ExPatriots...Curious about relocating abroad experiences

This thread in GRM and no car culture/experiences mixed in? So many neat non American cars in many of the countries mentioned. 

In reply to drainoil :

Be prepared to have to retake your driving test, and those tend to be harder at least in European countries. Some countries will convert a foreign license, others won't.

And specifically for the UK, bring or buy your own welder .

Another fun thing tends to be insurance. Local insurers might give you a bit of a discount based on your "foreign" driving experience but it'll take a while until you can insure the interesting stuff.

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

Expand on your comment about inheritance taxes for US residents who aren't citizens (me) if you would , please.

I haven't looked into any changes, but it used to be that if a (even green card holder) foreign national is married to a US citizen and the US citizen passes away first two things happen.  A) There is no exemption on inheritance tax, they will be liable for inheritance tax from the first $1.  Ditto on the house, even if it's legally owned on paper by both halves and they have/had a mortgage in both names, the non citizen will be paying inheritance tax on the entire value of the property.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

Still seems to be the case unless the Mass Mutual link I posted on the previous page contains out of date information.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

Yeah, I posted when I read the Q, not when I got to the end of the trhead.  I didn't realize you'd already provided a better answer with backup.  

Keith Tanner said:

Pete Gossett said:

Are there any countries that offer good universal healthcare, are generally friendly to Americans, and don’t suffer from this thing called “Winter”?

Australia? I'm assuming the kids that used to throw rocks at the "Yank" back in the 80's have grown up a bit. There's also NZ. If you don't want to speak English, there are a bunch of options. A friend of mine cut ties to the US, moved to NZ, then Thailand and has now ended up in Spain. He's from the Bay area so you know he can't handle a real winter :)

I missed this the first time around.  

Are you saying Australia was anti American at one point?  I remember docking in Sydney  during the Vietnam War and Mothers with their daughters in hand were lined up to take the “Yank” out and bring them home for a meal.  

While nearly every bar we went in guys were lined up to fight with the “Yank” but they were polite about it.  When I explained the consequences of a fight  they respected me and didn’t push me.  There is no way in the world I could have drank every drink they bought me.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Pretty sure Kieth was being semi tongue in cheek. If your different as a kid, your probably getting picked on, regardless of reason. Too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, too foreign, too weird.... Doesn't matter, you're different, let's pick on the different kid. 

Your experience of Australia was probably about how it was at the time. American sailors were seen as a potential meal ticket in terms of ladies marrying one of you guys and being set for life. Obviously the Aussie guys were none to keen on a bunch of "seppo's" coming in and  " taking their women"

Overall, we're a pretty welcoming bunch with a pretty good tolerance for migrants given we're essentially a country of migrants ourselves. 

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

sent you a pm

mike said:

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

sent you a pm

He died back in April, but if it’s relevant to the thread feel free to post it here. It’s been very informative hearing everyone’s experiences. 

daeman said:

In reply to frenchyd :

Pretty sure Kieth was being semi tongue in cheek. If your different as a kid, your probably getting picked on, regardless of reason. Too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, too foreign, too weird.... Doesn't matter, you're different, let's pick on the different kid. 

Your experience of Australia was probably about how it was at the time. American sailors were seen as a potential meal ticket in terms of ladies marrying one of you guys and being set for life. Obviously the Aussie guys were none to keen on a bunch of "seppo's" coming in and  " taking their women"

Overall, we're a pretty welcoming bunch with a pretty good tolerance for migrants given we're essentially a country of migrants ourselves. 

My treatment by Australians has been spectacular. Both in Australia and on US Navy bases.  

My favorite story deals with the O Club on Subic Bay  in the Philippines. 

Several Australians  offered to buy me a drink if I would have them as my guest in the club.  Nice guys , so what the heck! 

Ordered the first round during happy hour. Drinks were 10 cents US at the time.  They didn’t know that a dime bought anything. If you wanted a mug of Johnny Walker Black label it was a dime.  

10 of us around the table 9 Australians ordered beers. I ordered a Harvey Wallbanger. It was fun to watch them look around at each other and start whispering trying to figure  how they were going to pay for the round.  

The waitress  served us then announced  it would be a dollar.  

“Oh, no! We got all the drinks”,••••• 

Yes one dollar, Happy hour. 

Determined to take advantage of the low prices  they ordered rounds as quick as she could bring them. By the time Happy hour was over drinks were stacked up in front of everybody,  lots of drinks, 2 high in front of some.  

We’re talking seriously drunk. commode kissing, crawling on the floor drunk.  Luckily I paced myself but I wasn’t that steady myself. 

We crawled ( literally) from the club to the barracks.  I stayed at the tail end and woke up the sleepers. 

Finally we all came to a halt, it seemed there was a log in the way and they didn’t think they should crawl over it.   So with a lot of help from my new best friends I stood up and drew my foot back to kick it out of the way.   

The “log”!turned its head, showing a lot of teeth while it decided where to bite me.  Oops it was a crocodile ( alligator? ) 

Finally deciding since I was obviously frozen I wouldn’t taste good it slithered off into the Benjo ditch.  Eventually my heart started working again and freshly sobered up we all sorta ran to the barracks.  

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Not so much experiences, just info. International Living Magazine. They have a website by that name. They also have videos on Youtube. 

Their concept is where to go and live off of SSI check. Panama, Costa Rica, Philippines have always been in top ten lists most years.

They cover health care, cost of living & how friendly the locals are. I recently retired and maybe doing this.  

I'm relatively close to GRM HQ. If you're going to the challenge send me a PM & I could give you a year or so of back issues. 

In reply to mike :

Thanks, I sent you a message!