One Story • One Step • One Question. Three minutes.
One Story
Years ago, when I lived in London the first time, I worked with a woman who, at fifty-six, had left her big house in Australia. She had four grown children and a husband she still loved. And still, she moved to London alone. She told him six months, maybe a year. What followed instead was house shares, uncertain jobs, and stretches of unemployment. Then, at sixty, her first full-time career: registrar at a university in Richmond Upon Thames. Her marriage didn’t end; she and her husband met for holidays in places halfway between their two lives.
What I remember most is how she described sitting in her tiny flat after work, quietly delighted, because she had bought her own groceries and paid the bill herself. “It was my turn,” she said.
Some crossings aren’t away from anyone. They’re toward the part of you that’s been waiting.
One Step
Back in the day, she found her way into London — but the door she used then has narrowed, and it's worth knowing exactly what today looks like. The UK, unlike much of Europe, has no digital nomad visa. A visitor can stay up to six months, and working remotely for an overseas employer is tolerated only as incidental to the visit — the moment it becomes your main reason for being here, you're on the wrong side of the rules. The practical read: the UK is a place to test a life for a few months, not to quietly live one on visitor status. Testing is legal. Pretending is not. Look closely before you leap.
One Question
Her words are worth considering. What have you been quietly putting off until you perceive it's your turn? And who, honestly, is in charge of deciding when that is?
— Randy
I’ve spent fifty years in international education and cultural exchange — a front-row seat to people changing careers, countries, and lives. If you’re putting together a panel, a podcast, or a story and want a voice from the field, just reply. Replies come straight to me, and I read every one.