Expats: Where are your favorite places you've lived?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in 11 cities in 8 countries and DC is by far the nicest of them. I was just thinking that while strolling around Dupont and Adams Morgan with my kids earlier today. Vancouver and London were also nice but too rainy. Paris was insane. Toronto is fantastically international but too cold, etc. DC wins hands down.

There are stunning places I visited a lot and loved like Dakar and Rio but the traffic is too crazy.

I've lived all over the place and I have to agree. DC really is world class in so many ways. I never appreciated it until I really had lived in so many other places and that's when I realized I needed to come back...

How so? Seriously, it has certain charms, but is incredibly provincial by world standards. That’s not only my opinion, but what I hear constantly from international visitors to the city. They are often surprised to find that the capital of the United States is so quaint, to put it politely.

I'm the 11 cities PP. Sure, the restaurants here are nothing special, the music and theater scenes are slow and boring compared to London and New York but in terms of qualify and pace of life, green space, concentration of interesting people, and local, community based culture, it's hard to beat. Anyway, the thread is about personal preference. DC happens to be my favorite. It may not be yours.

To the PP who argued with my rain comment, it may be true that DC gets more rainfall, but London and Vancouver have more days when you need an umbrella. Brussels is the same. I actually call that annoying misty rain "Brusseling" because that's where I first regularly experienced it. (Belgium has incredible food, surprisingly enough.)

Oh, that was me. I didn’t intend to argue you with you, sorry it came over like that. I’ve lived in both London and DC, so I understood what you meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who have lived in multiple cities in Europe, where would you recommend for a small family who wanted to do a lot of traveling. We were originally thing Paris would be fun and centrally located, but people don’t seem particularly high on it around here. Vienna maybe? We’d like to take our kids as many places as we can during our two year stint.

I would avoid bigger cities. That's just me. After a while, they are all the same and if you think you'll be drawn into a "foreign"culture living in a major city, think again.

I would recommend Lyon. Much more pleasant than Paris, nicer weather, well located to travel Too many places in Europe, also a diverse and dynamic city.

+1. I lived in Lyon for 2 years and absolutely loved my time there. Not touristy, beautiful town and weather, fantastic food, high quality of living. There’s a great energy there. It’s really nicely located between Paris, the south of France, and the Alps/Switzerland as well.

I think every day of my time there and dream of moving back.

[Anonymous]

I just moved to Vienna and its hands down the best city I have lived in which includes paris london madrid stockholm cities in afria and south america. Def come here with children!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if you only meant to hear from non-US people or not.

I’m a current US citizen living as an immigrant/expat in Lisbon. I’ve also lived in Paris and rural areas of Thailand and Japan at various points in my life (my US experience was centered on NYC & DC).

I loved each experience for different reasons, but I realize I’m happiest in large cities.

My current favorite is Lisbon & I have no plans to move anytime soon. With a family, COL is reasonable and it’s fun being in EU - you don’t have to go far to experience other distinct cultures. I find the city super safe and I like the proximity to beaches. Having more sunshine (esp in the winter) lifts our spirits, and hardly any mosquitoes when compared to our Chevy Chase house. I’m less stressed and more relaxed here. Applying to naturalize this year.

What do you do in Lisbon? My DH and I have dreams of moving there in the next 3-4 years! Your experience sounds lovely.

DH is in finance, but he only puts in a few hours a day on primarily our own accounts, plus a handful of US-based private clients. I no longer work. We have a lot of free time & have created a happy social life. DS has 3 years left of HS, so he’s pretty independent at this point.

What kind of school is your teen in? Are there affordable schooling options for expats?

[Anonymous]

Are you guys using public or private schools for your kids abroad, or do you homeschool?

Any particular cities abroad you would recommend for a single parent of a teen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who have lived in multiple cities in Europe, where would you recommend for a small family who wanted to do a lot of traveling. We were originally thing Paris would be fun and centrally located, but people don’t seem particularly high on it around here. Vienna maybe? We’d like to take our kids as many places as we can during our two year stint.

I haven't actually lived there, but how about Utrecht?

It's a pretty, well-organized university town. Even the children would speak some English, and you could easily meet every practical need. I searched really quickly and found many three-bedroom apartments there for less than 2,000 euros.

And Utrecht has a big station train that would connect you smoothly with Schiphol (the Netherlands' biggest airport) and every city in Belgium, France and Germany.

I think another great thing about the Netherlands is that it has a great, high-tech health care system. People aren't doing a great job of social distancing there right now, but, generally, the Netherlands is the kind of place that could implement strict social distancing well and quickly, if people there were convinced that strict social distancing was necessary.

Italy is a wonderful, warm place to live, but, right before Covid got out of control, people on Twitter were saying that the Italian health care system would have a hard time handling Covid. They were right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot depends on your stage in life. I don't think you can beat a large city like London, Berlin, or NYC in your 20s. You don't mind living in a shoebox because you are out all the time.

With kids, however, I think there is something to be said for a slightly smaller city like DC or Edinburgh. I think the quality of life is great in places like Munich and Barcelona too. The biggest problem with DC, like NYC and London, is that people tend to be quite work obsessed. It is nice to be somewhere where jobs are only a part of what people do, not all of who they are.

This, good god this. This is what I want so badly.

Does there exist a dream world where people are able to be gainfully employed in a fulfilling way but have rich lives outside of work?

The Netherlands. Chicago. Depending on how you define "fulfilling," most midsize U.S. cities with a decent university in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if you only meant to hear from non-US people or not.

I’m a current US citizen living as an immigrant/expat in Lisbon. I’ve also lived in Paris and rural areas of Thailand and Japan at various points in my life (my US experience was centered on NYC & DC).

I loved each experience for different reasons, but I realize I’m happiest in large cities.

My current favorite is Lisbon & I have no plans to move anytime soon. With a family, COL is reasonable and it’s fun being in EU - you don’t have to go far to experience other distinct cultures. I find the city super safe and I like the proximity to beaches. Having more sunshine (esp in the winter) lifts our spirits, and hardly any mosquitoes when compared to our Chevy Chase house. I’m less stressed and more relaxed here. Applying to naturalize this year.

What do you do in Lisbon? My DH and I have dreams of moving there in the next 3-4 years! Your experience sounds lovely.

DH is in finance, but he only puts in a few hours a day on primarily our own accounts, plus a handful of US-based private clients. I no longer work. We have a lot of free time & have created a happy social life. DS has 3 years left of HS, so he’s pretty independent at this point.

What kind of school is your teen in? Are there affordable schooling options for expats?

Most Lisbon privates follow IB or GCSE and range from 10-20k per year; so much less than DC-area top privates, I think. There is an American school, but even that changes to IB for last two years; they also serve as an official exam center for SAT/ACT. Public school is free & pretty rigorous, so it’s a great option if your kids are young enough to absorb the language quickly.

[Anonymous]

Japan. Lived in a small town outside Osaka. Fun.

[Anonymous]

Hong Kong was amazing for our family. However we moved back to US 5 years ago. You couldn’t pay me to live there now with the political unrest. We still have many friends who live there and they are very unhappy as compared to when we were there.

[Anonymous]

Tanzania was amazing.

[Anonymous]

I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned australia. Very safe (No guns!), great healthcare and schools, everybody speaks English, amazing lifestyle opportunities (beaches, skiing, arts and museums, parks), world class food everywhere. When the exchange rate is good, it’s also amazingly affordable (outside Sydney).

[Anonymous]

I have a related question: how do you do with taxes, our family is exploring living abroad for a few years (dual European citizenship) but are worried about taxes implication. Also wondering if one of can keep their US job...thoughts?
TIA

[Anonymous]

Kathmandu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a related question: how do you do with taxes, our family is exploring living abroad for a few years (dual European citizenship) but are worried about taxes implication. Also wondering if one of can keep their US job...thoughts?
TIA

There is no easy source for this, as it is country-by-country. Several accounting firms, like PWC, have country write ups that you can read through.

I’m the PT poster above. First, you need to look at any special tax incentives the country has. Portugal, for example, runs a program called NHR, which dramatically reduces taxes on non-Portuguese assets. Then, you need to look at the tax treaty between US and your target country. You can offset many taxes paid as a foreign tax credit against your US obligations, but watch out for things that don’t fall neatly into categories, such as Roth IRAs (often seen as just a normal retirement account even though tax has already been paid, or as deferred income).

Then, you also need to consider any wealth taxes, inheritance/estate taxes (be very careful here - you can get hit with inheritance on top of US estate tax as they are not the same ‘category’ and therefore have no offsets in many treaties) and exit taxes. It’s complicated & you would be well advised to find a good accountant in your target country before committing to any move. It’s not to say you should never move, but you might want to rearrange your assets a bit before making the transition to avoid triggering more tax than you might otherwise pay.