LIFE ABROAD CAN BE AMAZING
Just Don’t Confuse The Fantasy With Real Life
I write blunt, funny, practical stories from 27 years abroad so Americans can enjoy the adventure with sharper eyes and better judgment, while making fewer expensive mistakes along the way.
Hi, I’m David, an American expat who has spent 27 years living, working, and traveling abroad. I’ve lived through two revolutions in Ukraine, a pandemic lockdown in Georgia, long stays across Europe, and the quiet daily absurdities most relocation gurus never mention.
On Expats Planet, I write about the real adventure of life abroad: the freedom, the culture shock, the strange victories, the mistakes, the characters, the lessons, and the moments where a country teaches you something you did not know you needed to learn.
Choose Your Path
Some readers are here for the free stories. Some want the more personal version behind them. Others are thinking seriously about life abroad and want a sharper plan before money, visas, housing, or timing start making decisions for them.
Read The Free Stories
Start here for expat life, travel stories, culture shock, strange moments abroad, and the practical lessons hiding inside the funny parts.
Join The Expat Backroom
Get the story behind the story. The sharper, more personal version I do not publish publicly.
Build A Smarter Life-Abroad Plan
For Americans who want the adventure, but also want better judgment before the fantasy starts getting expensive.
Life-Abroad Tools
These are practical guides for Americans who still want the adventure, but want to bring a better brain, a sharper eye, and a stronger backup plan with them.
The Expat Autopsy
A blunt guide to spot the hidden patterns, weak assumptions, scams, and quiet mistakes that can turn a great life-abroad idea into an expensive lesson.
Best for: Americans who want the adventure, but also want to understand what usually goes wrong after the honeymoon stage ends.
The Expat Contingency Protocol
A practical thinking system for the question most people avoid until pressure makes it harder: What would I do abroad if all my plans went to hell?
Best for: people with a location, timeline, overseas plan, or current expat situation they want to think through more carefully.
The Bulletproof Expat Bundle
Includes The Expat Autopsy and The Expat Contingency Protocol in one practical stack. See the patterns, then work through what you would do when life abroad gets complicated.
Best for serious planners who want both guides together.
The Expat Contingency Briefing
A private 50-minute session built around your move, your current situation, your weak spots, and the practical questions you do not want to face for the first time under pressure.
Bring your plan, your worries, your assumptions, and the scenarios sitting in the back of your mind. We’ll look at the parts most generic relocation advice never touches.
Before the briefing: You will complete a short questionnaire so I can review your situation in advance, identify the weak spots, and use the call time where it matters most.
Best before booking: Read The Expat Autopsy and work through The Expat Contingency Protocol. You’ll come in with the patterns mapped and your backup thinking started, so we can spend the briefing on your real situation.
Have a quick question?
Email me: David@ExpatsPlanet.com
After purchase: Follow the instructions on the checkout page to book your briefing and complete the intake questionnaire.
Why This Exists
Life abroad can be incredible. I know because it changed mine.
It can give you freedom, perspective, reinvention, better stories, stranger days, and a much wider sense of what life can be.
The trouble usually starts when people confuse the dream with the plan. A beautiful country still has landlords, banks, visa rules, paperwork, cultural blind spots, scams, awkward surprises, and systems that do not care how excited you were when you arrived.
That is the space Expats Planet lives in.
It is for Americans who still want the adventure, but want to enjoy it with sharper eyes and fewer expensive assumptions.
Experienced Perspective, Not Relocation Theater
I do not sell residency packages, tax plans, investment schemes, offshore structures, or “move here and everything will be easy” fantasies.
I help you think through the assumptions, risks, tradeoffs, and strange little failure points most people ignore until they are already standing in the middle of them.
Disclaimer: I am not a relocation specialist, tax or financial advisor, immigration lawyer, or residency consultant. I provide practical perspective based on 27 years of living, working, and traveling abroad.