Where to emigrate to, balancing housing, law, etc?

[GeordieAndy]

11 hours ago, honkydonkey said:

I don't have a blog, but leaving and doing it in summer will be very different weather wise :). You'll love it, it's an amazing way to explore and I see lots of families with children doing the same thing (mostly Germans). Portugal is great, don't let me put a downer on anything because it's been crap weather for 3 weeks. You can't totally avoid winter anywhere in Europe realistically. Get an app called Park4night and that will give you 1000's of locations to park up and spend the night, however the police are a little less sympathetic to campervans in the summer months wildcamping, but it won't be much of a problem still, the coastlines all around the west are pretty undeveloped.

Thanks!

[Flopsy]

21 hours ago, dropbear said:

Just steer clear of Sydney and life is great in Australia:

• The food in Australia is far better - it's mostly local produce, rather than imported in refrigerated trucks from Spain. 
• There is much less poverty in Australia - 13% vs 20% in the UK.
• There are fewer social problems owing to the more homogeneous race/religious groups.
• The housing is much larger on average - the largest average house size in the world. 
• You can buy a block of land and build on it with little interference.
• Median salary for full time work in Australia is 40% higher than UK.
• ...and then there's the weather.

Some tat is more expensive there, but you can import things under AUD $1000 with no import duties or tax.

We weren't in Sydney. I've also got extended family in Melbourne and Adelaide so had extended visits to other cities. Heard about their lives and the challenges.

Social problems are caused by the drinking culture. In the apartment block we lived in there were trashed flats and other anti-social behavior every weekend.  

Young people can't afford to buy the big houses

Gang violence 

Hated the weather. Humid. Storms. 

Racism

Couldn't walk down the street without being yelled out out of car windows

Food very limited and expensive. Couldn't get the ingredients a lot of the time.  I've never seen
so much rotten produce sold in supermarkets. Fruit with mould and green potatoes. $5 peppers as an example. Lack of water I am guessing is causing problem with fresh produce.

I'm so glad I am back. Couldn't afford to buy in Australia either.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Flopsy

[hayder]

anywhere inside the EU is civilised enough and will have at least 30-50% of people who speak some level of english.

 

[GeordieAndy]

Anyone have experience of Wales or Ireland? We are currently in North East UK and it's nice but if we don't move over into mainland Europe possibly contemplating one of these two places. Needs to be near the Coast though for me as not a Countryside lover

[spyguy]

9 minutes ago, GeordieAndy said:

Anyone have experience of Wales or Ireland? We are currently in North East UK and it's nice but if we don't move over into mainland Europe possibly contemplating one of these two places. Needs to be near the Coast though for me as not a Countryside lover

Get the X4?, then the X93 from boro bus station to Scarborough.

Seriously.

Most of Wales is an economic wasteland.

[GeordieAndy]

We are up near the coast in Newcastle already but for various reasons still not fully settled / happy here but also not keen on Scarborough either. Would love a place in Southern Europe with some land to get more days of sun per year but then would kids settle and would they be ok in state education if we couldn't afford private etc.

[CentrinoDuo]

On 20/03/2018 at 3:15 PM, dropbear said:

Just steer clear of Sydney and life is great in Australia:

• The food in Australia is far better - it's mostly local produce, rather than imported in refrigerated trucks from Spain. 
• There is much less poverty in Australia - 13% vs 20% in the UK.
• There are fewer social problems owing to the more homogeneous race/religious groups.
• The housing is much larger on average - the largest average house size in the world. 
• You can buy a block of land and build on it with little interference.
• Median salary for full time work in Australia is 40% higher than UK.
• ...and then there's the weather.

Some tat is more expensive there, but you can import things under AUD $1000 with no import duties or tax.

 

 

 

The above is mostly true (I've lived there for 10 yrs and the Mrs. is Australian) except this:

"There are fewer social problems owing to the more homogeneous race/religious groups."

That's just simply not true. Social problems in Australia are just as pervasive as in the U.K. Alcohol, drugs, youth unemployment are problems just like anywhere in the richer countries. Additionally, there's indigenous welfare issue in Australia.

Outside the major cities and more affluent coastal/farming & mining regions, youth employment is very high, again no difference than here. A lot of social issues around the coastal area.

Homogenous race/religious groups? I don't think it has much impact on social issues, Poland is one of the most homogenous country in Europe (if not the most) and yet it has its own share of social issues.

Don't get me wrong, I think Australia is a great country and we are trying to move back to Australia despite the insanely high housing cost. To country that, we've given up Sydney and looking at other areas.

[spyguy]

5 minutes ago, GeordieAndy said:

We are up near the coast in Newcastle already but for various reasons still not fully settled / happy here but also not keen on Scarborough either. Would love a place in Southern Europe with some land to get more days of sun per year but then would kids settle and would they be ok in state education if we couldn't afford private etc.

Unless you have a substantial ammount on money to take with you thats not really going to be possible.

Most sunny bits of Eruope are economic basketcases.

And you might have to [ay for schooling, breixt and all that.

[GeordieAndy]

11 minutes ago, spyguy said:

Unless you have a substantial ammount on money to take with you thats not really going to be possible.

Most sunny bits of Eruope are economic basketcases.

And you might have to [ay for schooling, breixt and all that.

I would work from home for my UK clients so local economic issues in terms of trying to compete with locals for scarce jobs wouldn't be an issue for me. However looking ahead at the work available for my children though it could be an issue if they wanted to stay in the area etc and it's not good living anywhere with high unemployment even if it is in the sun! Paying for schooling is definitely a major negative for most places we have looked at emigrating to as despite all that is wrong in UK school system it's still free and better than most others. I think it's still too early to tell what Brexit means for those of us in the UK in terms of mainland Europe and home ownership etc too.

Edited March 22, 2018 by GeordieAndy

[crashmonitor]

34 minutes ago, GeordieAndy said:

We are up near the coast in Newcastle already but for various reasons still not fully settled / happy here but also not keen on Scarborough either. Would love a place in Southern Europe with some land to get more days of sun per year but then would kids settle and would they be ok in state education if we couldn't afford private etc.

It comes down to what you are comfortable with. I'd certainly be struggling with Newcastle, a bit too large and grim imo. And the weather is crap. Brother used to live there.

Would do Scarborough, has a small town feel. If  I was doing Yorkshire I'd go for something smaller still like Haworth. You'd hate the countryside though.

I'd definitely try settling in this country. Sunnier climes on the Continent or down under will cost more just with regard to the NHS if nothing else, it doesn't get cheaper than the North East anywhere in the world with regard to all the freebies the State here throw at you.

[GeordieAndy]

20 minutes ago, crashmonitor said:

It comes down to what you are comfortable with. I'd certainly be struggling with Newcastle, a bit too large and grim imo. And the weather is crap. Brother used to live there.

Would do Scarborough, has a small town feel. If  I was doing Yorkshire I'd go for something smaller still like Haworth. You'd hate the countryside though.

I'd definitely try settling in this country. Sunnier climes on the Continent or down under will cost more just with regard to the NHS if nothing else, it doesn't get cheaper than the North East anywhere in the world with regard to all the freebies the State here throw at you.

Don't get me wrong as Newcastle is a great city and we are 30 mins by train into city centre from the coast but I HATE the short summers / long winters in most of the UK. I have also been up here for 30 years (most of my life) but thankfully I have travelled the World a few times in that time. I particularly liked Asia and places such as Hong Kong / the smaller Thai Islands but we ended up coming back due to family and longer term the expense of healthcare / education ruled them out. Maybe I have spoiled it for myself by travelling so much or I simply have "Brown Ale money but champagne taste" 

Edited March 22, 2018 by GeordieAndy

[crashmonitor]

14 minutes ago, GeordieAndy said:

Don't get me wrong as Newcastle is a great city and we are 30 mins by train into city centre from the coast but I HATE the short summers / long winters in most of the UK. I have also been up here for 30 years (most of my life) but thankfully I have travelled the World a few times in that time. I particularly liked Asia and places such as Hong Kong / the smaller Thai Islands but we ended up coming back due to family and longer term the expense of healthcare / education ruled them out. Maybe I have spoiled it for myself by travelling so much or I simply have "Brown Ale money but champagne taste" 

Yep don't want to knock Newcastle, you get used to what you know. Gritstone houses and barren moorland is in my DNA ( hence I mentioned Haworth) and probably most people's worst nightmare.

Edited March 22, 2018 by crashmonitor

[Sugarlips]

On 20/03/2018 at 11:15 PM, dropbear said:

Just steer clear of Sydney and life is great in Australia:

• The food in Australia is far better - it's mostly local produce, rather than imported in refrigerated trucks from Spain. 
• There is much less poverty in Australia - 13% vs 20% in the UK.
• There are fewer social problems owing to the more homogeneous race/religious groups.
• The housing is much larger on average - the largest average house size in the world. 
• You can buy a block of land and build on it with little interference.
• Median salary for full time work in Australia is 40% higher than UK.
• ...and then there's the weather.

Some tat is more expensive there, but you can import things under AUD $1000 with no import duties or tax.

 

 

Scrap the last point! New 2-7% levy on goods under $1000 :/

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/department-of-home-affairs-plans-new-tax-on-parcels-being-posted-to-australia-20180321-p4z5gw.html

[excon]

On 21/03/2018 at 12:25 PM, Flopsy said:

We weren't in Sydney. I've also got extended family in Melbourne and Adelaide so had extended visits to other cities. Heard about their lives and the challenges.

Social problems are caused by the drinking culture. In the apartment block we lived in there were trashed flats and other anti-social behavior every weekend.  

Young people can't afford to buy the big houses

Gang violence 

Hated the weather. Humid. Storms. 

Racism

Couldn't walk down the street without being yelled out out of car windows

Food very limited and expensive. Couldn't get the ingredients a lot of the time.  I've never seen
so much rotten produce sold in supermarkets. Fruit with mould and green potatoes. $5 peppers as an example. Lack of water I am guessing is causing problem with fresh produce.

I'm so glad I am back. Couldn't afford to buy in Australia either.

This was almost exactly our experience of Australia.  We've lived there twice, the second time was for two years in Brisbane and Sydney.

Too hot, insane house prices and quite soulless.  Topped off of course with being far removed from the rest of civilisation if you fancy a change or seeing your family face to face.

The hoons were also somewhat tiring, occasionally got something lobbed out a car window outside the big cities, it can get to be like something out of Deliverance.

Never lived in New Zealand but when visiting found it little different to Oz, lots of rugby obsessed hoons and seemed deathly dull. 

 

[excon]

On 22/03/2018 at 12:03 PM, GeordieAndy said:

Don't get me wrong as Newcastle is a great city and we are 30 mins by train into city centre from the coast but I HATE the short summers / long winters in most of the UK. I have also been up here for 30 years (most of my life) but thankfully I have travelled the World a few times in that time. I particularly liked Asia and places such as Hong Kong / the smaller Thai Islands but we ended up coming back due to family and longer term the expense of healthcare / education ruled them out. Maybe I have spoiled it for myself by travelling so much or I simply have "Brown Ale money but champagne taste" 

You sound like your my clone! Also live about 30 mins out in Northumberland.  If you have a good job the quality of life is unsurpassed in the North East.  Cheap housing, stunning scenery and a very decent city on the door step for entertainment.

The only real drag is the weather but it is generally more cold than wet.  Our plan is to wait for the kids to make their way through school and try somewhere else.

Ticking all the boxes climate and jobs, that somewhere else would ideally be California or Barcelona, perhaps Chile/Uruguay.  But anywhere like that of course will have a price to pay regarding housing cost.

I think you mentioned Wales further up the thread which I know pretty well, the area west from Swansea would be our pick if we moved down there.  The coast out to Gower,  Saundersfoot and Tenby is stunning, every bit as  good as Cornwall but not overrun with ex-pat Londoners.

 

[GeordieAndy]

58 minutes ago, excon said:

You sound like your my clone! Also live about 30 mins out in Northumberland.  If you have a good job the quality of life is unsurpassed in the North East.  Cheap housing, stunning scenery and a very decent city on the door step for entertainment.

The only real drag is the weather but it is generally more cold than wet.  Our plan is to wait for the kids to make their way through school and try somewhere else.

Ticking all the boxes climate and jobs, that somewhere else would ideally be California or Barcelona, perhaps Chile/Uruguay.  But anywhere like that of course will have a price to pay regarding housing cost.

I think you mentioned Wales further up the thread which I know pretty well, the area west from Swansea would be our pick if we moved down there.  The coast out to Gower,  Saundersfoot and Tenby is stunning, every bit as  good as Cornwall but not overrun with ex-pat Londoners.

 

Ha ha will PM you on here about some other bits to do with this all but I LOVE Barcelona and it's only second I think to Hong Kong for my favourite city. I have never fancied ANYWHERE in the USA as think most of them are nuts and they have guns but Wales definitely seems like a possible to me as I like being near the sea but you can also get countryside which my wife likes. I guess I imagine it to be a bit like Bamburgh I suppose BUT hopefully warmer overall AND nearer to the Midlands where we have some family and London etc as it's 2 hours in the car for us up here just to get to Leeds!

Edited March 23, 2018 by GeordieAndy

[frankvw]

On 3/20/2018 at 9:36 AM, honkydonkey said:

I don't have a blog, but leaving and doing it in summer will be very different weather wise :). You'll love it, it's an amazing way to explore and I see lots of families with children doing the same thing (mostly Germans). Portugal is great, don't let me put a downer on anything because it's been crap weather for 3 weeks. You can't totally avoid winter anywhere in Europe realistically. Get an app called Park4night and that will give you 1000's of locations to park up and spend the night, however the police are a little less sympathetic to campervans in the summer months wildcamping, but it won't be much of a problem still, the coastlines all around the west are pretty undeveloped.

Check out this guy's blog and youtube channel.

 

http://vandogtraveller.com/

[straw]

On 22/03/2018 at 10:46 AM, spyguy said:

Get the X4?, then the X93 from boro bus station to Scarborough.

Seriously.

Most of Wales is an economic wasteland.

Lurker from Wales here, I find broad statements like this problematic. Yes there are areas of very high economic activity, possibly due to areas being retirement havens, and a basic lack of abundance of career choices compared to the South-East. However, if you adapt, have various streams of income and think differently from the drummed-in 9-5 lifestyle, there are opportunities to have a good work-life balance. You would have to drag me screeching to a more urban environment, I enjoy living below the radar in deepest Wales, accrue less debt and have more time on my hands to research house price crash.com  please don't dismiss Wales as an economic wasteland. Low housing costs have given me freedom personally, time is slower(!) so can budget, have a less consumerist lifestyle, choose my own hours and I'm not locked into 40 hour weeks like I have been in a more urban environment. 

[straw]

That should say high economic inactivity 

[spyguy]

4 minutes ago, straw said:

Lurker from Wales here, I find broad statements like this problematic. Yes there are areas of very high economic activity, possibly due to areas being retirement havens, and a basic lack of abundance of career choices compared to the South-East. However, if you adapt, have various streams of income and think differently from the drummed-in 9-5 lifestyle, there are opportunities to have a good work-life balance. You would have to drag me screeching to a more urban environment, I enjoy living below the radar in deepest Wales, accrue less debt and have more time on my hands to research house price crash.com  please don't dismiss Wales as an economic wasteland. Low housing costs have given me freedom personally, time is slower(!) so can budget, have a less consumerist lifestyle, choose my own hours and I'm not locked into 40 hour weeks like I have been in a more urban environment. 

Nope.

I pretty much stand by that claim.

Retirement havens are wastelands gor the non retired publuc sector.

Sure, with a bit of wheeling spdealing its possible to surive but its not easy.

Itll suit some, mainky the welsh.

[straw]

Just now, spyguy said:

Nope.

I pretty much stand by that claim.

Retirement havens are wastelands gor the non retired publuc sector.

Sure, with a bit of wheeling spdealing its possible to surive but its not easy.

Itll suit some, mainky the welsh.

Well yes obvs I love it as I'm Welsh, so I'm going to adapt and make sure it works. It's just funny how when you step back from 40 hour weeks, I earn more per hour doing bits n pieces. Took me a while to realise this 

[Dean]

I would say the only place you should emigrate to is a place you want to live in, which probably sounds really trite. 

I have been going through the Canadian immigration process for the last six months and it is brutal, even a job offer is not a particular help ( I have had a job offer and it is still taking forever, to the extent that the employer is now looking elsewhere) I reckon it could be next year before all the paperwork is completed. So all this mythology about Canada being the new destination for the emigrant, is kind of nonsense. 

I would love to live either there or the United States, but, the USA is essentially a closed shop ( unless you are willing to undercut their workers salaries on a h1b visa, which I have turned down twice, or can convince a company to pay 20k in legal fees to bring you in). Essentially, I like Baseball, American TV, Movies and the mythology of the USA, the faux pleasant nature and the plastic bombast that is present in North America suits me well and I have always found it to be a second home, having lots of friends over that side of the water, in comparison to the UK ( having spent over a year of my life over there ) go where you find cultural alignment I guess. 

Every country has its ups and downs. The United Kingdom as stated elsewhere is actually pretty great, the big downside is housing costs, if it were not that I prefer North America and find myself more comfortable there, I would not even be attempting to move and if I fail to move there, I will not be upset about my lot.

Find a job where you can work from home and the United Kingdom has a lot to offer. 

Pros:

Low Crime relatively. 

Good annual leave entitlement. 

Good healthy sense of humour/cynicism. 

NHS. 

A good sense of pride in most working class towns. 

Good transport links

Given it's small size, a great potential to make leaps in technology. 

Cons: 

Horrible transport experience when using the transport links.

Poor tenant protections. 

Absolutely and shamefully in hock to the bankers with very little in the way of industry. 

Very little difference between towns ( I could be wrong but it feels like living in Swansea is not too much different to living in Manchester ). 

 

I know this post will seem trite, especially for this forum, but you should only emigrate to a place you feel at home with, otherwise, it is better to be George Bailey fighting the battle of Bedford Falls ( to quote one of my favourite pieces of Americana ). 

House prices in Britain will fall, it will be a fight, writing to politicians, campaigning, renting, saving, it is going to be a rough ride, but they will fall, because the have nots have the numbers. 

 

 

 

 

[winkie]

On 20/03/2018 at 12:37 PM, crashmonitor said:

Think we might be over complicating things going into some third world republic, putting ourselves in danger etc.

Just move somewhere cheap in this country...

* A state retirement package worth 250k

* Cradle to grave welfare

* A proper legal system

* Mother tongue

* NHS package worth £2,000 per person per year.

And amongst the cheapest houses in the world if you can cope with isolation..

Not surprising that most of the countries mentioned, their citizens will do just about anything to live here and get a slice of our welfare.

 

 

.....UK still has a lot to offer.......could hedge your bets, six months here, six months elsewhere.....best of both worlds.

[BlokeInDurham]

On 22/03/2018 at 12:03 PM, GeordieAndy said:

Don't get me wrong as Newcastle is a great city and we are 30 mins by train into city centre from the coast but I HATE the short summers / long winters in most of the UK.

Everywhere has it's foibles, doesn't it?

Living in the North East having grown up in East Anglia, I really miss proper summers with hot days: I'm always waiting for summer to start and then suddenly it's autumn. On the other hand, I like the winters much better up here. You get rain and snow and patches of cold blue skies in between, far better than the months of unchanging, interminable greyness that epitomise winter in the Fens.

[spyguy]

19 hours ago, excon said:

You sound like your my clone! Also live about 30 mins out in Northumberland.  If you have a good job the quality of life is unsurpassed in the North East.  Cheap housing, stunning scenery and a very decent city on the door step for entertainment.

The only real drag is the weather but it is generally more cold than wet.  Our plan is to wait for the kids to make their way through school and try somewhere else.

Ticking all the boxes climate and jobs, that somewhere else would ideally be California or Barcelona, perhaps Chile/Uruguay.  But anywhere like that of course will have a price to pay regarding housing cost.

I think you mentioned Wales further up the thread which I know pretty well, the area west from Swansea would be our pick if we moved down there.  The coast out to Gower,  Saundersfoot and Tenby is stunning, every bit as  good as Cornwall but not overrun with ex-pat Londoners.

 

You might find it cheaper to get some sort of electric sun light installed in a room.

I dont mean tanning bulbs, just those lights that some Scandis use to zap themselves happy.

You know, room with a nice wood burner, magic unshine light  - bingo! somewhere nice without the foreign people ...