Just to provide a concrete scenario, let's assume that in your current country you (magically) have a decent-ish job. They open up offices in another country of your choosing, and you have the option of moving there and work for an equivalent living wage.
They're able to get visas set up (however improbable that may be) for you and any family, but you have to go through the process of finding housing, physically moving your belongings and anything else you need to set up.
What countries would you take the offer to move to, if any?
Broadly, I wouldnt much care where it was, just so long as it was somewhere that was not being actively transfomed into a plutocratic/christofascist autocracy.
And in fact, there's virtually nothing that I want more at this point in time than to get the hell out while I can. I fully expect that if I don't, I'm going to end up in prison or dead, just like so many other vocal dissidents under so many other authoritarian regimes.
Yes, I have done this several times for work. Digital nomad life that turned into starting a family that travels for work.
It's difficult every time and sometimes you just have to admit that it isn't going to work out in that country. Some countries have really strange attitudes or laws or systemic issues that you will not solve as an outsider. Sometimes people will just see you as a target or an opportunity for money and that's never going to change.
Also looking back gives perspective; I had a difficult time in xxx country, but that was my first time overseas and I didn't have quite a grasp of the language, and I was also unfairly comparing it to the USA. A decade later, I've been back a couple of times and now xxx is my favorite country. Five stages of grief and all. There's more backstory but I can blend in a lot of countries.
Conversely, I went to some countries and saw how they are still very colonized from centuries of oppression. And then I go back to the USA sometimes and see the same mentality. Really shifts your perspective.
I was a child of a refugee so I always thought whatever complaints I had were nothing compared to what my parents went through. Also I had swastikas spray painted on my house when I was young so I never really fit in anywhere. Kind of keeps me going.
I feel more comfortable in some countries than my own home country. The USA has changed as much as I have over the past decade.
Finally, one semi-related point: I really, really learned to hate American missionaries. In every single country. They're just the worst. I think they choose their countries and villages for some sort of confirmation bias to themselves that American Jesus is the best and only civilized way to live. They aren't learning anything, just reinforcing their world view and not teaching anything useful. It's just a way for middle aged white guys to get young girls from poor villages. They aren't helping anything.
Not really. I live in Switzerland, thing is, there are no countries that surpass it in terms of safety, income, social security and political stability combined. For me at least it is the perfect country to live in.
I (originally from the US) moved to Germany with a Swiss girlfriend, so we visit Switzerland frequently and know the cultural/politics.
I find Germany to have much better social policies than Switzerland, such as better worker rights/conditions, public health insurance. The Swiss people voted against having minimum 5 weeks vacation and also just rejected caps on the private insurance minimum costs. The politics are much more conservative/individualistic compared to Germany. On a positive side, Switzerland probably has the best public transport system in Europe.
Not sure about social policies, for example homelessness exists here only by choice. Every citizen will get a roof over their head if necessary.
Medical insurance could be better but on the other hand we have one of the worlds best healthcare systems (for which I pay 200 bucks a month with a deductible of 2500.-).
And if the politics are conservative, which can't really be as the conservatives have below 50% of the votes and results are usually determined by what the center party wants, that is what the people want (we all vote every 3 months on various issues) and I will respect that.
And even then, Germany may soon be controlled by CDU/Afd and I seriously doubt anyone would want to live in that kind of Germany.
I'd take an offer to work from home on a house boat and go sailing around the world I feel like I'd end up making a lot of new customs officer friends XD
So, for context - I live in Scotland and I guess I feel a cultural connection with being Scottish. I even have a domain with a .scot tld.
But at the same time... I know the UK is kind of slipping back in terms of social issues - starting to feel like a "mini US" than a state with european standards.
So yeah, I'm torn between staying here and moving to some as of yet unknown country with better rights...
Although, since I basically never travel and nothing is really infringing my freedom (yet ...), I'll probably not actually do anything even if I wanted to.
Love Scotland and the Scots (one of my best mates is one, and I visited many times), but it has the unfortunate flaw of being part of the UK indeed... I guess the obvious option that is similar-ish without having that flaw is Ireland, but personally living in the Netherlands I'm only really considering a move if it's to somewhere truly different (tropical, etc).
Israeli, I've been considering this for several years but the impact on the family seemed too big. Since the war with Gaza, and the the political situation, the impact seems with it. Last week I've started looking for options.
I haven't given up on being a stick in the mud keeping Austin a little different from other parts of Texas. The loudest idiots in this state rebuke Austin as something un-Texan, but I'm not going anywhere and am continuing to live and vote the way I do. I know it's a little easier for me to say this, not having to worry about kids, so I don't expect others to make the same choice, even if they feel the same way.
I love that everyone else here is saying they'd move to Canada. I also live in the PNW and as much as I hate how expensive it is, I do not see myself wanting to go anywhere else. Somewhere else in the province? Maybe. But it's fucking beautiful here and I'm not gonna pretend it's not.
Quite a few places, particularly if it was coupled with a decent job. Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, S. Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and mayyybe the US depending on how enticing the job was.
Having recently moved to Europe due to the political situation and level of threat to me and my family back in my home country, I can definitely say it can work out extremely well.
I now live in the first world where I’m actually cared for as a human being by the laws and regulations.
But ultimately it’s your prerogative to determine the course of action that suites your goals and desires.
My friend and I are actually planning to start taking trips to find which country we want to live in later on (we're both single/childless). We've been looking around Europe and Southeast Asia.
I have the choice of moving to Brazil, not Rio or São Paulo but to the north eastern part. I have too many family ties here in the US to make the move, but when I get older or if shit really goes off the rails here I will. I'll probably just buy a small shipping container and bring my irreplaceable stuff in it and send it down on a boat. Would it be expensive? Sure, but if I sell off what I won't be bringing it'll more than outweigh those costs. Or maybe I'll win the lottery, if I ever bought tickets.
Only if the living wage is far better or the job market in that country is better, so I can find another job if things don't work out as expected.
Moving the country means I have to sacrifice some benefits that I already have like my family, dog, and house. Would have said yes in a heartbeat years ago, but not now.
US Here, I'd like to but not having the skill sets right now makes for difficult to move to another country.
Which leads to another problem, if I do I leave my entire social network behind to a culture that I don't know and trying to live there. While I'm not against that, I realize that can be VERY isolating so not sure where the place I'd want to go right now.
I really love Belgium. It's a criminally underrated country with a silly culture and a pretty fun vibe.
The bad news is that I'm Moroccan, and not just any Moroccan, a QUEER Moroccan (even more specifically, an aroace gender non-conforming Moroccan man), meaning basically everyone hates me.
I need to get the visa which takes forever to get and I have a chance of getting denied.
Right wing politicians in the country are basically super racist and really hate the immigrants so much (most of the bad apples are second generation folks that literally act like they're having a stroke, even Moroccans hate them).
Housing is expensive basically everywhere. People in Belgium are pretty introverted (just like me), meaning they basically don't care of my presence, but it's much harder to make friends.
Everyone I know actively discourages moving there because they only know Brussels and... the snooze festival that is Charleroi or something, but they've never heard of Ghent or Hasselt or Bruges or Liège or Antwerpen (truly amazing cities) so they're basically untrustworthy.
I'm so disconnected from the country I live in that I genuinely don't feel Moroccan and want to get rid of my citizenship (spoiler alert: it's quite literally impossible). But is it really easy to convince people? Actually, my family gets very mad when I say this because they're super patriotic and shit.
I don't even practice religion. I've never cared about it. I do believe in God, but I really lack that spirituality and whatnot that would make me "religious". But unfortunately everyone would wanna kill me for apostasy.
I could go on, but we'd be here all day. Basically, I hate my country so much and I just want out so bad.
About 10 years ago, I moved to Japan and don't regret it. The only real downsides are that my family is on the other side of the world and the yen is doing poorly against the dollar. Well, that and being a US citizen trying to do something silly like use Japanese retirement vehicles outside of pension (iDECO and NISA) is basically impossible because everything is considered a PFIC by the US, but that's true of many things in other countries as a US citizen.
Otherwise, I'd need a specific destination and reason to want to live there instead of "I don't want to live here." I make a point to not have "grass is greener" syndrome, sometimes to a fault.
I did move within the EU for studying and for work and it was generally a good experience and I would do it again. Am German and have been in Ireland for studying and lived in the Netherlands and Slovenia for work (although never longer than for one year).
Wouldn't mind moving somewhere where the government gives a fuck but I do think the transition would be difficult for me. I was the "gifted" kid growing up so now anything I'm not instantly good at (like learning a new language) can be a struggle.
Maybe once my college is paid off, if that ever happens lol
North Americans, I'm one of you. You have to leave for a while. You gain perspective.
Back in '07, I left. I was in Australia in '09 and some Aussies asked me, 'what's it like living over there?'
The only thing I could come up with at the time was " causes neuroticism.' It's so much worse now that we have social media, smartphones, and a penchant for duelling forms of misinformation.
What I learned is that there are many ways to live. There are lots of goals people have — and can have — many of them are quite modest: a safe place to live, love, and feel part of community. There are much worse daily experiences than those we hear about in the news, or see on TV, or read about it books. There is truly grinding poverty and privation that does not translate well into a novel or an article — readership is fickle. Yet, from those ashes, there is still joy, levity, and grace.
So, we residents of the most powerful economies must see outside of our bubbles. We must see, first hand, how we are duped into believing there is only one set of goals, one North American dream, one prestige, and one centre of power. When you spend enough years away, you just might forget about homeownership, career-building, and fretting over retirement. You might find that life is about living, about doing good work, and about being with people you care to pass the time with.
At least, that's what 12 years outside of NA taught me.