From Belgium to New Zealand: Sophie

Off-Grid. A new life in a teenage dream.

Sophie had a bit of an adventurous streak when she was growing up. Her family didn't travel much, but both of her parents instilled in her the idea that it’s okay to live a life that is sort of outside of the box. That finding different pathways in life was normal.

One of the pathways Sophie and her husband knew they wanted to pursue from the time they were both teenagers, was living off the grid.

This wasn’t possible for them in Belgium. It has been possible for them in New Zealand.

How did they turn this teenage dream into a new life in a new country? And what’s their experience been like, moving to and living in New Zealand?

This is what Sophie told me about her adventure leaving home and finding home.

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How did you end up in New Zealand?

Long story. I've known my husband since I was 14. So we've known each other for a very long time. We grew up together from being teenagers to kind of navigating young adulthood together. I went on to study at university and he started working and we both started to think, This kind of working life here in Belgium, I don't think it's for us.

We kind of knew that we wanted to do something different and we had all sorts of ideas like, Shall we buy a van and travel Europe? Shall we get a boat and sail around the world? Shall we move to France or move to England? We had every single idea that one can imagine.

But then instead, what we did was exactly what society tells you to do. We bought a house and we renovated it. The complete opposite thing.

So we were working and renovating. All our time was going to renovating this house and working. That's when we started to realize, what are we doing? That's not what we talked about when we were young. We wanted something different and here we are doing exactly just what most people are doing and we don't enjoy it. We're not liking it at all. And that's when the conversations about moving overseas really started to become more real. That's when we started to really talk about, okay, let's do this. Let's move overseas.

We knew we wanted to live an off-grid lifestyle. We knew that was something that we wanted, but we also knew that wasn't really possible in Belgium due to the rules and regulations that they have. And the fact that there's just not the amount of land available anymore in Belgium. We knew that we couldn't really live the life that we wanted back in Belgium.

So moving to another country was twofold. Kind of escaping, but also wanting a different lifestyle and knowing that we couldn't really do that in the country that we were in.

Was it always New Zealand or were there other countries on your list?

It wasn't always New Zealand. We definitely thought of a few countries. We kind of went by what languages we speak and do we speak them well enough to find employment in them. It didn't leave many options. When you grow up in Belgium, you speak Flemish. And you learn French, German, and English in school. So we technically speak 4 languages, but the one that we speak best, other than our native language, is English. So we thought an English speaking country would be a really good idea.

We thought about England, but then we thought That's really close—that's not an adventure at all.

Then we were thinking about the US, but at that time, I always had this impression that the US was just really difficult to get into in terms of their visa and everything.

And then we looked at Australia and New Zealand. My husband wanted Australia and I wanted New Zealand. In the end, it was the fact that there's a lot of animals that scared us in Australia, like all the spiders and snakes and all those kinds of things. Whereas New Zealand has cute birds that can't even fly. It's a lot nicer to be here. So in the end, that's what won.

Before you moved, was there a big burning question in your head–something that you were concerned about or worried about or that just was in your mind about moving to New Zealand?

And did it turn out to be a big thing or a little thing?

Or was there something else that should have been the big thing that you were worried about?

How different was living in New Zealand from living in Belgium?

For a while it was not different at all. It's amazing how fast you can just get into the same path that you've always known, even though you say that you want something different. And I think a lot of people, when you say, “Oh, I live in New Zealand”, they think like, Oh, it must be really exotic. You must be on a permanent holiday. Which is not true at all. I just work and go home. And that's kind of it.

For quite a few years we rented a house in town and we did nice things on the weekend, but nothing special at all. And it wasn't necessarily what we came here for. One of the things we wanted to do was live off the grid—have a homestead or a farm or something, a different lifestyle. It wasn't immediately possible because when you're not a resident in New Zealand, you can't get a mortgage or anything. We needed to save a little bit to get the funds up or wait until we were permanent residents so we could buy a house.

So that was one of the things that kind of slowed us down. But also I think we got distracted with just regular life and working and doing your thing. And it's so easy to just get caught up in doing that and forgetting what we actually came here for.

Why did you want to live off grid? And what exactly does that mean for you?

For us, “off the grid” means we're not connected to any of the city systems. We’re self-sufficient in terms of electricity, sewage system, all those kinds of things.

We've actually been talking about this a lot. Like, Why did we even want this? We feel like it's a calling we've had from a very young age. What attracted us most is the connection with nature. Being away from the busy city life and being more connected with nature. But also there is an element to it of being self-sufficient in case something happens. For example, when there are power outages or those kinds of things, we don't have to worry about that. We can sustain ourselves. Or in case of bigger events, we could sustain ourselves for a bit longer.

What do you think was the most challenging thing for you to adjust to culturally? What did you notice about New Zealand once you lived there that was different or that surprised you?

What advice would you give to someone who's thinking of moving to New Zealand?

I think if someone was thinking about coming here, I would say research what kind of visa you can get and just do it. If New Zealand is a country you're thinking of and you're wanting to move to, it's not a country that's going to disappoint you. If you're already open to looking at this place, there's so many beautiful things here.

And what I found is that the people were also really welcoming—people are really open to helping newcomers. So you'll find that you're not going to be alone. There's lots of immigrants and expats here. There's quite a big community that you can rely on.

But also do your research and make sure that you are prepared, potentially a little bit more prepared than we were, although it worked out well for us. And be realistic about your expectations as well. From what I've seen, from expats that I've met throughout the years, the ones who haven't returned back home are the ones who had a really realistic outlook—who didn't come here because they thought they were going to be on a permanent holiday—but the ones who knew that they would still have to work, to have a job, that they would still have to do all those normal things in life. I think the people who stayed were the ones who had the most realistic outlook on what things could be like.

I don't think you need to have it all sorted out before you arrive—like I'm gonna live in this place and I'm gonna do this job and I'm gonna have this bank account. But you do need to have a bit of an idea of what the country's about and what kind of jobs you will be able to do, and what the labour market is like in a certain country. Being prepared in terms of what you can expect is useful, I think.

If you were going to give advice to someone thinking of moving abroad, what would you tell them?

Join in the conversation in the comments—ask questions, share experiences, get ideas, get inspired, get clarity.

Because leaving home is hard. Talking to people who've done it makes it feel less overwhelming. And more fun.

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We also talked about:

• Why she thought moving to New Zealand would make her life different than it was in Belgium. And whether she thinks that you can make your life happier by moving to another country.

• The visa that was available to Sophie and her husband when they entered the country.

• The visa she was able to get that gave her a path to residency and citizenship. Spoiler: it’s called a “Talent Visa,” which means that Sophie’s profession may be a career you might want to consider if you’re looking to relocate abroad and want to qualify for a skilled workers visa.

• What they did on their “scouting trip.” How long they stayed and what they focused on in making their final decision to move.

• What living off-grid is like in New Zealand. (and my primary concern: what about the toilet situation?)

• The thing that surprised Sophie (who is Belgian) about work and work culture and work socializing in New Zealand. And the thing that surprised me (an American) about what she said, comparing all of those things to working in the US.

• Whether she feels lonely or isolated living in a new country, off-grid, out in the middle of nowhere.

And finding jobs, finding friends, finding things to do and people to do them with.

Paid subscribers can access the entire conversation 👇🏼.

Watch the entire interview by clicking play on the video below. Or listen to the podcast.

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Good news!

If you want to connect with Sophie or learn more about her off-grid lifestyle and her journey to reconnect with nature, you can find her on substack at: thisissophietoday.

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