Expat Resources to Ease Your International Living

Expats lifestyle is unique. For an outsider it seems, exciting, glamorous, and lots of fun. To some extent they are correct.

But, living overseas is not just fun. It involves lots of work, research, and trial and error. It most certainly takes some time until you settle comfortably in your host country.

To help you with this process I have gathered here some expat resources that can make your expatriate life more comfortable. These expat resources can be used by expats in most countries around the world.

E-products are excellent expat resources and a great solution for global nomads. By e-products I am referring not only to e-books, but also to digital magazines, digital audiobooks and other audio content like TV and radio subscriptions.

Here are some of the reasons:

1. It saves space - For me one of the hardest challenges when relocating abroad is packing. It becomes really difficult when I have to pack our books. We own hundreds of books, and we rarely give them away. So each posting we carry all our books with us, and then we have to find space for all of them in our new home. Believe me this is not easy at all.
2. Mobility - We usually pack a full container, so taking our books with us is not a problem, But what if you don't pack a full container, and you are paying the international shipping company according to the weight and measurements of your cargo. Wow, taking all your books with you can be very expensive.
3. Accessibility - Imagine you are moving abroad to a foreign country where English or Spanish is not the local language. What are the chances that you find Magazines and books in your language at the local stores? Some local stores might hold English or Spanish books inventory, but the selection will be small, and they won't have all the best sellers or the Magazines that you like to read back home.
4. Saving Money - Even if you find the book or the magazine that you want in the local store it would probably be pricy. What about buying online and paying the shipping cost? First, it can be expensive and second not all online book stores will ship to your host country.
5. Enjoying hearing some English - What if you are an expat living in China, Japan or Italy? Don't you miss hearing some English once in a while? Or even watching some English T.V? Digital English audio can provide you the audio experience, and with Internet T.V you can watch English Language T.V.

If you are interested in finding e-products you have a lot of choice, and it's growing every day.

You can find here some options:

Audible.com - The largest online provider of digital audiobooks and audio content specializing books, newspapers and magazines, original programming, TV and radio subscriptions.

Audible.com has over 60,000 titles that can be downloaded directly to the computer or transferred to iPod or MP3 player, CD's, PDAs or smart mobile devices for listening on the go.

Audible UK - The UK's largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. You can find fiction, comedy, self-development, business texts, kids' titles and much more to download and listen to instantly. Audible UK products are exclusively compatible with iPods (plus over 500 other devices including phones and satellite navigation systems).

eBooks.com - offers over 100,000 titles in three file formats. The eBooks.com provides a full suite of functionality for ebook newcomers and enthusiasts alike. Ebooks.com prices are well below hard copy books and the books are available for instant download.

Zinio Digital Magazine - Zinio transforms print magazines into digital format. It offers immediate access to 850+ titles across multiple languages in the Zinio online store - both single issues and subscriptions. You can browse and shop by country, language and even purchase in your own currency

British T.V. Anywhere - Internet TV is fast becoming a great alternative to satellite systems. British T.V. anywhere supply a UK proxy service which means that your computer appear as though it is in the United Kingdom, and enables you to watch any UK blocked website from anywhere in the world legally.

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Reading e-books on your computer monitor can be very tiring, and listening to the audiobooks and other audio content only via your computer is limiting.

Today, there are a lot of e-readers and smartphones devices out on the marketplace. Most E-readers employ E Ink technology into their display.

Before you choose which device to use it is important that you check the following:

• Does the device supports your digital e-formats, will it enable you access to a broad range of content from your own generated text files to copyrighted bestsellers?
• Will you need to download additional applications to be able to read your e-books or listen to the audio content with your Ereader or smartphones?

• Some online stores will ship E-readers and smart mobile devices only to the U.S.A and Canada. If you are not located in any of those 2 countries and have no friends or relatives that can send it to you, then you can try and use the services of US global Mail. They enable U.S expats and other people who are living outside of the U.S.A to purchase American goods and have them delivered to their location.

Here are some of the most well-known E-readers and smart mobile devices:

Expat resurces - E-readers devices

Amazon's Kindle - With Amazon's Kindle you can buy and download books wirelessly from the Kindle store. You can download and enjoy more than 50,000 audio titles from Audible.com, including bestselling audio books, radio programs, audio newspapers, and magazines.

Kindle can now be shipped to customers outside the U.S. Moreover, even if kindle is not shipped to your country you can still read Kindle books on your computer with Amazon free application for Windows PC.

Sony Digital Book Reader - The Sony Reader Digital Book offers a unique reading experience and is the perfect travel companion, you can take it almost anywhere and read your books whenever and wherever you want. It allows you to search, browse, discover, and buy thousands of new releases, classics and popular eBook titles. Even better, together with Google, Sony brings you access to over a million public domain books for free.

The Sony Reader Digital Book isn't just about reading eBooks. By using the included eBook Library 2.0 PC Software, you can easily transfer PDF documents, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB Book, and other text file formats to the Reader. This allows you the flexibility to access and view multiple files at any time and everywhere

iRex iLiad Book Edition - An electronic reader e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. With iRex iLiad you can read and write notes, store notes in the notes folder, and download and store Mobipocket books in the books folder.

iRex iLiad supports the Dutch, English, French and German languages. But Additional language are expected to be supported in the future

eBookwise - displays premium content from eBookwise.com. In addition, it can display your own personal content in text , rich text format, Microsoft Word documents, HTML, and Rocket eBook Editions. Note: This reader does not use electronic ink.

E-bookwise reader is shipped only to U.S.A and Canada.

Expat Resources - Smart Mobile Devices

Did you know that you can use your smart mobile devices to read e-books and to listen to digital audio content?

Many e-product companies make it possible for you to read their e-content with your Blackberry, Treo, iPhone , iTouch, etc', and to listen to their digital audio content with your I Pod or MP3 player.

The only thing left for you to do is to add the right application to your mobile device so it can read the e-content.

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Expatica.com

Expatica provides daily news, features and practical information on living abroad in English for the international communities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK.

Our goal is to provide high quality content and services to all countries across Europe and beyond.

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