If you could live anywhere.....

gtvlusso

Where would you live and what would you do?

And you have the same money you earn now - no millionaire fantasies.

With entire family and still working:

Live in Vancouver/British Columbia area and fly water bomber aircraft (Martin Mars water bomber)



Retirement (the current plan!) with Mrs Gtvlusso:

By a yacht and sail around the med, pick up local work in each port if I need to:

badlydrunkboy

San Francisco. Lived there for a year when i went to uni out there and wish i was back there every single day.

Maybe a second home in Jasper too

t0pc4t

Cornwall would be nice.

Wallace1492

Mull or Ullapool

cjcp

Vancouver. Or the Alps.

West Wales is beautiful, mind.

DCowling

I think I would stay right where I am

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orena/3640884221/

Lucky to be here and do not want to leave in a hurry ( wouldn't mind changing jobs though )

p.s. How do you inster images on this site ??

wgwarburton

gtvlusso wrote:

Where would you live and what would you do?...

If? What's stopping you?

We went round the world, including most of the Americas, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia. I've visited quite a bit of Europe, a few places in Africa (I know.. it's big!) and some in Asia, too.

I'm in Scotland by choice. Developed, multicultural, beautiful, compact, diverse... I could go on. It's not for everyone (which is good, too) but we like it. There are places with greener grass but they have downsides, too.

....Retirement (the current plan!) with Mrs Gtvlusso:
By a yacht and sail around ....

Yup, +1 to that. Although it is more of a notion than a plan at this stage!!!

Cheers,
W.

gtvlusso

WGWarburton wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Where would you live and what would you do?...

If? What's stopping you?

We went round the world, including most of the Americas, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia. I've visited quite a bit of Europe, a few places in Africa (I know.. it's big!) and some in Asia, too.

I'm in Scotland by choice. Developed, multicultural, beautiful, compact, diverse... I could go on. It's not for everyone (which is good, too) but we like it. There are places with greener grass but they have downsides, too.

....Retirement (the current plan!) with Mrs Gtvlusso:
By a yacht and sail around ....

Yup, +1 to that. Although it is more of a notion than a plan at this stage!!!

Cheers,
W.

Hmm - I travelled for business allot through my 20's - lived in Italy, Israel and the USA and have done 3 or 4 world tours in my teens.....including 1 deportation! I worked like crazy as I had 2 kids to support throughout those years. I guess I am in a weird situation as I cannot move away permanently; 2 of my jnr's are with my former wife and her new partner and I have new jnr with the current mrs gtvlusso.
I would consider a year or 2, but I gotta think about schooling and friends for jnr.....

cjcp

gtvlusso wrote:

but I gotta think about schooling and friends for jnr.....

It may sound cynical, but schooling is possibly one reason to move abroad. So far as friends are concerned, kids adapt easily if they are young enough, so making friends will be no issue.

rjsterry

I seem to be relatively unusual in not having done the circumnavigation thing. I've visited most of Western Europe, but that's it. Of that, I think the stunning scenery of Norway has to win, but I wouldn't turn my nose up at pretty much any part of the West Country.

wgwarburton

gtvlusso wrote:

....... I guess I am in a weird situation as I cannot move away permanently; 2 of my jnr's are with my former wife and her new partner and I have new jnr with the current mrs gtvlusso.
I would consider a year or 2, but I gotta think about schooling and friends for jnr.....

It's hard to comment on the 2 jnrs with f-w, circumstances are very individual- do you see them often, for example, or only at holidays... If you would really prefer to be somewhere else, how practical would it be to visit? What if f-w wanted to move?
I bet you could find a school wherever you moved to, and jnr would make friends there, too. Sometimes the barriers are bigger in your head.

When we decided we wanted to go backpacking we made a list of all the reasons why we couldn't go (jobs, flat, car loan, language, lack of gear etc) and then worked out how to solve them. When we ran out of reasons not to go, we left...

rf6

Brittany.

Chewy Cheeks

Live - Chiswick Mall, I am a Londoner and I love this city, Gods knows its not perfect but
crisp winter mornings on the Thames take some beating.

Holidays - West Of Ireland, aside the Shannon. Italy around Verona would be acceptable. We can but dream.

SimonAH

Not a millionaire fantasy, but Bermuda is unbeatable. I would sell a lung.

Kiwi Kranker

cjcp wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

but I gotta think about schooling and friends for jnr.....

It may sound cynical, but schooling is possibly one reason to move abroad. So far as friends are concerned, kids adapt easily if they are young enough, so making friends will be no issue.

Its not cynical, to say that. I have lived in the UK for 6 years now and have travelled all over the world, in fact being a Kiwi one of the reasons I came to the UK is to get international work experience, visit the land where my family originally came from and make use of your airports. I have seen some amazing places where I would love to live/work/retire (both here and abroad) but when it comes down to it I will go home to NZ and schooling for children is a huge factor in this.

This is purely because with such a small population in a place the size of the UK, NZ can maintain small class sizes and still pay attention to those who need help, we also still have huge playing fields even in the cities, unlike say London where it seems schools have been forced to sell all their land off to developers simply to survive.

The social ills that come with large populations are still also in their infancy in NZ, they will come in time I am sure but for the forseeable future while we are small they are all small enough that they can be controlled. IMO a country with a small population but with first world infrastructure, healthcare, schooling, lifestyle choices, security is definitely a winner. In my case its NZ even though I will never be able to earn what I can in Europe...its simply a lifestyle choice.

(Though sailing the Med for a few years could be an arm twister...... )

biondino

I have a suspicion that the gf being Australian may make any debate on this subject null and void! I'm half Italian but have no desire to actually live over there, though a house or two scattered around would be perfect.

Sailing round the med sounds fun. I met a couple in Australia who retired, sold their house and now live in a winnebago, moving from town to town around their massive, varied continent. Sounds alright too.

ketsbaia

Gaillac. Situated in the Tarn region of France, close to the Gorges d'Aveyron (lots of lakes and tremendous cycling), not a billion miles away from the Pyrenees, reasonably near the Med, terrific wine.



Or Luchon, right slap bang in the middle of the Pyrenees.

TommyEss

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne - not out of some burning desire to see if the grass is greener, much more because my girlfriend has had to move back to Oz, and I'm an engineer, so was able to find work without too much effort.

I'll let you know if it ticks the boxes to confirm its place on this list!!!

Kiwi Kranker

TommyEss wrote:

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne - not out of some burning desire to see if the grass is greener, much more because my girlfriend has had to move back to Oz, and I'm an engineer, so was able to find work without too much effort.

I'll let you know if it ticks the boxes to confirm its place on this list!!!

As an Engineer TE Australia is Pandoras box of jobs for you right now!

(I am an Engineer too and they bombard us with jobs through our Engineering body)

Right back to original point of this thread.... :oops:

gtvlusso

Kiwi Kranker wrote:

TommyEss wrote:

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne - not out of some burning desire to see if the grass is greener, much more because my girlfriend has had to move back to Oz, and I'm an engineer, so was able to find work without too much effort.

I'll let you know if it ticks the boxes to confirm its place on this list!!!

As an Engineer TE Australia is Pandoras box of jobs for you right now!

(I am an Engineer too and they bombard us with jobs through our Engineering body)

Right back to original point of this thread.... :oops:

I am in Telecoms (manager now, but I keep hands on in IT and Telecoms stuff!) - Are there Telecoms jobs available?

cjcp

TommyEss wrote:

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne - not out of some burning desire to see if the grass is greener, much more because my girlfriend has had to move back to Oz, and I'm an engineer, so was able to find work without too much effort.

I'll let you know if it ticks the boxes to confirm its place on this list!!!

Another lovely part of the world. I'm not an engineer and therefore not in demand. B ugger.

@KK - NZ was one of the places my wife and I visited a few years ago to see if we could live there. Loved the place, but returned home because we wanted to have kids and for them to be closer to our families.

Kiwi Kranker

gtvlusso wrote:

Kiwi Kranker wrote:

TommyEss wrote:

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne - not out of some burning desire to see if the grass is greener, much more because my girlfriend has had to move back to Oz, and I'm an engineer, so was able to find work without too much effort.

I'll let you know if it ticks the boxes to confirm its place on this list!!!

As an Engineer TE Australia is Pandoras box of jobs for you right now!

(I am an Engineer too and they bombard us with jobs through our Engineering body)

Right back to original point of this thread.... :oops:

I am in Telecoms (manager now, but I keep hands on in IT and Telecoms stuff!) - Are there Telecoms jobs available?

Well I am Civil but generally PM major infrastructure projects and from the info we get, all areas that support that infrastructure is recruiting. I cant specifically say one way or the other but it stands to reason that there would be plenty of work. Melbourne is a bit quieter than say Brisbane or Perth but there is still a lot of work. IIRC they may actually be undergoing a major comms upgrade across Oz...I could just be making that up but I am sure I read something about that a while ago.

-spider-

Ross-shire would be nice. And for retirement (not that far away) there will be my yacht in the Ionian (for Sept/Oct)

Kiwi Kranker

cjcp wrote:

TommyEss wrote:

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne - not out of some burning desire to see if the grass is greener, much more because my girlfriend has had to move back to Oz, and I'm an engineer, so was able to find work without too much effort.

I'll let you know if it ticks the boxes to confirm its place on this list!!!

Another lovely part of the world. I'm not an engineer and therefore not in demand. B ugger.

@KK - NZ was one of the places my wife and I visited a few years ago to see if we could live there. Loved the place, but returned home because we wanted to have kids and for them to be closer to our families.

Glad you liked it! Family is a huge factor for the Brits I have met and have tried to live in NZ. It can be a bit of an eye opener if you dont land in the right place in NZ and get a good support network, missing family is definitely tough.

What has surprised me is the number of people who have moved to NZ and been surprised they dont earn as much as they did in the UK and then go on to moan about it and rip into NZ saying its basically sh*t. I think that is a fault of the immigration advisors as we only have 4 million people and while as an average 'Joe' you can have a big house and have access to any sort of countryside you want, in most cases you wont be able to afford the latest gadgets, that regular flight back to the UK or the latest car etc. For most Kiwis a European car is an extreme sign of wealth, VW's are massively expensive in NZ for example.

Fireblade96

TommyEss wrote:

In two weeks I'm moving to Melbourne...!

Nice ! I was down there in May for my mate's wedding - he's lived all over but chose Melbourne to settle down. It's a lovely city, seems to be a lot of cycling going on there too.

gbsahne001

Melbourne is up there in my top 10 favourite cities and tied with Adelaide in terms of Australian cities.

wgwarburton

Kiwi Kranker wrote:

...What has surprised me is the number of people who have moved to NZ and been surprised they dont earn as much as they did in the UK and then go on to moan about it and rip into NZ saying its basically sh*t. I think that is a fault of the immigration advisors as we only have 4 million people and while as an average 'Joe' you can have a big house and have access to any sort of countryside you want.in most cases you wont be able to afford the latest gadgets, that regular flight back to the UK or the latest car etc. For most Kiwis a European car is an extreme sign of wealth, VW's are massively expensive in NZ for example.

Yup. It's a lifestyle thing- Space & access to the outdoors in spades. Latest gadgets, imported goods, cars etc a lot more expensive. If you want fancy Italian coffee makers, European cars, household fittings etc they'll be much more expensive there.

One thing to note is that NZ is less diverse and multicultural than the UK. It's a small country and quite isolated. In the UK we're used to having a constant exchange of ideas with lots of different countries; that happens on a much smaller scale in NZ. It's hard to quantify the effect of this, but I think it can be significant and it isn't obvious from outside the country.

Cheers,
W.

[edit] I havn't checked... but I bet a Campy-equipped Italian road frame costs a bomb in Wellington!

Fireblade96

gtvlusso wrote:

Where would you live and what would you do?

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, I've spent long enough in the Thames Valley and want to live by the seaside. My GF is in her last year of nursing training, after that she should have an eminently portable job. I work from home but need to be nearish to an airport as I travel extensively for work.

I've lived in England, France and the US; I'm seriously considering moving back to Northern Ireland !

NGale

Toronto or the Niagra Falls area. That or just a slightly bigger house in the Dartmouth area.

moving countries isn't doable for the forseeable, Jake has 14 more years left in the RN and I have my Marine Engineering course for at least 2 years and then any set up in a new career after that.

At the moment the South West is the best place to be even though I really want to get out of here.

cjcp

gbsahne wrote:

Melbourne is up there in my top 10 favourite cities and tied with Adelaide in terms of Australian cities.

Adelaide was a pleasant surprise. We stayed with friends up in the Adelaide Hills (Crafers) and thought the city and surrounding area was lovely. It's not as lively as Melbourne, but good for a family. Bit too hot for me though. By about 10 deg C.

@KK & Buns - the feeling of being on the other side of the world (no pun intended) and longer than a direct flight home away was a big factor. That's one of the reasons why Vancouver shades somewhere like Auckland for me.

Threads like this are not good. Not good at all.

neilo23

In Granada in Spain with the South Austrian mountains in the background with a 15 minute tube connection to central London. That would do me. Not asking too much am I?