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Before Brittany McAnally and her family moved Slovenia for her husband's job, she had never left the US. They moved to Ljubljana, the capital, with their two toddlers, in December 2016. "I had a sheltered upbringing in a small town," McAnally told Business Insider. "When we first arrived, I was immediately surprised by how much English people spoke." She said it was the "perfect place" to raise kids. When McAnally and her family returned to California the following year, she experienced "reverse culture shock." "It bugged me that I couldn't walk anywhere, even to a coffee shop. The pace of life was busier," she said. McAnally shared four cultural differences she experienced as an American parent in Slovenia:

Diana Welsch always admired people who could fix things. She was brought up in an upper-middle-class area in Arizona, where #bluecollar work was looked down on. She graduated from art school and worked in a library, but left to become a mechanic. Welsch told Business Insider she decided to go to trade school after she realized she enjoyed fixing her car. "My mom, who had left blue-collar work for a white-collar job, didn't understand my decision," she said. After trade school, she worked in garages for Chevy, Meineke, and Sun Devil Auto. In 2017, she landed a dream traineeship at #Tesla and moved to LA. After completing two years of training, she worked in its mobile service department, where she'd go to movie lots and affluent LA homes to fix clients' cars. "I bragged to my family that I was the most glamorous mechanic in the world," she said. But, by 2023, she became disillusioned with Tesla. She found the workload unreasonable and the pay too low. She left later that year. "I'd wanted to stay at Tesla my whole life — it was the most fun job ever," she told BI. "But I couldn't stay."

Gen Z graduate Jane works two jobs from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. to achieve #FIRE. "I work twice as hard now so I can stop working earlier. My goal is to retire early, hopefully in my 30s," she said. She told Business Insider being over-employed has a detrimental impact on her health and well-being. "I used to go rock climbing and paint, but I don't have time for hobbies. I try to see my friends when I have evenings or weekends off. But after working all day, I often just want to stay at home and decompress. I could go to the gym or take a walk at lunch, but I often want to nap instead or play on my phone. I just want to do something passive," she said. Jane told Business Insider that her family would prefer she didn't work so hard, but she thinks it's worth it.

Jay Cadmus had worked for IBM for more than two decades when he was told he was getting laid off at the age of 55. Cadmus was unemployed for six months, though he worked as a freelance consultant. He had to pause his 401(k) and his kid's college savings. Cadmus told Business Insider he experienced ageism in his search and found younger people got jobs he applied for. "I knew being older, there were fewer opportunities because I'm more expensive, and there are fewer roles where the hiring manager is looking for someone with that level of experience," he said. Cadmus landed a job 6 months later through his network. "My greatest asset was the network I'd built over the years. When I reached out to people, they told me about job opportunities in their networks," he said. https://lnkd.in/em8np_yy

Donna Kopman, a 57-year-old sales operations manager, was laid off from her job in December. Since then, she's applied for 400 jobs and landed only two interviews. Although her previous salary was $110,000 a year, Kopman has applied for jobs with a $60,000 salary. Kopman told Business Insider she felt some employers were #ageist when assessing her application. "Ageism is everywhere in US work culture, but people don't seem to want to acknowledge it," she said. Since losing her job, Kopman has relied on #unemployment benefits and her savings to get by and pay for healthcare. She's concerned her employment gap will mean she has to delay her #retirement. "I won't qualify for full Social Security payments until I'm 67. That's 10 years I need to bridge, and if I wanted to retire earlier, I'd have to find a way to build my finances," she said. https://lnkd.in/g3_Sxr23

Lexis Czumak-Abreu wanted to become a surgeon. She went to pre-med school and started working in a hospital. Czumak-Abreu, who had done an apprenticeship with an electrician company before college, kept up electrician jobs on the side when she needed money for her family. When she graduated from pre-med, she decided to give up her career in medicine and become an electrician instead. Czumak-Abreu told Business Insider she prefers it to a traditional office job. "I work somewhere different every day. I experience different things and see different people every day," she said. "When a job is finished, I feel a sense of accomplishment and closure." Though she's been in dangerous situations and experienced sexism on the job, she told BI she doesn't regret choosing the career. https://lnkd.in/eNuwGDqU

Sara Bustillo de Castro and her husband decided to move from the UK to #Spain in search of cheaper and better-quality childcare for their two children. They paid $1,700 a month for each child for full-time nursery care in the UK. When the nursery was understaffed, sometimes parents and children were turned away at the door. Bustillo de Castro, who was working as a manager for a consultancy company, told Business Insider her kids would be sent home for two days if they fell ill. Sometimes, they'd need to see a doctor before they were allowed to go back to the nursery. “It can be difficult to get doctor's appointments quickly in the UK. That made things complicated for us as working parents,” she told BI. “I'd be on work calls and hear one of the children crying in the background. I felt like I wasn't working well, and I wasn't #parenting well, either.” After two years in the UK, Bustillo de Castro moved to Madrid with her family. She told BI she was worried she wouldn’t be able to find work, but she landed a new role as a VP that paid more than her old job. She said the quality of #childcare is better in Spain than in the UK, and the couple spend $580 a month for full-time nursery for their son. "It feels like I'm leaving him with a family member — like a delegated maternal figure," she said. https://lnkd.in/eF4AHNcF

Relocating to a new state or country can be good for your work-life balance, career, and finances. But switching cities, trying out rural life, or experiencing a completely different culture can come with surprises. Business Insider spoke with four people who shared their biggest regrets and what they learned from them. One person said that they'd spend more time in their new destination before moving. Another said they underestimated the importance of living near their friends and family. https://lnkd.in/eUKsBCkc