Ask Lemmy

I'm afraid to answer this because the monkey paw might curl and I'll be in an ICE concentration camp in Eswatini.

I have moved from the US to Spain. I have 0 regrets. I'm healthier, the people are more friendly and love life and their families. America is a shithole. Every day I get updates from my family about how awful things are, and i never regret moving.

Life feels so ....normal here. I have worries but its not a constant dread hanging over my head. Most of my life I have had GAD- Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I used to get frozen in thought loops of nonsensical dangers, like someone randomly shooting my husband or a car accident or something. Those episodes have almost completely stopped now. I rarely have panic attacks anymore.

Im healthier, have no more debt, I dont fear the people around me.... Its peaceful. I also visited the UK and it wasnt the same. It was too roudy, still friendlier than america by far , but very raucous.

Here in Spain its quiet, and slow. I prefer it so much.

Nordic countries or the Netherlands seem pretty cool. Although the winters would be a bit brutal being so far north.

Realistically I've thought about Australia since it has a nice climate, decent politics, and no language barrier.

Personally I would not leave the USA voluntarily since I mostly like the people I know here but if the fascists succeed in taking over then I might have to go somewhere else. Still hoping they can be beaten though.

Iceland. I love the culture and the weather. I had my honeymoon there many years ago, in the winter. It was amazing.

But my kids should be near their family, so even if I could go, I'd probably stay here in Texas. Plus the food here is much better.

Yes.

1. Iceland
2. New Zealand
3. Sweden
4. Scotland
5. Italy

Really, any others in the top-10 happy nations. I'm not fussy.

I like my country, but I would love another adventure ; mild adventure, as going to a happy nation is like "roughing it" in a 4-star.

New Zealander here. Wouldn’t leave if you paid me.

Originally from China. It's probably quite hard to explain on a short post over the internet especially since there are way too many fucked up things where I'm from, but I absolutely wanted to and have been living outside for 11 years straight now, and I've been mostly happy wherever I've been (and I've been in some shittier cities). Although it is more of an "anywhere but China" attitude for me...

So yeah. I don't think I necessarily dreamed of living in any particular country, but just wanted to live anywhere else

Yes. Anywhere that actually isn't trying to persecute it's own people but actually make their lives better. So tired of this hellhole. (USA)

Hypothetically, yes, very much. I feel like I'd fit in much better culturally somewhere like Finland, or generally the more peaceful European countries. But as soon as I even begin to think about actually doing it..... No way in hell.

My family is here. All my friends are here. I've also got my mental health support system here and stuff like that, that would be incredibly hard to rebuild somewhere else.

There's also the obvious language barrier, which I think for me personally would be insurmountable.

There's a lot to dislike and hate about my home country of Israel. The weather is too hot and never changing in the summers. A large portion of the population is detestable in culture (and don't even get me started on politics). Public transportation is a bad joke. But despite all that... It's the best home I've got. Best thing to do is stay and try to make it better.

If everyone runs away whenever a place starts going to shit, it just goes to shit even faster. The non-shitty places will eventually run out.

I did. Living in turkey sucks especially for a trans woman. Studying and staying in Berlin now

I’m an expat Brit and I’ve lived in Canada for many years. If I had to do it all again but pick a different country, I’d choose New Zealand. I’ve never been but it looks like a beautiful place and, well, the All Blacks? 😁

Lived in Norway most my life, and one day I woke up and decided to move to Estonia. Been living here for some years now, and life is quite similar, but with a lot of different nuances.

People are a bit more cold and generally untrusting towards strangers, but not in a bad way. People here are really warm once you befriend each other however, and they invite you to go mushrooming with them. I like mushrooms, and Estonia being a big swamp, there's a ton of them here! (my freezer is completely full of them now as the season draws to a close)

Before I moved here I had traveled a lot, and I've seen many people and cultures. With how easy it is to travel the world in this modern day and age, I really recommend people to go a bit outside their comfort zone, and experience life from a different angle. It truly helps get a more open mind and wider perspective on things. The language barrier that some people here mentioned isn't that much of a barrier anymore, since a majority of people under 40 know passable English these days, and there's always digital translation solutions.
Also, learning a new language is considered a very healthy thing for the mind!

Would and have. A few times.

I can say the grass is always greener on the other side, and people are mostly the same no matter where you are.

Auckland New Zealand for me. The climate there is great because it rarely goes below 40 and above 80. And it'd pretty 50/50 being sunny and cloudy. And it's far away from the US and that would be nice too.

Born in Russia, moved to Europe after graduating, then moved to Japan. I would never go back to any of the places I lived in. Of course, Japan is not perfect; no country is. But I realized it's about the compromises you're willing/can deal with. At least here, my family and I feel safe and as comfortable as we've never felt before.

Mexico. For their awesome woman president and their universal healthcare.

yes, France. Alas they are as afraid of me as the Australian government is afraid of the French

why ? As an Australian, France has way less Australians, so that's a huge bonus.

but more seriously, i'd be forced to learn another language and be open to exploring entire new ways of thinking and living.

As an Australian I don't have a problem with the metric system :) and both France and myself think our ex PM ScoMo is a complete fucking asshole, so we have lots in commin :)

currently I spend 8 months a year in SE Asia and 4 months in Australia.

I live in NZ.

There are a bunch of people saying that NZ is is a place they would like to go. It is really nice, slow pace of life in most places; however the cost of living here is way too high compared to incomes.

Politics is relatively stable compared to other nations; but we do have our own scoundrels who are complete fuckups.

There are quite a few drawbacks; talking with a German friend last night. We were talking about cites around the world, he said "Rome, oh yea I went there in high school when I was 17 for a week". That is just not really possible from here. Getting certain things here is just not worth it; the postage is more than the thing itself; or it just doesn't ship here at all. e.g. Jolla phone; but it isn't just niche Linux phones; a few years back I couldn't buy a laptop with a Ryzen processor, had to order it from Amazon in the US, everything available form a NZ retailer was Intel.

Public transport here is shit; outside of Wellington, it is 30 years behind where it should be. The CRL (city rail link) just opened in Auckland (our biggest city); this completes a loop that should have been built in the 90's. NZ is a very car dependent country; I can't catch a train from Taupō where I live in the middle of the North Island, at all, there is no rail line here.

FYI, on that tropical island in the header image:

Living there is not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s green hell, salt eats everything, pests never get culled from freezing, I could go on and on.

And unless you’re exactly on the equator, tropical cyclones are going to make your life difficult.

As a Michigander, I could see myself ending up in Canada. In theory, I already have Canadian citizenship waiting for me (since my grandfather was born there), and if I were to pursue getting that certified, it would definitely make immigrating easier. I think if the elections in the US seem to be compromised this year, I'll file that paperwork right away, just in case I need to move quickly later.

Sometimes I'd like to try life in Europe somewhere, I'm lucky to live in Canada but I'd like to see life where we really have a robust social safety net and not just a nod to it.

Just for kicks, I looked into this years ago, pre-trump. Figured Scandinavia would be good and ultimately settled on Gothenburg, Sweden. Big city, relatively mild weather, close-ish to the rest of Europe.

Other options I've either daydreamed about or heard good things about over the years:

Vancouver, BC, Canada
Australia (East coast, have some extended family)
Spain
Baja California, Mexico

I recently spent several weeks in Iceland, I would live there.

I love the cold, I love the rain, I love their landscapes, and the food (I am a big fan of the plokkfiskur, absolutely worth trying). The people were incredibly nice, things were clean, the roads were generally well designed with good rules.

Aside from a sheep that I swear was saying rude things about my mother, it was wonderful.

If I had the choice, I would be quite happy living anywhere not in the south, maybe something north of Borgarnes.

American here. I would love to live in New Zealand. I spent two weeks there for a work trip and it was beautiful. Otherwise Nordic countries and Australia as others have pointed out. I would also like Ireland as it’s super green. I’ve spent a good chunk of time in all of these locations already and they’ve been nicer than most of the USA. I do love Seattle but I daydream about a functioning federal government.

Currently living in Russia.

Would love to explore Scandinavia more, had mostly positive memories from visiting Finland (although, folks, don't forget smaller towns also need some colors! Imatra, for example, is depressing AF in the autumn).

China is also interesting to explore and live a bit in. An incredible mix of cultures and ways of life, all packed in unimaginable ways. Also, the nature of Far East is breathtaking.

Other than that, I'd love to settle somewhere very, very remote, away from the world's troubles and noise. New Zealand seems to be nice, or, if I'd want to go hardcore on a small civilized spot in the middle of nowhere, St. Helena is a great pick.

Australia

I've lived in two other countries than my own. Also lived in two other major cities in my own country. Never wanted to stay, was glad to come home. I like where I live a lot. When I was living other places I found them boring and I missed stuff from home that they didn't have.

Sad to say my own city though is rapidly becoming more and more boring because it's been taken over by rich douchebags and their creepy monoculture but I think that's true of any desirable place to live these days.

I'd pick Spain. But, there's no way I can do it now, I'm too old and poor.

Had I known what a shithole this country would become, I would have started out with that in mind and made it happen. I would have done many things differently, had I known. Hindsight is 20/20.

Switzerland. The entire country is gorgeous, and the people seem to have pretty solid human rights. Also, you're a train ride away from a lot of other cool places. And it seems like they make a lot of cool stuff there.

I already do that 😊 I'm originally from Hungary, but have lived in Scotland for 15+ years now. I love the weather (no, seriously) - none of Hungary's oven-like summers and freezing winters, but mild temperatures and high humidity all year around, so mosses and some other plants that normally die in continental winters are flourishing year-round here. Sometimes it gets a bit too gloomy, but it's a worthy cost for the temperatures :)

Also it's a great country for the most part - don't want to get too much into political and economical details - but the people are friendly and helpful, I very rarely see the attitudes of neurosis and apathy that seems common in Hungary (for understandable reasons).