MY BIGGEST MISTAKES | Moving to Amsterdam - Netherlands as an Australian expat

hi everyone welcome back to my channel my name is lisa i'm an australian expat living in amsterdam with my husband i have made quite a few videos now on this channel about what i think you should do if you move to the netherlands but today i thought i would do a 180 and make a video about all the mistakes that i feel i made when i moved to the netherlands take this video with a grain of salt of course this is based on my own personal experience and i may have a different personality to you but hopefully at the very least this video gives you some food for thought if you are thinking of moving to the netherlands or if you're about to come here yourself so let's get started the very first thing that i would definitely do differently is to not move here during winter technically my husband and i moved here during autumn but when you come from a warm country like australia autumn is pretty much the same as winter it's still just as cold for us the weather in the netherlands during winter is gray it's very dark it's cold it rains all the time one of the most important things that can help you feel settled into your new home is to get to know the city and to walk on the streets and meet new people you don't feel compelled to do any of those things when the weather is bad and on the topic of meeting new people i also personally found it quite difficult to meet new people during the winter season of course this could be because we moved during the lockdown period so we couldn't really meet up with people at coffee shops oh sorry i should say cafes never say coffee shop in the netherlands that means something different google that if you don't know what i mean but i do also feel like because it's so cold and so rainy outdoors people generally do seem to want to stay indoors and spend that season with their close friends and family and of course if you're a new expat then it can be very difficult to break into that pre-existing social circle the other reason why we also found it a little bit difficult when we first moved here was that we were here alone for christmas and new year's so of course those days are typically days that you would spend with your family with your close friends and when you spend it alone in a completely foreign country where you don't know anybody it can be a little bit isolating i'm an introvert and i would say that yes it was a little bit lonely last year because my husband and i didn't know anyone and we just spent those two days on our own if you know those days are special to you and you really have to move here during winter for whatever reason then i would really encourage you to try and come after december if i could do it all over again i would probably move here during spring or even during the summer time the country completely changes during those seasons it just completely comes back to life you've got the sun so you're getting vitamin d which means you're going to be feeling a lot happier um there's going to be leaves on the trees the sky is going to be blue there's going to be petals and the flowers it was just like a nice time to come to the country and you're going to get the best first impression of the netherlands if you come during those seasons the days are longer so you can get more done you feel more compelled to leave the house and explore your neighborhood explore the city go traveling it's just such a lovely period having gone through now our very first spring and summer in amsterdam i would say that it just makes winter all the more bearable because you know what is around the corner you know what to look forward to after winter is over second mistake that i made when i moved to the netherlands is that i didn't try to get a job before i moved here in order to qualify for the 30 ruling so for those who don't know the 30 ruling is a tax exemption for highly skilled migrants or employees who are hired from abroad to work in the netherlands and under this tax exemption the employer will pay 30 of your salary as a tax-free allowance essentially this tax allowance is a compensation for all the additional expenses that you are likely to incur as an expat who is moving abroad and having to start from the beginning again the main conditions of the 30 ruling are that a you have to be recruited from abroad and b you can't have resided within 150 kilometers of the dutch border i guess if i really had to come up with a reason for why i did not try hard enough to get a job from abroad it's just that our move to the netherlands kind of happened a little bit quickly but knowing how much of a financial impact the 30 ruling can have on your overall income it makes me just wish that i prioritize that a little bit more the 30 ruling that's a long term benefit that lasts for five years because i now have already come to the netherlands i will never be able to qualify for the 30 ruling so it's an irreversible mistake or regret so my tip for you would be that if you are planning to come to the netherlands then try to start your job search early try to get hired from abroad especially if you are already working in a very highly skilled or highly sought after sector like engineering or software engineering in tech product management marketing finance law all those very kind of highly skilled sectors because you'll most likely be eligible for it also if you are more of a visual person and you want to see how much the 30 ruling will influence or positively impact your overall income i would recommend that you go to the website thetax.nl and on that website you can check a box on the side that says 30 ruling and that will give you an idea of how much additional income that you will receive in hand if you qualify for the 30 ruling that kind of really drives my point here the third mistake that i made was that i brought way too many summery clothes than i needed to the average temperature in summer in the netherlands is between to 25 degrees celsius which is not warm at all at least by my standards and i already thought that i was being quite sensible with the clothes that i packed because i knew that it wouldn't be as hot as in australia but i fully expected that i would have the opportunity to wear all the beautiful dresses and skirts that i brought over it was a colorful and summery and i barely wore any of them i was still wearing my jeans i was still wearing sweaters i occasionally would break out in a t-shirt and shorts but almost always by night time i would have to put a jacket on in the netherlands it's quite windy which i think is what also makes it a little bit cooler than it should be or than that you think it would be the netherlands is a super windy country because it's right next to the sea and also because it's one of the flattest countries in the world so there are literally no obstacles for the wind you want to be wearing things that you can easily take off and put back on with ease so i'm thinking jackets sweaters only bring your pants i barely wore shorts since we are on the topic of clothes i think we should also talk about your shoes and that was another mistake that i made i would advise you to think very carefully about the shoes that you bring to the netherlands firstly let's talk about heels no one wears heels here so unless you know for a fact that you need them for work you need them for a specific special occasion leave the heels behind what shoes do people here actually wear white sneakers or trainers doc martens and also those military style ankle boots i'll put a picture here so that you understand what i mean um and the reason for this i think is because a the dutch cobblestone streets you've got to wear a shoe with a good sole so that it doesn't hurt your foot um it rains a lot so you've got to wear a shoe that is going to be waterproof and not get damaged by the rain and also people here bike a lot so you need to wear a shoe that is going to be comfortable to bike in what i'm saying is that you shouldn't bring any kind of shoe that can't handle the rain or that you wouldn't feel comfortable biking in so i'm talking at least on the rain front i'm talking about suede shoes shoes with lots of holes in them uh leather shoes cloth-based shoes like those tom's shoes or even converse shoes i feel like pretty useless here let me go get some shoes so i can show you what i brought and what i don't wear and what i would not recommend you bring yourself so hold on one minute a few moments later um so the first shoe i'm going to show you is um a clog i love these shoes i used to wear these all the time in australia and you as you can tell they are a little bit battered and loved but i never wear these for all the reasons that i just stated earlier there's a heel it's not comfortable to walk in on the streets here not comfortable to bike in certainly not waterproof this is not leather um your feet are exposed if it rains just so practical i've also got these shoes which i used to wear during the summer i love these shoes as well but look at this holes everywhere at the front so what's gonna happen if it rains i have only worn these maybe two or three times during the summer on clear warm days and that was it mistakes just keep rolling in so ah this is a ballet flash um i think it's pretty obvious why i don't wear this it's cloth-based hopeless in the rain it is flat so it would be somewhat comfortable to wear on the street but i cannot bike in these shoes you want something that is a little bit more sturdy when you're biking and these are definitely not sturdy so i have never worn these since arriving here some sandals you do see people wearing these from time to time but look how thin the sole is you're going to feel every single stone on the street if you wore these shoes and one more shoe so this is kind of a military style ankle boot you could say but while these look very much the part here they are not as functional as they may seem because i bought this in la these boots are not made for cold weather it's very very thin there's no insulation i just don't wear these during winter at all so you might be asking what do i wear well i really only wear two shoes now the first pair of shoes that i wear are my nike air force ones i only got them very recently because i saw everyone wear them i liked the look of them and if everyone is wearing them there's probably a good reason for that right and yeah they're very very comfortable they hold up really well in rain they are warm they look nice they're casual they go well with every outfit the second pair of shoes that i recently also purchased and that i plan to just wear for the rest of my time in the netherlands are my doc martin chelsea boots here they are i know doc martens isn't really everyone's style but i purposely chose this style because it's a little bit more mature you can't immediately tell that these are doc martens because the stitching around the sole is not the signature doc mod and yellow stitching but i really like these shoes because you can see the sole is thick so it's really sturdy it's waterproof as all doc madden shoes are it's got this faux fur lining so it actually keeps your foot really really really warm so maybe some of the shoes i shared with you aren't really quite your style what i would recommend is that if you still want to get a better idea of how dutch people dress here check out the instagram account amsterdam is in amsterdam i would say that the amsterdam is an amsterdam account is a very accurate portrayal of the kinds of outfits that you commonly see people wear here and the final thing that i wish we did a little bit differently or that i think we could have done differently was to at least consider living in other cities in the netherlands not just amsterdam my husband and i we honestly never even considered living in any other city other than amsterdam firstly because we are your typical city folk uh we are both originally from sydney and actually this iowa is originally from rio de janeiro which is the second largest city in brazil the other reason why we thought amsterdam would be the best place for us to live in was because my husband's job was going to be based in amsterdam so of course we thought well we want to live near the office in case you haven't noticed i am asian and of course diversity is really really important to me so in my mind the bigger the city the more diverse it is and the more comfortable i'm probably going to feel do i still agree with the choice that we made it's really hard to say because we don't know what life would have been like if we lived in another city but one thing i can tell you is that it is a lot more convenient than i initially thought to commute from amsterdam to other nearby cities like utrecht like den haag leiden harlem the public transport system here is actually really really good and to many of those cities i mentioned you can take a direct train to utrecht for example it's less than an hour train right away most employers will pay for your transportation costs to and from the office unsurprisingly even though my office is based in amsterdam many of my colleagues especially the dutch colleagues they don't live in amsterdam they live in other neighboring cities and they either drive or they take the train there and my workplace covers all those transportation costs for them living in amsterdam also may not save you that much time in your commute so for me personally it takes me about 45 minutes door-to-door from my home to my office and i recently learned that my colleague who lives in another neighboring city it takes her about the same time to drive home she lives much further away where she probably has quite a big house and she's probably paying like half the rent that we're paying here in amsterdam at the end of the day choosing where you live is a very personal decision it depends a lot on your needs it depends a lot on your personality what your day-to-day life is like um amsterdam is a really awesome city i really do love the area that we live in i love how diverse it is i love how expat friendly it is but i also totally understand why a lot of dutch people don't recommend living in amsterdam or they don't want to live in amsterdam yes it is expensive uh yes there are lots of tourists yes there are lots of expats like myself um so yeah you kind of have to just weigh up the pros and cons the main point that i'm trying to make here is that even if you do get a job in amsterdam it's not impossible to live in a different city and commute to amsterdam every day it's very doable and if your employer is willing to cover the transportation costs then it literally isn't going to cost you any extra money to live in a different city it might even save you money because the rent will probably be much lower that's it those are the five things that i wish i did a little bit differently when i moved to the netherlands you live and you learn you make such a big decision like relocating abroad you're bound to make some mistakes or have some regrets and wish that you did certain things differently but i guess that's what i'm here for i'm here to tell you about the things that i learned so that you can avoid making some of the same mistakes that i made if you enjoyed this video please don't forget to give it a thumbs up it just helps my channel grow and make sure you hit the subscribe button down below if you haven't already done so and including the notification bell too because that way you will be alerted whenever i make a new video the other question i'd like to ask you guys is to let me know in the comments down below what particular topics you would like me to talk about or make new videos about in 2022 because it's a brand new year i'm really excited to make new videos and new content for you guys and i'm sure with the new year there are going to be a lot more people who are thinking of relocating to the netherlands so let me know in the comments down below and i'll be sure to take it under consideration but otherwise i hope you enjoyed watching thank you so much for being here and i hope to see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: Leesa Yu

Views: 53,988

Keywords: moving to amsterdam, moving to the netherlands, amsterdam expat life, expats in amsterdam, life in the netherlands, living in amsterdam, amsterdam expat, australian expats, 30 ruling netherlands 2021, netherlands holland, asian australian expat, asian australian youtubers, american expat in europe, amsterdam youtubers, amsterdam vlog

Id: Ix6GBHw70YE

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 08 2022