I'm an American who moved to the Netherlands. If I had to move abroad again, I’d do these 5 things differently.

My great-grandparents emigrated from the Netherlands to the US, and my Dutch heritage was always in the background of my childhood. I played dress up with wooden shoes and my crayon drawings were full of tulips.

So after my husband and I visited in 2024, we decided to move to the Netherlands on the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) visa.

Six months after moving, here are the things I'd do differently if I could turn back the clock.

Although my husband and I had visited the Netherlands several times, we didn't know exactly where we wanted to live. So, we hired a real estate agent who works with internationals to be our boots-on-the-ground contact while we looked remotely from the States.

When she would send us a potential listing, we'd run to Google Maps to try to get a sense of the neighborhood. However, there's only so much you can gauge from outdated Street View photos.

If we liked the listing, we had to wake up at 3 a.m. for the video walkthrough and give an immediate (albeit groggy) "Yes" or "No."

After a month of looking, we were charmed by a traditional Dutch row house in one of the cities we'd never been to, Utrecht. We crossed our fingers that we'd like the place and put in our application. Thankfully, it was accepted.

After living as digital nomads for two years, this leap of faith didn't seem that wild for my husband and me.

However, I wish we had planned a scouting trip to check out each potential town, taking time to visit specific neighborhoods to get a sense of everything from the level of bike traffic to how close the nearest grocery store is.

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Our Dutch apartment came partially furnished, including a bed. So, we figured we could arrive from the airport, wash the sheets, then sleep in our new home on our first night.

Instead, we walked into our new apartment and discovered it was freezing cold. The heat wasn't working, and when it couldn't be fixed that day, we had to scramble to find a hotel.