Back in 2009, I moved from Silicon Valley (Cupertino, natch, home of...well, me, until I left - rumor is there's also another tech firm or two there, but those fruit guys well, you know).
At the time, I had it all. Consulting firm was paying half the bills and the scalable, bootstrapped and profitable media business had hit north of six million visitors the month before the big move.
New location: Maldives. Sun, sand and surf. Want to see dolphins? Top five in the world. Coral reefs? Some of the best. That underwater restaurant Tom Cruise stayed at on his honeymoon at Conrad Hilton, when it was the world's first? It's an amazing place, quite special - I hit it up in 2008 the year before we moved there.
Unlike a lot of folks that move to random locations, or say Costa Rica, the first time I moved overseas with a startup (left the US to join a Costa Rican one), the Maldives trip was my second time.
A few exceptions about my move:
* Father-in-law was Vice President, of the country at the time (I left before he became president)
* Then president was family by marriage; personally, I thought the guy was a sh!tty father when we went to the first daughter's birthday. Imho, both parents, regardless of how busy, should make time. Eg, when it was my older son's b-day, only the first lady showed. She was cool. The president was a bit uptight. Long story.
Pros about moving to Maldives:
* Any foreigner can get the "local," discount, like teachers, for example
* The islands are amazing. Seriously. Try lounging on the beach where Madonna stayed...the resort owners is nice and well, the beach spectacular. They also have the largest array of solar panels privately owned in their region.
* Fish is plentiful, fresh, and some of the very best tuna in the world. There are some amazing dishes.
Cons:
* Everything is imported and subject to a 100% tax
* Capital island is 1 square mile...most densely populated city in the world per square meter
* Internet situation is abysmal.
I lack credibility here, as I have zero background in networking, but suffice to say after meeting multiple ministers of telecommunications, pitching the government to try to fix the situation AND lobbying after my father-in-law, at the time, was President of the Country...well, I know why in my home country, "Net neutrality," makes people confused.
This article is too light, too shallow on details for those of us who've done the globe trotting thing and worked in multiple countries overseas.