Michelle Garrett

One of the most interesting things about living overseas is experiencing the way different cultures celebrate holidays. The Christmas Cracker has become one of my favourites. Over 20 years ago I spent one of my first Christmases in Britain with

A few hundred years ago some British expats who were mostly settling in a new land (some still travelling back and forth for business, with homes in both places) started to grow increasingly frustrated by taxes levied by the Parliament

I know that title seems an obvious statement to some people who have preconceived ideas about the relaxed ‘G&T on a veranda’ lifestyle of expats. But as most of us know, it’s not exactly like that. For me, the expat

I’ve lived in the UK for over 20 years so the early expat days are a little foggy in my memory. I belong to some expat groups and each of these groups has members who have lived in the UK

I’ve lived in the UK about 24 years and apart from the time I abandoned logic and decided to travel without my old passport that says ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ as well as my current one I’ve never really strongly

Perhaps it was the very specific Northern Mother-in-Law who first instilled the fear of tea in me. If she were in a good mood I would get lots of jokes about an American’s inability to make a cup of tea,

As an American living in the UK one of my favourite days of the year is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. The day off, after Christmas. Until I moved to the UK I had never heard of Boxing Day.

The first year I lived in the UK I was here with other American students. We lined up at the phones with our phone cards calling home and cooked a sort of Thanksgiving dinner with what we could find in

One of the best tips for expats who want to cope better with homesickness and culture shock and get the most out of their time overseas is to get involved in the local community. There may be community garden projects,

I recently wrote a post, The Perils of Expats Writing Fiction about an unexpected difficulty for long-term expat writers. Your internal editor is muted (or confused) because after living somewhere long enough it’s difficult to remember if they say taps