This essay, as told, is based on a verbal exchange with Christian Salafia, a former US Navy engineering laboratory technician and cybersecurity and data security representative who moved from Florida to South Africa in 2021.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I moved to South Africa for my now wife 3 years ago. It’s the resolution I’ve ever made.
In late 2019, early 2020, my then-girlfriend Kim and I had known each other for years on Facebook, but it was “Happy Birthday,” nothing more interactive than that. Then she invited me to South Africa.
I needed to renew my passport and she needed to renew hers. So we said, “Whoever gets first first. ” » Theirs arrived faster, so it premiered in the United States in February 2020, just when Covid was beginning to make noise around the world.
We spent 10 days together and I thought, “This happens somewhere, so next time I’ll come to South Africa and see what life is like there. “
Three days after his return home, the global stopped. Then I could only faint in November 2020.
When I arrived in South Africa despite everything, I fell in love with this country.
When I got off the plane for the first time in South Africa, I felt relaxed.
One of the first things we did on my first trip was have lunch on the beach, with Table Mountain just a few kilometers away. I remember standing there looking over the Atlantic, Table Mountain on my left, soaking in the scenery.
We stayed in a hotel, about a 4 hour drive away, and saw the open countryside with hills and animals roaming everywhere. We feel so preserved.
At the time, I spent two weeks and an additional two weeks because I contracted Covid before I could go home. We came back to the US in December 2020, and she stayed through New Year.
I called my daughters — I have two adult daughters — and asked, “How would you feel if your dad decided to move to South Africa?”
My daughter said, “Does it make you happy? And I said, ‘Of course. ‘And she said, “Come on, have fun. “
And so, in August 2021, I arrived here with 3 suitcases – I had sent two boxes – and built a new life on the other side of the world.
Before I left the United States I was earning almost six figures and it was very stressful to make sure my expenses were paid and to wonder if I was going on vacation.
But here, thanks to the reduced burden of living, we can live the life that most Americans dream of.
We are in a large space in the vineyards and have a car. Now I am semi-retired; I get a disability pension from the Navy and I’m a cybersecurity and data security consultant.
We go on vacation, we can pass out at night and go to the theater and the opera. And we don’t ask ourselves at all times if we can.
My wife recently told me, “When you first came here, you were very stressed, worried, and like you had to do something. Since I got here, I’ve been very relaxed. “
I think what other people don’t realize about being an expat and living in a rising country is that life is much simpler.
You don’t feel rushed anywhere, and it allows you to be fully present all the time. There is the joke that Cape Town is called the “Mother City” because it takes nine months to get anything done.
The food is amazing. You can tell that everything is herbal and unprocessed, which enhances the food.
During my first years here, the force cuts were brutal, with days in which we were forced to work between 8 and 10 hours a day.
The memes and jokes that circulated on social media, from South Africans to Nando’s advertisers, were priceless.
Everyone here knows South Africa has its problems — electricity, water, corruption, and crime — but it doesn’t seem to faze anyone.
They do not let themselves be discouraged or bitter.
Even meals here are an event. You show up at people’s houses at 2 p.m.; you don’t eat until 8 or 9 o’clock at night. It’s an all-day thing.
It’s the same thing in a restaurant. If you go out to breakfast, you can expect to spend a couple of hours.
I miss my children, my circle of family and my friends. But I don’t regret it. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the United States because there’s a lot of work and a lot of stress.
My wife and I need an undeniable life. We need it and not feel like we are running hard just to survive.
If I had to give one recommendation when contemplating leaving the United States, it would be to not look first at the evolved Western countries. Look at the most evolved countries.
I had this conversation with friends of ours a couple of months ago who also emigrated here, one from the UK and his wife from Romania, about where we would go if we ever left South Africa.
Not one of us chose a developed country or to go back to where we came from. Instead, it was South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana, and Central America.
They’re culturally richer, and if you can work remotely, choose someplace that is different.
Take the risk. Be bold. Don’t transfer one evolved country to another. Go explore the world.
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