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

[Anonymous]

I'm Irish and I've also lived in the Netherlands, Colorado, and North Carolina.

One thing I miss about the States is the excellent quality of health care, especially all the choices. I don't miss the high cost of course!

Each place had its advantages, but Ireland has always been the best experience for me. I don't plan to move anywhere else again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Portugal expat:

Thinking of doing the same as you. What are your thoughts on places to settle in? We would be looking to rent in a city or town that has a large number of expats, and convenient to airports for flights within Europe.

Any advice you can give for this process would be really appreciated.

There is a FB group called ‘Americans & FriendsPT’ that has an extensive files section on how to get residency. The process has become convoluted and difficult with CV, but it is still do-able and this has great, firsthand reports from people navigating the process. Likewise, at least once a week, someone asks the same question re. where to settle. Take a look through the archives for recommendations based on your requirements.

FWIW, I’m in Lisbon & I adore it. LIS airport is close with good connections to the rest of EU and some direct flights to the US & Brazil (10-15€ Uber ride and 15-20m DTD without traffic), beaches are close, good schools, good restaurants, etc. A lot of expats live along the strip between Lisbon proper and Cascais, so there are a lot of options, depending on how much city or suburban lifestyle you want to embrace.

The only other airports worth noting are Porto (ok # of mostly EU connections) and Faro (mostly for UK connections to the Algarve). Seville is a 4h drive for me, and I think there is train service to Madrid, but I’ve never taken it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much PP!

Maybe I'll run into you sometime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!!!

I have the opportunity to do just this with work but can't convince DH. Ugh! I have small kids that I know would just love it in Austria/Europe.

What do you do for a living? I would love a job with that kind of option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Im surprised no ones mentioned Ireland!!

I am not surprised. I have never heard anyone who has been, say they’d want to live there year round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of europe is racist. Vienna not more than other cities. And sorry most of the rest of the world is racist as well.

I am just relating the experience of my friends who moved there. They had lived in Paris and Edinburgh before and said that Vienna was noticeably racist in a way that paris and Scotland were not. I have headd the same ghing from others, including in this thread.

I agree with this. I'm from London, and lived in Vienna for a while. I'm white, I found it to be a great place to live in a lot of ways (comfortable, easy place to live, lots to do, especially with kids, easy to get around, great access to other European destinations, lots to do in the country outside Vienna, etc) but coming from London it felt very non-diverse and extremely, extremely traditional. I felt like with everything there was only one way to do things. I don't even consider myself to be a non-conformist but being there made me want to do everything differently just because I hated how traditional and conventional everything seemed.

That does seem like it could feel stifling after awhile. I’m crossing Vienna off my list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of europe is racist. Vienna not more than other cities. And sorry most of the rest of the world is racist as well.

I am just relating the experience of my friends who moved there. They had lived in Paris and Edinburgh before and said that Vienna was noticeably racist in a way that paris and Scotland were not. I have headd the same ghing from others, including in this thread.

I agree with this. I'm from London, and lived in Vienna for a while. I'm white, I found it to be a great place to live in a lot of ways (comfortable, easy place to live, lots to do, especially with kids, easy to get around, great access to other European destinations, lots to do in the country outside Vienna, etc) but coming from London it felt very non-diverse and extremely, extremely traditional. I felt like with everything there was only one way to do things. I don't even consider myself to be a non-conformist but being there made me want to do everything differently just because I hated how traditional and conventional everything seemed.

That does seem like it could feel stifling after awhile. I’m crossing Vienna off my list.

Not at all. I live here and yes its more traditional than London, but I live in a very diverse middle income neighborhood and its full of immigrants and non white Austrians. I have also lived in Paris and there is non of the class/race conflict here that Paris poses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im surprised no ones mentioned Ireland!!

I am not surprised. I have never heard anyone who has been, say they’d want to live there year round.

I lived in Dublin and loved it, but I was also 21 and doing a lot of partying. But it's very pretty there and the Irish are lovely, fun and friendly.

It is very white though. Now I have an interracial family and I think the lack of diversity would be uncomfortable for us. I don't know if the Irish tend to be outright racist but even just us standing out so much would be a dealbreaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of europe is racist. Vienna not more than other cities. And sorry most of the rest of the world is racist as well.

I am just relating the experience of my friends who moved there. They had lived in Paris and Edinburgh before and said that Vienna was noticeably racist in a way that paris and Scotland were not. I have headd the same ghing from others, including in this thread.

I agree with this. I'm from London, and lived in Vienna for a while. I'm white, I found it to be a great place to live in a lot of ways (comfortable, easy place to live, lots to do, especially with kids, easy to get around, great access to other European destinations, lots to do in the country outside Vienna, etc) but coming from London it felt very non-diverse and extremely, extremely traditional. I felt like with everything there was only one way to do things. I don't even consider myself to be a non-conformist but being there made me want to do everything differently just because I hated how traditional and conventional everything seemed.

Yup. I am dark skinned and opted to move as an expat to Asia instead of Vienna. The people of color I knew who moved there said it wasn’t a great option unless you enjoyed being alternatively stared at or ignored .

[Anonymous]

Muscat

[Anonymous]

Please elaborate. I have heard that it is a fabulous place to live!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!!!

I have the opportunity to do just this with work but can't convince DH. Ugh! I have small kids that I know would just love it in Austria/Europe.

What do you do for a living? I would love a job with that kind of option.

Were you able to go, first PP? I'm very late to reply, but +1 to PP's question if you don't mind sharing.

[Anonymous]

If you speak spanish, many cities in Latin America are great. Of course it depends where- but I lived in la paz and lima and both offered certain awesome benefits, but like anywhere nothing is perfect.

[Anonymous]

How about south of France. Provence area? No kids. Just adults with limited French. Not seeking work but concerned about taxation implications if end up seeking permanent residency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!!!

I have the opportunity to do just this with work but can't convince DH. Ugh! I have small kids that I know would just love it in Austria/Europe.

What do you do for a living? I would love a job with that kind of option.

Were you able to go, first PP? I'm very late to reply, but +1 to PP's question if you don't mind sharing.

I work for a US based NGO that allows telework. I have an EU passport so I can work from any european country.