because it's crazy.

260

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mean, any office globally that you were walking into for this company, you're going to

find like at least 20 nationalities probably sitting in the same building, like at least

261

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or more.

262

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And we're not, it's a US based company, but like you're pretty frequently on the call with

Asia looking for something with supply chain and Africa looking for something for people

263

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to come up.

264

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you're.

265

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before the pandemic happened, we already knew how to remote work for a long time, right?

266

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Because we're all over the place.

267

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um So their youth, that culture is instilled in you from the beginning.

268

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ah So not really.

269

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think we kind of, you get kind of like used to everyone's different work style.

270

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ah Everyone has a different way of approaching things.

271

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I did learn from the Norwegians, I would say, how to

272

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develop my soft skills a lot more.

273

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they, like having a lunch altogether is really important.

274

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They don't want you sitting at your desk eating lunch, like things that I did before I

came here.

275

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Like everybody sits and a lot of times like a really big problem gets solved over eating.

276

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or going and sitting and having a coffee for 20 minutes and just chatting it up with

somebody.

277

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I used to kind of always think like, oh, that's wasting time.

278

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But I saw all of a sudden like, oh, they do this to solve problems and build

relationships.

279

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And they want you to do that.

280

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And then I started realizing that's actually an easier way to get things done than being

so quick, just like, I need this thing and then get off the phone.

281

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So that was really interesting to kind of learn how they do that here.

282

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You know, it's so funny that you mentioned that because I see that also in Switzerland and

in Germany as well.

283

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And it's still hard for me sometimes to switch, right?

284

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Cause I'm just, I'm like, I just moved quickly.

285

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You know, I'm from the Northeast.

286

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Like we just were go, go, go.

287

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And it's hard for me to just like breathe and be like, no, no, we're like, we're having

lunch with our colleagues and it's okay.

288

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Like it's, it's okay to have time to sit and be with these people that you work with 24

seven.

289

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And some days, yeah, we have, we're solving problems.

290

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And other days we're just.

291

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talking about someone's vacation, you know?

292

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But it's such a different cultural aspect.

293

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I love that uh you made that point.

294

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uh I know we're almost out of time, but I really want to get a little bit to the kids,

because you moved here to have children.

295

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And I'm really curious if there are some highlights that you want to share about raising

your children in Norway, and maybe some of the differences that it would have been like if

296

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you had been in state in the US.

297

00:22:25,572 --> 00:22:27,213

my gosh, yeah, there's so many.

298

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um I mean, I was kind of highlighting like everything that the country does.

299

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we do pay, like people say, like we pay a lot in taxes, which we do.

300

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Like I was, yeah, I'm usually paying like almost 40 % a year in taxes of my salary.

301

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But I have never had an issue doing it because of what I've seen that they do for families

so far, which has just been incredible.

302

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um

303

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Just from like the prenatal care and my birth experience, like we have a university

hospital here in Bergen.

304

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They have just, it's like a birth center in the hospital.

305

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And my first birth was C-section.

306

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My second one was VBAC, natural unmedicated VBAC.

307

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They supported me through both of those.

308

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And, you know, I had like a pelvic health specialist come to the hospital right after my

C-section and we had ah nurses come to our house.

309

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like there's no bill after.

310

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This is your healthcare, okay.

311

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This is our healthcare.

312

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We have nurses come to our house right after the birth to do baby visits.

313

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We had a lactation consultant come to our house.

314

00:23:33,492 --> 00:23:38,472

We had a sleep expert come to our house because we had trouble with my second one

sleeping.

315

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All of this is included.

316

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We've had zero bills for any of this, so.

317

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My daughter with also not getting into too much but like my daughter had an ICU experience

almost two years ago now where she was intubated in ICU for a week and also then she had a

318

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recovery period in the Children's Hospital and I was like floored at how incredible she

had two nurses with her around the clock.

319

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She had a physical therapist massaging her.

320

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We had just like this incredible care.

321

00:24:11,236 --> 00:24:15,199

and even the children's hospital was like Florida glass windows.

322

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They had clowns that were like bicycling around to like lift spirits in the children's

hospital.

323

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We were next to like the um the cancer children like pediatric cancer ward as well so I

could see like everything that they're doing here and I would never ever complain about

324

00:24:30,878 --> 00:24:37,352

the amount we pay in taxes because you can just see and that's just like you know what

I've seen so far.

325

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ah I hope I don't have to go back to the hospital with other things, but you know and then

I would also just say as well like once your kids turn one you're allowed to um Have them

326

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in something called Barnahaga, which is basically preschool until they are six and they

start grade school so from one until They turn six they're in this program called

327

00:25:00,486 --> 00:25:03,444

Barnahaga, which is my kids are there right now

328

00:25:03,444 --> 00:25:08,198

ah It's a program that is the best way to explain it is like it's a forest school.

329

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It's nature-based learning with Montessori.

330

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So it's like very like children led.

331

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They spend almost the entire day outside when they're napping.

332

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They're napping in their strollers outside.

333

00:25:18,146 --> 00:25:27,062

the, you've probably seen on social media, like the kids outside in Scandinavia napping in

the snow and in the rain and they're all like bundled up in all their layers.

334

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And they just are like.

335

00:25:29,308 --> 00:25:38,462

Instilling at such a young age that you should get outside no matter what the weather is

like we're in the rainiest city in Europe uh But people are outside all the time.

336

00:25:38,462 --> 00:25:46,495

They have a really strong connection to nature and They're also teaching them that like

resilience and confidence at such a young age and they're also just teaching them a lot of

337

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like things that I don't think I knew going into kindergarten in first grade like They

know the solar system.

338

00:25:52,337 --> 00:25:59,123

They know the body parts like all these like my three and five year old And it's also been

incredible because they're bilingual already

339

00:25:59,123 --> 00:26:01,126

and we don't speak any Norwegian in our home.

340

00:26:01,126 --> 00:26:05,322

So they've just learned that from being at Barna Haga every day.

341

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And it's extremely affordable.

342

00:26:08,321 --> 00:26:09,602

of daycare?

343

00:26:09,663 --> 00:26:12,487

Like is this like, is this like, 9 to 5?

344

00:26:12,487 --> 00:26:14,474

Is this, you know, 8 to 12?

345

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Like what is this like?

346

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It's the full day.

347

00:26:16,663 --> 00:26:17,676

Okay.

348

00:26:17,676 --> 00:26:20,507

until five so that you can have them are all day.

349

00:26:20,507 --> 00:26:25,229

We usually do like drop off around like seven thirty to like three right now.

350

00:26:25,309 --> 00:26:26,449

But yeah, the whole day.

351

00:26:26,449 --> 00:26:32,652

And for me to put two kids there all day and they get warm lunch, they have a kitchen,

they like bake bread.

352

00:26:32,652 --> 00:26:34,493

um They do like fish soup.

353

00:26:34,493 --> 00:26:36,893

They have all these like really healthy meals.

354

00:26:37,254 --> 00:26:38,514

They do field trips.

355

00:26:38,514 --> 00:26:43,476

It's like around less than three hundred dollars a month for both kids.

356

00:26:45,038 --> 00:26:47,298

Wow, $300 a month.

357

00:26:47,298 --> 00:26:52,418

OK, so this is where tax dollars are going to supplement these amazing programs.

358

00:26:52,418 --> 00:26:56,398

And is it up to one because the first year you get really good parental leave?

359

00:26:56,398 --> 00:26:58,458

Is that why it starts at one?

360

00:26:58,838 --> 00:26:59,735

OK.

361

00:26:59,735 --> 00:27:06,807

leave, every single company here, like it's mandated by the government and the government

gives a supplement to the companies, right?

362

00:27:06,807 --> 00:27:11,318

ah So you get parental leave almost one full year paid.

363

00:27:11,318 --> 00:27:16,117

When I like added my vacation to it, it was about 10, 11 months.

364

00:27:16,117 --> 00:27:17,430

So almost one full year.

365

00:27:17,430 --> 00:27:24,792

And then my husband, which is different here as well, the partner, the man also takes

paternity leave and it's about four to five months.

366

00:27:25,172 --> 00:27:26,883

um which is just insane.

367

00:27:26,883 --> 00:27:28,744

And they take it at the end of your leave.

368

00:27:28,744 --> 00:27:33,897

So when the mom goes back to work, ah the father helps transition mom back.

369

00:27:33,897 --> 00:27:35,468

So he's home with the baby.

370

00:27:35,468 --> 00:27:36,488

Yeah.

371

00:27:36,488 --> 00:27:47,004

So the baby gets to stay home with one parent for both of our kids for about 18, a little

like a little over a year we had both at home with one of us every day.

372

00:27:47,004 --> 00:27:47,304

Yeah.

373

00:27:47,304 --> 00:27:49,615

And we had, we didn't have to worry about our, our income.

374

00:27:49,615 --> 00:27:52,086

We both were being paid our normal salary the whole time.

375

00:27:52,086 --> 00:27:54,888

So it was, yeah, pretty amazing.

376

00:27:55,490 --> 00:27:56,431

That's amazing.

377

00:27:56,431 --> 00:28:05,576

just, I talk to a lot of different expats in a lot of different em countries and Norway,

mean, Norway's program seems amazing.

378

00:28:05,576 --> 00:28:08,568

So uh I can understand why, yeah, you're happy.

379

00:28:08,568 --> 00:28:09,168

It's a steal.

380

00:28:09,168 --> 00:28:12,020

For you to have two young children, it's a steal.

381

00:28:12,020 --> 00:28:21,386

You would pay probably more in the US to have the same lifestyle if you calculate the tax,

what you're paying in taxes, Okay.

382

00:28:21,472 --> 00:28:29,411

So I'll ask you one last question because I know a lot of people are gonna be listening to

this and be like, wow, raising your family in Norway sounds amazing.

383

00:28:29,411 --> 00:28:38,721

So anyone who's considering moving to Norway or any of the Nordics um or really anywhere,

what is kind of like one piece of advice that you would give them to kind of help them get

384

00:28:38,721 --> 00:28:40,182

this process started?

385

00:28:41,968 --> 00:28:48,220

yeah, I mean, I think it goes back to what we talked about a little earlier, just like

figuring out what, what you would bring to the country.

386

00:28:48,220 --> 00:28:55,852

think as Americans, like this has been in the news cycle a lot too, and I'm not trying to

make it political, but like, if people are coming to the States, we're expecting them to

387

00:28:55,852 --> 00:28:58,093

have a skillset that they're adding to the country.

388

00:28:58,093 --> 00:28:58,323

Right.

389

00:28:58,323 --> 00:29:00,293

So as an American, it's the same thing.

390

00:29:00,293 --> 00:29:06,195

If you want to move abroad to a different country, um, they're going to be expecting that

you're, you're bringing value to the country.

391

00:29:06,195 --> 00:29:09,658

So thinking about like what skills you can.

392

00:29:09,658 --> 00:29:14,189

most likely find this online, you know, what are what positions are they hiring for right

now?

393

00:29:14,189 --> 00:29:19,919

Are there American companies that have a footprint in the Scandinavia region that you

could work for?

394

00:29:19,919 --> 00:29:24,832

And you might have to do some time in the States first before you ask for an international

assignment.

395

00:29:24,832 --> 00:29:30,544

But, you know, doing some research on that, it's so much easier to get over here if you

have a U.S.

396

00:29:30,544 --> 00:29:39,756

company supporting you with that move or, you know, just doing some due diligence and some

research on what types of positions they are.

397

00:29:39,775 --> 00:29:45,429

they're short of, of, um, expertise in that you could, you could help with.

398

00:29:45,429 --> 00:29:56,856

And the other thing I would say in general is when you're choosing somewhere to move

abroad, um, think about, like we were just touching on the, the benefits and like living

399

00:29:56,856 --> 00:30:02,880

there full time, not just like the glitz and the glam and like the cool Instagram photos

and stuff, because

400

00:30:03,757 --> 00:30:11,245

You know, some places might look exotic and incredible to live in, but they don't

necessarily always have the infrastructure and support and stability that you might want,

401

00:30:11,245 --> 00:30:12,727

especially if moving with kids.

402

00:30:12,727 --> 00:30:22,379

um So that's something to consider too, like really doing some more digging of what does

life actually look like there every single day versus after just like having a week

403

00:30:22,379 --> 00:30:23,890

vacation somewhere.

404

00:30:25,068 --> 00:30:26,168

Yeah, absolutely.

405

00:30:26,168 --> 00:30:26,749

I love that.

406

00:30:26,749 --> 00:30:32,721

And we tell everyone to really think about if you're going to explore, everyone should do

an exploration trip, right?

407

00:30:32,721 --> 00:30:35,772

Like make your list and then go and live like a local.

408

00:30:35,772 --> 00:30:37,523

Don't stay in your five star hotel.

409

00:30:37,523 --> 00:30:38,763

Go and live like a local.

410

00:30:38,763 --> 00:30:41,564

Book an Airbnb, walk around, shop the grocery stores.

411

00:30:41,564 --> 00:30:42,825

Where's the hospital?

412

00:30:42,825 --> 00:30:44,456

How does public transportation work?

413

00:30:44,456 --> 00:30:45,688

All of those points.

414

00:30:45,688 --> 00:30:51,941

that's gonna have a huge impact on your day-to-day financial, or day-to-day life, and also

your finances as well, right?

415

00:30:51,941 --> 00:30:57,724

Some countries are really easy to get into and they're really cheap, but you're paying out

the nose for everything else.

416

00:30:57,724 --> 00:31:07,199

So it's important to kind of really weigh what each country offers you, and then, like you

said before, but also what you offer that country, right?

417

00:31:07,199 --> 00:31:08,970

That's really, really important.

418

00:31:09,056 --> 00:31:11,767

Monica, it has been so wonderful to have you on the podcast.

419

00:31:11,767 --> 00:31:15,798

Thank you so much for joining us today and telling us a little bit more about Norway.

420

00:31:15,798 --> 00:31:17,352

It was super interesting.

421

00:31:17,833 --> 00:31:19,734

Yeah, we'll talk to you soon.

422

00:31:19,740 --> 00:31:21,060

Thank you, Ariel, for having me.

423

00:31:21,060 --> 00:31:21,846

It's been so nice.

424

00:31:21,846 --> 00:31:22,758

Thanks.