Important Tips to Note for Moving to A New City

Moving to a new city comes with mixed feelings; high hopes and expectations, and sometimes, anxiety and nervousness. But one thing is sure, it often offers an incredible opportunity to start afresh, grow, and explore a new place, especially when you’ve moved for love, work, or study reasons. While navigating this unfamiliar phase can be challenging, we’ve highlighted some relevant tips to help you settle in confidently and comfortably.

Settling in a new city – What to do to get comfortable

Once you’ve decided on where you’re going or you’re settled in, it’s time to ease into life in a different environment. You may be wondering, “How can you make the most of your time in a new city and embrace the life it has to offer?” Here you go…

ALSO READ: TRAVEL TIPS FOR EXPLORING A NEW PLACE

Explore the city

This may sound like regular advice, but this is where you get to experience all the beauty that the city has to offer firsthand. To do this, you’ve got to strike up conversations with locals to find out about the major and side attractions in the city. Apart from work, what else makes this city your choice of location? Start from here. As you spend more time outdoors exploring all the sights that the city has to offer, it will soon start to feel like home.

Take long walks

There’s a difference between riding through a city and walking through it. Create time to take long walks and get familiar with the major landmarks in the area of town where you live. As you walk, you may get the opportunity to meet more people, engage in hearty conversations, and just get to explore the gems of the area tucked away in fancy street corners. Easily, you’ll be able to tell what’s where, and soon enough, you may know enough to help a newcomer.

Respect Local Holy Grails

You won’t always be new in this city, and one of the things you can do to help yourself settle in quickly is to learn about the “holy grails” of the city you live in. This is because breaking any of them may open you up to hostility and social unacceptance. So again, find out the culturally sensitive things where you live. For instance, some environments can be really conservative, you may need to dress in a certain way and check your use of certain language to access certain places. Where rules are broken, a tourist may be forgiven and forgotten, but you may not.

Use navigation tools

It’s easy to get lost quickly when exploring your new city, so as much as you can, get hold of the right tools, e.g., a local city navigation app that tracks your location, all the transportation options available, and their routes. Having this handy will save you tonnes of stress as you navigate your new city.

Make genuine connections

You’re in a new city, and that means new friends and connections. It’s easy to fall into the “lone stranger” trap when you don’t make a conscious effort to meet new people. It could be even harder if you moved with family and your social life revolves around them. A genuine smile when greeted, a little pause to acknowledge a neighbour, are some of the simple yet practical ways to connect to new people.

What You Need to Know Before Moving to A New City

Chances are that you’re reading this because you feel ready to move to a new city. Your reason for wanting to move may altogether affect your overall experience in this new location, and that’s why it’s important to embrace the journey rather than the destination. The following steps will help you prepare and decide your next move.

Assess the opportunities you’re hoping to receive

Assessing the economic opportunities you’re looking for can help you to decide where to move. Unless you’re a digital nomad, you must know what you want and why you’re moving. Some cities offer more opportunities than others, and deciding what you’re looking for ahead could help you hit the bull’s eye faster. Your current skillset or career profile might be more viable in some cities than in others; hence, think about this before moving. Once you’ve determined that the city you have in mind has the potential to meet your expectations, make the move to start looking out for job opportunities there or researching open roles in key organizations there.

The experience you’re looking to explore:

As a traveller or digital nomad, your choice of city may be influenced by the experience you’re looking to explore. Are you looking for a coastline city where you don’t mind casually flopping on your shorts to catch fresh air by the beach? Or maybe you prefer a bustling city with all the attractions that make living your life worth it. You’ve got to consider what your priorities are, and if living in the new city makes it possible or difficult to achieve.

Proximity to family

You might want to consider proximity to your loved ones as a factor in your choice of city to move to. How important is proximity to family to you? Do you prefer to stay far away or as close as possible? Once you can decide, that helps you tell the city where you’re likely to settle, either close by or far from family.

Priorities – amenities, vibrancy, or off-grid living?

Your priorities are important in your choice of a new location. You may prefer to live in a vibrant city where the hustle and bustle never end. You may be all for ‘quiet and solitude, and prefer to move off-grid to a lesser-traveled location. Whatever your priorities are, your choice of location may significantly reduce your cost of living or increase it.

Personality mix

Your personality mix is also an important factor that could help you decide on your choice of city. Are you an outgoing type who loves to party or an introvert who enjoys quiet fun? You may have a love for a fully tropical life, where your environment is a blanket of lush green, or you prefer a location where your apartment is on a skyscraper and the city skyline view from your window is breathtaking.

Visitor policies

Another factor that could significantly impact your choice of city is the migration policies, if you’re looking to move to a new country altogether. Save yourself the stress of research and work with a trusted travel agent like Vecta Travels to clarify migration policies of countries you might have on your consideration list. Knowing what’s required by each country helps your decision-making process as you can determine the available visa routes and whether you’re eligible for them.

ALSO READ: THOUGHTFUL GIFTS FOR SOMEONE MOVING ABROAD

If you’re looking to move to a new city for any reason and you’re not sure what to consider or expect, this guide above will show you how to prepare for the big move. Don’t forget to contact us at Vecta Travels for more insights on moving to a new city.