JoeMama_the_Pilot wrote:
where is this trust coming from ?
You’d have to ask a social scientist about that.
A friend and his wife of Irish/English origin and approximately your age, who have lived and raised a family in Vancouver over the past 25 years, have just moved back to Europe. After much evaluation with a long checklist they settled in Portugal. No aviation connection, so that wasn‘t part of the decision process, but they had no issues sorting everything out in English and seem happy with their decision so far.
Silvaire wrote:
Seeing the world outside of a narrow view is a a good thing.
This is so true. There’s a fundamental perspective change that takes place when one is forced to move to adjust to another culture, and it almost doesn’t matter which culture it is. That has tremendous value, even if you eventually return to your home country.
I’ve seen countless opinions about less frequented places in the US which would be considerably cheaper yet within the airline network to the big places if you need to hop over for work.
If you choose the location carefully, it can actually be better because getting through security at a small regional US airport is easy and then you’re ’in the system’ regardless of subsequent connections. In combination with Global Entry and/or TSA Pre-Check this makes US-based worldwide airline travel easier.
@chflyer Portugal has the golden visa program, under potential review, which is designed for people living off pensions/investments.
RobertL18C wrote:
Portugal has the golden visa program, under potential review, which is designed for people living off pensions/investments.
AFAIK there are two types: golden visa (under review) with shorter wait before permanent visa and the usual visa for people living off pernsions/investments/nomads (people with income generated abroad).
A couple of women who used to run a cafe here in the countryside have emigrated to Portugal, where they will basically live on the beach, off-grid 
One of them had to come back though due to some problem with the permit. Another friend of mine, retired IT, retired ex-librarian wife, emigrated to Portugal too. Then a couple of beach-bum surfers I knew where the woman was into horses, and Portugal is big on that. None of these spoke a word of Portugese.
None of these people will be looking for any “proper work” and frankly I’d like to know how you would get any, given the low level of economic activity, particularly in the tech sphere. It seems pretty similar to the huge numbers of Brits who went to Spain; basically none of them was after any real work, and if you sell a house here for 750k and buy a similar one there for 250k, and you are 65, you don’t need to work. And looking at those who I know did it, I’d say the same about moving to France. Without major effort (well beyond learning the language) the “integration” options are poor.
The obvious problem is that if it doesn’t work out, and you have brought the whole family with kids, you have a problem…
Basically my entire lifetime experience of English speaking people I personally knew who moved to Portugal Spain or France, at a stage of life where they were still productive, and doing something technical, is one of zero success work-wise and zero success on the “neighbourhood integration” front. And this would not surprise anybody selling tech products to these countries.
Of course, anyone with a Schengen Pass doesn‘t need a visa and working is also not a problem if desired. Any kind of tech work can be done from home these days, and the employer doesn‘t need to be in-country (Portugal). Or self-employed would work.
Well, not really, much as many people believe that.
Someone from the US (the OP, or from the UK) won’t have a schengen pass.
Re working from home, this is a huge discussion. There is a growing realisation that “almost nobody actually works at home” 
For a hilarious example, look at the post-covid UK CAA! And working at home is lonely. And can be impossible if you have children at home and have to take customer phone calls. There are also many problems with “team communication” – not everything can be done over video. Accordingly, among well organised companies, there is a large scale move back to the office – at least for a few days a week. Humans were not made for remote interaction. It continues to work in companies run by brain-dead people, but is doomed in the corporate sphere. It can work for a highly motivated individual who likes being mostly alone, and I can well imagine someone like that living on Alderney, with a dog for company, and writing software
I think that’s a pretty extreme view. My son works from home, has done for years, and so do the various teams he has worked with (all IT contractors). My team in India all work from home, and it is working well. For that matter, so do I. I do somewhat miss the team interaction from the “good old days” of having an office, but I don’t miss being there 9-6 every day. My commute then (in the US) was 10 minutes, so that wasn’t a problem for me, but it was for some of my colleagues.
One of the very best engineers I had back in the US married a Greek lady (he is Greek too) and upped and moved to Santorini. He’s still there, 20 years and a couple of employers later. During that time he has implemented the BGP protocol (no mean feat) for each of them!
