The subject of expats and their cars was explored in a new post this week. When you move abroad, the issue of whether or not to buy a car can cease to be a matter of choice. If you move to Dubai, for instance, and can afford it then you’ll almost certainly get one. In other popular expat cities, such as Hong Kong, you probably won’t. This is the latest in our Expat Life strand. READ MORE

Also new this week is our Videos page, where we’ll put all our trailers and short films so they’re in one place and can be easily found. There are already a few there, including ones on gladiators, giant pandas and World War Two heroines. We’ll update the page with new videos as we release them. WATCH VIDEOS

We're pleased to report that Afaranwide has been included in a third blogging directory – a list of what Travel Trip Services describes as the "most active travel blogs". This follows our inclusion in directories published by BlogExpat.com and Expert Vagabond.

We’re always interested in those surveys that aim to find the places that are best for expats. One country featured in the Expat Insider 2019 report from InterNations caught our eye – Kazakhstan. It achieved the biggest improvement of any country in the rankings, moving up 27 places to 22nd. One of our favourite cities, Hanoi (above) in Vietnam, is among the biggest improvers in another survey, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2019. It’s ranked 107th out of 140, and according to the report has seen improvements in stability, culture, education and infrastructure. It still has a long way to go before it challenges top-ranked Vienna, Austria’s capital, though. The survey assesses which cities provide the best and worst living conditions. The lowest ranked city is Damascus in Syria. Not that this type of survey should be taken too seriously. Tokyo and Osaka are both in the top 10 of the EIU’s list, yet HSBC’s latest Expat Explorer Survey rates Japan poorly.

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