Your first 30 days after an international move are a whirlwind of paperwork, cultural surprises, and figuring out where to buy milk at 9 PM. You’re jet-lagged, your phone doesn’t work properly, and you’re wondering if you packed enough patience.
Every expat goes through this adjustment period. Those first weeks feel chaotic, but they follow predictable patterns once you know what to expect.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the most common challenges you’ll face in your first month abroad. Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Surviving jet lag and getting your bearings straight
- Essential admin tasks like banking, mobile phones, and registrations
- Housing situations, from temporary stays to finding your permanent home
- Cultural adjustment tips that work in real life
- Managing the emotional ups and downs of moving
You’ll walk away with a practical plan and insider tips from people who’ve been exactly where you are now. Let’s get started.
The Initial Onboarding: Your New Home and City
As soon as you step off the plane in your new country, jet lag hits you like a brick wall, and you suddenly can’t remember where your belongings are supposed to be. Your body clock thinks it’s Tuesday teatime while the calendar insists it’s Saturday morning. At the same time, your carefully packed belongings are somewhere in transit, probably having a better time than you are right now.
Everything from the accent to the way people queue feels slightly foreign, even in English-speaking countries. These first few days set the tone for your entire settling-in experience.
Here’s what you need to tackle first in your new city:
Surviving the First 48 Hours: Jet Lag and Essentials
Jet lag hits hardest when you’ve crossed multiple time zones during an actual move. Your circadian rhythm gets completely scrambled when combined with the stress of relocating permanently. Unlike tourists who bounce back quickly, movers often struggle longer because they can’t just “sleep it off” in a hotel.
The exhaustion feels different, too. You’re tired from travelling and mentally drained from processing everything new around you.
Here’s your survival checklist for the first 48 hours:
- Get local currency sorted
- Buy basic groceries and water
- Set up temporary phone service
- Find the nearest pharmacy
The best way to recover from jet lag is to force yourself into the local schedule immediately, even when your brain feels like mush. Yes, that means staying awake until 10 PM when you feel like collapsing at 3 PM. Your future self will thank you for pushing through those first few rough days.
Dealing with Your Belongings: The Last Leg of the Moving Process
Where exactly are your things right now? If you’re like most people, half your belongings are somewhere between customs and your new address, while the other half are scattered across three different suitcases. Your actual move ends when your moving company delivers that final box to your new residence, and you can finally find your favourite mug again.
This phase can stretch anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on shipping methods and customs procedures. The waiting period can feel endless, especially when you’re sleeping on an air mattress and eating takeaway with plastic forks. That’s exactly why you should pack a “first week survival kit” in your carry-on to cover essentials like toiletries, a change of clothes, and basic medications.
Once you’ve sorted your immediate survival needs and your belongings start trickling in, the real administrative fun begins. Let’s talk about handling your finances and paperwork in your new country.
Handling Your Finances and Paperwork
After you’ve tackled jet lag, we recommend getting your finances and paperwork in order. Here are a few things you need to do: open a bank account, redirect and inform some institutions that need to know your location to update their records. Though the paperwork feels endless, it’s manageable when you break it down into chunks.
Tackle these financial tasks one at a time to keep things moving:
- Setting Up Your Banking Accounts: If there’s one thing that’ll make your daily life way easier, it’s getting your banking sorted quickly. It’s best to begin by setting up a local bank account to handle your daily expenses without paying international fees on every coffee purchase. You’ll also need to notify your insurance company about your move, as this affects your coverage and can change your premiums depending on your new location.
- Registering with Local Authorities and Services: Most countries require you to register your new address with local authorities within a specific timeframe after arrival. This registration allows you to access other services like healthcare, voting rights, and certain types of bank accounts. The process varies by country, but it’s usually straightforward and can be done online or at your local council office.
- Redirecting Your Mail: Many people underestimate how many important post still arrives at their old address, even in our digital world. When you set up proper mail redirection, it ensures you don’t miss bank statements and other important documents that could affect your finances. This becomes especially important for tax documents that prove your change of residence.
Useful Tip: Contact your most important senders directly rather than relying solely on mail redirection. This way, you’ll get your post faster and avoid any potential delays in the system.
Once you’ve got the administrative basics sorted, you can focus on the more personal side of settling in. Your attention can now turn to building connections and establishing yourself in this new environment.
Managing Post-Move Challenges and Building Your New Life
What happens when the excitement of moving abroad wears off and reality kicks in? Well, you’ll likely face a mix of homesickness, culture shock, and the overwhelming feeling that everyone else seems to have figured out life in this new city except you.
Most people experience this adjustment period within the first two weeks of moving abroad, especially when dealing with a new language and unfamiliar social customs. However, the right approach can help you work through these challenges and start building meaningful connections.
Here’s how to tackle the emotional side of your international move:
Beating the Expat Blues: Acknowledging Your Mental Health
We get it. Some days you’ll feel like you’ve made a huge mistake, and other days you’ll wonder why you didn’t move sooner. These emotional ups and downs are incredibly common during your first month after moving abroad, so don’t worry if you’re feeling a bit all over the place.
One of our clients shared that she spent her first week calling friends and family back in her home country every night as she struggled with simple tasks like grocery shopping. She felt completely overwhelmed and even thought something was wrong with her at the time.
What she didn’t realise was that this intense homesickness was a normal part of the adjustment process that nearly every expat experiences. After talking with us, she learned some practical strategies to cope with these feelings and gradually started feeling more at home in her new residence.
Now, let’s look at a few practical ways to handle these emotional phases:
- Finding Community and Socialising: When you’re feeling isolated in a new place, connecting with others becomes vital for your mental health. So dive into Facebook groups for expats in your area as they’re brilliant for finding new friends who understand exactly what you’re going through. You’ll be amazed how many people are willing to meet up just because you both know the struggle of finding decent tea in a foreign country.
- Establishing a Routine: If you want to maintain good physical and mental health while building your new life, then establishing a daily routine becomes your anchor in all the chaos. Simple as it sounds, structure helps your brain adjust faster to the changes around you, creating familiarity in an unfamiliar place.
We recommend apps like Headspace for meditation and MyFitnessPal for maintaining healthy habits. These tools can help you stay grounded when everything else feels chaotic and uncertain.
After you’ve started building these connections and routines, you’ll begin to see your move from a completely different angle. What once felt overwhelming will start to feel like the adventure you originally signed up for.
The Expat Advantage: Accepting Your New Culture
Your connection with the local culture becomes one of the most rewarding parts of your expat experience. It turns what could be a lonely adventure into genuine belonging. When you make this effort, doors open that would otherwise stay closed to tourists or short-term visitors. You’ll find yourself invited to local celebrations, and gradually accepted as part of the community rather than just another foreigner passing through.
Here’s how to make this cultural connection happen naturally:
Understanding Local Customs and Social Norms
How do you figure out the unwritten rules of a place when nobody explains them to you? The answer lies in observation, patience, and a willingness to make a few social mistakes along the way. Most locals appreciate when newcomers make an effort to understand their customs, even if you get it wrong the first few times.
If you want to live abroad successfully, stepping outside your comfort zone becomes part of your daily routine. For example, you might discover that making friends happens differently here compared to your home country. In some places, people socialise through work colleagues, while others prefer meeting through hobbies or neighbourhood activities.
Within a few months, you’ll pick up on social cues like personal space preferences and conversation styles that seemed completely foreign at first. Even learning basic phrases in the new language helps a lot, as locals see that you respect their local customs.
The best approach is to watch how locals behave rather than assuming your home country’s rules apply everywhere. In our experience, most cultural misunderstandings happen when people expect familiar patterns in unfamiliar places. So don’t assume that friendly chitchat works the same way in every culture.
Trying New Foods and Experiences
When you start living overseas, it gives you the perfect excuse to try things you’d never consider back home. This holds whether you’re on a working holiday visa or planning to work abroad permanently. One of the fastest ways to connect with your new culture is through food, and it opens doors you never expected.
At the same time, set realistic expectations because not every local dish will become your new favourite, and that’s perfectly fine. Add “try one new local food per week” to your to-do list for the first few months. Think of it as a new adventure rather than a chore. You’ll find that these experiences become natural conversation starters with locals who love sharing their food culture.
Your Next Chapter Starts Now
Your first 30 days abroad will feel like a whirlwind, but remember that every challenge you face is temporary and manageable. The struggles you’ll encounter, from jet lag to paperwork, from cultural confusion to homesickness, are all simply part of the settling-in process.
We’ve covered everything from surviving those first jet-lagged 48 hours to setting up your banking, redirecting your mail, and building meaningful connections in your new country. Also, you’ve learned how to handle the emotional ups and downs while embracing local customs and trying new experiences that will enrich your expat adventure.
If you’re planning your move to New Zealand and want to ensure your belongings arrive safely while you focus on settling in, we’re here to help. At Ikku, we handle the stress of international moving so you can concentrate on building your new life.
Contact us today to discuss how we can make your relocation smooth and worry-free.