Foremost, you don’t pack. At least not much. Sell it all and buy what you need in your new location. Your furniture is too big for the size of overseas homes or flats, and your appliances may not work on their voltage.

Shipping and delivery is horrendously expensive. So, if by packing you mean selling or giving away most of your stuff, yes, that takes time and effort. As an ex-pat, learn to travel light. One of two suitcases. Tops. Trust me, you don’t need it.

Without a work visa, you cannot work in your new country. You need to be self-employed, a contract worker, a digital nomad, a writer, a programmer, a real estate or stock market investor, a coach, a handyman, a massage person or a hair and make up person where you service people in their homes and get paid in cash, a personal shopper, a consultant, an online advertising agency, a import/export consultant, a tour guide, etc.

Basically, anything where you can be paid in dollars by an employer not in your new country of residence. or be paid under the table in cash.

Regular office and service jobs for foreigners are hard to come by. You must have skills you can leverage in inventive and non-traditional ways. Or be retired with a pension or rental income from the U.S.

Research the banking rules. While your U.S. credit and debit cards will work, you will want a local bank account to send money to your new friends and businesses via SWIFT. Some countries will not open bank accounts without a Visa that allows residency.

PayPal is a joke outside the U.S. In the EU, you can send money to anyone with just their SWIFT number. Not like the U.S., where the government wants to know all the details of your recipient in case you are sending drug money to the cartels.

Friends and family you’ll probably see and communicate with more via Zoom or Skype or WhatsApp than the amount of time you see them face-to-face living in the U.S.