Nemo2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- May 14, 2011
- Messages
- 8,368
The food is fabulous
Food, food, food.....juxtaposed with the 'Why can't I lose weight' threads.
The food is fabulous
Food, food, food.....juxtaposed with the 'Why can't I lose weight' threads.
In my opinion, London is one of the greatest cities in the world. The food is fabulous and there are lots of things to do. The music scene is fantastic. We are headed back again in a couple of days.
Being an expat in a LCOL country is great until it is not.
From today's WSJ:
"Pack Up and Get Out’: Nicaraguan Unrest Shakes U.S. Expat Community"
After decades teaching social studies at a California high school, Noel Correa moved to Nicaragua, buying a home on the outskirts of this colonial city. Then, the country he chose as his retirement paradise began to unravel.
“We were just getting settled when the fighting broke out,” said Mr. Correa, 67, who arrived here with his wife in December. “Now we are in limbo.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pack-u...-expat-community-1532084519?mod=hp_listb_pos1
The unrest began in April, with Nicaraguans protesting social security tax hikes. But as police and paramilitaries attacked them with deadly force, the street marches swelled with outraged Nicaraguans. They are now demanding that the Ortega government call early elections.
The violence follows the decision of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) government to push through reforms to the national social security system in response to the financial crisis affecting the National Social Security Institute (INSS).
The reforms, which went into effect on Wednesday, apply a 5% tax to old-age and disability pensions and increase the contributions paid by both employees and employers.
Consecutive governments have been accused of using the INSS as a source of “petty cash”, leaving many people feeling that pensioners and workers
are now being forced to pay the price for the system’s mismanagement.
The protests against the social security reforms came on top of demonstrations the previous week against government inaction and even alleged collusion in relation to fires in the Indio Maíz biological reserve in Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast region.
Alleged fraud in the country’s electoral processes in recent years have allowed Ortega to control the country’s national assembly and make important constitutional changes, including his own right to serve more than two terms as president. He now controls all branches of government, while reforms to the laws regulating the army and national police have also brought those institutions into line behind him.
At the same time, the government has responded with a heavy hand against any form of opposition. In June 2013, during another protest related to the social security system, police stood idly by as a group of pro-government supporters violently broke up a demonstration in support of pension rights for the elderly.
But this time the protests appear to have escaped the government’s control, spreading from Managua to the traditional FSLN strongholds of León and Estelí, as well as other cities, including Masaya, Matagalpa and Bluefields on the Caribbean side of the country.
Though I imagine people who left there decades ago would be in for sticker shocks if they returned to live there.
London decades ago is not the same as London today. The food culture has improved tremendously thanks to some notable chefs who have established their restaurants in London. As for sticker shock, in terms of US dollars, it's less expensive than many major European cities. We have no plans to move there, but for visiting it's great and we like going back.
I can't say the same for Portugal. I spent 3 weeks driving around Portugal with friends when I was in my 20's (Lisbon, Cascais, the Algarve). It was okay but I found the food to be pretty bland to the point where I can call it terrible. That was in the 80's and I never went back. Lisbon is nothing to write home about. There were a lot of British expats living in the Algarve at that time. I suppose they moved there for the sun.
Strange, I am thinking of visiting Portugal next April. Other choice might be London and Scotland. There's a business class fare sale right now.
I don't know anything about Portuguese food other than peri peri chicken, though I'm sure that's some bastardized, anglicized version of Portuguese food.
I did watch the Anthony Bourdain episode on Portugal. I wouldn't eat half the things he did, which included broiling eels or hogs in their blood.
We can afford to live almost anywhere in the world. But we chose Mexico for a variety of reasons. Most expats here in Ajijic are not here for economic reasons; most own another nice home, often in Canada or the US. In San Miguel Allende, most expats we know there own two homes outside of MX, usually another in North America and one in Europe. Again, these expats are not in MX because they can't afford to live elsewhere.
Are there economic-driven expats in Ajijic or SMA? Yes, but not as many as there were 20 or 30 years ago, or so I've been told by more seasoned expats in these parts.
The Mad Money host himself just acquired three new properties in San Miguel de Allende, a popular destination for American snowbirds in central Mexico. There is “no property tax,” Cramer said, the properties are “incredibly easy to maintain,” and there are “property managers everywhere.”
“I think that out-of-favor real estate in Mexico, that’s easily accessible to Americans, represents a great buy,” Cramer said.
We just spent the past winter (3 months) in Hervey Bay Queensland. About 3 hours north of Brisbane.... It was a nice Tidy, Scenic place. Right on the Ocean. Amazing Colorful Bird Life. Parrots, Lorikeets Cockatoos. Had perfect weather for us. Very inexpensive cost of Living for being right on the Ocean. I'd consider moving there, but it's a long, long way from our Roots.Queensland has floods , cyclones and bad government
very little in life is perfect .
Yes we consider all cost for accommodation to be lifestyle expenses. In Mexico, it is not a big deal, but in Vancouver, it is a big reason for renting. The opportunity cost for a $3 million plus house is just too high to be considered a lifestyle expense.
We just spent the past winter (3 months) in Hervey Bay Queensland. About 3 hours north of Brisbane.... It was a nice Tidy, Scenic place. Right on the Ocean. Amazing Colorful Bird Life. Parrots, Lorikeets Cockatoos. Had perfect weather for us. Very inexpensive cost of Living for being right on the Ocean. I'd consider moving there, but it's a long, long way from our Roots.
Serious drought there right now.
Livestock and wild animals perishing.
Not really. The rental market does not track sales values. Plus we have been in it for 21 years and are rent controlled. Our place has gone by 5x in market value but only 1.55 X in rent.But are not rents in Vancouver, BC high and somewhat prohibitive?
That’s in NSW. We were talking about Queensland.