Personally I’m rather partial to the US so could easily consider it. However, I love Canada and they do seem to have a pretty outdoorsey sort of lifestyle. Stunning scenery. Yeah, I think I could pretty easily live in Canada.

Are you me sharkattack?

I now have 2 bikes, a tent, a van and a camera. I’m going to the first 3 rounds of the downhill world cup this year which starts in Scotland then goes to Italy and I’ll have a month to kill until round 3 in Andorra. While I’m in Europe I plan to meet and mingle with as many people as possible and take advantage of any and all opportunities that come my way. I’m hoping to not come back and spend the winter somewhere warm and pleasant like southern Spain or Portugal. I have no idea what is actually going to happen but I can not wait to get started.

Also grazing the info in this thread with great interest.

Nice plan. I’m just grovelling around doing any old work til maybe April when the weather perks up and I’m doing something very very similar.

Burned out in a job a few years back and left to try and do something similar but circumstances put a stop to it. The start of it was to drive to the Le Mans 24hrs and go from there. Was a very very memorable 6 weeks. Hope it lasts longer this time. 30 winters in a row here is soul destroying.

BEen to area around Orgiva 4 times and going in a few weeks for a bike trip. Ridings good, winter climbing as well with snow in mountains.Thought it was cheap and although lots of expats still very Spanish. There’s a few hippie sites about and a few crazy hippies. Haven’t been to the sites but passed the time of day with people and everyone was nice enough but I wouldn’t want to lend them a fiver.Thinking of heading down for next winter in the van with bike and climbing gear as I don’t work too much over winter.

Funny how many of us end up wanting to escape the UK winters, no wonder there are so many ex-pat communities really. My parents live in Greece in an idyllic small coastal town, plenty of (various European) ex-pats around them even somewhere as remote as they are. Can barely conceal my jealousy skypeing them and seeing the contrast in our weather and comparative state of tan! I too am tiring of UK winters and am weary of the job I have been at for the last 15 years since finishing education. Hopefully this year will see a change and in the somewhat longer term I hope to at least be the other side of the channel, only returning as necessary.

Wish I had the courage to up and try and just do it like some here, work is no longer pushing me mentally and the years are beginning to tick over with alarming rapidity!

A mate went on holiday to NZ (many years ago now). Saved money for ages, quit his job working as a park ranger for a London borough council and went travelling for 6 months in NZ. On what was supposed to be his final day there, he was having a farewell party with some of the people he’d met while out there and they got him pissed and told him he didn’t want to go back to England.

So he just never boarded his flight home. 😉

It really helped with the visa stuff that he got engaged to a NZ girl and he’s since had a variety of outdoorsy jobs including a stint working on a dive boat. Sounded ace.

So you could try that approach… 😉 “Holiday” then just extend it.

erm… pretty much anywhere – Britain’s not that great. Besides, in some places there’s a cachet that comes of being British (Britain not being one of them).

But you do miss the mix of cuisines, and the general cheapness of things.

Funny how many of us end up wanting to escape the UK winters

Never mind the winters, they’re supposed to be shit, it’s the so-called “summers” that get me down. 😐

I’d go to France. In the Alps. My little brother has upped sticks with his wife and is starting a new life out there. Once he’s got himself sorted I might just think about doing the same…

If you have a degree then you could teach English as a foreign language in China or Taiwan. A lot of schools will pay for your flight initially which you pay back after you start working. I spent two happy years in Taiwan doing just that and riding in the mountains every day. Plus if you are unattached you will have a constant barrage of beautiful Chinese girls flinging themselves at you. Never ceased to amaze me the amount of times I saw a fat middle aged ugly western man with a what looked like a supermodel Chinese gf! The cost of living is really cheap there (it’s cheaper eating out than cooking at home) and cold weather is not something you’ll experience.

New Zealand or South France.

Spain makes a lot of sense, I’ve travelled around loads of it, beautiful country. But the unemployment rate there is a bit worrying. Something like 50% for 18-30 year olds?

Realistically, don’t come to Spain, unless you’re planning on teaching English (and even then…). It’s a lovely country, with lovely people, but the economy really is screwed. Forget agricultural / bar / hotel casual labour, the competition is huge, loads higher than it used to be (looking back just a couple of years…). Unless you’ve got something beyond unskilled labour to offer – forget it.

Have a simple plan, be flexible and enjoy yourself. If you can try and get more money that would obviously help. Get meeting people and hopefully you’ll land on your feet.

You need to be realistic and there is a good chance things won’t go to plan but that’s all part of the adventure.

All the best fella.