For some people, the goal of traveling abroad is to go somewhere entirely different from home. For Ikiah McGowan, much of her international travel is fueled by the desire to find a place that feels like home — but outside the U.S.
That’s how McGowan, 39, recently found herself flying from Austin to Portugal for a 10-day scouting trip with dozens of other Americans dreaming of moving abroad.
McGowan was part of the inaugural trip from Expatsi, a company that helps Americans move abroad through community groups and weeks-long guided scouting tours.
For the March trip, travelers paid a discounted rate of $1,000 to spend 10 days in Portugal followed by $1,200 for 12 days in Spain. (Some chose to attend one leg of the trip while others stayed for the entire 22-day excursion.)
These curated trips are more than a typical vacation. In each city, travelers partake in a half-day seminar led by experts to discuss the logistical ins and outs of immigrating, covering financial planning, visas, health care, real estate and other legal matters.
On the remaining days, a local tour guide shows travelers around neighborhoods with a growing American expat community, or other locations where the group has expressed interest, and a realtor shows them properties for sale or for rent.
More Americans could soon be exploring their options abroad.
A CNBC analysis of U.S. Google search data shows a spike in users searching for terms related to “how to move to X country” beginning in mid-June. Interest swelled following the first 2024 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on June 27.
It’s been “a crazy week” for Jen Barnett, co-founder of Expatsi, who says traffic to the site is up 800% since the debate.
Americans’ interest in visa applications to move and work abroad tend to pick up after big political moments, Masha Sutherlin, head of immigration at the global HR and payroll company Deel, previously told CNBC Make It.
“You’re seeing some folks in the U.S. saying, ‘I don’t want to be in this environment, and I have choices to go to other places,'” she says. “Pair that with the digital nomad lifestyle and the abundance of digital nomad visas, and that opens up an entirely new scheme of working for Americans.”
A ‘cheat sheet’ for finding a new home abroad
McGowan has been fascinated by digital nomad living since 2019. She searched for and landed a remote job in the nonprofit world — a rarity just five years ago — and began solo traveling for long stretches while working.
So far, she’s traveled for extensive time in the U.K., Malta, Guatemala and Colombia.
Americans who dream of moving abroad are getting help from travel companies like Expatsi, which offers scouting trips to international cities.
Courtesy of Expatsi
“As I’ve seen the way this country is developing, along with my intense interest in cultures that are different than my own, and a deep desire for for exploring the world, my interest in actually moving abroad grew,” she…
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