One of the great things about technology today: when I go to Germany, I will still have access to my American television.

I know, I know, the best way to truly learn a language is to completely immerse yourself in all things German….no excuses!

Don’t worry, this will happen. My soon-to-be-new-boss has already been mostly speaking with me in German and I know once I get there, it will be all German.

But at least for some of my favorite stories, I will be able to revisit them thanks to my Netflix account.

“But wait?!” I hear you exclaim, “I thought Netflix wasn’t in Germany yet?”

You are correct. It is not. Trust me, there’s nothing more frustrating than paying for a service and then going to another country and they say “oops sorry, no worky for you today! This country doesn’t have Netflix.”

ARGH!

But there is a way around it!!!! It boils down to tricking your electronics into thinking it’s still in the US….and there are two ways of doing this.

The first and more guaranteed way to do this is to change the VPN (Virtual Private Network) of your computer. There are a few legit companies out there (like hidemyass.com) where you pay a fee and by accessing their program, it will change IP address of your computer to tell the server that it’s in the US.

The other way (and for me, the free way) is to change the DNS (Domain Name System). Here you can go on other sites (like unblockus) where they supply you with the code and where to insert them in your network settings that basically has the same effect. Unfortunately, these codes usually are invalid after a few months so then you’ll have to do the search again.

Both are viable options for the traveler that wants to rewatch their favorite episodes of Orange is the New Black. I don’t blame them, I love that show.

Anyway, for those experts out there…..what other sites and processes do you use in order to access your favorite American sites while out of the country?