231–240 of 400 posts
I'm from Italy originally, and now live in SF. I would go back to Italy in a heartbeat if I were retiring, or if I were a software developer doing remote work. Great people, great food, great history/culture, etc. I'd probably pick Venezia (Venice), one of the most stunning places in the world. One of the tourist-free areas, of course. The problem with Italy is when you have to deal with people for work. Terrible. A…
If you like being outdoors, this is the place. The culture here is exactly that: to be outside all the time skiing, cycling, climbing, hiking, etc.
The only downside is that it's quite expensive :(
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No guns and free healthcare are two things that come to mind.
Canada ranks 6th in the western world when it comes to guns per 100 people.
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Why not Budapest then? Still fairly central, much cheaper, nice spas and amenities, closer to eastern Europe, and IMO the food is better
Much worse infrastructure, if you care about such things. Probably not as good a place to raise children (especially with the politics of the recent decade or so).
Switzerland. High living standard and good wage, multiple languages to speak (German, French, Italian, and English), neutral in the world (so I don't have to bother with wars children disguised as adults are organising), great public transport. Beautiful landscape, I'm very fond of mountains, YMMV (yes, I've been in SV/SF, also very nice). Alas, my parents weren't Swiss, but they were from a reasonably liberal (in th…
I'm genuinely surprised that this post is up to 214 comments and nobody has mentioned Paris yet. I have no idea what the practicalities of a life in Paris are, but it's still at the top of my list. In maybe half a dozen visits, I've found Parisians to be quite friendly for city dwellers (very much counter to the stereotype). If I approach situations in my severely broken French, people figure out quite quickly that t…
Other than the cold/hot weather, there's nothing more I could want out of chicago. As you said, the cost of living in comparison to other big cities is incredible.
I'm amazed nobody has said Denver, Colorado yet. The combination of big city plus mountain geography is very unique in the US, but also anywhere in the world I think (I've heard suggestions that Zurich is similar r.e. geography, but the city isn't as big). If you like being outdoors, this is the place. The culture here is exactly that: to be outside all the time skiing, cycling, climbing, hiking, etc. The only downsi…
small, international city, everything in arm's reach, looks stupendous, young&sexy vibe, great college town rhythm, close to everything worthwhile in Europe, high-tech job market, top notch culture in Brussels (20min trainride, 4x an hour). Expensive for Belgian standards, but it's a blueprint for aspirational cities of the 21st century: human-scaled, wealthy, georgeous, diverse economy, and centrally located in the global village.
Philadelphia, PA:
best urban core in the US: compact downtown, wonderful residential areas surrounding it (old city, fairmount, society hill), great 19th century grandeur, close to everything worthwhile on Eastcoast, top notch culture. Primarily here because it is affordable and allows you to live a luxurious city life on a normal income.
Lugano, Switzerland:
italian flair in Switzerland. No jobs, but you won't care in a place that looks like the riviera nestled in the Alps. Great for outdoors people, heavenly in all seasons.
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Well, where the cost of living is cheap, the salaries will follow as well (or the other way around). Unless you work with a company in Barcelona and live somewhere else, you're not gonna be poor (money-wise) as a developer there.
The point is that corporations practice geo-arbitrage all the time, and you'd have to be a fool not to do it as well. Those $200k salaries are probably not going to last forever, and it makes sense to maximize your earnings while you can. For that reason, I wouldn't settle for a 40k EUR salary (especially in a state where 50% of that will go toward failed social policies).
Vienna. In the heart of Europe and just short drive away from every one of these: Italy Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland. ranked best place to live [1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/23/vienna-name... I'm not saying that the best thing about Vienna is the highway that get away from it (LOL), but as a foreigner it's the perfect "beach head" to explore the contin…
Lived in Vienna for 8 years, now in Berlin for the past 3. Vienna the city is great but I'd definitely say the biggest downside are the Viennese (I know this is ironically the most Viennese thing I could say). Basically everywhere in the German speaking world it's considered kinda weird to talk to strangers and people are quite...Shy, I guess? It's always the thing I appreciate most on visits to Canada, the US or the…
Ouch. That's pretty bad, especially for... you know... Austria.