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- Thread starter blowingupjake
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- flee the states!
bellcore
Well-Known Member
Not Happy With the Candidates? How to Try Out a New Country
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/travel/emigrating-from-us-donald-trump-hillary-clinton.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0
On Feb. 15, Rob Calabrese, a Canadian radio disc jockey, launched a website inviting Americans to take refuge on a Nova Scotia island. The site, Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins, has received 977,000 visits and so many inquiries about emigrating that it now offers a link to the Canadian government’s application. (President Obama even mentioned it during last week’s state dinner with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.) The site was, of course, a response to a familiar refrain, the threat to move abroad if politics doesn’t go your way. In the wake of primary victories by Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump on Super Tuesday, people took to Twitter to vow to move to Canada, and the use of the search phrase “move to Canada” surged on Google. ,
The Association of Americans Resident Overseas estimates that eight million nonmilitary Americans currently live abroad, in more than 160 countries. While there are no reliable statistics about motives, few of the expatriates are believed to have left out of disgust with their politicians. Much more likely, they made a job-related move. Or retired to a warmer climate and friendlier economy. Or simply took a vacation and never came home.
Nan McElroy, for instance, had been working as a film and video editor in Atlanta when she visited Italy for the first time at the age of 40. She fell in love with the country, and ultimately moved to Venice 11 years ago. Now 60, she works as a sommelier and oarswoman, teaching people to row boatsstanding up in the Venetian style. “Even when it’s simple, it’s really complicated,” she said about emigrating. “You have to really want to do it.”
I asked Ms. McElroy and others familiar with expat life about the things Americans traveling abroad should do if they’re visiting a place with an eye to settling down. Here are several suggestions.
Book your accommodations through Airbnb and be sure to take out the garbage.
If you really want to get a feeling for a city, my experts agreed, do not stay in a hotel. Hotels cater to what they think are your tastes and go out of their way to make you comfortable. Instead, find an actual home that allows you to experience genuine life. Stumble around during a power failure. Take a shower without hot water. Sort the trash; did the neighbors give you the stink eye? Recycling regulations vary from country to country but can be astoundingly complex. Japan has eight categories of trash, including combustibles, noncombustibles, plastics and plastic bottles. If you don’t put the right detritus in the right bag, your garbage may be publicly branded with what one expatriate blogger in Nagoya described as “the red sticker of shame.”
Stop by a local grocery store. Did you find peanut butter and Pop-Tarts?
Of course not, but even if it’s hard to imagine life without typical American foodstuffs, don’t despair. George Eves, the British-raised, Amsterdam-based founder of Expat Info Desk, a website that produces guides for expatriates, said that a growing number of non-American businesses cater to American tastes. Mr. Eves singled out My American Market, a French website that sells Dr Pepper, jelly beans and Aunt Jemima syrup among its 900 products. Despite such bounty, there will be difficult-to-sate-cravings that a brief vacation may not reveal, so think hard about what you may miss. A Quora survey answered by 24 American expats pinpointed Mexican food as the No. 1 yearning. For those serious about Cape Breton, Mr. Calabrese warned that the nearest Ikea is a 20-hour drive.
Rent a car and tool around.
It’s the best way to get a sense of the local topography and find out where everyone goes on weekends. Keep in mind that gas prices are all over the map. The highest price is in Hong Kong ($6.86 per gallon), the lowest in Kuwait (86 cents per gallon). A study by the traffic app Waze, based on data from 50 million drivers, rated the Netherlands the best country overall for driving, El Salvador the worst.
Take off your jacket and imagine the sun beating down on you in midsummer — 20 years from now.
What may seem like a pleasant climate in spring may be a sopping inferno in summer or cryogenic tank in winter. “If you’ve never lived by the Equator, you may find you hate being in air-conditioning all the time,” said Mr. Eves, who has lived in India, Poland, South Africa, Russia and Ukraine, among other places. There’s also global warming to consider. Prognosticators say the countries that will endure it best have both fortunate geographic locations and strategies for mitigating the impact. A University of Notre Dame index put Germany and Iceland at the top of the list, Chad at the bottom.
Tour the local institutions: real estate offices, international schools, houses of worship — but not the hospital, if you can help it.
Much can be learned about medical services in other countries through websites like ExpatHealth.organd Just Landed. No need to court disease or injury on the road. Asked whether giving birth in a foreign country was the best way to test the healthcare system while securing citizenship for a child, my experts demurred. “That doesn’t always work these days,” Mr. Eves said. “I was born in Switzerland, and I didn’t get Swiss citizenship.”
Comparison shop.
If your company is giving you two days to make up your mind about resettling in a new land, head instantly for the nearest expat bar — you can find it through the local English-language newspaper or digital equivalent — and interrogate the people sitting there. If you have more time to decide, feel free to move on. Betsy Burlingame and Joshua Wood, who run Expat Exchange, an online resource site based in New Jersey, said that many users make the prospect of retiring on the beach a theme of their travels. “Some of those people start planning ahead of time and take vacations for years,” Ms. Burlingame said. They report being in Ecuador, then Costa Rica, then the Philippines. “They find their place that way.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/travel/emigrating-from-us-donald-trump-hillary-clinton.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0
On Feb. 15, Rob Calabrese, a Canadian radio disc jockey, launched a website inviting Americans to take refuge on a Nova Scotia island. The site, Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins, has received 977,000 visits and so many inquiries about emigrating that it now offers a link to the Canadian government’s application. (President Obama even mentioned it during last week’s state dinner with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.) The site was, of course, a response to a familiar refrain, the threat to move abroad if politics doesn’t go your way. In the wake of primary victories by Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump on Super Tuesday, people took to Twitter to vow to move to Canada, and the use of the search phrase “move to Canada” surged on Google. ,
The Association of Americans Resident Overseas estimates that eight million nonmilitary Americans currently live abroad, in more than 160 countries. While there are no reliable statistics about motives, few of the expatriates are believed to have left out of disgust with their politicians. Much more likely, they made a job-related move. Or retired to a warmer climate and friendlier economy. Or simply took a vacation and never came home.
Nan McElroy, for instance, had been working as a film and video editor in Atlanta when she visited Italy for the first time at the age of 40. She fell in love with the country, and ultimately moved to Venice 11 years ago. Now 60, she works as a sommelier and oarswoman, teaching people to row boatsstanding up in the Venetian style. “Even when it’s simple, it’s really complicated,” she said about emigrating. “You have to really want to do it.”
I asked Ms. McElroy and others familiar with expat life about the things Americans traveling abroad should do if they’re visiting a place with an eye to settling down. Here are several suggestions.
Book your accommodations through Airbnb and be sure to take out the garbage.
If you really want to get a feeling for a city, my experts agreed, do not stay in a hotel. Hotels cater to what they think are your tastes and go out of their way to make you comfortable. Instead, find an actual home that allows you to experience genuine life. Stumble around during a power failure. Take a shower without hot water. Sort the trash; did the neighbors give you the stink eye? Recycling regulations vary from country to country but can be astoundingly complex. Japan has eight categories of trash, including combustibles, noncombustibles, plastics and plastic bottles. If you don’t put the right detritus in the right bag, your garbage may be publicly branded with what one expatriate blogger in Nagoya described as “the red sticker of shame.”
Stop by a local grocery store. Did you find peanut butter and Pop-Tarts?
Of course not, but even if it’s hard to imagine life without typical American foodstuffs, don’t despair. George Eves, the British-raised, Amsterdam-based founder of Expat Info Desk, a website that produces guides for expatriates, said that a growing number of non-American businesses cater to American tastes. Mr. Eves singled out My American Market, a French website that sells Dr Pepper, jelly beans and Aunt Jemima syrup among its 900 products. Despite such bounty, there will be difficult-to-sate-cravings that a brief vacation may not reveal, so think hard about what you may miss. A Quora survey answered by 24 American expats pinpointed Mexican food as the No. 1 yearning. For those serious about Cape Breton, Mr. Calabrese warned that the nearest Ikea is a 20-hour drive.
Rent a car and tool around.
It’s the best way to get a sense of the local topography and find out where everyone goes on weekends. Keep in mind that gas prices are all over the map. The highest price is in Hong Kong ($6.86 per gallon), the lowest in Kuwait (86 cents per gallon). A study by the traffic app Waze, based on data from 50 million drivers, rated the Netherlands the best country overall for driving, El Salvador the worst.
Take off your jacket and imagine the sun beating down on you in midsummer — 20 years from now.
What may seem like a pleasant climate in spring may be a sopping inferno in summer or cryogenic tank in winter. “If you’ve never lived by the Equator, you may find you hate being in air-conditioning all the time,” said Mr. Eves, who has lived in India, Poland, South Africa, Russia and Ukraine, among other places. There’s also global warming to consider. Prognosticators say the countries that will endure it best have both fortunate geographic locations and strategies for mitigating the impact. A University of Notre Dame index put Germany and Iceland at the top of the list, Chad at the bottom.
Tour the local institutions: real estate offices, international schools, houses of worship — but not the hospital, if you can help it.
Much can be learned about medical services in other countries through websites like ExpatHealth.organd Just Landed. No need to court disease or injury on the road. Asked whether giving birth in a foreign country was the best way to test the healthcare system while securing citizenship for a child, my experts demurred. “That doesn’t always work these days,” Mr. Eves said. “I was born in Switzerland, and I didn’t get Swiss citizenship.”
Comparison shop.
If your company is giving you two days to make up your mind about resettling in a new land, head instantly for the nearest expat bar — you can find it through the local English-language newspaper or digital equivalent — and interrogate the people sitting there. If you have more time to decide, feel free to move on. Betsy Burlingame and Joshua Wood, who run Expat Exchange, an online resource site based in New Jersey, said that many users make the prospect of retiring on the beach a theme of their travels. “Some of those people start planning ahead of time and take vacations for years,” Ms. Burlingame said. They report being in Ecuador, then Costa Rica, then the Philippines. “They find their place that way.”
blowingupjake
Well-Known Member
I just want to clarify that we have been thinking about bailing on the US for quite some time.
Trump does not have a chance, the idiots make the news, folks. The real people, the majority in this country, despite popular belief, will never vote a stooge into office.
After talking with the wife and weighing the options we will be pursuing Spain or Portugal. Off to research our options and smoke some more critical haze
Thank you for your input!
Happily hazed,
Jake
Trump does not have a chance, the idiots make the news, folks. The real people, the majority in this country, despite popular belief, will never vote a stooge into office.
After talking with the wife and weighing the options we will be pursuing Spain or Portugal. Off to research our options and smoke some more critical haze
Thank you for your input!
Happily hazed,
Jake
doingdishes
Well-Known Member
I pity the fool....
Gquebed
Well-Known Member
Residency isnt that hard. The term here is landed immigrant. It takes some time, but less so for white folk from the US. If youre from Colorado you will feel quite at home around Calgary...i the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains. Or if you like living right in the mountains you would like it much more in British Columbia... pretty much anywhere in that province. It is also far more progressive with weed laws than Alberta.
Gquebed
Well-Known Member
My GF is from south of Chicago. She is worried sick about her homeland. So much so that she has become a one-girl campaign machine for Bernie up here...harassing all her expat friends to do what it takes to vote Bernie. Shes drivin me fn crazy watching ALL the debates and townhalls and voting results.I just want to clarify that we have been thinking about bailing on the US for quite some time.
Trump does not have a chance, the idiots make the news, folks. The real people, the majority in this country, despite popular belief, will never vote a stooge into office.
After talking with the wife and weighing the options we will be pursuing Spain or Portugal. Off to research our options and smoke some more critical haze
Thank you for your input!
Happily hazed,
Jake
And i have been telling here over and over again... HAVE FAITH IN YOUR COUNTRYMEN... they wont vote in a complete jackass moron. Trump is just good TV... thats all.
Then i remembered... those fuckers voted Bush II in a second time....hahahahahahah
TheDizzyBizzy
Well-Known Member
Comes to an obscure marijuana forum to ask about this?
PKHydro
Well-Known Member
I knew there was something I liked about you, other than the big ass plants you grow.
nobody important 666
Well-Known Member
I would not recommend ontario. Our horse face premier is getting us to go bankrupt faster than losing at the casino. At least we are now number one in the world for a non country debt.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Yes, now use that debt to discredit her and her cronies, then install people who will set things to rights.
wynne is actually really nice, ive met her in person and talked politics with her but they were educational political topics and osap funding issues
ontario is probably the least nicest place to live in canada bill wise , our hydro alone is outrageous in the northern communities. its like they expect everyone in ontario to be rich and have high powered jobs in toronto but expect that with people in northern ontario who can barely get a 40 hour a week job
beautiful scenery though
ontario is probably the least nicest place to live in canada bill wise , our hydro alone is outrageous in the northern communities. its like they expect everyone in ontario to be rich and have high powered jobs in toronto but expect that with people in northern ontario who can barely get a 40 hour a week job
beautiful scenery though
nobody important 666
Well-Known Member
Never meet her but she has got to be one of the most out of touch idiots ive heard talk. Under 3 opp investigations for mismanagement and outright corruption. Ever time she speaks is an outright lie.
Mount
Well-Known Member
Sounds like a candidate running for president here in the U.S...
OLD MOTHER SATIVA
Well-Known Member
the thing about ontario there has never been a party that did not want to take us to the cleaners..
the only party we really need is the
I WILL STOP HYDRO ONE FROM SCREWING YOU..party
and that shall ne'er be
the only party we really need is the
I WILL STOP HYDRO ONE FROM SCREWING YOU..party
and that shall ne'er be
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Oh HELL NO! I've seen that job and I don't want it! Those motherfuckers EARN all that gray hair, you feelin' me bro?
And ummm thanks for the "compliment", lol Although I'm pretty sure 60% of americans would also vote for a three day old dead tuna over the Chump!
lawlrus
Well-Known Member
Maybe those Canadians are a little annoyed that nobody ever thought of them as anything but America's Hat until they needed something from them, eh?
I did an interesting little eligibility survey on the country of Canada's website quite a few years back and they politely told me that I wasn't qualified at the time to be a desirable immigrant, basically. I don't hold a grudge though, and I would love to move there one day not for any political reason but simply because the place is beautiful no matter where you go.
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