mytropicalescape.com

Recently I was asked by ExpatInterviews.com to provide information and details on living overseas in the British Virgin Islands and in Culebra. The team at ExpatInterviews.com created their site because they feel, “it’s always exciting to know about what motivated people to live in another part of the world, how they generate their income, how they manage to live there, and what they’ve learned from their experiences in a land that’s become their new home.”

Hopefully, my interview will be posted soon. I also took the opportunity to turn the tables on the “interviewers” and asked them a few in depth questions as to what motivated them to start the website. Posted below are the answers from Lizza at ExpatInterview:

Why did you start the site?
Victor came up with the idea for the site after a conversation he had with a friend of his: that it would be very interesting to have people share their thoughts and views about what it’s like to live in another country, and to provide advice/tips gleaned from their own personal experiences to help other people who are considering moving abroad.

There were already other expat sites then, but I don’t seem to recall any other expat site that featured solely interviews at that time. The information that bigger expat sites provide is useful, but not too many of them seemed to have the “personal touch” that our interviewees give.

Where have you lived as an expat?
Neither of us is an expat…yet. :-) But we’re immensely interested in the subject; the thought of leaving the familiar and living a different way of life in another culture.

How many readers/users do you have?
We’re still building our readership; right now we average about 300 readers a day. As interviews and articles (submitted by expats) are added, we’re optimistic that more people will visit the site. Currently we have 200+ users.

Are you a for profit site?
Yes, we do run some Google Adsense ads. And we’re considering marketing a few expat-related products.

What is your main mission and goal with the site?
At first it was just the two of us who were going oohh and ahhh at the interviews we received; laughing at some of the anecdotes, going “wow!” at learning about how things are done in other countries. Then we started getting emails from readers and interviewees alike, thanking us for putting up the site and saying they wish the site had existed before they became expats. I remember one guy saying he can relate to many other interviewees’ stories because he experienced similar things himself even though they and he live in different countries. To hear and read about these kinds of things is very gratifying.

It would be fantastic if we can make Expat Interviews into a bigger community where readers can continue to learn from the people who so graciously share their stories; make it a sort of meeting ground for everyone to learn from each other and somehow make the transition to expat life easier. To connect people through common interests and experiences as expats.

Editors note: If you are looking for really good country specific information from people who actually live overseas, then you should definately have a look at ExpatInterviews.com.