Just saw a program called Tartan TV (Scots program for Americans) that interviewed several guys on a Scottish NFL team called the Scottish Claymores. They play Berlin next.

Must have been an old show - the Scottish Claymores went under years ago. "NFL Europe" bombed everywhere except Germany where it hung on for a while, I believe the whole league got wrapped up last year.

jamikins - I am so glad things are working so well for you. Much of the time we actually want to sell everything we have and go. The other times we think we want to be financially ready to retire there and travel. We just know we ARE going to do it. Just a matter of when.

We are considering some tiny and remote villages - hamlets, actually. We are looking in the Borders region in Scotland, Northumberland and the Dales/Moors, and northern Wales. I have a list and as far as I know they are little known or touristed. I'll see if I can find it.

How often were you over before you decided? What type of research did you do prior to moving? Do you think you will ever return to Canada?

USNR:

Do you think so? We have a similar problem in Switzerland but the Turks and Ex-Yugos that are here arrived 20 years ago or are second generation. I think if we can get through the next few years without much strife, the problem will eventually disappear through time-enhanced intergration.

Perhaps that's just wishful thinking.

"integration"

travel,

We had been to London two times before we moved, and we have some friends who live here so we kind of had a network already. Plus I used to work for one of the big 4 accounting firms and they helped with all the moving arrangements, setting up of bank accounts, relocation specialist etc. We were lucky to have all of that support.

As for research we used the internet alot www.livinginlondon.org is a good sight. We also read a few books that the relocation specialist sent us about looking for work etc for my hubby.

We are loving it every day and I cant imagine going back to Canada right now. I am currently in Jersey working, which is one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France. Its a beautiful sunny day, and my hubby came down for the weekend. Life is good.

yes I would because I'm not a narrow minded idiot.

I was favoured by destiny.

jamikins, I am SO happy for you! Life sounds wonderful and I am sure it will continue. It is intriguing that you are not interested in returning to Canada right now - I honestly think I would feel the same. We moved recently several hours from family and are making it work - it is sort of weaning us for the next bigger step!

Everything we do we have moving in mind.

Thanks for the link - I will certainly be looking into this!

Thanks travel, we are pretty happy too My parents on the other hand...hahahaha

btw, the link is www.livinginlondon.net

Good luck with your planning!

Definately 6 months here and 6 months in Italy if I could have my dream life

Travelgourmet, that wouldn't necessarily be the case in the UK, where most shops are now open on Sundays and you could quite easily do your food shopping then if you wished. And although many shops on the continent are not open all weekend, that is to some extent compensated for by later opening hours in the evenings in the week.

RM67: Yes, it wouldn't be as much the case in the UK, or even across the Øresund in Sweden. But much of Europe still has limited Sunday hours (Germany, for instance) and evening hours can be in short supply, as well. In those countries, I think it can be a challenge for people to get done what they need to get done on a daily basis.

>The tensions building will some day reach an explosion point.

The Turkification of Germany does not differ at all from the Italian immigration into the USA at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.

Thanks, jamikins. Our parents are not totally pleased with the idea, either, as they are in their 60s and not in perfect health. That does concern me, of course. Perhaps we'll do the 6 months in Canada and 6 months in Europe thing. Either way, we are doing it!

Travelgourmet...well said, "regimented time". I know you now live in KBH and I lived there the entire summer months from 1973-1993 and then didn't go for 10 years and went back for visits starting 2003. As for KBH...I was always on regimented time. I would go to school most of the day to learn Danish although I didn't have to, but I believe in studying the language of a country. Then by the time I got out of school and had lots of errands to to it was getting late and I knew I had to run around like a chicken with my head cut off to get to the market...etc before it closed around 5PM. Here in the states, I go to Whole Foods and usually do my shopping at 9:30PM.
Sometimes, I would try to rush into Illums on stroget, about less than 10 minutes before closing and the doors would already be closed and no one could come in. Not to mention nearly everything closed on Sunday and open until around 2PM on Saturdays.And don't come back from a long trip on a weekend and need to grocery shop...forget about it...wait until Monday to get anything done. So, I have a lot more free time here at home since I don't have to spend my time shopping when everyone else is shopping and doing other needed things. Happy Travels!

My parents on the other hand...hahahaha

My parents were a bit worried when I went to the US.
At the time, I was living on the Welsh coast and I pointed out that it took me just over six hours by train to visit them.
I pointed out that it would take about the same time by plane from the US.
Of course, nowadays, it's easy to keep in touch via the Internet.

Yes, if I could I would move to Paris in a heartbeat.

I moved from a suburb of New York City 7 years ago - when both parents were passed - and I used to commute to and occasionally live in NYC - which I dont miss one bit - nor the cold and snow - although I always thought I would miss the mountains where I was born and lived all my life - nope - I find I dont miss that either. And although it was a small town where you knew everyone, as the influx of city people came, we "natives" moved out- so nothing to miss there.

@Zeppole,

Funny that you mention moving to Liguria - I have been looking at that area (on the map) for a few months, and intend to make a trip to Nice in the Fall and explore from there. I used to speak Italian and find it comes back, not very gramatically, but well enough to get by when I have others to speak with - on the other hand I find French a very difficult language for me.

For a few years I have been researching moving to Europe - I love Paris, but buying/even renting where I would want to live is out of the question financially with our dollar in the tank.

I had heard that if you can show your parents or grandparents were born in an EU country, you can get EU citizenship - dual citizenship which would allow you to move anywhere in an EU country, and at least be able to work at something, if you chose to.

But then researching the taxes and health care situation and so on for a permanent full time move - changed my mind.

I now think it would be more practical to keep my little villa in Florida (which you cant sell now anyway - nothing is selling) and look to rent for 3 months in France or Italy late summer into fall to get away from the hurricanes also. Seems like the best of both worlds.

Zeppole's area seems ideal - able to pick up and travel to Greece, or Paris, and visit other places by train or inexpensive internal European airlines.

Late night shopping is not uncommon in the UK.

I was amused to hear a supermarket manager describing his late night customers.
He said that you first got shift workers doing a bit of shopping on the way home, but around midnight you got couples with young babies.
He reckoned that the parents thought that if the little perisher was keeping them awake, they might as well go and get their groceries.

You can obtain an Irish passport based on near ancestry (or could in the 1990s, haven't checked since then) but I believe this still varies from counry to country. However, once you have established citizenship in any EU country and hold that passport, it's much easier to move around or re-locate.

However, we have found that we are not eligible for all reciprocal benefits because while husband is a UK citizen, he has not been resident in the UK the last three years and thus doesn't benefit from health care reciprocity with France, for instance.