Leaving The UK: A Bold Relocation Plan

Big news from a rain-speckled day in Bali: I’m exploring a permanent move away from the UK, and I’m taking you through every decision point in real time. Not a glossy highlight reel….an honest, practical look at how a single-parent family can design a life that feels lighter, calmer, and more affordable without sacrificing growth or joy.

I break down the exact filters I’m using to judge potential home bases across Asia and beyond: cost of living that actually changes daily life, accessible childcare and community support, mental health and weather for tackling seasonal affective disorder, healthcare quality, safety, visas, and tax realities. I share why massages under ten pounds and healthy food at half the UK price aren’t luxuries for me, they’re the scaffolding that makes work, parenting, and healing sustainable. You’ll hear how I test internet reliability, traffic patterns, and school commutes, and why nature-rich, play-led learning environments matter for my daughter’s wellbeing.

There’s another twist I didn’t see coming: I’m now homeschooling and worldschooling. I explain how we got here, what’s working, and how I’m using short stints at worldschooling hubs to add social time, green space, and fresh curiosity. Expect practical takeaways if you’re considering alternatives to traditional school, from structuring days to turning travel into project-based learning.

And yes, the money math…because exploration only works if the numbers do. I’m staying in this Bali villa at zero nightly cost using the same seven strategies I’ve used to make flights and stays dramatically cheaper. I’ve bundled them into a step-by-step blueprint (https://courses.laurenriley.co.uk/minicourse) that breaks down pounds and pence so you can plan a special week away or a longer test run without the luxury price tag.

If you’re curious about relocating, hungry for warmer days and a gentler routine, or just want real numbers from someone actually on the ground, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s tempted by a move, and leave a review telling me your top non-negotiables & I’ll add them to the checklist for upcoming country deep-dives.

Transcript

Free Stays And The Travel Blueprint

Big Decision To Leave The UK

How I’ll Research New Home Bases

Cost Of Living And Family Needs

What Makes A Country Livable

Creating The Relocation Content I Needed

Homeschooling And Worldschooling Shift

Closing, SAD, And Blueprint CTA

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello and welcome back. Um, I'm gonna hopefully get a reputation as the podcast that has the most incredible backdrops because, as you can see, this is being filmed in a gorgeous Balinese style villa in Indonesia in Bali. So, gosh, is this a big one? I have wanted to do this for a while, but I wanted to sit on the information I'm going to share to you today, it's major. There's some major things in this podcast episode. Um, not only am I sharing a little bit about our travels in Asia, but just major life updates, and I can't think of a better forum to share it than here on the Business of Lifestyle podcast. I appreciate every single one of you that downloads the podcast, that listens to the YouTube, sorry, that listens to the podcast, that watches the YouTube channel, that follows me on social media, and that just generally comes along and supports on the journey. So I've got loads to tell you because I've learnt loads already. So we've already been travelling a month by the time I've recorded this, and it's the first time I've felt that I had enough clarity of thought to share with you. Now I don't script my podcast. This is I've got not a single note. I've just I know that my heart wants to speak on some of these subjects, and I know that there are other people, particularly people in the UK, that are gonna resonate with this or have had similar thoughts. So here goes. So we'll just look at the backdrop for a second for anybody watching on YouTube. So my channel is Miss Lauren Riley. I am in a villa in Bali, um, it's a three-bedroom villa with a home office, private pool. That's a separate villa to the one that we stay in, which is just here. If you go on my Instagram, which also is Miss Lauren Riley, I'm going to give you a tour of the whole place. And again, this is a perfect example. This is free accommodation, guys. For a nightly stay, I did not pay a penny to stay here, and that's not because I'm in business, it's not because I'm some sort of content creator, this is not a brand deal or anything like that. It's a strategy that the majority of people could follow. And if you want to know what it is and more about it, I mean it's a long time, it will be yeah, it will be too long for a podcast episode, but my blueprints are available now. So that's what formerly was called the mini course. It's how I travel for free, the blueprints, and it breaks down seven strategies for the last time that I travelled and that trip that I took you guys on that would have cost£13,000 or just short of one thousand twelve thousand seven hundred and thirty-something pounds. I break it down in the course and I break down pounds and pence how much that costs or would have cost me, like, and not even retail, like going directly to the website to book the flights, etc., and how I didn't pay for it. Nothing, zip, not a completely free. So that is how I travel for free, the blueprint, which is available now. Um, if you want to purchase that, the link is in the bio. It's such a great investment. You could use it next week, next year, you can rinse and repeat those seven strategies for travel for however long you want. So it's a like honestly, for me, it's such a no-brainer of an investment for anybody that even wants to go on holiday for a week. You don't need to want to live my lifestyle and be here day in, day out, or for months at a time. If you just want to go on holiday for a week, but you're struggling to afford it, or you want a more luxury version than your budget allows, then the blueprint is the one for you. So, my updates, okay. Um, and even just saying it out loud comes with a certain level of heavy, it's really exciting, but also really big. So I want to leave the UK, and I don't just mean travelling, and I don't just mean a vacation or a holiday, um, I mean like a permanent relocation. And that's big to say out loud because I am I'm a freedom lifestyle, so I go between the UK and all traveling around. You've seen me travel in the last 13 months, I've been to 13 countries. So it's not like I'm like a homebird and I'm a complete stay-at-home person, but relocation, like as in permanently moving our base, is big. It's really big. It's a little scary, but the beauty of that for you guys is I haven't got it all figured out yet. I'm taking you on the journey. So, one of the biggest opportunities for you watching along on my podcast or watching any of my social media channels is you can follow along and see how my thought process unfolds. If you're curious about leaving the UK, if cost of living is biting you, the you know, this is not a politics show, but the political climate and all of the heaviness that's in the news at the moment is impacting your mental health. If you just know that there is a better lifestyle available somewhere else for you, then this year, following my channels, you are gonna learn what I learn about relocating. Because it's exciting, but there's a lot to think about, right? It isn't just I want to leave the UK, click my fingers, and I now live in Bali. I am here in Bali, but I'm here basically doing research for myself and I'm sharing all of my research about the best places to relocate with you. Now, I'm probably uniquely qualified well not uniquely, but I'm probably strongly qualified to give you this. I don't know what the right word is, but I am at an advantage when it comes to relocating because this will be the third time I have left the UK and relocated elsewhere, and I've always returned home, not for a negative reason, not that anything went wrong, just it felt like that was the right move for me then. I'm now a mama, so everything is slightly, if not a lot, more complicated. So my thought processes are different, right? So in my 20s, I moved to Ibiza, and a good time was had. It was fine, it was exactly what I needed at the time, but it wasn't exactly a lifestyle choice. In my 30s, I relocated to Barbados, which is a small island that I absolutely adore. I've been back five times since I just I love it, um, and it's it is a contender for where we would go, I'm not gonna lie. And in my 40s, I have travelled in the last 13 months, I've been to 13 countries. Now, not all of that has been scouting for relocation, but it's been in the back of my mind. So I've been to Central America, I've been to America, I've been to Asia, and I've been to Europe in the last year. And all of that has been with uh is this lifestyle going to improve, is this country going to materially improve our lifestyle? Now there are several layers to that for me. Um, and I would love to hear your thoughts. So please do comment below if there is something that makes the difference between a country being a good place to live and a country being a poor choice for you and your family, then please let me know what that is because it maybe it's something that I haven't considered, maybe it's something that I need to include. But the obvious ones for me and the drivers behind leaving the UK and looking to relocate are cost of living. I earn pretty good money, um, but I'm a single parent, I've been very honest about my journey, and I don't get financial support um from pretty much anywhere. So you know, there is a heaviness to that in so much as I need to be a uh breadwinner twice over to give me the same lifestyle as I would be if I was in a relationship or if you know there were two parents um in the scenario. So the cost of living is not just uh I'm skinned problem, it's uh what does the lifestyle I want to give my family look like? And on my current income, can I give them that family, that my family, that lifestyle? Now that it doesn't have to be breadlined stuff, it doesn't have to be can I pay the mortgage this month? It's actually I'm on a healing journey and I found that massage and yoga once a week are material to my self-care. I feel a lot better if I can do that, but in the UK I can't because X, Y, and Z. Or access to childcare. Like actually, I'm a mum and I'm feeling burnt out. Being a parent is hard work. Whether you've got a village, whether you're a single parent, whether you're uh in a married couple, whether you've got a co-parent that's really active, it's still hard work. And if you don't have enough of a village or enough childcare around you at an affordable rate, it's tough going, guys. So a lot of countries around the world have a system whereby childcare just becomes a lot easier, right? Um, you know, whether that's a nanny, whether it's world schooling hubs, whether it's you, you know, maybe you're a parent that says, actually, I always wanted to send my child to private school, but the reality of living in the UK is that private education, you know, is a circa£13,000 investment that is just not comfortable for you. Maybe you're a high earner and the tax system is just not workable for you and your family. You know, all of these are valid reasons, they're well-documented reasons to consider leaving the UK. Now, if you are perfectly happy at home in the UK, or you come from America or a different country and you're happy there, this is not a judgment of me on your lifestyle. This is not me bashing the country that I've grew up in. This is not me saying negative things about the country that I've called home for the majority of my life. It's just about right now, my lifestyle, my family, the resources that I have, um, resources being financial, resources being just bandwidth, the village that I've got, all of those things. It feels like the right time to explore whether there is another country that could give that to me and my family. And it is my privilege to share that with you on this journey. So everything I share is my own viewpoint, right? So I might absolutely adore barley, for example, which is where I'm recording this from right now, because I can get a massage and including like a generous tip, it's less than£10, I can get food delivered to me, healthy, fresh food for like less than half the price that I could in the UK, I could go on and on. Um, and that might be what's important to me. Um, but I would hazard a guess that if you are a if you resonate with me, if you're already watching my Instagram, if you are already listening to this podcast, you and I are probably kind of similar, or you would value somebody else doing that research. Now, one of the reasons I've set off on this really massive task of I'm not going to review everywhere in the world, but I'm going to review quite a few places with the idea of could this be a good place for a family to live. Now, the reason I set off doing this is I couldn't find this content on the internet. I looked on Instagram for an account of somebody that was moving, not somebody that's moved, not somebody that's already chosen Thailand as their home base and telling you how fantastic Thailand is. That's brilliant content. I love that stuff as well. But it's not what I need. What I need is somebody looking at these places and saying, is this place going to work for my family? What is the cost of XYZ? How does that compare to my home country? And does that therefore make it a good choice for me? And I couldn't find that content anywhere, so I am going to create it. Now the caveat is I don't know what the answer at the end of this is. The answer may be I stay in the UK. The answer may be I choose a completely different place to all of these. The answer may be that I go back to one of those places that I've already lived in before. But we're going to learn a lot along the way. I have been doing this particular piece of travel for a month now. And I've been through three countries already, very, very different countries, all in Asia, but different countries that I chose strategically for different reasons. And I'm going to do at least one episode on each of those. And yeah, you are very welcome to follow my journey. If this is resonating with you, I would love to hear from you. I would love to hear what's important to you in relocation. What sort of things would it help if I compared for you? Um, and all of that. So, yeah, that's major life update numero uno. The second major life update that I'll be covering on my podcast, I won't do an entire episode right now, but I will do a full episode on this. So the second update, major life update that I'm going to be covering on my podcast is that I am now a homeschooling, world schooling mama. Now, if you're surprised by that revelation, you and me both, because I never thought I would say that out loud. I am not one of these wonderful women that are great, but that come into the motherhood journey knowing that they will homeschool their kid, knowing that they are that type of an individual, are like just born to be a homeschool mum. That is not me. I was a lawyer, I've run a company, uh a tech company, VC backed tech company for 10 years. I'm a business mentor, that's what I do day in, day out. So, and I'm not saying that homeschooling mums don't do those things as well, but this was not on my path, and I've been driven here by having a child that reacted very badly to the UK school system and that was presenting as very unhappy at home, and I was just honestly at my wit's end to know what to do for the best for her, and I know the teachers are fantastic in the UK. I know that we're very blessed to have a free education system, but it's one that works really well for some children, and that's amazing, but it's one that does not work for everybody, and it was not working for my family, and I needed to try this. I felt like I would not rest easy as a parent if I did not try an alternative to education, alternative to UK public school or UK state school. So I'm doing a combination of schooling her at home. So the vast majority has been literal homeschooling, so me educating her each day at home, and I'm also experimenting with as part of the relocation from the UK piece, I'm looking at schools around the world. I have been to review multiple schools to see whether that's a better fit, particularly with a lean to alternative type schools, so outdoor, lots of greenery, lots of play-based learning. And I'm also, but she's not going to attend those schools in this period. I'm just looking at them from a research perspective, and I'm also experimenting with what they call world schooling hubs. So they're like pop-up schools that are very much nature-based, play-led establishments that are only there for like a month at a time, a couple of months, three months maybe. They kind of like a pop-up school, if you will, for families that world school and homeschool their children to give them, I suppose, some respite, some extra level of socialization, some education being input from another person. So, yeah, kind of bombs dropping in this episode, guys. But I hope that was, I hope it was helpful. This is gonna be a very raw journey because it's not easy. I already know for about homeschooling that it's not going to be easy. I knew before I left it wasn't gonna be easy, but it's been it's been challenging. But I'm gonna do a whole episode on that. So anybody that's interested in homeschooling, world schooling, whether that's for a lifetime or just for a season, then I hope my fresh perspective on that um will add value. But there we are, so um I'm kind of gonna keep this under 20 minutes as a podcast episode, so I'm gonna wrap up shortly. But yeah, um, yeah, I'll save everything else for another episode. But I just want to say thank you so much. I really appreciate you guys bearing with me. As a solo parent, I know that my recording schedule is not as free and easy as somebody that's doing this full time, but like I really I love the feedback that you guys give me from the podcast. So please hop onto Instagram, it's Miss Lauren Riley. Let me know what you're loving about it, let me know what you'd like to see more of, and I will endeavour to do my best for you. Have a wonderful day. As you can see, it is raining here in Bali, so I have um one of the reasons I've try I travel, I share this all the time, is I get very badly affected by seasonal affective disorder in the UK, and I hear you have you guys have had rain every day this year, and I am sending thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers because that sounds really, really challenging. Because I, although it's raining here today, it's the first time it's rained in since I've been in Indonesia. Anyway, in the day, it's rained so yesterday and today it rained in the daytime, but otherwise it's just been raining at night and bright blue, beautiful skies. And I'm so grateful that I learnt everything that I share with you in the blueprints about how I can get us here without the price tag because otherwise I will be there in the rain with you guys and I would not be doing so well. So, anybody that's still there, I've given you the blueprints, the actual blueprints that I follow to make sure travel doesn't come with a luxury price tag. So, yes, that is out, that's available, it's live. And yeah, follow along the podcast for more revelations, more research, and yeah, more joy because obviously travel has brought me and my daughter a huge amount of joy. Until next time, guys, have a wonderful week.