Moving abroad is often sold as a reset. A fresh start. A better life.

But many people arrive with expectations that were never realistic to begin with — shaped by social media, travel content, expat forums, and half-told success stories.

In this episode, I look at the gap between what people think life abroad will be like and what actually happens once the novelty wears off. Using real, everyday examples - including visas, banking, and cost of living in Thailand — the episode explores why frustration is often baked in from the start, and how mismatched expectations quietly shape expat experiences everywhere.

Thailand is sometimes the lens, because that’s the world I live in — but the patterns are universal.

This isn’t about discouraging people from moving abroad.

It’s about understanding the reality before it surprises you.

In this first episode, I explain why I stepped away from daily news — and what this podcast is about instead.

Constant updates can make us feel informed while actually stripping away context, nuance, and understanding. This episode looks at how the modern news cycle rewards speed and certainty, why complexity gets flattened into simple narratives, and why stepping back is often the only way to see what really matters.

Thailand and life abroad are sometimes the lens, because that’s the world I live in but the bigger point is universal: being updated isn’t the same as being informed.

This isn’t breaking news.

It’s sense-making.