This will be longer and more personal than I wanted, but I’ll try to be as brief as I can.
We have loved living in CA for the last 15 years. In many ways I live in paradise, weather is always great, in an old 1923 house in the hills. You couldn’t ask for more really – in a major city, but with lots of nature around.
But as I hit 53, (and to be honest already since I turned 50), I’ve started to think (I didn’t really before;): The cost of living in the US is absolutely out of control at this point and I’m a little tired of running at 110% speed all the time just to stay afloat – and not even qualify for my health insurance. I’ve honestly never worked more in my life than I do now, only to have less in my pocket each year (I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way and inflation is a worldwide problem). I’m losing that iron will that used to move mountains I had. Just to give you an idea of my mental state, I keep watching YouTube clips of people moving off grid, no electricity and/or living without money 
. I envy the Amish at this point – they seem to have such peaceful, simple lives. I want simplicity and less recurring financial obligations.
The burn rate here in the US each month is astronomical compared to any European country/city (perhaps with the exception of London or Monte Carlo). Add the sense that it’s an empire in severe decline with all the turmoil going on politically, I toy with the idea of maybe choosing life now, over life later, if that makes sense. I’m finding myself less and less enamored with the idea of working 18hr days for another 20 years to pay off this mortgage and the maybe get 5 years of life with no payments before I drop dead? I could sell now and buy something outright in a many places in Europe and get some of my time back. Time for travel and not having to work quite as much (I’m not talking retirement here, just working less), time to read a book, wood work, or build an experimental perhaps.
Family is in Sweden, so that would be the most logical option. I can maneuver there and know it well. But I’ve also not lived in Swedish winters for 25 years and although I think I wouldn’t mind, I’m a little worried about those endless grey days on my mental state. And it’s up there, far from the continent.
France has always appealed, has a GA scene, but is it realistic to bring a young-ish family there when I’m the only one who speaks a bad version of the language? Spain? Italy? On top of this is all the turmoil in the world – will this spill over? Nobody knows of course.
I suppose I’m not making much sense and these are luxury thoughts to have, but how does your region feel to you at this moment in time? And if you wanted to relocate in Europe, which country or region would you personally chose where the quality of life aspects and cost of living coincide into a happy medium? And perhaps where the GA scene is at least decent?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Have you sold the Twin Commander or not?
No, not yet.
@Adam we lived in LA in the mid 80’s, Brentwood. We rented, but to give you an idea, a nice house then could be found for $400k! less in Topanga Park. Very fond memories, but not sure I could live in the USA, mainly the lack of health cover unless you can afford it. Have lived in Italy and Ireland, and worked a fair bit in Germany. You need to know your way around Italy, and while a beautiful country it has its quirks. Ireland you can sort of live off grid, relatively speaking, but Dublin is a nice city, as is Cork.
Am very happy in the UK, although the tax burden is high, but we don’t live in London. Not planning on moving and the climate seems to be improving.
If I were planning to move to Europe probably would look at Munich, although deutsch ist sehr schwierig :)
Maybe it would be an option to reduce some stress by going for a “less is more” strategy first in the US, before jumping ship entirely? Sell expensive house, get a smaller one or move to a lower cost of living city, get rid of planes and cars etc…
A move to another continent and starting a new life isn’t exactly free of charge either.
For Austria I can say that as I get older (grow up 😆) I realize I appreciate more and more
+ stability/low crime/liberal non hysterical public&media
(kids play/run around freely in the neighborhood and pee in bushes 😊, non event).
+ high quality produce/food/clean environment & water
+ GA “how to” and activity is pretty much unchanged since mid 2000’s (obviously prices went up, but nothing extraordinary).
+ public transport/rail and even Autobahn driving (eastern part) is mostly good and no hassle.
+ taxes vs “free” healthcare/education seem balanced (favoring asset owners, eg no inheritance tax, no gift tax).
- inflation kicked the “moderate” prices (especially on groceries) we had up to the “normal” level of other western euro countries (AT is heavily rugas dependent, UKR war really kicked up prices, government is stagnant about it)
- real estate prices (pretty much doubled in last 15 years IMO), however heavily location dependent and not nearly as crazy as some other EU areas.
+ climate seems ok + plenty of water.
+ Location: Proximity to many interesting places, especially by GAair.
Also a thumbs up for Austria
On your 680V it is very good value, am guessing the pool of qualified buyers, owner flown, insurance qualified, means the market is very thin, even in the USA.
The whole world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket these days, but some places do it slower than others. At this point in life, I am based in Czechia, which is the sixth home country in my life (including California back in the 1990s), and despite all the problems in politics and economy that people are talking about, it often seems to be an island of reason in the ocean of madness. To be less subjective, I’ll try to list pluses and minuses in pairs.
The overall cost of living is generally low, but so are the salaries.
The Gini coefficient (measure of income inequality across the population) is very low, but the disparity in housing costs between big cities and surrounding countryside is very high.
The general level of stress is very low, and life is unrushed. But not much is happening here, and many things take a long time to get done.
People are unagressive, polite and respectful to each other, but on the average not very driven and slow to get going.
The political scene is moderate, with neither far left nor far right in power, but it took a big coalition to unseat a populist bullshitter whose party has since gained even more voter support (more than any other single party), and the resulting government is fairly impotent.
The country is well-industrialised and has a good workforce, yet the economy is generally floundering.
We have fantastic GA traditions with more pilots per 1000 inhabitants than the US, but the current GA scene is heavily affected by the overall condition of economy.
Bottom line: if you are not a homebody, it’s a decent and convenient home base to travel from, provided you come with an existing source of income. Generally similar to what Snoopy is saying about Austria (no wonder, the two countries are culturally closer to each other than to any of their neighbours).
It’s worth saying I am not necessarily considering Czechia my permanent home for the rest of my life, I am regularly doing my homework to determine potential places to move to. To me, it’s not worth the trouble to do it on my own, but if/when I start a new family, I will consider moving elsewhere either permanently or seasonally. If I were to choose a country/region on the balance of all factors, the top of my list would probably be the very north of Italy.
Regarding the ideas you listed yourself: I used to live in France and didn’t really like it; the only region where I would consider living is the Mediterranean coast between Marseille and Spanish border (Montpellier? Sète?). It’s just about the only part of France where non-overindulging people seem to enjoy life. Quoting Coluche: “Les français sont des consommateurs d’emmerdements”. Sweden and its grey skies: as you already have an advantage of knowing the ins and outs in general, have you considered Skåne for a better climate?
We went through the exact same thought process 4-5 years ago. We lived in Mountain View (SF Bay Area, home to Google) which is a great place to live. We had great weather, we had all the West at hand (Death Valley, which we loved and still do, and all the rest).
But… healthcare, family, Trump… so we decided to move back to France. My wife is French, and we lived here for 10 years during the 90s.
We have absolutely no regrets. Lifestyle in France is fantastic (food, work/life balance, paysage, …). It helps that my wife is French and I speak it fluently. Your kids will pick it up in no time and will be correcting your mistakes. We do miss… Death Valley, the Palo Alto fuel truck, our local hardware store. That’s about it. OK, we chose Nice, so the weather is mostly great.
One thing you have to accept – aviation is NOT great. If you live to fly, stay in the US. But if that’s just one thing in a whole lifestyle, you have to decide.
My 2¢
AdamFrisch wrote:
I’m the only one who speaks a bad version of the language?
If you aren’t looking into the UK. I have to say most people in the Netherlands and Flanders (Northern Belgium) can speak fairly decent English. And GA is still alive here :)
AdamFrisch wrote:
how does your region feel to you at this moment in time?
I feel like we’re doing okay, all could be better of course, but I feel like all of Europe (maybe some minor exceptions) is becoming more self aware. I’m not relocating anytime soon but I do like to travel, I did spend half of 2023 in the US 
AdamFrisch wrote:
And if you wanted to relocate in Europe, which country or region would you personally chose where the quality of life aspects and cost of living coincide into a happy medium?
Probably Poland, close to Warsaw I don’t think there’s many safer places in Europe, it’s very affordable, not to say cheap, friendly people, a growing economy and it’s surprisingly modern. I expected all grey Sovjet apartment blocks the first time I went there, I was pleasantly surprised. (Same with the climate, it sounds cold, and in winter, it can be, but their summers can get really hot)
The best things in Europe in my view are the food, the vacation possibilities and the mountains/roads, if you’re into that sort of thing – as I am. So that’s what I’d try to maximize. The weather north of the Alps is poor, it’s congested everywhere so unless you’re off the beaten track the housing value is poor, assuming you want any room – my wife’s tiny half-duplex outside of Munich is worth €750K. The healthcare is poor unless you’re in specific areas. I wouldn’t fly there except for Ultralights. Pay is half of what you’re used to – for me personally in engineering it would be one-third.
On the other hand, Los Angeles is the armpit of the world except for flying and as you’ve noticed is expensive at the same time. I can’t imagine why anybody with a choice lives there when you can move 100-200 miles and be somewhere so much nicer. So my view if you’re motivated to lower your cash flow is to go to a more rural part of California or another more rural place in the US. If you do decide to go to Europe and don’t want to buy property, rent may be lower (ROI on European residential rental property is horrible) so if you’re happy being a perpetual renter you could look at that angle. Most everything else except food, hotels and vacations generally will be more expensive. The places where the weather is reasonable IMO are all south of the Alps so southern France, Italy and Slovenia might be interesting from that point of view, plus Croatia and some other similar places if you don’t mind being a little isolated. I could choose retire on Corsica, if I spoke French and had an independent income. Of course language is an issue so make sure you’re prepared to learn. I speak passable Italian and my wife speaks German so we’re occasionally thought of a place in the Sudtirol/Alto Adige, after retirement when our income will continue come from the US no matter where we are – there’s no way we’d want to rely on the local economy. But that comes down to what you know or want to learn. It won’t be easy if you don’t know the language, a couple of weeks is fine but when you need a plumber fast and have to make calls to find one it’s not so fun.
