Do you think you'll spend the rest of your life living in the UK?

aayl1 wrote:Partner is from Chicago and wants to move back there until her parents die, essentially. Fact of the matter is, for our socio-demographic standings (and race) our quality of life would go up a lot. Her folks aren't loaded but have enough to be very comfortable with decent health insurance.

I'd probably want to retire back here (or somewhere a bit chiller in the US - Colorado maybe) but I'm glad I have Chicago in my future - it's a pretty cool city. There's also a potential scenario where I take over her father's business/operation which would then mean a very nice work life balance.

Drumstick wrote:We have talked about actively moving to Canada ASAP.

Following this up, New Zealand is somewhere else we'd consider.

Every day there seems to be something new in this country that makes me resent living here.

NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

Drumstick wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

It makes a huge difference for visiting family and friends.

My Auntie and Uncle retired to France and we see them more than we would if they'd moved to Australia for sure.

Drumstick wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

It’s very difficult to even contact home when the time difference is so large - my wife has problems getting in contact with friends etc. Also, if anything were to go wrong with, e.g. family member having a sudden or terminal illness, you’re looking at having to pay the best part of a grand and a twenty four hour flight to get back to them. There’s also a *massive* culture shock, certainly the other way round, that you might not expect.

Drumstick wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

Absolutely, it's part of the reason I've lived in continental Europe the last few years rather than further afield. Knowing you can jump a cheap flight home at the drop of a hat makes a big difference to me.

Plus you can visit different cultures in a few hours which is great and not really possible from, e.g., Melbourne.

Oh yeah, the time difference sucks too.

Rocsteady wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:The US is very low down my list. Terrible work/life balance, impoverished citizens everywhere you look and an ethos I just generally strongly disagree with.

Realistically though, the English speaking nations in general have a higher standard of living than almost anywhere else on the planet.

Depends where you are for some of that and also what industry you’re working in - some states have better working time directives than others.

In my experience (of working in and with people from 5 or 6 states), it's part of the culture even when not mandated though.

As for the poverty, every city I've been in over there is worse than any European location I've seen for overtly abject impoverishment. Maybe Minneapolis as an exception although I wasn't there for long so didn't see much.

Didn't comment on the poverty stuff because although it's not been my experience I think you are right. Was just making a point that America isn't just one big country, as weird as it sounds - it's fifty little ones that operate under a loose federal framework. Your experience will vary wildly depending on where you go and what you do for employment. As Lex says, the federal government doesn't actually have any mandated holiday pay act, except in cases where the worker is an employee of the federal government.

To give an example of state by state differences in working laws, Minnesota is actually much worse than the federal average on working hours - it recognises 48 hours per week as the qualifying amount for overtime pay rather than the federally mandated 40 hours.

I don't disagree though that in general the US approach towards work is much more hardcore than it is here in many industries, but I can't stress enough that your experience will depend on where you go. I've worked in D.C., Texas and NYC at different times(not for more than a few weeks, I'll grant you) and had a totally different experience each time.

I don't have white privilege so I'd be extremely picky if I were to move to another country.

Rocsteady wrote:

Drumstick wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

Absolutely, it's part of the reason I've lived in continental Europe the last few years rather than further afield. Knowing you can jump a cheap flight home at the drop of a hat makes a big difference to me.

Plus you can visit different cultures in a few hours which is great and not really possible from, e.g., Melbourne.

Totally agree. My wife is consistently amazed by how the European conception of space is completely different from the Australian one. She doesn't understand how we in Glasgow can think of Edinburgh as being far away when it's "only" 40 miles and an hour in the car. Being able to move between countries in Europe so easily and experience different cultures so easily has been a major draw for Australians(and to some extent Americans) coming over to Europe for a long time.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:The US is very low down my list. Terrible work/life balance, impoverished citizens everywhere you look and an ethos I just generally strongly disagree with.

Realistically though, the English speaking nations in general have a higher standard of living than almost anywhere else on the planet.

Depends where you are for some of that and also what industry you’re working in - some states have better working time directives than others.

In my experience (of working in and with people from 5 or 6 states), it's part of the culture even when not mandated though.

As for the poverty, every city I've been in over there is worse than any European location I've seen for overtly abject impoverishment. Maybe Minneapolis as an exception although I wasn't there for long so didn't see much.

Didn't comment on the poverty stuff because although it's not been my experience I think you are right. Was just making a point that America isn't just one big country, as weird as it sounds - it's fifty little ones that operate under a loose federal framework. Your experience will vary wildly depending on where you go and what you do for employment. As Lex says, the federal government doesn't actually have any mandated holiday pay act, except in cases where the worker is an employee of the federal government.

To give an example of state by state differences in working laws, Minnesota is actually much worse than the federal average on working hours - it recognises 48 hours per week as the qualifying amount for overtime pay rather than the federally mandated 40 hours.

I don't disagree though that in general the US approach towards work is much more hardcore than it is here in many industries, but I can't stress enough that your experience will depend on where you go. I've worked in D.C., Texas and NYC at different times(not for more than a few weeks, I'll grant you) and had a totally different experience each time.

Ah I thought you were alluding to the poverty in your first sentence.

I've always worked in the same industry while over there so unfortunately whether I've been in Dallas, ATL or CA the workplace culture has always been very similar!

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Drumstick wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

It’s very difficult to even contact home when the time difference is so large - my wife has problems getting in contact with friends etc. Also, if anything were to go wrong with, e.g. family member having a sudden or terminal illness, you’re looking at having to pay the best part of a grand and a twenty four hour flight to get back to them. There’s also a *massive* culture shock, certainly the other way round, that you might not expect.

Rocsteady wrote:

Drumstick wrote:

Rocsteady wrote:NZ is way too far for me. I hated Aus for that, felt so far from everything else on the planet.

Can you elaborate?

If you are moving away from home does it really matter how close you are?

Absolutely, it's part of the reason I've lived in continental Europe the last few years rather than further afield. Knowing you can jump a cheap flight home at the drop of a hat makes a big difference to me.

Plus you can visit different cultures in a few hours which is great and not really possible from, e.g., Melbourne.

Cheers boys.

I suppose my view is a little different - I don't plan on coming back.

I sometimes think I'd like to. Then I find myself thinking about it in more detail, and I realise that although the UK it's fair share of problems, most other countries have similar or greater problems. Even countries that you would think of as very similar to our own (e.g. Ireland) have issues and cultural differences that you wouldn't necessarily be aware of unless you'd lived or worked there.

Scandanavia and the Nordics are often discussed as the 'best' countries to live in currently. However, like anywhere, stability is very reliant on the government not doing anything stupid. Plus they don't have the most reliable neighbour ...

I think before moving you really need to spend a good chunk of time visiting the country before making sure it's a good fit. Going on holiday to a place a couple of times isn't enough unless you really absorb the culture. If you have the option to relocate for a flexible period with your current job then I think that's the best way to do it. That will then allow you to experience the culture and the work/life balance all while having the financial stability and familiarity with your company.

In short, while I'd like to relocate, I think the fear of the unknown in financial terms would put me off. However, if I magically came into millions I would pretty much pack up and leave and spend my days roaming. That's not a realistic thing for the vast, vary majority though.

Plus, as someone else said - we might not be part of the UK in a few years time anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This isn't what I've heard, and doesn't seem to be the case: https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief ... al-market/[/quote]

Locals can't afford cocaine. Minimum wage here is less than 200gbp per month and a lot of people are paid lower than that and work 'under the table'. The rise in use of cocaine happens to exactly correlate with the rise in tourism here. I know correlation does not equal causation but...yeah.

As for 'illicit drug use' - yes, there is. No country seems to be exempt from drug use. The only rise I've seen is that there are more homeless people (especially with refugees from Venezuela and current covid crisis) and homeless people are in such a desperate situation that I kind of don't blame them for trying to numb things.

Sniffing glue seems to be the main one. You see that a lot because it's cheap. And in certain areas of the city there's a lot of injecting who-knows-what. It won't be heroin, because, again, expensive. Lots of street deaths because people who are desperate to forget life will take whatever.

Cocaine though? If any colombians take it, they must be the super rich, and they'll likely do that in their private party fincas. You just don't see it in public, in bars or anywhere where anyone will see. One of the reasons for this is that the majority of Colombians have had family members or people they know die because of the war on cocaine here, so they hate anyone who takes it. Even talking about cocaine or mentioning the name Escobar is a sure-fire way to be universally hated by colombians. It's honestly why I usually say I live in South America rather than straight away saying Colombia - because brits/americans/australians all go 'Oh, Colombia! Cocaine!' and I end up having to explain this all, every time.

I've lived in Canada for seven years, and while it's definitely less racist and overall more tolerant than England, there are still many things that are not so great about living here.

The winters seem to last half a year and can be horrendously cold.

There are ten public holidays a year but it's miles away from anywhere so you can't really go away for a long weekend.

There is very little paid holiday, I am lucky enough to be able to take a month off in January because I run a business that slows to almost a stop in winter, but most workplaces you're lucky if you get two weeks.

Toronto and Vancouver are practically London level cost of living.

The idealistic lake side country places are mostly just where people from Toronto have second homes and not really places with a lot of work opportunities, so you'd likely need to move to a big city. Vancouver has a glorious setting with mountains and ocean and plenty of outdoor activities but Toronto is in a really quite bland part of Ontario landscape wise. It's a few hours drive to "cottage country" and all the lakes etc. and if you don't know somebody that owns a cottage you can stay at, they are horrendously expensive to rent.

I also barely get to see my family and am starting to feel guilty about how I won't be around to help when my parents are older. I usually visit once every couple of years in the winter but it's not realistic to get an 8 hour flight over any other time.

My 'speciality' is Roman Britain and I love UK archaeology so I'd prefer to remain here. However my partner is a remote worker so maybe some continental archaeology could tempt me away. I can't see it though. My partner has NZ citizenship but I don't know we'd cash it in except in some dire emergency. No Romans in NZ.

Same boat really. My wife has AU citizenship but there’s no opportunity for me to work in my field(err, American history) there. I’ve been trying to diversify into Australian political history a little bit just in case we ever do make the switch, but it truly is a baffling country.

Red wrote:No Romans in NZ.

Wrong.

http://www.imperium-romana.org/

They're very cute.