I'm an American who moved to the Netherlands. If I had to move abroad again, I’d do these 5 things differently.

As an American living in the Netherlands, there are a few things I wish I had done differently when moving abroad.

Emily Pogue Six months ago, my husband and I moved from the US to the Netherlands.

Looking back, there are a few things I wish I'd done differently during the move.

I should've booked a hotel for our first night in the country and brought more of my medications.

My great-grandparents emigrated from the Netherlands to the US, and my Dutch heritage was always in the background of my childhood.

I played dress up with wooden shoes and my crayon drawings were full of tulips.

So after my husband and I visited in 2024, we decided to move to the Netherlands on the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) visa.

Six months after moving, here are the things I'd do differently if I could turn back the clock.

I'd plan an in-person trip to scope out cities We moved to Utrecht despite never visiting the city before.

Emily Pogue Although my husband and I had visited the Netherlands several times, we didn't know exactly where we wanted to live.

So, we hired a real estate agent who works with internationals to be our boots-on-the-ground contact while we looked remotely from the States.

When she would send us a potential listing, we'd run to Google Maps to try to get a sense of the neighborhood.

However, there's only so much you can gauge from outdated Street View photos.

If we liked the listing, we had to wake up at 3 a.m. for the video walkthrough and give an immediate (albeit groggy) "Yes" or "No." After a month of looking, we were charmed by a traditional Dutch row house in one of the cities we'd never been to, Utrecht.