As much as people bitch about America, you’d think they’d be willing to live somewhere else. I don’t think I’d want to live anywhere else, although I’d certainly entertain offers. I couldn’t spend too long in Paris because spoken French irritates me after a while. I don’t like the climate in England or Canada. Australia might be okay. Probably, I’d be happiest in either the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland or across the border in the lake region of Italy. If you didn’t live here, where would you go?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Deutschland, where socialism is not a swear word. Awfully cold, though,yet I think not as cold as Chicago.
If I pursue it, I could claim Italian citizenship, but I only have a few words of the language. Perhaps Tuscany, where it is said many British and American expatriates live. Weather is nice. Food and drink are outstanding. Women are saucy (but not as sexy as the German women). On the down side, Italian politics are even crazier than ours.
Where were you too cold? I could imagine Düsseldorf, maybe, or further south, close to France and Italy. I love New York beyond reason though, with all that European stuff and all Asia too. I’m never leaving.
To me, any place that snows is too cold.
Paris. I love being able to walk everywhere, the metro, and the language. The food is also great. If I couldn’t live in the U.S., that’s what I’d choose.
Paris.
Johannesburg.
Toronto.
The weather is wet but temperate in Vancouver BC, Booman. You’d probably not mind it here.
Yeah, I really liked Vancouver. Lively art scene, Stanley Park, Victoria Island a short ferry trip away and Whistler Mountain a short drive.
Vancouver was the favourite city I’ve ever lived in. If I ever leave Seattle that’d likely be the destination – same weather, nicer city (IMO) in a much saner country (albeit with its own problems, as every country has), and I’m a dual citizen so it’s a viable option. After 20 plus years, my partner and I are rooted here, otherwise we’d seriously look at it.
I also enjoyed living in Japan (Osaka, Okayama) a great deal. But honestly, with the exception of Israel – the only developed country on earth with a more militarized and theology-driven culture than ours – any country where large numbers of people speak English would be a massive upgrade for me. Culturally I just do not fit in in this country.
The USA is IMO a beautiful country with many wonderful people, but also an awful lot of repellent ones; with wonderful ideals that people in much of the rest of the world take far more seriously than people here seem to. And politically it’s been moving backwards on most fronts my entire adult life. I’m just tired, way tired, of Teh Stupid, and it’s weaponized here far beyond what it is in most of the developed world.
I remember 30 years ago, my Japanese wife (a nurse, then studying for her doctorate in epidemiology) and I had a good laugh at a Time magazine cover lauding the US health care system as the “greatest in the world.” That sort of willfully ignorant national narcissism just isn’t very amusing to me any more.
I would love to live outside the United States. I’d choose either Burgundy, Vienna, or Vermont.
Vermont would make a damn nice country. I’d be worried about raiding parties — excuse me, “market liberators” — from Free State Hampshire, though.
Other than that: Canada or Spain.
Paris would be choice number one. I love everything about it.
Choice number two would be London. The weather does suck, but I have a large group of friends there who would keep me occupied enough to not be too bothered by it.
The Bahamas or Jamaica (north side of the island).
Christchurch, New Zealand.
They may drive on the right hand side of the road, but the climate is great and they speak English.
Agreed. Auckland for me. I was seriously looking at real estate today. I have family there and because they have universal healthcare I can start my own business without worrying about the crushing costs that healthcare imposes in the states.
New Zealand in general. Mountains, snow, veritable rain forest, surfing, sailing. Much more pleasant and green and varied than Oz but unfortunately without the jobs.
And Hobbits.
The Netherlands seem nice.
Born in Manhattan, lived in Australia for almost thirty years; I kiss the tarmac like the Pope every time I return.
That’s quite an endorsement. What keeps you there Shaun?
– Jeff L (formerly of onemillionstrong.us blog).
I’m not sure where I would choose. I have family in Vienna. Toronto is a lot like my familiar Chicago. Some parts of Thailand or India interest me.
Innocence. Truly priceless quality.
Great answer, yet a surprising answer than raises more questions than it answers.
I often work with Aussies and enjoy every one of them. Sounds like I have to visit sometime.
I’ve always lived in NYS but if I couldn’t live here I’d be in Vancouver, Canada.
Sweet. A Fourth of July “Love it or leave it” thread.
And are we talking Fantasy Island here or given present circumstances?
The real question is what values you are looking for and what assumptions you are making about what hassles you would be willing to put up with.
I know of several folks my age who to stretch their Social Security have moved to Mexico. And a few to Belize. Essentially, that amounts to political disengagement. And it would be very difficult to become politically engaged in another country after moving.
So if I were moving just to get a break, here is my short list: Mendoza, Argentina; Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil; a smaller city in one of the eastern states of Australia; Hereford, England; Castries, Saint Lucia.
Do the Mexico expats still feel reasonably secure?
Have not heard any concerns from their children who live in this area. I can’t really say.
Lots of places in Mexico are safer than many places in the US. We forget how high the US homicide rate is.
Too many parameters. If I were young enough to be fluent in a language and had an income source, France, Spain, Costa Rica, Cuba, South Africa, Italy, or if things look up there again, Mexico come to mind.
In my real world it would almost certainly be Toronto or Vancouver.
BTW, I find Australian (and even Bostonian) far more irritating than French. To each their own.
Undeniable first requirement:
Somewhere that I could walk down the street without being immediately being labelled a “foreigner.” Shit turns on “foreigners” too often in this little world.
I am visually identifiably an Anglo/Celtic/Germanic mix.
That leaves:
Northern/Central Europe
Australia/New Zealand
Canada
Perhaps Iceland.
I am not linguistically gifted. Too much English in my physical hard drive, I think. I speak/understand some amount of French and Spanish and I could learn more if I applied myself.
That leaves:
France
The British Isles (including Ireland and Scotland)
Holland and Scandinavia…almost everyone speaks English as a second language
Canada (As goes the U.S., so eventually goes Canada, I think.)
Australia/New Zealand
My own favorite places in the world?
France. (Wine, food and and women. Sorry…there it is. Deal wid it.)
Scandinavia…Finland and Denmark particularly. So well-balanced!!!
Holland. If only it wasn’t so thoroughly buried in Central/Western Europe.
Ireland. Blood tells.
Canada-see above for the drawback(s).
So it goes.
Make an offer.
Have music, will travel.
Later…
AG
To each his own. I put Italy and Germany on a par with France for wine (and California ahead). For food, first Italy, then Germany {OK, so I like sauerkraut and potatoes), then France. For women, Germany, then the Nordics, then Italy and Greece tied with Italy. France far down the list. Sorry in advance if anyone feels hurt about that. It’s just personal preference and obviously I have a preference for tall blonds, but fiery short brunettes are good too.
This fiery, short brunette thanks you for ceding a little ground to us 😉 Vive la France!
My High School was heavily Polish and Italian. There was a strong tendency for the Italian boys to prefer the big blond Polish girls and the Polish guys seemed to prefer the short dark Italian girls. I have no idea who the girls preferred. Judging from one conversation at a reunion, at least one female preference was “anybody so long as I don’t have to sit home on Saturday night”, and endure mockery from so-called girlfriends. You can speak to the distaff side more than I.
And remember, dynamite comes in small packages. 🙂
Good lord, German food and wine. I have high blood pressure so I can’t eat sausage lest my heart explode.
Me too, but I like it.
Since we’re fantasizing …
Summers in Stockholm or Interlaken.
Winters in Brisbane, Christchurch, or possibly Rhodes.
Lots of travel to nearby destinations at all times (this is fantasy, right?)
I did go, from NJ (Princeton area) to Canada, part of the time in Ontario (Ottawa), part of the time in BC (Vancouver).
I was very content on Hawaii.
Another one who thinks Hawaii isn’t part of the United States?
Show me your birth certificate, Elli Un!
Québec. Either Montréal or Ville de Québec.
If I had any prospect of making a living there, I’d be packing my bags for Montréal right now. Each of the several times I have been there, I’ve wished I didn’t have to leave.
Pretty much my situation/stance as well.
I really liked Ziguinchor, in the Casamance, in the southern part of Senegal. I have thought it would be great to live there. I would definitely live in Dakar again. Amazing city.
Canada, Chile, S. Korea probably are the top choices. We’ve talked extensively of moving to Chile actually. Wife wants to look more at the Nordic countries but I don’t want to be a brown speck in an even whiter canvas than the American upper midwest. I dislike British style so probably not there. Spain might be interesting. As I like dry and cold climates, Canada would probably suit me better than Booman but I’ve had Canadians look down on me (subtly) for being American.
I definitely want to live somewhere else, but right now it’s just not viable. We’re trying to take steps to make it possible in 5 years though.
Interesting you should raise this now. I keep asking myself the same question and cannot answer it. My life is divided between Texas and New York City, where I was born and raised. TX by necessity and NY by sentiment, but I don’t think I could stand either place all the time any more. But I also lived seven years in England, where I am just now visiting for the first time in many years. It’s just beautiful here. Of course I’m on holiday — I mean, on vacation — and with friends.
Compare, “I couldn’t live in DC because spoken black English irritates me, after a while.”
Pretty dumb comparison.
I know a lot of people who cannot stand to listen to black vernacular because they are grammar nazis. It doesn’t matter who is committing the grammatical sins, it’s like fingernails on a chalk board for them. Does that make them racist? No. Does it mean that they’d be miserable living in a poor black community in DC? Yes.
Does it mean that they should get over their grammar fetish? Probably.
In any case, confessing that I get irritated with hearing French 24/7 after a few days is nothing more than an explanation for why I wouldn’t be happy living in Paris. It’s not a value judgment on the worth of the language or the people.
It is amazing how many people from both the Left and Right are shitting all over the US right now. For what? Snowden/NSA? Obamacare?
I would love to live abroad for a year. Dublin maybe.
But only if I knew I was coming home. Because here is home and it’s worth fighting for.
You might not have noticed that the economy is still in the toilet, the federal political system is completely broken, and at current count five states have been bought out by the Koch brothers and ALEC, lock, stock, and barrel. That gets the left side of the spectrum.
For the right side of the spectrum, it is sufficient to observe that the first black President still resides in the “White Peoples'” House. Ooops, did I really say what my cracker buddies think.
Probably Norway. I could get over the weather and the day/night switch. Also, I love spoken French lol. Whenever I go to Paris I just sit in coffee shops and parks to hear it spoken. I really felt home in that city.
I love Paris, too. And I love the French people.
But after about three or four days, I am ready to go somewhere else. I have to confess, the only thing that I don’t like about France is its language. I’m not crazy about German, either, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable. On the other hand, I could listen to Italian all day long, even without being able to understand it.
I can get along in restaurants or shops in either French or German areas. So we like to go to both cultures.
Ugh. I took German for years and I hate the language. I just thought it would be useful for my field and because I like Germany. It’s such an ugly language. And we agree about Italian. I think if my aunt or mother get dual citizenship I’d be eligible to Italy. We’re as close to direct descendants of Scipio Africanus as one can get.
Somewhere in western Europe, perhaps Alsace or Belgium where they make the great Belgian ales.
I don’t hate America, I just wish it was nicer to its people.
…adding Spain, Portugal, or Holland would also be nice.
Slovenia or Croatia. My wife and I are both 60+. We are seriously considering living in Ljubljana for a time, or Budapest. These areas are great – costs now are not high, the weather is great (Ljubljana is pretty much as the same latitude as Venice), and the area is nice. It’s a backwater, but who needs excitment.
I’ve never been that social a person….I’d probably pick an island in the Tuoamotus that had fresh water and enough acreage for trees, allowing for a canoe and hut, and do my own thing there.
Weather’s nice and not too bad (trade winds miderating the temps), and not that many typhoons in the region.
when I’m ready to go back on the grid, i’ll drop a letter in a bottle for photocells, hardware, laptop, and satellite commo…
The Channel Islands for me, back to my ancestral roots. Vancouver Island a close second. I love southern Germany, but would eat and drink myself into oblivion in fairly short order.
I’d have guessed that there’s a whole lot more “healthful” food in Germany than in the US Midwest. Chicago is a food desert when it comes to organic, sustainable, low fat/sugar, and I’d imagine IN is even worse.
I live close to Indiana University, which is a lovely island of blue with lots of healthy, locally grown food available. The rest of Indiana, probably not so much, as you suspect.
First choice would be Canada. Either in or around Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto. I don’t mind the cooler climate.