Been to Dominican Republic a couple of times. All over Mexico, Hawaii, but my favorite of places visited would have to be Jamaica. The culture was cool and people were awesome. I played a pick up soccer game with the locals I will never forget. There were kids playing with us that were barefoot and didn't think twice about it. Surreal moment.
I want to visit CR, Panama, and Columbia
I want to visit CR, Panama, and Columbia
Thanks VD. All is well. This year I have decided to quietly do my own thing this year. Guilting people out of money is very exhausting and I have a few different families that I have helped this year. Last years project went very well and thanks to you guys among others the lady that runs the orphanage was able to finish the rec room, add an apartment and make room for four new kids to move in.
If this is the case you should travel around a bit and become little bit "unamericanized" before you decide to move. If you just move to a new country as a typical american with no knowledge of what the life is outside usa is like (even in other western countries) you would be considered an ignorant idiot and no one would respect you.....it holds even if you move to countries like canada, uk, denmark or other western countries.
Swiss is expensive. If you have money and if you are over 50 it is good. If you are young, you would get bored fast.
Those who said toronto....cost of living in toronto has went up the roof mainly because of real estate. all the main land chinese people have jacked up the real estate value in vancouver and toronto. Average 4 bedroom house in toronto is over 1 million CAD. In vancouver it is even higher. The real canadians with regular jobs are struggling to buy a house unless they inherit it from parents who bought the house a decade or before.
australia cost of living is also high.
Curitiba in Brazil is a good place to move to in terms of cost of living and quality of life...but brazillian bureaucracy is crazy. BRL is about 1 to usd to brl....so cost of living is real good if you earn USD. Other parts of brazil are overrated or unsafe. Florianopolis in brazil is also good if you love the beach but curitiba is much bigger city with better infrastructure and it is only about hour and half drive from the coast.
Unsafe like chilling in a little shop (15 x 15 hut) off the beach in Negril with my local buddy I met, Sticky, and have a bushman walk in with a machete in one hand and a black hefty trashbag full of weed he just cut? Yeah that happened. I'm a man of the people. I fit in anywhere and generally a happy person who's easy to please. Not much phases me.
I travel a lot. i don't work anymore. Just make bets and i can do that from anywhere as long as i have my laptop/phone and internet. I have been to every country mentioned in that post and lot more. I have lived in some of these countries for more than a month.
I see a lot of people recommending countries based on their short vacation experience but i can tell you that living in a country and having a vacation are completely different things. If you move based on your vacation experience, you would get into a lot of headache. If you are planning to move to a country, try to live their temporarily for few months and look into daily things like banking and the bureaucracy involved in buying or renting a place, opening a bank account and simple things like that among many other things.
Never lived in the US, only been there on vacation but left Germany about 5 years ago. So my answer would be Brazil. Florianopolis in particular even though it might not be as appealing anymore as it was a couple of years ago. Rather high real estate prices and violence/crime rates have gone up, but in general it's still a very safe area (unlike many other parts of Brazil) and the devaluation of the BRL keeps costs down if you earn in EUR, GBP or USD.
Like 99steak said, infrastructure in places like Coritiba is better, but I got everything in Floripa that I need and everything else is a short 1hr flight away in Sao Paulo or Rio.
Public transport sucks, the same with traffic (esp. during high season), but other than that this place suits me well. Bureaucracy is terrible in Brazil, but it's not that much worse than Germany in my opinion. But at the same time it doesn't really affect me that much since I'm still not thinking about buying property here, so I don't really get exposed much to said bureaucracy. But once you have your visa, opening a bank account and such things aren't hard, so unless you want to start a business, it's not a huge pain in the ass.
Would also go back to Costa Rica, really liked Guanacaste and the Nosara area, but for my liking it's a tad too remote. Great for 1/2 year, esp. during dry season, but once wet season starts, not much to do there. In the long run I'd also miss stuff like going to the cinema and having more dining/bar options, a good gym, the opportunity to go see some good sports events, concerts, live shows etc. But amazing nature, for most part great climate, great waves year round to surf, fresh & healthy food (fruit, vegetable, fish and ok chicken...just red meat pretty much sucks). But to me it's more of a place I'd live at temporarily, not 365 days year round.
If I went back to Europe, I probably would try out Portugal: Great beaches, a more laid back style of life than f.e. Germany (try to avoid saying a better work/life balance), healthier food/fresher fruit & fish, lots of nice surf spots, great climate. And rather low cost of living compared to other (Western) European countries all while offering the same safety and great infrastructure of 1st world countries.
Switzerland wouldn't be my cup of tea: Gorgeous country but too cold during winter time for my liking and cost of living is insane due to the strong currency and high salaries.
Like 99steak said, infrastructure in places like Coritiba is better, but I got everything in Floripa that I need and everything else is a short 1hr flight away in Sao Paulo or Rio.
Public transport sucks, the same with traffic (esp. during high season), but other than that this place suits me well. Bureaucracy is terrible in Brazil, but it's not that much worse than Germany in my opinion. But at the same time it doesn't really affect me that much since I'm still not thinking about buying property here, so I don't really get exposed much to said bureaucracy. But once you have your visa, opening a bank account and such things aren't hard, so unless you want to start a business, it's not a huge pain in the ass.
Would also go back to Costa Rica, really liked Guanacaste and the Nosara area, but for my liking it's a tad too remote. Great for 1/2 year, esp. during dry season, but once wet season starts, not much to do there. In the long run I'd also miss stuff like going to the cinema and having more dining/bar options, a good gym, the opportunity to go see some good sports events, concerts, live shows etc. But amazing nature, for most part great climate, great waves year round to surf, fresh & healthy food (fruit, vegetable, fish and ok chicken...just red meat pretty much sucks). But to me it's more of a place I'd live at temporarily, not 365 days year round.
If I went back to Europe, I probably would try out Portugal: Great beaches, a more laid back style of life than f.e. Germany (try to avoid saying a better work/life balance), healthier food/fresher fruit & fish, lots of nice surf spots, great climate. And rather low cost of living compared to other (Western) European countries all while offering the same safety and great infrastructure of 1st world countries.
Switzerland wouldn't be my cup of tea: Gorgeous country but too cold during winter time for my liking and cost of living is insane due to the strong currency and high salaries.
Soriaano,
Wher in floripa are you staying...in the island or downtown?
I like floripa in the summer but even though nice waves, the water gets chilly after summer. floripa is good to visit for few months but to live not so much for me. there is a nice university there thats one of the best for tech programs and is a nice place to do an exchange program if you are student. The food in floripa is crap in most places if you want to dine out....as with most tourist places in brazil. there are some really good restaurants but overall they give you shit and charge you premium even though it still comes to cheaper than in a western country. Florida beaches int the summer are awesome. Have you been to this rastafarian bar/live music place up a hill in the barra da lagao beach? some good times their in the summer.
Wher in floripa are you staying...in the island or downtown?
I like floripa in the summer but even though nice waves, the water gets chilly after summer. floripa is good to visit for few months but to live not so much for me. there is a nice university there thats one of the best for tech programs and is a nice place to do an exchange program if you are student. The food in floripa is crap in most places if you want to dine out....as with most tourist places in brazil. there are some really good restaurants but overall they give you shit and charge you premium even though it still comes to cheaper than in a western country. Florida beaches int the summer are awesome. Have you been to this rastafarian bar/live music place up a hill in the barra da lagao beach? some good times their in the summer.
