Moving to somewhere else

[Jog On]

I hear Croatia has it all

[Rantor]

Which parts would let me live there? The French DOM-TOMs perhaps? Are there bug-free islands?

Note to all: this is doing what I wanted, getting a discussion going and drawing out a diverse selection of contributions.

ALso the durtch ones? Most of them are dutch municipal communes.

Cayman - possible but a bit florida-strip-mall & dead expensive.

Tobago (not Trinidad) - the east end of tobago (Speyside etc) is amazing - was affordable a few yrs ago.

A kit fi the smaller BWI islands are not see easy to reside in unless you are mega-minted.

[Rantor]

Possible. Gib a bit claustrophobic. How about Madeira (M'dear)?

Going there Friday for a week on Madeira & week on Porto Santo - I'll let you know!

[Rantor]

Never been there but how about Gibraltar or Malta ?

Gozo is a nice wee island (esp for the diving) - scorchio though in summer.

[dang65]

I think the Isle of Man (already suggested) is genuinely as close as you're going to get to your ideal at the moment. Apparently their smoking ban is proposed to come into force in March 2008. I doubt if anywhere in the "developed world" will hold out much longer than that anyway. The island passes all the other requirements on your list with flying colours, though you may have to get a permie job there first to be entitled to move there. Once you're in though you should be fine to change to contracting.

[Euro-commuter]

FFS, you are going to have to compromise.
.....
Anywhere that is dirt cheap is going to be 3rd world or somewhere only the retired can live in (no jobs).
.....
Smoking is going to be banned in most of EU over the next few years.

You've grasped the problem i.e. how to have it all.

"somewhere only the retired can live in (no jobs)."? FFS I'm living in Bedfordshire and commuting out of Heathrow already. No jobs? None here either.

... yes, so EU out.

PS those who think it is just one indulgence have not grasped the problem: if you can't smoke in bars etc, we will not go out. I'm looking for somewhere we can go out.

Zürich. Good choice. But they won't let me live there, will they? They'll just let me gastarbeiten. And they won't let my partner live and work there at all (unfortunately she has a psychological need to work, an affliction that I do not share).

[Euro-commuter]

Sounds like Zurich to me.
...
Best hospitals I've ever been in, they ask you when you would like to come in. To them a ward is two beds. At 55 that's important.

Good luck

Is it? I've never been in a hospital as a patient since I had my tonsils out at about 9.

[Euro-commuter]

I hear Croatia has it all

will have EU smoking ban before long. OK you can eat and drink and smoke outside but you will get bugs. Again, I'm not talking about a minor inconvenience: my partner has a major skin reaction to being bitten (by insects). She was bitten on the legs by midgies on our summer holiday in NW Scotland, and still has marks that unfortunately stop her wearing skirts. That was 3 years ago.

Otherwise I'd think of it, it's been a hugely long time since I was there but I liked it.

Just off the plan, without having been there, I wondered about Slovakia?

[Euro-commuter]

You are already in or close to your dream country.

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.
-- Ueshiba sensei

[Moscow Mule]

Just off the plan, without having been there, I wondered about Slovakia?

Has giant bugs.