We’re Moving to Singapore!

Last Updated on April 7, 2024 by Adam Watts

What the hell, I’ll repeat the title again for emphasis: we’re moving to Singapore!

It feels so good to be able to say that. We’ve wanted to move for a while so it’s exciting to be able to say that it’s finally happening. I know, I know, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, definitely not the best time to up sticks and shift our life.

But we’ve wanted this for a few years and after a lot of inertia on our side, we’re finally making it happen. We land in Singapore on September 1st to start our new life.

Let’s talk about NYC for a sec. It’s the cultural center of the universe. Its food scene is incredible. The camaraderie between residents on a frozen mid-February Tuesday during yet another long delay on the worst subway system in the world will live long in the memory.

There’s also a definite je ne sais quoi about The Big Apple. There’s so much ugliness everywhere yet the place is magical, held together by some indescribable force. Maybe it’s the people, maybe it’s that feeling of living somewhere you see in every TV show and movie, maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is, I love it. It’s by far the best city in the US.

Unfortunately, the best city in the US is nowhere near the best city in the world. Maybe for someone in their early 20s when you want to be doing stuff every night of the week, when you’re okay having a confrontation with a Karen, when the general run-down nature of so much of this city just washes over you.

But we’re proper adults now. We want buses to be on time. We want an in-unit washer/dryer. We want comfort.

I’m a UK citizen, my better half is Singaporean, we’ve been living in the US. We’ve always had a lot of options where to live and a lot of opportunities open to us. We considered a few places in Europe – London, Berlin, Iceland, to name just three – but Singapore was where we settled on. We can get all the comfort we want in Singapore. Its quality of life is second to none. It’s super safe. It’s impeccably clean.

Singapore also has some odd, sometimes controversial laws, perhaps most infamously its banning of the sale of chewing gum, but at this stage in my life it seems like a small price to pay to get the comfort we want. On a more serious note, there are laws like 377a that are worth discussing but only after I successfully pass through immigration.

The food scene is incredible, from street hawkers to Michelin-starred restaurants, and sometimes both in one. There are concerts, bars, clubs, museums, historical stuff, a thriving art scene, and a lot of unique attractions like Gardens by the Bay.

Not to mention the fact the little red dot is in the heart of south east Asia. I’ve never lived anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region, so I’m excited to start seeing more of that part of the world (COVID permitting).

Being in New York, and in the US, never felt like a permanent base for either of us. Landing in JFK or LGA after a trip somewhere had its comfort, but comfort borne of familiarity rather than something deeper.

It was always a case of when, rather than if, we would leave the US. And obviously Trump’s immigration policies were at least making sure we knew where the door was, if not actively kicking us out yet.

So here we go. Moving to Singapore is the next stage of our lives. It’s hard to say if we’ll be there for a year, ten years, fifty years, but we’ll see how it goes and give it our best shot.

If it doesn’t work out for any reason, then we’ll try London or Reykjavik, or somewhere we haven’t thought of yet. Living the digital nomad life based in Estonia for a while has its appeal. Maybe we’ll come back to the US in the future. Maybe we’ll decide to spend half the year in Singapore and the other half in Berlin. Maybe we’ll live in a shipping container.

There are so many paths open to us. For now, we’re taking the neat and tidy, gum-free one marked “Singapore” in fancy lettering. From our modern apartment complete with in-unit washer/dryer we’ll watch New-York based TV shows and nostalgically point out landmarks we recognize or hole-in-the-wall food joints we loved.

So friends, we’re moving to Singapore in a few weeks. Wish us luck!

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