At what point do you leave a failing country?

[The_Polymath]

No idea. Never been there.

I assume religious and conservative area?

[Cooke]

@dr_t_non-fan

Indy that family-unfriendly?

Don’t know but I expect Nice and Indianapolis to be different in other ways.

[The_Polymath]

Nice is usually nice due to weather, beach, and food.

But these days, its as bad as the south of Spain during the summer. You basically melt it is so hot.

[Maphistos_Sidekick]

@dr_t_non-fan

Indy that family-unfriendly?

Indianapolis has its good parts and bad parts.

Remember that Mike Pence used to be governor of Indiana.

However, I suspect the following quote from the article really gets at the “family-friendly” bit:

The Freeze’s say that their life in Nice is very different to the life they have in the US, and being able to spend several months of the year in the French city is benefiting their family significantly.

“For us, it fits a lot of the values of our family more closely than living in the US,” says Eric.

“It’s a place that you don’t need a car. We’re about a two-minute walk from the beach, a two-minute walk to fresh markets, and a two-minute walk to the kids’ schools.

“The kids can come home from school at lunchtime, so they come home and eat. We see them a lot more regularly.”

also

“If you want to play with a friend in the US, you have to make a playdate and arrange a time to get together with your child’s friend,” she says. “Because everybody’s busy, you don’t just run into each other.

“But in France, you can just go out the door and go to the ocean, or the nearest park, and you’re going to see your child’s friends. They’re going to find someone to play with just by heading out. Almost guaranteed.”

[The_Polymath]

The car thing does make sense.

Public transport tends to be horrible in the US outside major cities like NYC and DC. The larger the sprawl, the worse the transport situation gets.

Thats one of the things I like most about Europe. You can take the train just about anywhere.

[dr_t_non-fan]

@The_Polymath

Public transport tends to be horrible in the US outside major cities like NYC and DC.

Public transport requires population density to be viable. Unless the authority is OK with losing money.

[dr_t_non-fan]

@Maphistos_Sidekick

“If you want to play with a friend in the US, you have to make a playdate and arrange a time to get together with your child’s friend,” she says. “Because everybody’s busy, you don’t just run into each other.

“But in France, you can just go out the door and go to the ocean, or the nearest park, and you’re going to see your child’s friends. They’re going to find someone to play with just by heading out. Almost guaranteed.”

Huh, sounds like my childhood. The France one, I mean.

[R_Daneel_Olivaw]

No kidding. I’d usually just wander outside and run into somebody. Or call ahead to 1-2 places and see fi they wanted to do something, then get on my bike. (Depends on what age you’re talking about.)

[knoath]

@Cooke

Eric and Rixa Freeze renovated two properties in Nice and now divide their time between Indianapolis and the “more family friendly” south of France.

Mister Freeze is a real person?

[joejam]

@knoath

Mister Freeze is a real person?

Yea, you might have seen him running during Braves games in Atlanta

[Cooke]

I expect it is the husband that is driving this adventure as he is Canadian so is less attached to the US than his American wife. He also thinks his kids should learn French which is more of a Canadian preference.

Would have been cheaper to just move to Montreal and work there and sell the Indianapolis place. Lots of good universities in Montreal. Maybe he will move to Montreal after Trump gets re-elected.

[colonelsmoothie]

Does moving from England to Wales count as leaving the country?

[The_Polymath]

Wales is a very poor area of the UK

Nobody moves there that has other options.

[colonelsmoothie]

What about from Wales to England, does that count as leaving the country?

[The_Polymath]

The Welsh don’t like the English all that much.

[joejam]

If you move from Sussex to Sheffield and the accent changes 3 times along the trip, does that count as leaving the country?

[Maphistos_Sidekick]

I assume that the language barrier precludes moving between England and Scotland…but would moving between Wales and Scotland be counted as “leaving the country”?

How about moving between the Isle of Man and Guernsey?

[The_Polymath]

Thats kind of like going from flyover area A to flyover area B in the UK.

Only going to Scotland from England offers some respite.

[The_Polymath]

Very hard actually.

Those Islands actively make it very hard to live there permanently.

Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey.

Been to Jersey 3x now and we did like it. But it would be pretty isolating long-term.

[SpaceLobster]

@Maphistos_Sidekick

How about moving between the Isle of Man and Guernsey?

Tangent, I laid awake til 2am one night going down rabbit hole on the British aisles, and I could still read more. Really interesting places.

The one thing that stood out were all the pics of the beaches. Everyone wearing jackets, nobody swimming lol.