In the last 15 years, I have lived in New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Mexico, and Lithuania. I’ve spent large chunks of time in the UK, Spain, and simply on the road traveling, and I have loved almost every minute of it.
Sure, there are days when you get sick, and you have to find a doctor, sometimes in a different language, and try to explain what’s wrong. And for many of the years I lived abroad, I did this without a smartphone or Google Translate!
Living abroad can also mean that you lose access to your favorite shows from back home. While it may seem like a small and insignificant piece of the pie, when you are homesick or still getting settled in a new country, something as simple as watching your favorite comfort shows or being able to talk to your friends back home about the latest Bachelor episode can make a huge difference in how you’re feeling on a given day.
There are big sporting events in the US that can be hard to watch abroad, which was hard to miss at first. During college, I would watch the Super Bowl with my roommate and her family every year. They threw a big party, and the first year I lived abroad, I didn’t experience that, which was so hard. Not only did I feel the loss of missing out on that event, but I also couldn’t even watch it myself.
Overall, living abroad has been a highlight of my life and has shaped me in ways that I am still discovering now that I live back “home” in the United States, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it, but in 2026, it’s never been easier to stay connected to the shows and often, therefore, the people and moments you miss from back home.
Why You Can’t Watch Your Favorite Shows Abroad
One of the things that I have loved about living in different countries is delving deeper into the culture, be that food, history, language, or even local pop culture.
People my age in Australia, the UK, and Mexico all grew up with completely different music and television shows than I did; they have cultural references that I did not understand at all until I started watching more local television.
To this day, some of my favorite television shows are British and Australian.
It was impossible to watch these when I was living in Lithuania and Mexico. Streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, and the myriad others that exist know where you are because of your IP address, and they often have different shows available based on that location.
It was a bummer to have to say goodbye to some of the best TV shows until I found out about getting a VPN for streaming.
How a VPN Helps
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a service that protects your internet connection and privacy while you’re online. VPNs create an encrypted tunnel for your data and protect your online identity by hiding your IP address.
This doesn’t exactly sound like something that is going to help you watch your favorite TV shows, but that is exactly what it does.
The beauty of a VPN is that you can choose an IP address from anywhere in the world. When you use NordVPN, as I have been for close to five years now, you can choose from over 224 locations around the world.
I can tell my computer that I am in the United Kingdom when I am, in fact, in my living room in Florida, and watch all of my favorite shows on BBC or Channel 4.
When I lived in Lithuania, I could put my VPN to the United States and watch my favorite Bravo TV shows with ease.
It Helps with Language Learning Before You Leave
If you’re planning a future move to Mexico, Spain, France, or somewhere else where the language isn’t English, having a VPN can also help you watch shows from abroad before you even leave your home country.
I love watching local TV from Spain and Mexico with my VPN so that I can keep up with my Spanish language skills and often improve them. You can put on Spanish or English subtitles to help you at the beginning or if you’re watching a show with a particularly difficult accent (that’s any show from Southern Spain or Chile for me!).
Other Ways a VPN Will Make Life Abroad Better
While you will most likely use your VPN most often to watch your favorite shows from around the world, having a VPN will make life so much easier while you’re abroad for several more reasons.
Accessing things like your US banking and other financial websites from back home will be a lot easier if you are able to put an American VPN on.
It also protects you and all of your online privacy while you’re traveling and using public Wifi. Connecting at an airport, cafe, or other public space? You definitely want to use a VPN to secure your passwords and other important information that you are accessing online.
The nice thing about NordVPN is that you can use it on up to six of your devices, so you can have it for your smart tv, laptop, and cell phone which allows you to connect to a VPN while you’re living abroad and access important apps from back home while you’re living abroad.