About Expat Advisor

I’m Adam Johnson. I was born in Canada to a Canadian–American family and moved to the United States when I was nine. There wasn’t dramatic culture shock, but there was enough difference to make me curious early on. Travel and life abroad were normal topics in my family. My grandparents explored a new European country each year. An uncle lived in Spain, Australia, and Fiji chasing windsurfing. An aunt served in the Peace Corps in Liberia. Another grandfather spoke often about his time in Italy during World War II. All of that quietly shaped how I saw the world.

That curiosity turned personal. My best friend in grade school was Australian. At nine, I asked for a penpal and was matched with a boy my age in Zimbabwe. At sixteen, I spent a year as an exchange student in Sweden. In university, I spent a semester in Russia. These experiences weren’t about checking places off a list. They taught me how much context matters, about how history, culture, and daily life shape the choices people make.

After university, I wanted to travel the world, but I also wanted to do it responsibly. I taught English in South Korea for a year, saved money, and then spent the following year backpacking through 25 countries across five continents. Eventually, I returned to the U.S., built a career, raised a family, and settled into what looked like a stable life. But the pull to live internationally never really left.

In 2024, when my youngest child finished high school, I took the opportunity to reset. I sold or gave away most of my belongings, rented out my house, and moved to Chile. Now I live on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with my husband and two dogs. Which country is next? I’m not sure, but I have a few ideas …

People often ask what keeps drawing me back to life abroad. The answer is simple: an ongoing curiosity about people—how they live, what they value, and how relationships form across differences of language, culture, and place.

If you’re considering a life abroad, or questioning the one you’re already living, what part of that curiosity is asking for more attention right now?