Juno, Ive been hearing a lot of good things about Buenos Aires (Argentina). The property prices have crashed over there and the streets and architecture are beautiful..... its like a kind of paris style.

Anyone know what prices are for apartments these days in say Recoleta, Buenos Aires?

3 of 4 Argentinians i know don't even want to live in Argentina...

Spain is great. Besides Barcelona you should consider Malaga. Very cheap to live there. If you want the best climate in the world and very clean air and healthy lifestyle, you should also consider Canary islands.

Sure but its very different for a foreigner living there (holding foreign currency). You can live very comfortably and on very little considering the peso is now half.

Somewhere where:

1. Fiber internet is available
2. A good standard of living can be had
3. You can speak the local language well
4. You can reside and do business legally
5. The tax burden is reasonable (Remember the foreign earnings may be taxable)
6. There is first world healthcare affordable to you

I can find all these things in the USA ...

If I ever decide to move, Spain would probably be on the top of my list

I lived in Malta for one year in 09/10 and it was great. Island in the middle of the Med, 400,000 people growing to 1 million in summer time, tons of things to do, food is fresh and great, low cost of living, diverse people from all over EU who come to Malta to learn English and party. EU is on your doorstep, you can get cheap flights to almost every EU country, every weekend you can be in a new place for under $100 flight, living it up and partying or just sightseeing. I highly recommend a visit to Malta to check it out, I loved my time there. Climate can be crazy in summer tho, some days it gets hot as hell but most of the year it's excellent.

I know there are a few industry people in Malta as well, you'd have a blast.

If I think about moving, id be thinking about the long term.
Where would I want to be with all of the above plus:

(1) Growing GDP
(2) Creditor Nation (high FX reserves & low debt country)
(3) Relatively clean air and water
(4) Good infrastructure
(5) Relative political stability
(6) Food/Power independence
(7) Few enemies

USA fails on (2)
USA fails on (7) BIG TIME

Spain is a part of a the wider European disaster and I don't see anything good happening in that region if we talk about the longer term. However, if youre holding FX and particularly USD, RMB etc then I would imagine you could be comfortable over there.

Argentina is interesting for me because property prices could be very cheap next year. Peso has fallen against USD from around 4.5 to 8.5 and the latest projections is that it could fall as much as to 11.5 by next year. Although the USD is now pricing everything so you may not get much gains over there esp with inflation - I don't know enough about this country to really comment so I may be talking complete bullshit but a lot of people are looking into Argentina.

Worth mentioning that whether or not they meet your criteria: Canada, Australia and New Zealand always have cities featuring in the reports of most liveable cities. Every year they seem to come tops....

no, to visit it's ok

I'm in Chi town as well. Wonder if we have met at any of the shows.

Chris, come to Chicago. ;) Yea, I know there are more glamorous places, I just want to have you and family as neighbors again. :thumbsup

Only 2 things stop me from Moving to the Barcelona area.

1. Smokers.
2. My son would have to start learning Catalan on top of Spanish and English that he already speaks and has started learning Japanese. ( his idea at age 9 )

From Colombia.....With cash and this job any city are a good option, but Miami Beach its great and LA too, my favorite 2 towns. About Colombia: Medellin its the city

Those apartments are only for sale in USD. I rented a small apartment for 1 month in Recoleta and was about 500 USD. Just bring dollars there, they are desparate for dollars.

I didn't want to stay for longer than 1 month there. Very nice archhitecture and clean city. But that is all.

That's nice but why Japanese?

Japanese would have been awesome to teach him about 30 yrs ago and Japan is on a serious decline. Japan has a debt to GDP ratio of almost 200% - aging population and the country is screwed in a post fukushima world.

None of my business but he would be way better off learning Mandarin. We have to face facts, the next generation belongs to the Chinese. Mandarin is already the most spoken language in the world but its importance is going to increase exponentially in coming years. China will overtake the USA in GDP within my lifetime let alone his.

I am doing that for over 3 years now. But i prefer staying at least 2 months so you get better prices for renting an apartment and you have time to work and do some sightseeing. 1 month is too short.

Oh I love so many of you out there. Just feel bad that you live there and I only see you when I travel to shows. :1orglaugh

Why not move to the Islands or Central/South America.
(Shorter flights home, Same Time Zones as the USA, easier for people back home to come visit you, tons of nice beaches, lower cost of living, etc..)

Having moved and lived in a few countries, I highly suggest visiting the area before moving go for a week, with the first 2 days spent with a real-estate broker showing you possible locations and prices etc..

Then spend a few days in a hotel close to that area (air B N B... if you need to) and ship the tourist shit, try to live like you would if you lived there.

Bring anyone that will be moving with you.

Interesting, as I was once there for 1 day on business and I couldn't wait to leave. Felt so homesick there. :Oh crap

I remember you telling me about that, I really don't think one day can be considered real feelings, too many factors involved in what could possibly have lead to you feeling that way.

Wow, thanks for all the comments everyone. I dont think I have ever seen so many GFY'ers come together with positive responses in one thread.

Cheers to that.

I think I am still at PRG, BCN, BKK. Maybe I do all three?

Thinking of checking out Morroco as well.

If you can handle a muslim country, well Malaysia Kuala Lumpur is also sounding more promising to me than Bangkok. You might wanna check it out - more about that here:

https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=1152346

We hear the Canary Islands have torrential downfalls at present, 4 people have died :Oh crap

I find unsual how people dont take "fun" as one of important factors as well,as if i would take your factors only,i would stay here where i am currently,but it is just too boring here.One the reason why i like Prague is tons of restaurant with cosine from all over world,so you can feel like you move from place to place on daily bases.

Sorry I am done with US ! To expensive and to restrictive.

I love BCN

I would get in trouble. No South America for me.

Good advice - I will check it out for sure. I get tired of Island living though - I prefer to live in a Big city with alot to do and then take weeks at the beach or islands. Thailand is perfectfor this.

Do they hate whitey?

That is one of my number one factors - fun and happiness are paramount to me. In thailand even the poorest peron is still happy with huge smiles. It's actually quite amazing to see.

Prague is similar, some of the happiest people I have ever seen. Well atb least the crowd I hung with.

I am originally from Hungary, Budapest. The weather is nice, you have proper seasons, but it might not be civilized enough for someone from the US. I would go there for a week to have some fun.

I lived in Germany/Luxembourg for a while - there people don't like to speak English. Literally they would look at you, and you can see they understand you, and still refuse to reply in English. I find that annoying.

Now I live in Dublin, and this is a very welcoming country with outsiders, I never feel unwelcome. The weather is like crap, and Dublin is incredibly expensive even compared to Luxembourg, so don't move here either :)

If it was up to me I would move to a big city with nice climate, close to the airport, so I can travel a lot. Barcelona is really great, and I think Gibraltar is not bad either, they speak English there.

I would go for Tenerife as well, once they improve the internet connection.

I have been to the Netherlands once, and the atmosphere was so chilled, it felt completely different from anything else I experienced before. Everything was so calm, people spent their weekend afternoon picnicking in the Park, and no, they were not high, just regular families with babies next to a group of guys playing balls.. Now as I think of it I would like to live there, close to the airport, so I can go to Spain for a bit of sunshine :)

For me language is really important.

So its really true?

Dublin is supposed to be one of the friendliest cities on earth..... If you ask any Irish guy, they'll tell you its "Doblin" so to be clear, Doblin and Dublin are the same city.

I heard Edinburgh is also friendly city.

Is it that MUCH bad? I guess we need to see Citroen and Peugeot on the US streets then France might become a good place to live. Hey! French politicians! wake up!

I am surprised you described the USA as expensive. I would think Barcelona wins as the timing is right. You are after the crash versus before it.

Cape town. Not the biggest of cities but the people are the friendliest i have encountered anywhere - not fake like almost everyone in Asia (they all see you as a walking ATM). The atmosphere is unlike anywhere i been, it just feels right, but i imagine that's personal. Give it a test run (vacation) to see if its for you, highly recommended.

They are friendly..
The first day when I arrived, I went out to look for a Tesco, to buy some stuff for my apartment. I had my wheeled luggage with me, and I was going to this street. A guy was looking out of the window, and he asked ' are you lost?'
And you know, i thought he was going to tell me to fuck off or something..
So I said ' Yes ' He didn't say a word, just closed the window. The next second he comes out to the street, and starts giving me directions. Just out of friendliness, he wasn't trying to ask for money or trying to touch me. He was just plain friendly.
I have been here for 4 months now, and I have never felt anyone looking at me like a ' filthy Eastern European, stealing our jobs ', and it feels nice.

On the other hand there is no water pressure, and there are a lot of places where you wont get warm water from the tap, you have to heat it beforehand.
I have asked my landlord and he looked at me, eyes wide and asked ' Why, do you expect to get warm water from the tap?!' Like I was looking for gold flowing from the tap or something :D

They are very patriotic, proud of being Irish, but they don't get offensive with other nations.

How long did you withstand there?

:winkwink:

I lived in Zurich for a while and it is snoozeville ! I would not put any Swiss cities on that list. Switzerland has gorgeous scenery but it is so incredibly....nice.......dull.......tedious in urban areas. So little character or charm.

Munich is lovely, Frankfurt is just blandville, perfect for businessmen in suits. Dusseldorf ? You gotta be kidding.

Vancouver I can see but how Zurich topped that I really do not know ? I guess the criteria is more one of economic "niceness" than culture, architecture or character which to me make life worth living....

4 months :)

oh the lives the childless people..

I just stayed at the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria) for 2,5 months. I stayed in Maspalomas (Playe del INgles), a tourist area. But that was because there is a big cloud hanging above the main city Las Palmas till the end of september.

There is enough fun if you like bar, disco, restaurants. Also a big swingers community and a big gay community. Must be the biggest swingers playground after Cap D'adge. In the main city there must be a digital nomad community.

Well; i didn't like it. To much young drinking tourist, i good speak Dutch all the time (butthat was also a good thing), wasn't to expensive. But in the end i like nice beaches, Thai food, and not a place where tourist stay for just 2 weeks. And it was hot, you realy needed a siësta. But i think we are spoiled with beautiful beaches and great cheap food. I like some beaches in Thailand or South America more.

Some Germans are quite nice but some are very rude especially when you speak in English. I noticed that many times.

a friend of mine came to Germany to live with her BF, who was already working here. We heard there was a course for foreigners who want to learn German to be able to work in Germany. We went to the local office, and asked for information. They gave us a form in German 4 pages some sort of contract. They refused to talk to us in English. I am not the kind who lets things go easily, so I kept talking and talking, finally they gave me a piece of paper in English with a website on it. I sent an email literally begging to give us information in English, since we are applying to a beginner course of German for foreigners.. they sent a reply in German :/

I was also in the mood to move out some years ago. I considered Stockholm, Prague and Barcelona. Stockholm was too expensive at this time for me, I did not knew someone in Barcelona so I moved to Prague. Got dammit I love this city still. Very cheap, rich culture, big expats scene from the baltics what are the coolest people ever and the best beer in the world.
I liked it also very much in Fort Lauderdale.
Maybe Berlin is an option for you as well. Its the cheapest capitol in Europe, a lot of Internet biz there has brought tons of expats and you find everything there.
I live now in Zürich Switzerland, one of the most expensive places in the world, low taxes, very high prizes but its the safest, greenest and cleanest city ever. And a 1 room appartment costs starts already at 1600 € :-D

Yeah i fell in love with Prague, the city, the people, everything. I stayed an extra week after show in an apartment. Felt like a resident. It's just a very magical place.