The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsIf you could afford to move to another country, which one would you choose?
I'd choose either Ireland or The Netherlands.
lapfog_1
(29,223 posts)If I could get a Visa....
A HERETIC I AM
(24,377 posts)Countryside there looks like many landscapes in the US.
Take a drive down a road Northeast of Invercargill using Google street view;
https://goo.gl/maps/hUVeVabqdCo
vercetti2021
(10,156 posts)Nt
spooky3
(34,477 posts)saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)language would be no barrier to living anywhere in the world. Also,for those comparing housing costs in San Francisco or New York, with France, the higher cost of living across the pond might be worth it.
True Dough
(17,322 posts)So lush.
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)If limited to English speaking countries, Australia. The driving on the left side of the road would be a struggle, though. I suppose people get used to it.
Maraya1969
(22,497 posts)But I would invest in a good language learning software.
onecaliberal
(32,895 posts)qazplm135
(7,447 posts)staying and fighting for my country.
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)violetpastille
(1,483 posts)Its a nice piece of real estate. Quiet neighbors, ocean views on both sides.
Sure it's a tear-down now, but can't you see the potential?
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)You reeled me in with the title and closed leaving me laughing, very clever indeed.
violetpastille
(1,483 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)SuprstitionAintthWay
(386 posts)But, given how it's presently owned... IS THERE even that much money?
Voltaire2
(13,160 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Things aint so great there either.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)Last edited Sun Oct 7, 2018, 06:47 PM - Edit history (1)
I think I'd check out Tuum, County Galway.
My cousin & her husband visited there and said it was a nice little town.
sarge43
(28,945 posts)Luciferous
(6,085 posts)raccoon
(31,120 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,841 posts)and I speak a little bit of the language, and I don't mind cold weather. The scenery is magnificent.
Harker
(14,035 posts)West coast... Donegal or Connemara.
Ideally, somewhere near Killybegs.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)I'd even consider the Aron Islands - They're three islands off the Wast Coast of Ireland.
Harker
(14,035 posts)of my life were spent on the west coast. I saw the Aran Islands, but we never caught the ferry out there.
I was a tweed fan prior. Now I'm all in!
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)It was filmed in Ireland, and there are some great scenes of the Aran islands.
It's worth renting on Netflix.
Harker
(14,035 posts)I have a TV and Blu-ray player. Just need to attach them to each other. Haven't seen a movie in over a year. That sounds like one to break a drought with!
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)and there are some very funny scenes, especially near the end.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)Great place. Wonderful people.
NNadir
(33,545 posts)ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Kaleva
(36,343 posts)My SSDI and Vets pension qualifies me for the Pensionado residence program.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)Many people don't realize all the advantages Panama has as a second (or replacement) country for the US. First, beautiful tropical beaches, jungles and cosmopolitan Panama City. English is widely used and understood, people are friendly and the US Dollar is the national currency. And, as you mention if you are a retiree Panama has a visa for you which includes a ton of great freebies and discounts. It has all the advantages of Costa Rica but is not nearly as expensive.
Turin_C3PO
(14,054 posts)Wales or Germany. Maybe France.
Laffy Kat
(16,386 posts)The people, the food, the language (which I don't know and would like to learn) and the geography.
Southern hemisphere; democratic; English-speaking, sorta; not crazy...a diverse enough climate to produce all kinds of food (if you don't mind lamb/mutton). otoh, no metals...might be a good thing. Not easy to reach, come the time.
Personally, I don't think the coming collapse is very far off (my lifetime, certainly) and no place will be far enough away. Also too, strangers will be the first over the side, when it comes to that. Certainly better to pick an English-speaking country where you can blend...
Meadowoak
(5,559 posts)zanana1
(6,129 posts)Quebec or Montreal.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)avebury
(10,952 posts)Greater year round temperatures, lower cost of living, great health care system. It is the only Central American country with no standing army.
Norway has a really high quality of life but I don't know how I would adapt to long, cold winters.
Although if I had enough money and was retired I would consider the idea of living on cruise ships. No house cleaning, no cooking, on the move, you learn to minimalize and if you get tired of one ship you move to another ship. A cruise around the world would be amazing.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,841 posts)avebury
(10,952 posts)work in Congress and they aren't Rethugs.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,841 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)williesgirl
(4,033 posts)NotASurfer
(2,154 posts)Where Hillary is President
How much does a dimensional gateway cost?
GemDigger
(4,305 posts)SuprstitionAintthWay
(386 posts)of that dimensional gateway?
NotASurfer
(2,154 posts)When a MAGA hat uses the gateway, have the daemon route then to a different parallel universe, the Hitler universe. Where they will be happy until they are told they are not quite up to snuff on the Nazi Scale of Racial Purity. Which will confuse the hell out of them
pansypoo53219
(20,996 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,897 posts)The last time I was there was in 1989, and I know it's changed a lot, so I'd have to visit and check it out. Otherwise any other English speaking country: Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
I've told my son who is currently in a PhD program in astronomy that he might want to consider accepting a post overseas when he's done with school, and we'll work out how I can join him.
Doreen
(11,686 posts)Mostly I want to move back to Germany..
Response to red dog 1 (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
area51
(11,920 posts)I was told our family had ancestors there, and of course, these are civilized countries so health care is a human right, unlike here in the states.
SuprstitionAintthWay
(386 posts)The frontman asked us all to get down to the ground, but we'd be "excused if anybody has a leg that can't manage it and you'll hurt yourself. We're in America, I know you'd have to pay for it yourself!"
Our allies from more civilized lands, who can't fathom the mercenary heartlessness of our system here, are aware and do feel for us.
Thyla
(791 posts)Last edited Sun Oct 7, 2018, 11:40 AM - Edit history (1)
Will be your biggest issue.
Sure some countries requirements can be costly but in general moving countries can be entirely affordable but you first need to get past the visa process.
A little bit of courage and a skill set goes a long way too.
GoneOffShore
(17,340 posts)Well, except for the whole bureaucracy thing, which is a bit like the DMV but with even less a sense of urgency.
And there was the whole refrigerator saga, which in retrospect, is more than a bit funny. Especially the week when we had three fridges in our flat.
SuprstitionAintthWay
(386 posts)...MASTER (on at least some level) the language, and I know I would very much miss that.... communication in any language is so loaded with subtlety, nuance, and subtext. I think of Garrison Keillor (if we may still mention him), how he intended to live out the rest of his life with a Danish wife in her country, but this is the thing that pulled him back home: It would take him a lifetime to master the Danish language like he'd mastered English; he was missimg so much around him in the meantime; and he didn't have another lifetime to do so anyway.
It'd be a form of FOMO. I'd fear... know, really... that I was missing out on the full depth and richness of what was happening around me. And I have a passion "to know."
It helps us tremendously of course that our language is the world's second language, and that so many Europeans know it at least fairly well. That said, it would be easier to be in a country in which most people didn't resent and resist speaking to an anglophone in English. I haven't been to either Netherlands or Scandinavia, but I understand that isn't as major an issue there, not like it is in France.
I do (I believe) understand why this is for the French, and it's hard to blame them. The French have never gotten over the fact that it was the Brits' language that conquered the world, and not their own. If only they'd colonized more of North America! If only the French and Indian War had turned out differently. Mon dieu, imagine a modern world of francophones: not having to always hear the inelegant speech of those near-barbarians across the channel!
I don't think (?) the Dutch took losing Europeans' world domination competition so much to heart. And certainly there's not a big "that could have been us!" issue about using English for Scandinavians. (Though those nationalities might have other reasons for resisting and resenting English, I don't know. Nobody ENJOYS an outside culture overpowering one's own.)
Obviously, I've thought about moving abroad. And I am a bit of a francophile. But the above is why, if I ever did, it'd probably be to an English-speaking country.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)femmocrat
(28,394 posts)They seem so civilized.
bikebloke
(5,260 posts)New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands
LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)neighbors who retired there back in the 1960's. Beautiful home overlooking Puget Sound. Gorgeous.
JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)Gorgeous is the word!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I studied in Austria in college and loved it there. Plus it was a great base to travel to many other countries that I want to visit and has one of the highest standards of living.
love_katz
(2,584 posts)Either British Columbia or Yukon territory. If not there, then either one of the Nordic countries or the U.K. I am in despair for the land of my birth. , and filled with unquenchable rage!
lark
(23,156 posts)Since money is definitely an object, especially with worries about the continuance of Social Security, Portugal looks good. If my husband's new job works out like I hope, we might be able to swing moving there in a few years. If Social SEcurity goes away along with ACA, and the job doesn't work out, I don't know how we will afford to live here! Got to take back st least the House for our own protection along with that of the country's constitution.
Maraya1969
(22,497 posts)I was in Lisbon last March and in the mountains last June and I just loved it. I follow a Guru named Mooji.
( https://mooji.org/ ) I know that sounds weird and believe me I would be the first person to think I was crazy if I wasn't me.
I never felt so good then when I was there. I had no aches and pains and I have to use a scooter and a wheelchair sometimes at home or in an airport. And the weather is so mild, not like the sweat-house here in Florida. It just felt like paradise.
Botany
(70,582 posts)I would not move to Oklahoma or Arkansas .... I floated the Buffalo river there once and many of the
locals were just nasty and still pissed off about the outcome of the Civil War.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)I wouldn't mind living there.
(I hate the heat anyway)
FakeNoose
(32,750 posts)I have something very similar to this as my permanent desktop wallpaper, so I look at it several times per day.
On my desktop photo, the Matterhorn is farther in the distance and Zermatt is lower down in the valley. (It must have been shot from the next mountain overlooking Zermatt.)
Botany
(70,582 posts)Although I have pix of me w/the Matterhorn in the background as i was skiing
years ago.
FakeNoose
(32,750 posts)I love this photo so much but I didn't take it! Sometimes I imagine myself in a Hutte on the side of a mountain just like this. The Matterhorn is off in the distance. I think this must be looking south towards northern Italy because the Matterhorn is on the border between Italy and Switzerland.
Wish I knew the name of this big mountain that's closer to Zermatt, and I keep checking maps of the Swiss Alps, trying to figure out the name of it.
Qanisqineq
(4,826 posts)I lived there for 8 years and loved it.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)llmart
(15,552 posts)I've never been there but have a stepsister who lives there. She loves it.
FakeNoose
(32,750 posts)(Hopefully, he'll be gone soon)
50 Shades Of Blue
(10,043 posts)RandySF
(59,225 posts)mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)Sunshine and blue water
dawg day
(7,947 posts)I have even bought woolens and sensible brogues for walking.
pbmus
(12,422 posts)Je suis parle un peu francais parsque je suis nee en Paris...
LisaM
(27,830 posts)or France.
MFM008
(19,818 posts)🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮
Ccarmona
(1,180 posts)After we secede and become a Kingdom again.
doc03
(35,367 posts)Canada. When I was in the Army I was stationed in Amberg, West Germany, I liked it there it was very much like
eastern Ohio. I was only at the falls in Canada so didn't see much, I think it would be too cold for me. From what I hear Costa Rica would be nice.
get the red out
(13,468 posts)Though the cold would be rough.
Tikki
(14,559 posts)Uruguay seems interesting, but as seniors it might be hard to make the transition, we only
speak stumbling Spanish.
Tikki
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Or France.
IrishEyes
(3,275 posts)Since that doesn't exist I would move to Greece. Amazing history, beautiful sights and delicious food.