Category
26 posts about planning from Discover Buenos Aires.
Category
26 posts
After nearly two years in Buenos Aires, I thought it would be a good time to revisit some of my earlier posts on planning my original move from the States and update them based on my experiences. The first topic I decided to start with was the one on using a mail forwarding service to … Read more
Seeing as how today is April 15th (the day taxes are due in the United States), I thought it would be fitting to finally finish the post I had been working on regarding some of the tax benefits to being an expat. When I decided to move to Buenos Aires last year, I wasn’t aware … Read more
Like many expats, we’re here on tourist visas which are only valid for 90 days. Now, there’s a few ways to extend that time: Head to prorrogas de permanencia at the office of migraciones and pay for a 90 day extension. The cost is $100 pesos and you can only do this once per 90 … Read more
Argentina Reciprocity Fee UPDATE: As of March 24, 2016, the reciprocity fee is no longer required for US passport holders. The Argentina reciprocity fee must now be paid in advance for all entries into Argentina – air, land and sea. We have a complete guide on how to pay the Argentina entrance fee as the form is a bit … Read more
With this being the presidential election year, remembering to register for an absentee ballot seems even more critical. Luckily, the Federal Voting Assistance Program has a newly redesigned web site to help with this process. And this week the U.S. Embassy sent out the following email with more details: New Website for Overseas Voters We … Read more
I had my first Spanish lesson on Tuesday, and thanks to reading another blog, I found a great teacher, Marco Luccón who runs Hablar en Buenos Aires. He’s 24 and really loves languages and teaching. He has split his apartment in Palermo into a living area and a classroom (complete with whiteboard) and has prepared … Read more
As much as you may plan, not everything always goes according to that plan. Case in point: while all my luggage made it in one piece, not all the contents of the luggage made it in one piece. I just discovered this today when I moved into my new apartment and I hooked up my computer and … Read more
After nearly 24 hours of traveling, I made it to the temporary condo in Buenos Aires yesterday. I left for the 4:30pm flight out of JFK at around noon on Tuesday making sure to give myself enough time to check the extra luggage and make sure I got through security with a carry-on full of … Read more
UPDATE (12/18/15): After not using my Schwab account for over 4 years due to getting a much better deal with the blue dollar rate, I am now able to use the ATMs in Argentina again and I’ll only lose about 5% compared to the blue rate. (This used to be a 50% difference!) Things always change in … Read more
The last few days have been pretty crazy. I left Vermont on Sunday after finalizing all the packing up and preparing the house for the ski season. The last couple of days in NYC have been filled with running around – returning my leased car, sending some final pieces of mail and FedEx, returning license … Read more
While I realize that this is not going to be a part of most people’s planning process, being the Internet guru, I started looking for BsAs domain names as soon as I decided to make the move. I figured, who knows what I’ll be doing or what’s going to interest me, but it might make … Read more
Yesterday, I took care of the most important thing I’m bringing – Delilah, the 8 year old, 7.5 pound, mini-pinscher. She has already dictated whether we were going to move or not (could we take her with us), where we lived (she has to have some outdoor space), an increased security deposit ($900 more just … Read more
Since I wrote about setting up phone and cell phone service, I’ve had a few updates that I wanted to share. First of all, I was able to get T-Mobile to waive the early cancellation penalty on the one phone. All it took was a friendly customer service rep (CSR), a fax specifying the details of … Read more
I started packing my clothing for the move today and was immediately struck by the thought, “Hmmm…I wonder what I should pack.” I’ll be back in the US in December, so I can always pick up another season of clothing then. In order to pack, I guess I probably should know what the weather is going … Read more
I’ve been trying to sell one car on Craigslist and eBay (know anyone who needs a low mileage Toyota Solara?) and the other car is a lease that’s being returned three months early, so of course I’ve also been planning on canceling my car insurance. That should save me some money, right? That is what … Read more
I just happened to be reading The Argentine Post blog and one of their articles mentioned that Americans living or traveling in Argentina are encouraged to register with the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires. Hmm, I never knew that. I guess that old saying that you learn something new every day is actually true. I headed over … Read more
The next thing on the “To Do” list was to replace any of my credit cards that were expiring in the next year or so. This turned out to be incredibly easy. My American Express expires in 7 months, and after a quick call to customer service, they sent me a new card via overnight … Read more
UPDATE (10/25/10): Please check out my newer post on mail forwarding services. When I decided to make the move to Buenos Aires a few months ago, I also decided to start switching as many of my accounts to e-bills as I could. This resulted in an immediate reduction in the amount of mail I received … Read more
Setting up phone service when you moved out of the country used to be a lot more complex. With the Internet and voice-over-ip services, everything is pretty simple. Telephone: Vonage I’ve had a Vonage phone number in the NYC (212) area code for almost four years now and it’s moved wherever I’ve gone. I’m keeping this number in … Read more
When I originally started contemplating making a move to Buenos Aires, naturally I went to the web to start researching what was involved and what I might expect. I found a lot of great sites – some of which are listed under my favorite links on the right. I also ordered an ebook by Laura … Read more
After looking over the many Delta luggage restrictions, I ordered some great bags to use for the move from eBags. While I already have some standard rolling suitcases, I’m going to need those to move my PC and LCD and miscellaneous household things I want to bring and that need some protection. I needed to … Read more
I spent today researcing plug adapters, voltage converters and transformers that I would need for my move to BsAs (yes, this seems to be the common abbreviation for Buenos Aires). The International Electrical Supplies (IES) web site has a lot of useful information including a basic electricity introduction, a guide to choosing the right product, … Read more
I’m a firm believer that one should know as much as possible about their new country before they move there. A great way to keep on top of local news and stories is to subscribe to Google News Alerts for Buenos Aires. Google News Alerts deliver all the top stories related to your search term directly … Read more
I’m planning on being in Buenos Aires for a year or two, and since I heard that shipping anything from the US is a real pain in the ass, I’m planning on bringing everything I need with me. This includes all my clothes and personal items, as well as laptops, small electronics (Vonage router, wireless router, … Read more
This blog just started and I’m already behind! I actually made the decision to move to Buenos Aires four to five months ago and have been doing planning and research for some time now. I decided to start the blog only recently though, so I’ll have some catching up to do in terms of detailing … Read more
Welcome to my blog – Discover Buenos Aires. I decided to start this blog to detail my move from New York City to Buenos Aires. I’ll be detailing some of the reasons for the move, some of the issues I had, great resources I used, etc. Look for more information to be added shortly!