Moving to Orkney: Life on a Scottish Island (ePub)

An expat's guide to moving to the Orkney Islands, with how-to resources and advice.

It's all well and good to look at pretty pictures of Orkney on the travel websites, but that's just a beginning. It gets the dream started. If you're thinking about actually moving to Scotland, particularly to the Orkney Islands, you'll want guidance from someone who's been through it and lived to tell the tale. That's where I can help.

I'm an American expat living in Scotland's Orkney Islands. How in the world did I end up here, and more importantly, is it possible for you to move to Orkney?

My husband, Tom Muir, is an Orcadian storyteller, folklorist, historian and writer. We met by email in the early 2000s when I was researching a novel set in the Rackwick Valley on the island of Hoy. Many years later, I was planning to visit the beautiful place I'd fallen in love with but had never seen when I got back in touch with Tom. The rest is a happy story of falling in love, marrying and my subsequent move to Orkney.

Of course, it wasn't quite that simple.

It sounds like a fairy tale, and it kind of is. But in real-life fairy tales, you still have to figure out how you're going to tell your family that you're moving so very far away, what to do about beloved pets and - if you're not from the UK - how you're going to figure out the whole visa thing. You have to decide how you're going to move your entire life over the ocean, because everyone who moves here has to cross at least one ocean. And if you make it that far, there's a lot more to know about living happily on a Scottish island and becoming knit into a close-knit community.

I created this ebook (please note, it's digital-only at this time) to give people who are considering a move to Orkney some solid grassroots information, to bring up topics you might want to think about before you decide, to help you with logistical considerations, to give you an idea of everyday life in Orkney and to offer lots of resources for further help.

Probably the most unique and valuable part of this moving to Orkney guidebook is the contribution of a helpful insider's chapter from my husband, Tom, where he explains the Orcadian view and gives tips for fitting into your new home as an "incomer."