I'd happily holiday at ANY of the above.
However I'd hanker for blighty far too much. Bar the suburbia and grime boy there are beautiful places here. Soo many beautiful and varied places and people.
No thanks. I'll stay here.
Ex-Pats when you are old and ill, please stay overseas and enjoy that counties hospitals etc.
I really like the UK frankly, one of the few places that could tempt me would be northern California - San Francisco bay area or Tahoe.
UK is a beautiful country with an amazing history and an entrepreneurial/trading/open-minded spirit which will stand us in good stead as the new world order comes through.
I also think it's not obvious when you live here how much better off we are than the vast majority of the world. Southern Europe seems to be rather knackered economically, USA is going through a confidence crisis, China doesn't treat it's people too well.
I lived in France when I was a student and it gave me a real sense of perspective how great UK is...
Germany. For exactly the same reasons on the previous page.
Wouldn't turn down offer to go back to Holland either (even if the beer is rubbish, and the mountains are non-existent). Quite fancy the idea of something a bit closer to the Austrian, Süd-Tirol, Slovenian end of the Alps though (although French Alps / Lausanne / Geneva kind of area would do too).
Nowhere in the UK is really shouting out to me at the moment. Lakes maybe for early retirement.
Ex-Pats when you are old and ill, please stay overseas and enjoy that counties hospitals etc.
Yeah, it's not like they paid tax and NI all the time they were living in Blighty, is it? Selfish sods.
Uuh...
grum - Member
If you have hippy pretensions like me Portland, Oregon sounds cool.
People with hippy pretensions are hipsters, and Portlandia is full of them.
My vote is Canada. I was in Calgary for Canada Day and the mayor even praised public sector workers!
Currently live in Bromley (SE London)
If I moved anywhere in the UK it would probably be the new forest...
If we went abroad then either Australia (Victoria) or Austria (near Zell-am-see or Kaprun)
Vancouver / Victoria are pretty cool (I was there 2 weeks ago). I'd have most of the year in the UK and 3-4 winter months in San Diego or Palm Springs at a push! Really though I'm happy in the UK.
My vote is Canada. I was in Calgary for Canada Day and the mayor even praised public sector workers!
and he isn't the one smoking crack!
I lived in France when I was a student and it gave me a real sense of perspective how great UK is...
Where did you live though, Roubaix?
South of Dijon, France is a great place to live.
Ex-Pats when you are old and ill, please stay overseas and enjoy that counties hospitals etc.
I will thanks, they actually have rather good provisions here. I find social and medical care is pretty equal throughout western Europe, and in fact Germany probably edges the UK in those provisions.
I am not sure about other destinations, such as the US, Canada, Australia and new Zealand. I imagine again they are fairly comparable as long as you are in gainful employment. I think the main thing that always puts me off America is if your life takes a turn for the worse, ie losing your job, then everything can really go very wrong.
Yep over here in Oz the minimum employer pension contribution is 9% and planed to rise
We're on the move, we're tempted by Andalusia - for the climate and cost of living. Lack of employment and language skills means that's unlikely though
So we're probably going to end up in Alston, food for your soul the Pennines in our opinion
Got to be better than Sussex to be honest, I've moved here from Yorkshire 7 years and I can't say I've settled
If it was warmer, say 10C warmer, I'd pick the West Coast of Scotland.
Ex-Pats when you are old and ill, please stay overseas and enjoy that counties hospitals etc.
Honestly Hora, open your eyes and do some proper digging into the state of foreign health care before making comments like that. You only need to look over the channel to see how sh*t the NHS is in comparison to the French system. And by the look of it its only going to get worse over here...
If I could move anywhere in the UK it'd have to be Devon/Cornwall. I love the sea and I'd love the ability to surf more often than I do (Halifax isn't best placed for someone who likes a paddle). Bringing up my kids near the sea, going to the beach every weekend and stuff appeals massively. If ever a decent job came up down there I'd be there in a flash.
But the grand plan is France. Pay off the mortgage ASAP, retire by 50 and move to France and buy a place that needs a bit of work but has the ability to convert some outbuildings into gites and has a fishing lake. Spend the rest of my life sitting in the sunshine, doing a bit of fishing, eating and drinking nice food and drink and taking advantage of the rural French way of life which is so laid back its beyond horizontal...
move to France and buy a place that needs a bit of work but has the ability to convert some outbuildings into gites and has a fishing lake. Spend the rest of my life sitting in the sunshine, doing a bit of fishing, eating and drinking nice food and drink and taking advantage of the rural French way of life which is so laid back its beyond horizontal...
Sounds lovely! I hope you manage it!
I'd drop the UK like a hot stone if I had the chance, all the bits with people in them are awful. I love France and the French people (really) so somewhere in the Alps would be high on my list. Top of the list is probably Chile, fantastic country, incredible scenery and mountains, nice people and a decent economy.
Second vote for Boulder Colorado, I have a house there and can confirm its the best place.
You can probably drive to a place that's very very similar, it's called Scotland.let's play a game, it's called: Scotland? - or New Zealand?
I've spent plenty of time in the highlands & islands. New Zealand has bigger mountains, better skiing, better food, better diving, excellent wine, warmer temperatures, and the locals have a chip on their shoulder about Australia, not England.
Currently in the, initial, planning stage of moving from Leeds to Cumbria. Looking at places west of Penrith but just outside the NP - being just inside the NP seems to add £XXXXXX to the price of a house.
Quite happy where I am, but quite fancy Northumberland or the
West Coasts of Scotland or Ireland.
Llanberis possibly.
Austria (near Zell-am-see or Kaprun)
Lived in Kitzbühel for a little while.
Stunning.
Ridiculously expensive.
I've spent plenty of time in the highlands & islands. New Zealand has bigger mountains, better skiing, better food, better diving, excellent wine, warmer temperatures, and the locals have a chip on their shoulder about Australia, not England.
Genuine 😆
But the grand plan is France. Pay off the mortgage ASAP, retire by 50 and move to France and buy a place that needs a bit of work but has the ability to convert some outbuildings into gites and has a fishing lake. Spend the rest of my life sitting in the sunshine, doing a bit of fishing, eating and drinking nice food and drink and taking advantage of the rural French way of life which is so laid back its beyond horizontal...
That sounds very ace.
We moved to the IoW to be near the sea. Have to say, it's great to have it on the doorstep.
Yeah, it's not like they paid tax and NI all the time they were living in Blighty, is it? Selfish sods.
Ex-Pats aren't always the type who leave Britain at 60 to retire to Spain you know.
Lots go to work overseas, stay away then get homesick or just sick.
NHS is bad? Yes it has its bad points. DBW - are you sure about cost(s) in France v UK for healthcare?....
and a great deal of expats are sent away on secondment, and actually pay UK NI still (c/o forms E101/E106, or now form A1 or whatever it's called), and remain employed by a UK co.
Marton, near congleton. But I'd move it closer to the Peak district.
I could be persuaded by franconia, Haute Provence or a few bits of Canada, the US and NZ but overall I'm pretty happy with Northumberland.
Secondment isnt permanent. Its a temporary assignment.
I wonder if people who emigrate eventually tell locals about pride, stories from home etc.
You might leave but your heart doesnt. Britain with its leaden skies, complex communities, energy and passion to learn about the world can't be beaten.
"And bugles calling for them from sad shires"
Was a line written in a poem about young men who will never go home to blighty. If I left the UK I would feel the pull to return home.
Bought a place near Alicante two years back and spent plenty of time there being its sunny 322 days in a year and what we have decided to do is soon to live 6 months there and 6 months here only when its good weather. Quality of life and food much better there than here!
and only 2hr 20mins on the plane
GeordieLand for now ...
Very happy in the North East , would like a little holiday place in or around the North York moors, if abroad probably around Vezac in the Dordogne.
I wish I could speak more languages so I can move around apart from English speaking countries.
Wales will always be 'home' for me, despite the fact I've lived in Hong kong almost 20 years. Live on Lantau, no high rise, surrounded by country park. Relatively well placed for Europe and Oz/NZ. Suits me at the moment, but nowhere is perfect.
Left the UK in early 2011 to come to NZ. Love it here but it took a while to feel that way. There are a few things I miss about the UK - living in the Peak District, the smell of cowshit on a winter ride, history, the ability to laugh at yourself etc but mostly it's my mates I miss. There are a lot of things I don't miss.
Last summer lasted for nearly six months and it was stunning. There is a lot more to life than good weather, but it definitely helps.
We'll probably come back at some point and as my wife and I paid tax and NI for close on 40 years between us, and will do so again when we come back, we'll be quite comfortable using the services of the NHS and other public services, thanks.
NZ for me. Spent a few months there in 2002 and loved it. Scenery was spetacular, and people were friendly. A lot of folk appeared to have quite a dry, dark sense of humour which I like.
I wonder if people who emigrate eventually tell locals about pride, stories from home etc.You might leave but your heart doesnt. Britain with its leaden skies, complex communities, energy and passion to learn about the world can't be beaten.
What absolute whimsical nonsense. Claiming passion to learn about the world, while displaying complete ignorance and dismissing the rich cultures that exist everywhere. It is that kind of stupid nationalistic belief in some imaginary superiority that is really damaging to nations across the world.
Not sure really. Currently live between Lyon and Grenoble in a village pretty much lost. It's not the alps per se, it's not picture postcard rural France... It's more 'normal everyday' rural provincial France, and I'm pretty much happy with how things are. More time to play in the hills would be great: I forget how close the alps are and how lucky we are.
We came from Sheffield 5 years ago and certainly miss the Peak, and the Englissh self mocking, un-serious thinking of our mates..oh and ale. Mrs Mugsy (French, but having lived in the UK for 15 years)keeps on talking about going somewhere else in the world: I think some of it stems from her being home and being more affected by how bad 'her' country is in some aspects. Although I'm settled here, it's still not 'my' country only my adopted country so some (not all) of the shortcomings whoosh over my head.
What we don't miss from the UK is the overcrowding, the keeping up with the Jones's attitude that is ingrained in the UK into families and friends and also how we become programmed by 'the class system' that according to some does not exist.... and then there is the NHS..
Never been, but have discussed with many people who know the states well and San Diego comes out well. Wonderful climate all year round and good facilities.
But will likely stay in Gods Own Country. 🙂
retire by 50
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.
I reckon the best the 30 to 55 year old group can hope for is a part-time job (3 days a week) until they die. We aren't going to be able to retire the baby-boomers debt will need paying by us.
British Columbia. Absolutely love it out there. Probably not Whistler as it's a bit of a bubble and there'd be no chance of me getting work in my field outside of a city. And probably not Vancouver either, it was nice but 2 weeks was enough I think.
I have thought about this on and off and genuinely I cannot think of any place I would rather live.
Me neither. It would break my heart to have to move abroad forever.
I love to travel and see different places. I love the USA, Italy, Ireland. Spain is nice too. Didn't like Australia.
Yup, you can go to XXXXXXXXX and they have, bigger, higher, deeper, hotter, steeper, more etc, and that's great it really is.
But there's one thing GB does better than anyone else and that's pretty, quaint and comfortable.
There's simply nowhere on earth like it. Little thatched cottages grown into their surroundings, patchwork higgledy piggledy fields and winding roads, purple heather on the moors, brightly painted seaside towns, hazy views over the sea..... All that sort of thing.
If I get one day, just one day, a year where I'm outside in the countryside with warm sunshine, blue skies, twittering skylarks overhead, and that rich, warm scent drifting on the breeze then it keeps me going for a year. I'd wouldn't trade that one day for a million days elsewhere.
I reckon the best the 30 to 55 year old group can hope for is a part-time job (3 days a week) until they die. We aren't going to be able to retire the baby-boomers debt will need paying by us.
You know what he earns do you?
Pretty happy in the Uk and in SW London can't think of anywhere else in the Uk I'd like to live. There've been opportunities at work to get posted overseas but never felt any desire to pursue them, this is me bucking our families genetics as my parents are immigrants and both my brothers now live abroad. If we were to move it would probably be to SW Ireland but unless you're either a bit older than we are now (retirement over there is the long term plan)or working you'd get bored soon enough.
I really want to live in France, either close to the Pyrénées or a small town in Provence, even Paris appeals to me
Seems pretty impossible without the language though. I've been going to French classes for ages and not getting very far 🙁
I keep thinking there must be a big civil engineering company based in France with a working language of English....
