Drawbacks of Travel

Flight cancellation in Lhasa = complete and utter pandemonium

Intro

Traveling is awesome/fun/life-changing/eye-opening/best-thing-ever! Quit your boring job and start living life! You are wasting your optimal years on a 9 to 5 that is providing you with a cushy retirement, who needs that?! Discover new cultures, photograph indigenous people (French people wearing berets count, right?), eat food that might get you incredibly sick but will teach you a life lesson on the dangers of ice. All of this can be yours if you just try hard enough. Boredom will be a thing of the past and every single moment will be an amazing photo-op of you jumping in front of sunsets/cliffs/ridiculous landscapes. Trust me, traveling is all rise and no fall...say organizations that are trying to get you to spend money and sign up for their customized tours. 

I've already written a bit on the downsides of travel (Travel for the Bad Experiences) and for this post I want to focus on how to make the best of sometimes bad situations. For those who have followed this blog at all or even just looked at the homepage, I am sure you know that I love traveling the world. I don't want to be doing anything else with my life. In order to live the life that I have (I am in the south of Turkey as of the publishing of this post), I have had to give things up. 

I am going to preface this by saying that I am incredibly spoiled privileged. I have never wanted for food or shelter. The danger I have been in is pretty usual (car accidents, potential rape/molestation situations as in watching myself during parties and taking care of friends who have been roofied, dysentery) and nothing especially life-threatening. I have wonderful parents who can and will take care of me if anything were to happen. I am luckier than many other people on this planet and I am aware that I have it quite good in the lottery of life. 

With all of that said, this is a post for people who do want to travel and can find/already have the means to accomplish this dream. Whether you are a trust fund baby or you have literally sold everything in order to scrounge up enough to go overseas (or overland), you have enough to afford a train, a plane, a bus or a combination of all of these. I still contend that traveling is not as expensive as people think it is (Planning a Trip), but you do still need to have some saved up to go. 

Now that you have your tickets booked and your giant medication bag all ready and you have headed out into the wide world, here are some of the negative things that you can expect to feel/experience.

1. Loneliness/Friends

This can be the case even if you are not solo traveling (Group vs. Solo Travel). This is more for those who are traveling long-term and living for long amounts of time away from their family and friends. Yes, you meet new people. Yes, you go on exciting adventures. Yes, you are trying all sorts of new things and making every person chained to a desk green with envy. However, when the work day is over, those desk jockeys get to go out for happy hour and have a few pints with their buds or coworkers. Those people you left behind are moving on with their lives with new relationships, marriages, children, promotions, friends and you are now living a very different lifestyle that they most probably won't understand. 

If you complain about anything, they will likely just roll their eyes and say you've still got it better than them. If you get excited about anything, they might accuse you of bragging. Best case scenario, if people are genuinely happy for you and want to celebrate your travels, they still won't know your daily life no matter how many Instagram photos you take of your food.

Antidote-ish:

If nothing else, this experience will show you who your friends are. There will be people that make the effort consistently. There will be others who you don't talk to for months but it is always the same when you do finally connect. There will even be a group that you will become closer to because they are going through something similar even though you met only once at a party in university. Finally there are those who will become acquaintances and will gradually fade away. These can be your best friends in the whole world before you head out, but they will get swallowed up in their own lives away from you. 

All of these outcomes are okay. Some are painful and others are revelatory. How ever your friendships play out, all you can do is try your best at sharing your life. Use Facebook, email, Twitter, and Pinterest. Get a Vonage phone or use Facetime or Skype or any number of other apps that will allow you to communicate. Put in effort as long as there is effort put in back to you. If someone starts dropping the ball, confront them if it hurts you.

2. Family

The world is an uncertain place. Scary things happen all around the world perpetrated by all sorts of people. Scary things also happen through accident, disease and age. One of my favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes of all time is entitled the Body. It powerfully shows the horror of everyday death and loss. Depending on how long you are abroad and how much contact you have with the wider world, you might risk not being able to say goodbye to someone you love. Hopefully you will never have to experience this, but it is something that could happen when you are separated from your family.

Third Culture Kids have lived with this risk all of our lives since we rarely grew up near family or relatives. There are plenty of First Culture Kids who deal with this as well.

On a less dour note, the same drawbacks apply to family as well as friends. You grow away from people and it can be hard to keep in touch. You might miss out on celebrations and reunions and it can be pretty hard to make up for that when you get back.

Antidote-ish:

Tell people you love them. Try to call regularly and do your best to stay in touch using social media. Understand that your family loves you. They love you for pursuing your passion and they stand behind you. It can be hard to be far away, but do your best and live your life so that they will always be proud of you.

3. Expectations

If this is your first time abroad or if it is your first really big round-the-world trip, you might have expectations as high as the Burj Khalifa. Every moment should be awesome and new and life-altering. You want to come back with stories that start with, "This one time when I was standing on the edge of a giant waterfall..." or "And then we almost died, but it was awesome because..." 

I hate to break it to you, but there will be periods of boredom. There will be times where you will be cramped and uncomfortable. There will likely be many, many, MANY times of stress and exhaustion when your plane/train/bus is cancelled/taking you somewhere it's not supposed to/careening around a blind bend on a VERY high mountain with only one lane. 

Antidote-ish:

By all means be excited and think that you will be the exception to this, but maybe keep a couple of books around to distract you just in case. Definitely try to make the most of any situation and bring along a camera or a sketchbook or anything that will keep you occupied when life slows to a snail crawl or you need to drown out the screaming passengers of yet another canceled flight.

4. Alienation

This is mostly for those readers who haven't really traveled before. When you go to another country, mostly those who don't speak your language or whose people don't look like you, you might feel a bit of alienation at being different. You will no longer be able to listen in on random insipid conversations in Starbucks. You won't be able to rush to your comfort food the moment something goes wrong. Transportation will run differently than where you live. You will probably say this phrase at least once,"But this wouldn't happen in _______________!!" 

Antidote-ish:

Keep in mind you are no longer in _________________. You are a guest and as such you need to be able to operate within the rules of the society you are in. I know it's hard and frustrating and that life is unfair, but consider this experience an exercise in patience and worldliness.  

If you really feel yourself ready to burst with rage/sadness/loneliness, try to talk to a friend from home or seek out a bar/restaurant in town which caters to expats. 

If you are spending a long time in one place, try learning a bit of the language. You may only learn ten phrases, but you can communicate ten more times than before and that is a win.

5. Travel Companions 

I'm sure you have heard that one of the biggest tests for a couple is whether or not they can travel together. While I completely agree with that, it doesn't just apply to your romantic relationship. It applies to all the connections in your life. Who you choose to travel with can make the difference between a crappy trip spent sulking in your room in a rain-soaked city or going on a watery romp to explore all that the streets have to offer.

If you choose your travel companions poorly, you will end up embittered and resenting the trip for forcing you to stay with this person. You could have been best buds before you got on that plane, but going overseas will change that. The list of things that you can fight about multiplies exponentially when you travel. A poor travel companion will drain you and suck all of your enthusiasm dry. 

Antidote-ish:

Choose wisely. Start with small, short trips and test the waters if you are already friends/dating. If you are solo traveling and you happen to fall in with irritating people in your hostel, "accidentally" leave early or late and make your own schedule. 

End

I hope that this list was a reality check for some and the cause for a lot of head-nodding for others. Would you add anything to the list? Do you contest anything on the list? Let me know in the comments!

Sea Change Mentoring

Take a look at Sea Change Mentoring!

One of the most challenging aspects of being an expat is providing the proper care for children. Not in the sense of nourishment or shelter, but in the potentially neglected emotional impact of relocating to a foreign country. All too often there is a disconnect in the communication between the issues that expats face and those experienced by their burgeoning third culture kids. 

A TCK is someone who has spent a significant amount of their developmental years outside of their passport country. These children create their own version of normal by combining aspects of the place(s) that they live, their parents’ culture(s) and the behaviors of their friends. Rather than a singular understanding of “home”, TCKs identify with many different nations and belief systems. This can be at odds with what their parents face when dealing with grief, loss, and longing during overseas moves.

TCKs are especially at risk for depression during relocation to their passport country. While expats traditionally experience reverse culture shock, TCKs face the gauntlet of culture shock with the added expectation that they will be able to fit right in because their passport says that they are from this country. While every move is traumatic due to the dissolution of friendships and being uprooted from a comfort zone, moving “home” is the first instance when the emotions of an expat can diverge drastically from what a TCK is going through. 

Repatriation is difficult all around because of the different personality changes that a person can experience by being exposed to different cultures. Fitting back into old friendships and routines can cause expats to struggle with readjusting to a life that they moved far away from. This is a very separate issue from TCKs who are struggling just to understand the daily customs of this new place with which people already expect them to be familiar. TCKs can feel extremely isolated since the troubles that they face are, for the most part, ignored since they have not moved to a “foreign” country. The safety nets and the careful briefings that parents provided for their children abroad disappear because these are no longer perceived as necessary. What many fail to realize is that to a TCK, their passport country is more foreign than many of the places that they have lived. 

These hidden immigrants often have a lot of difficulty relating the overseas lives they have lived with peers who have most likely never left their passport country. Even with the advent of social media and the ability to share photos and videos in real time, seeing a foreign lifestyle and living in one are still miles apart. The happiness of an expat family is intertwined, so when a child suffers so do the parents. 

To this end, an online mentoring organization called Sea Change Mentoring was developed by an adult TCK named Ellen Mahoney. Sea Change Mentoring seeks to ease the transition of TCKs when they repatriate during the end of high school in order to attend university in their passport country. This organization provides an outlet for TCKs to vent their frustration and to express any alienation that they might feel upon being surrounded by peers who do not understand them. Professionally trained mentors, who are all adult TCKs, guide teenagers as they tackle the daunting tasks of fitting in and adjusting to a radically different culture. This organization makes use of the plethora of communication technology that is available today. This is to ensure that these TCKs receive the attention that they need no matter where they are in the world. 

I am an American adult TCK. I was born in Hong Kong and have lived in Calcutta, Taiwan, Beijing, New Delhi, Chennai, and Manila. The first time I ever lived in the US was when I was ten years old and that was the most difficult transition that I have ever experienced. I went from being surrounded by people from different nationalities who were just like me to people from the same nationality who could not have been more different. My fellow students had grown up together and had a shared history that spanned years. I had only known some of my best friends from New Delhi for two years and that was considered a long time. Even while it appeared that I had outwardly adjusted and made friends, I was wracked with self-doubt and constantly insecure about how I should act, dress, and think. It was only during my university years and beyond that I really appreciated my time back "home," since  I had a broader network of friends and acquaintances that I could draw on. I became involved with the Sea Change Mentoring program as a mentor because I wanted to be able to help fellow TCKs who were headed back "home" for the first time. I know how rough it was for me even when I went back again for university. I think both moves might have been easier if I had been able to talk to someone who had already been through the emotional roller coaster of repatriation.

Navigating social pressures, pop culture landmines, and the lack of shared experiences can drive a TCK to depression. Sea Change Mentoring creates a support network and reinstates a safety net for teen TCKs during a fragile period in their lives. Expat parents benefit greatly from having their children readjust more effectively and this is a service that is geared towards that goal. The field of understanding the difficulties that TCKs face is quite nascent and Sea Change Mentoring is at the forefront of this essential component of expat life.     

Keep in touch with Sea Change Mentoring by checking out our: 

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If you have any questions, please head over to our website:

Sea Change Mentoring

Istanbul: A Tour

Night shot of Istanbul with the Blue Mosque, Yeni Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Galata Bridge

Head to my gallery for some other photos of Istanbul.

Istanbul is one of my favourite cities in the world. I have been twice and will head there a third time in a couple of weeks. While it is a huge sprawling metropolis (it spans two continents), there are a few areas that I now know fairly well. Having absolutely fallen in love with the city, I highly recommend it to everyone. There is something to appeal to all interests and it is probably one of the most kid-friendly places that I have ever been (well, all of Turkey is incredibly fond of children). The places that I write about are for people who have only a couple of days to spend and a fairly tight schedule. If this is your second or third time, skim the list to see if there is anything that you have missed. Here is a brief introductory guide to Istanbul:

Overview and practicalities:

1. Always travel with a universal adapter. These bad boys pay for themselves when you aren't scrambling to find a plug to charge your electronics. 

2. Turkey's outlet is two round prongs and it is 220v. However, given most technology these days, you won't have to worry about anything shorting out.

3. Visas are available in Ataturk Airport right before you go through immigration. Just have $20 cash exact change (for US citizens). Make sure to head to the visa booth before you get in line for immigration!

4. There are ATMs right in Ataturk for a whole bunch of different banks.  There are also change shops all around the city. Try to hit up a couple and compare the exchange rates because they are different.

5. There are two major airports in Istanbul: Ataturk (IST) and Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SAW). Ataturk is the airport on the European side and it is about a 30-40 minute drive to Sultanahmet. Sabiha Gokcen is on the Asian side and it is about an hour and a half drive to Sultanahmet with traffic (although I read a horror story that said they were stuck for four hours). If you are flying to SAW, I would recommend booking a private transport, although you can go the much cheaper public transport route. Make sure you know what airport you are going to/from since a mistake will cost you the flight.

6. A cab from Taksim Square to Sultanahmet cost me about 12-14 lira. If you are traveling with a group of four or more, take the cab. It will be the same price as the tram but WAY less crowded. A cab ride from Sultanahmet to Eminonu will likely be cheaper because it is closer. If you take a cab, ALWAYS make sure they put on the meter so they can't cheat you.

7. Watch your stuff on the tram. It gets really, really packed and is a prime place for pickpockets.

8. Food can range anywhere from 50 kurush (cents - this is for the stuffed mussels) to 30 or more lira. Restaurants along the tram line are going to be more expensive unless you go for street-side food or takeaway wraps.   

In Istanbul:

1. I recommend first-time travelers stay in Sultanahmet. It is the old city and has the greatest cluster of historical sights. The best method to getting from Ataturk to your hotel in Sultanahmet is taxi. To get to Sultanahmet it costs 45 lira (ish $25) and it is pretty reliable since there is a specific airport road that is separate from the regular traffic. Another method you can use is the metro.  There is a line that takes you to the city and from there you transfer to the tram line. You can transfer at Zeytinburnu and then walk a little bit to catch the tram towards Kabataş, and then get off at Sultanahmet. Another option is to get off at the end stop in the metro called Aksaray and then cab to Sultanahmet. The metro and tram only really cost a couple of lira coins. You need to make sure you have coins on hand to get the tokens that you use to get through the turnstiles. Otherwise you can spring for an Istanbul public transport card (Istanbulkart) and then use that for your whole stay. Pay 10 lira for the card and then load as much money onto it as you want. You can get this card at Ataturk airport as well as in shops around town. You can also keep reusing this card for the same entry point, so if you are traveling with multiple people, you can all use that one card.

The area where you get tokens for the tram and metro in Istanbul.

If you really aren't too concerned with the historical sights of Istanbul and you would rather be in a clubbing area, then stay near Taksim Square, preferably along Istiklal Street. From Ataturk to Taksim, there is a bus (around 10 lira per person) or you can also use the metro/tram combo and get off at the end stop of Kabataş, and then use this other mini tram called the Füniküler or walk.

When looking for hotels, follow the tips that I outlined in my post Planning a Trip. ALWAYS check multiple sites when booking anything and make sure you see the total amount including taxes before you click book.

I have stayed in both Osmanhan Hotel and Sultanahmet Suites and can recommend both. I booked the bottom room in Osmanhan since it is the cheapest, and for Sultanahmet Suites I stayed in their largest apartment with four people and found it wonderful.

In terms of where everything is oriented in relation to each other, it goes Ataturk, Sultanahmet, Galata, Istiklal and then Taksim.  

2. Sultanahmet is the part of the city with the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. These are right across from each other. The Blue Mosque is free to go in, but it is closed during certain times for prayer. They provide you with scarves to wear if you are immodestly dressed (showing shoulders, legs, etc.). The Hagia Sophia costs about 25 lira and you don't have to worry about dress code.

Night shot of the Blue Mosque.

The Hagia Sophia which is across from the Blue Mosque

Information for the Hagia Sophia

Courtyard of the Blue Mosque

Getting the recycled bags that you use to store your shoes in

Ceiling of the Blue Mosque

Scarves that you use to cover yourself (they are laundered and smell great)

You will also find many other artifacts scattered all around the area. Keep a sharp eye out! A lot of these are to the right of the Blue Mosque if the tram road is behind you and the Hagia Sophia is to your left. They are on the side of the Blue Mosque.

Ancient Obelisk sign

Actual ancient obelisk next to the Blue Mosque

Here is one of the obelisks in relation to the Blue Mosque

The Serpent Column next to the obelisk and the Blue Mosque

3. Topkapi Palace is to the right of the Hagia Sophia if you are facing it. There is path that leads you right there. It costs 25 lira to go in.This is worth seeing for the fact that it has the staff of Moses and other artifacts. If you want to go and see the Harem section, you have to pay an extra admission and you should probably go early since they allow only a certain number of people a day.

Entrance to Topkapi Palace as photographed from the nice outer garden

4. The Basilica Cistern is on the other side of the tram street. The tram street is the main street that parallels the blue mosque and the Hagia Sophia (if they were behind you). It is on the side closer to the Hagia Sophia and you can follow the signs to get there. The entrance fee was 10 lira.

The tram street with the Hagia Sophia behind me

Sign for the Basilica Cistern

Information about the Basilica Cistern

Inside the Basilica Cistern. There are even fish down there!

One of the Medusa heads in the Basilica Cistern

 5. If you are facing the tram street with the Hagia Sophia/Blue Mosque behind you then you get to the Grand Bazaar by turning left and walking along the road. You only really need to go here if you want to go shopping. Even then, you might want to try for less touristy areas since the prices are hiked up. I actually found a wholesale lamp store while wandering around and got my hanging lamps for WAY cheaper than what was being offered in the Grand Bazaar.

6. From the tram road you can also get to the Suleymaniye Mosque. Go left for a little bit and then take a road that is perpendicular to the tram road to the right (if you are walking towards the Grand Bazaar). It would be best if you had a map and you can also ask for directions. You can actually be inside during prayer, so you don't have to worry about the timing. They provide you with scarves if you are immodestly dressed (showing shoulders, legs, etc.). From here you can get to the Bosphorus by walking downhill.

Following signs to get to the Suleymaniye Mosque

Tourist entrance for the Suleymaniye Mosque

Inside Suleymaniye Mosque during prayer

7. I would recommend a stop in this restaurant: Mimar Sinan Teras Cafe. It has a spectacular view from the rooftop and you can actually see it from the backside of Suleymaniye Mosque if you were looking towards the Bosphorus.

Sign for the Mimar Sinan Teras Cafe

The terrace part of the restaurant. That is Suleymaniye Mosque and the Bosphorus is behind me

8. To get to the Bosphorus you can either walk from Sultanahmet and follow the tram line to the right or pass by the Suleymaniye Mosque. You can also take the tram which costs 3 lira. Basically you are headed to Eminonu, which is the port for the side you are on if you stay in Sultanahmet. In Eminonu, you will find the ferries that will take you to the Asia-side port of Kadikoy. I definitely recommend the ferry since you will see some fantastic views of the Sultanahmet area. The ferries are also pretty frequent, so you don't have to spend long in Kadikoy, unless you want to. It is also fun to see the seagulls and the people feeding them. Fair warning: it gets crowded trying to get on the ferry so watch your stuff and get your tokens in advance! There are a series of boat houses which have the name of where you want to go as well as the ferry time. You can also look online for the ferry times.

Signs to get to Kadikoy from Eminonu

One of the tokens you use to get on the boat

Ferry line!

Sea view of the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia

Sign to get back to Eminonu from Kadikoy

Feeding the flocking sea gulls on the way to Kadikoy

9. In Eminonu, you will find the Spice Bazaar. It is right next to Yeni Mosque which is by Galata Bridge.

Side of Yeni Mosque with the Spice Bazaar to my right

Spice Bazaar in Istanbul

10. To go from Eminonu to the Karakoy port (the area which has Galata Tower, Istiklal Street and Taksim Square) walk across Galata Bridge. This area is still a part of the European side of Istanbul and it spans a body of water called the Golden Horn. There are people fishing on the top and it has a ton of seafood restaurants on the bottom. This is a good place to watch the sunset.

Night shot of Galata Bridge with Galata Tower and the seafood restaurants

Fishing on Galata Bridge

Sunset shot of Galata Bridge

Definitely try the stuffed mussels that are littered all around this area. They are the best food in the world.

Delicious stuffed mussels in Istanbul

11. Galata Tower is on Karakoy side. After you cross Galata Bridge, just keep aiming towards the large tower which you will see peaking above the rooftops. When it becomes obscured by other buildings, follow the signs that will take you there. It is a 13 lira entrance fee and it was a 30 minute wait for us to get to the top. This is a spectacular place to watch the sunset for the 360 view it offers. Make sure to get there with plenty of time to spare. An hour before sunset should give you enough time to maneuver your way around the top.

Signs on the way to Galata Tower from Galata Bridge

Galata Tower! The first picture of this post is the view from the top. Go early

Long line to get into Galata Tower for sunset. Took me 30 mins

12. Istiklal Street/Avenue links Galata Tower with Taksim Square. This is a really fun street with lots of bars, shops and restaurants. From Galata, just ask people for directions to get here.

Night shot of the beginning of Istiklal Street

That's it for a quick overview of the European side of Istanbul (barring Kadikoy). I managed to do all this is about three days although you could probably squeeze it into two or even spread it out to four. There are plenty of other museums and sights to see, so if none of these interest you, just do a little research. 

Good luck and have fun!

Street art in Istanbul

Navigating Labels

A Third Culture Kid/Global Nomad as an expat in Turkey and working as a digital entrepreneur.

Introduction

Labels can be both incredibly limiting and extremely necessary. I have no issue with labels when they are self-identified. Labels can be used to project different sides of a person to the world. They give an immediate introduction, especially if everyone is on the same page for what different labels mean. That is where the problem lies. Labels mean different things to different people. There are also a ton of labels that can be applied to the same thing/concept/group. 

I am a mix. Most people when they see me think of only one side of my heritage. They cite my eyes as the sole reason why I should belong to one group and not another. Conversely, when I am surrounded by the other side of my heritage, then I am not enough for this group. I don't speak that language with the correct accent, I look too foreign to really belong. This one drop method drives me insane and it is applicable on both sides. 

To add more fuel to the fire, my ethnic makeup doesn't even begin to broach my upbringing. Taking all of these into account I am part American, part Hong Konger, part mainland Chinese, part Indian (north and south), and part Filipina. 

In order to condense my labels, this is how I identify myself: A mixed American and Hong Konger TCK who has grown up in China, India and the Philippines and currently lives in Turkey.

In the interest of clearing up some traveler labels, I have compiled a list of the most common identifiers for global nomad/wanderlust individuals. Bear in mind, this is how I understand the labels, so if you have a different understanding, please share! I would love to hear different perspectives on how people choose to share themselves with the world. Being able to identify yourself is empowering and it allows you the freedom to choose which side you want other people to see.

Expatriate

An expat is someone from one passport country who has decided to reside in another country. They will either live indefinitely in this other country or will continue to move around. When/If they return to their passport country, they will cease to be expats. They will be people who have lived an expat life. This move can be for work, retirement, or just living in another place. Expats usually live for at least one year in the other country, but usually reside overseas for more. Expats are not looking to give up their passport country as a nationality.

Global Nomad (Kid)

A global nomad (kid) is another term that could be applied to me. They are people who grew up in a country or in multiple countries that were not their passport country. This label gives the impression of upbringing (pre-18) and so would only be applied to minors who have lived overseas. This term can be used for people who have even lived just one year abroad.

Third Culture Kid

I choose to use Third Culture Kid because it conveys more effectively what my upbringing was. Like a global nomad, a Third Culture Kid is someone who grew up in a country or in countries that were not their passport country. This title is used to explain how these children take elements of their passport country, their host country and then create a third culture that encapsulates these quirks. Other aspects that can be included in the third culture are parental cultures as well as the cultures of the various friends that you make through this lifestyle.

For people like me who have lived in more than just one other "foreign" country, this can be a bit of a clumsy label because you almost want to keep adding in on a fourth culture or a fifth, etc. At the same time, this third culture that you will create can continue to grow as you experience new nations.

I would also make the argument that even kids who have gone to an international school in their passport country pick up components of being a third culture kid. They are immersed in an environment where all of their friends are from different countries and they learn how to navigate different spheres of communication that are separate from their own culture. 

Adult Third Culture Kid 

I am technically an Adult Third Culture Kid since I am twenty four years old. I don't choose to use ATCK because I think that it just adds to the confusion of acronyms. If you start tossing around terms like TCK, ATCK, MK (missionary Kid), FCK (first culture kid - basically someone who did not grow up as a TCK and stayed in their passport country during their upbringing), etc., conversations can get quite confusing. Since most military/government agencies LOVE acronyms, I almost feel like we kids adopted that same penchant.

I would much prefer people understand what a TCK is before moving on to other terms. This sort of assumption of knowledge can muddle understanding, in my opinion.

Recovering Third Culture Kid

I actually wrote an entire post about Recovering Third Culture Kids.

Cross Cultural Kid

Cross Cultural Kid is a term that I just recently learned and it has the same meaning as a Third Culture Kid. CCK has the double benefit of potentially meaning a child whose parents are from different cultures. Here is the exact definition as given by Ruth Van Reken (one of the authors of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds): "A person who is living or has lived in--or meaningfully interacted with--two or more cultural environments for a significant period of time during childhood (up to age 18)."

Immigrant

An immigrant is someone who moves to a new country in the hopes of living there permanently and becoming a citizen in this new country. This is the distinction from an expat since expats are uncertain how long they will be abroad and have no wish to give up their passport.

Migrant

A migrant is someone who moves for seasonal work. My impression, although I really don't have much/any experience with this group, is that they are much more geared towards shifting wherever employment takes them.

Refugee/Asylum Seeker

A refugee/asylum seeker is someone who needs to escape their home/passport country. The cause can be persecution, war, or any number of other atrocities. Refugees flee to other nations in the hopes that they will be allowed to remain.

Digital Nomad/Entrepreneur 

A digital nomad/entrepreneur is someone who chooses to live abroad and funds themselves through online work. I am also technically a digital nomad since I earn money for my work by submitting curriculum to a center in Hong Kong via email. Digital nomads are fairly new. I think that this group will only continue to grow as more and more work shifts online.

Missionary/Business/Teacher/State Department/Military/Peace Corps/Volunteer

This is pretty much a label that describes people who are overseas for their work. In my experience, teachers tend to stay in one play the longest followed by business/missionary and then state department and military. Peace Corps is two years and volunteers range from a couple of months to indefinite. However, there are all sorts of different timelines for people who belong to these different groups.

Conclusion

I hope this helped a little bit in clarifying the different labels that are thrown around for people who travel. Please feel free to add on to this list or to add on to my explanations. Also keep in mind that as much as I am making distinctions, a lot of these blend together and people can ascribe to multiple labels. People may even change their labels as they grow or move or experience new places. The whole process of identity is constantly shifting, fluid and inclusive. It never stops as you accrue new terms over time.