I Did Not Read About This Life. I Lived It.

In 2012 I left the United States with a teaching certificate, a suitcase, and a one-way ticket to Vietnam. I did not know exactly what I was looking for but I knew I was looking for something different.

What I found was Novacent, the English language center I built from scratch in Vietnam and ran for eight years. Over that time I hired teachers, designed curriculum, navigated Vietnamese bureaucracy, learned how money works in a cash economy, found housing in neighborhoods with no English signage, and built a life that I never could have imagined from a desk in the United States.

I learned how Southeast Asia actually works. Not from a guidebook but from the inside.

In July 2026 I am moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand to teach business at an international school. I hold an M.S. in Educational Leadership and a Massachusetts Provisional Teaching License in Business. I have placed teachers across Southeast Asia and I have helped dozens of people navigate the transition from Western life to expat life.

I built Escape2Asia because the information most people find online when they search for this stuff is either outdated, generic, or written by someone who spent two weeks somewhere and considers themselves an expert. Everything on this site comes from firsthand experience. When I tell you what a condo costs in Chiang Mai it is because I have rented one. When I tell you which visa works for retirees it is because I have navigated these systems personally.

This is not a content farm. It is a resource built by someone who actually made the move and wants to help you make yours.