[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

Why not? If that country has visa restrictions then its going to take a lot more planning but what's to stop a single person or childless couple packing a bag and heading off to Europe?

I've lived in France, Italy and the US. France was easy because of my French relatives and the US was easy because I had friends but I was 18 when I went back packing around Europe and ended up living and working in Trieste (Italy) for a year.

Because, as I said, life isn't that simple.

For a teenager on a gap year maybe, but it's quite a broad question being asked in the OP. The majority of people will have baggage/barriers in the way.

Not many people can turn a backpacking trip into a brand new permanent life in a new country.

I never said it was impossible, I said it's not simple. And it isn't.

[Johnnyuk123]

Originally Posted by Cherie

It can be done but obviously if you have kids it needs planning, and you need to know you can support them

But Cherie there are many people who leave their family behind and just leave the country. If only they cared enough to think about their children.

[Johnnyuk123]

My friend who left for New Zealand left behind all of his family and parents and siblings. He upset them all for sure but i do understand why he did it after talking with him at length. He remains intouch online and he is back on speaking terms with his family and children now.

[Marsh.]

And what was the reason for him leaving his children for New Zealand?

[Johnnyuk123]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

And what was the reason for him leaving his children for New Zealand?

He had lots of reasons Marsh. Wife was about to divorce him and threatened him saying he would not get access to his kids etc, At that time and the state that he was in he simply wanted a fresh start. There is a lot more to why he left that i won't go into but it was not a selfish act on his part.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Johnnyuk123

But Cherie there are many people who leave their family behind and just leave the country. If only they cared enough to think about their children.

Not everyone can do commitment Unfortunately Johnny

[Johnnyuk123]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Not everyone can do commitment Unfortunately Johnny

Thats true. not many can cope with commitment.

[bots]

i've lived in several different countries over the years. Never hated any of them. Places do not define happiness or "hate". The experience you have is purely related to the people you are with at the moment in time that you are there.

[Johnnyuk123]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

i've lived in several different countries over the years. Never hated any of them. Places do not define happiness or "hate". The experience you have is purely related to the people you are with at the moment in time that you are there.

I am not defining anything. It's a simple question. Yes or no.

[Marsh.]

*taps foot waiting for the OP to be edited*

[Johnnyuk123]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

*taps foot waiting for the OP to be edited*

It doesn't need editing.

[Johnnyuk123]

If i said... would you choose to eat eggs if you hated eggs. Would that need editing?

[Marsh.]

No, not your title. Your OP.

You're asking two different things.

[Johnnyuk123]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

No, not your title. Your OP.

You're asking two different things.

Ok i've corrected it.

[joeysteele]

No.

[Ammi]

....I don't think that I would move because I 'hated' something but rather that I was moving because I loved something else/somewhere else and felt that, that was the place that my heart felt was right for me...for me, the place where the people I love most in the world are is the right place, regardless of which country that is...

[RichardG]

I read a great post online a while back. This guy hated everything about the UK. Hated his job, hated the weather, hated walking home at night having to avoid the scary hooded teenagers, hated the tv, hated the politics etc etc and eventually managed to move to Canada, a move that thought would totally change his life for the better!! After a couple of months he realised that he was working the same job over there but with less days holiday a year, the weather was even colder, scary looking people existed on street corners at night there too and the tv was just as awful and concluded that life is miserable everywhere ...but he at least had family and friends in the UK so he moved back after a year.

He put it much better than I did but it kinda sums up my thoughts I guess, assuming we lived in a world where you actually could move wherever you want with no legal/visa issues then I'd only move because there was something about the other country that I really really liked as opposed to something about my own that I really hated.

[kirklancaster]

How old were his kids Johnny?

I cannot envisage ANY genuine family man leaving his young children - no matter what the situation is with his wife. If the kids are all grown up, fled the nest and started their own lives, then, that may be another matter.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by RichardG

I read a great post online a while back. This guy hated everything about the UK. Hated his job, hated the weather, hated walking home at night having to avoid the scary hooded teenagers, hated the tv, hated the politics etc etc and eventually managed to move to Canada, a move that thought would totally change his life for the better!! After a couple of months he realised that he was working the same job over there but with less days holiday a year, the weather was even colder, scary looking people existed on street corners at night there too and the tv was just as awful and concluded that life is miserable everywhere ...but he at least had family and friends in the UK so he moved back after a year.

He put it much better than I did but it kinda sums up my thoughts I guess, assuming we lived in a world where you actually could move wherever you want with no legal/visa issues then I'd only move because there was something about the other country that I really really liked as opposed to something about my own that I really hated.

'The grass is always greener' uh Richard?.

This is the thing with holidays; we spend exciting, exhilarating weeks of our lives on holiday in foreign countries, and we succumb to the warmer climes, the strange architecture, the exotic cuisine and the language and people. It's heaven, paradise.

To we visitors who are holidaying, it is paradise, but to the people who actually live there it is merely the place where they live, and as familiar and mundane as Luton, Sheffield or Manchester is to us.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by RichardG

I read a great post online a while back. This guy hated everything about the UK. Hated his job, hated the weather, hated walking home at night having to avoid the scary hooded teenagers, hated the tv, hated the politics etc etc and eventually managed to move to Canada, a move that thought would totally change his life for the better!! After a couple of months he realised that he was working the same job over there but with less days holiday a year, the weather was even colder, scary looking people existed on street corners at night there too and the tv was just as awful and concluded that life is miserable everywhere ...but he at least had family and friends in the UK so he moved back after a year.

He put it much better than I did but it kinda sums up my thoughts I guess, assuming we lived in a world where you actually could move wherever you want with no legal/visa issues then I'd only move because there was something about the other country that I really really liked as opposed to something about my own that I really hated.

..yeah, I guess it's a personal thing but that's what I feel as well, it's something that I would do for a positive and more going towards something/than moving away from, which is more of a negative.../still though, moving away from a negative can take you toward that positive and be perfect for someone..so good or bad/positive or negative..every 'reason' has a path and every path leads you...

[Ashley.]

No, why would I put myself through that when I can easily just not live there?

[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Because, as I said, life isn't that simple.

For a teenager on a gap year maybe, but it's quite a broad question being asked in the OP. The majority of people will have baggage/barriers in the way.

Not many people can turn a backpacking trip into a brand new permanent life in a new country.

I never said it was impossible, I said it's not simple. And it isn't.

My husbands parents are artists and decided on a whim that they'd go and live on a hippy commune in Spain. Three small children, my husband being the eldest who had just started school, were packed in a van along with the canvases and water colours and set out on a new adventure that was to last eight years. The kids were home schooled (mother was a school teacher) and lived with their parents in a troglodyte in Andalusia.

He always speaks about his wonderful young childhood right up to the point of coming back to the UK where he and his sister and brother found it extremely difficult to fit into a conventional school. For him, the east end of London was a grim place in comparison to what he'd been used to.

In his case, moving to a new country at the age of four wasn't a problem but moving to a new country at the age of 12 caused some massive problems in his young life.

So no, people need to consider the implications and it very much depends on the children's age and what stage of schooling they are going through.

[Marsh.]

Yeah, I can't imagine home schooling the kids and settling them down was very easy/simple at all.

But that's all my point is, it aint simple.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Johnnyuk123

He had lots of reasons Marsh. Wife was about to divorce him and threatened him saying he would not get access to his kids etc, At that time and the state that he was in he simply wanted a fresh start. There is a lot more to why he left that i won't go into but it was not a selfish act on his part.

I wonder if his children will agree with you when they grow up without a dad in their lives The wife can threaten him with no access to his kids all she likes, the courts however would not let her do that without very good reason

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

i've lived in several different countries over the years. Never hated any of them. Places do not define happiness or "hate". The experience you have is purely related to the people you are with at the moment in time that you are there.

I agree with that