About
Hi, I'm Karen
I was born in the Philippines and have spent the past eight years living in countries I had to plan, apply for, and sometimes fight bureaucracy to reach. Sweden first, on a sponsored work visa in 2018. Barcelona since 2024, after Swedish visa policy changed for my husband.
This blog started as a way to document my own moves. It kept going because the questions people asked me — about visa timelines, finding an apartment without a local reference, navigating healthcare as a foreigner — were the same ones I had no reliable answers to when I was starting out.
The Story So Far
2009 — Australia at 16
At 16, I moved alone to Queensland to study. My family supported it, and I was convinced I was ready. I was not.
Slow internet made staying in touch with family expensive. Homesickness hit harder than expected. I came back within the year — a decision that took years to stop regretting. But it fixed one thing: I knew I wanted to leave again, and next time I would stay.
2016 — Launched karenroldan.net
I started the blog from the Philippines as a personal diary — somewhere to document creative projects and daily life. No brand strategy, no monetization plan. Just a space that was mine.
2017 — The Long Road to Sweden
Sweden was the goal. I applied to jobs in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, knowing Sweden was the harder destination. The process was slow and expensive, and I lost PHP 50,000 to a recruitment scam before I found a company that actually sponsored my visa.
POEA clearance held everything up for almost six months after the job offer. The company waited. I waited. It cleared.
2018 — Arrived in Sweden
Sweden changed what the blog was for. I stopped writing about creative projects and started writing what I actually needed when I arrived: visa guides, immigration timelines, what renting an apartment as a foreigner really involves. It became useful by accident.
Six years in, Swedish visa rules changed in a way that affected my husband's residency. We applied to Spain rather than wait to see how it resolved.
2024 — Barcelona
We moved to Barcelona in 2024. I've been writing about Sweden for six years and I'm still writing about it — the guides hold up. Now I'm also learning a new city, a new bureaucracy, and Spanish at the same time.
Why You Can Trust What I Write
I'm not a travel influencer with a curated feed. I'm someone who has:
- Lived through the actual process of relocating internationally — including the paperwork failures, the scams, and the homesickness.
- Navigated three different visa systems and learned what the official guidance leaves out.
- Built a remote income while moving countries and worked out the tax, banking, and legal side of it.
- Adapted to four very different countries — the Philippines, Australia, Sweden, and Spain.
- Made the mistakes first so the posts can tell you what to avoid.
Every post on this blog is based on something I actually did, paid for, or had to figure out without a good guide. If I haven't done it, I say so.
What's on This Blog
Visa & Relocation Guides
The paperwork, the timelines, and what the official websites skip — based on moving to Sweden and Spain as a Filipino national.
Life Abroad in Sweden & Spain
What daily life looks like once you're actually there: healthcare, banking, housing, and the parts that take longer than anyone says they will.
Travel in Europe
City guides and destination posts with the specifics that make a difference: which ticket to buy, which exit to take, what to skip.
Remote Work & Finances
How I built a remote income while moving countries, and what that involves practically — taxes, banking, contracts, and staying compliant.
Where to Start
If you're new here, pick the topic closest to where you are right now.
