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I confess, I’ve never actually been there. But the myriad of people I know who have lived in or visited the city all say the same thing: Vancouver is an absolutely fabulous place.
And it has some official backing.
The latest annual ranking[1] by the Economist Intelligence Unit claims Vancouver is the most liveable city in the world.
The survey scores locations according to five factors: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Vancouver topped the poll with 98 out of a maximum 100, as it has done for the past two years. Toronto came fourth, with Calgary fifth.
Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey[2] holds Vancouver in similarly high regard – it placed fourth in the 2010 rankings, behind Vienna, Zurich and Geneva.
Meanwhile, this year’s Mercer survey also compiled a list of cities with the best eco-ranking, basing scores on water availability and potability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion. Calgary came out top, with Ottawa in joint third, behind Honolulu.
Canada scores
Indeed, Canada as a whole usually fares well in the various international surveys and rankings.
I may not have been to Vancouver, but I have visited Canada. OK, so a holiday is hardly the same thing as living there (especially as I never experienced the harshness of a Canadian winter). Still, it wasn’t hard to see why the country consistently ranks so highly: huge space … stunning and varied landscapes … diverse recreational activities … reasonable living costs (at least compared to the UK and parts of the United States) … a vibrant economy.
Expat choice
It seems many expats have come to the same conclusion. Canada is the second most popular destination in terms of total number of expatriates from the United States. Among Brits, it ranks fourth.
Expats in Canada seem pretty happy with their lot as well.
HSBC’s 2010 Expat Experience survey[3] asked expats from around the world how they found:
a) Setting up in their new country of residence.
b) Integrating into local society.
c) Their quality of life compared to where they used to live.
Having topped the league in 2009, Canada slipped to second place in the 2010 report. But as HSBC noted, the country “still ranks high for expat lifestyle.”
Not that it is all great, of course. For one, there are those long, cold winters to get through.
The sheer scale has its downsides too – just getting anywhere can take an awfully long time.
(I remember going for a beer one evening during my trip – there wasn’t much to do in the small town where we were staying, so we were driven 90 minutes across the border to a bar in the States!)
And while Canada boasts a host of attractive cities, they can’t boast the same cultural riches as those in Europe and Asia.
Still, nowhere is perfect.
Tags: Asia, Brit, Calgary, Canada, city, country, culture, eco, Economist, economy, Education, environment, Europe, expat, Geneva, health, HSBC, lifestyle, live, liveable, living, Mercer, Ottawa, quality, survey, Toronto, UK, United States, Vancouver, Vienna, winter, world, Zurich
So you’ve decided to take the plunge and emigrate. Congratulations! Your next question should be how are you going to make your move a success?
Many people decide to emigrate in order to provide a better quality of life for themselves and their family – the thought of year-round sunshine, more time with loved ones, different leisure opportunities. But whatever your motivations, it is crucial you put yourself in the best financial position possible if you are to get off to a good start in your new country. And to do that, you need to give serious thought and planning to the issue of currency exchange.
OK, so it may not seem as fun as researching all about the sun, sea and sand you can look forward to enjoying. But getting a good currency exchange rate can make a huge difference to the success of your move. And if it helps maximise the budget you have to spend on your dream home abroad that has to be time well spent.
Getting the biggest bang for your buck
For some people, currency exchange may be a key factor in their choice of destination. For instance, countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe with relatively weak currencies can offer great opportunities to make your savings go further.
Alternatively, among those soon-to-be-expats who have already picked their dream location, the issue will be more a matter of how to get the most from your money.
Take buying property abroad. For many expats it means exchanging your savings into the local currency of the country to where you are moving. Exchanging large amounts can be an expensive exercise though, and isn’t to be taken lightly. Therefore, many expats employ a foreign exchange broker to guide them through the process. Others simply bide their time, research the currency market, and exchange when the rate is particularly favourable.
Money matters
Foreign exchange rates are a huge factor when moving abroad – so make sure you address it as soon as possible in the decision making process.
The best advice is to do your research thoroughly. If you want help, consider using a foreign exchange broker. And if not, ensure you shop around to get the best exchange rate possible.
Tags: Abroad, Africa, Asia, broker, budget, buy, country, currencies, currency, destination, emigrate, Europe, exchange, expat, family, financial, Foreign, home, leisure, life, location, love, market, money, move, moving, property, quality, rate, saving, success, sun
Last weekend’s shootings in Arizona have trained the world’s attention once more on America’s attitude to guns, and its charged political atmosphere.
To many outsiders, me included, America’s fixation with its guns – and the ease with which people can buy them – is incomprehensible.
Gun advocates, meanwhile, argue their case by referencing America’s frontier past, their constitutional rights and the defence of freedom.
Bridging the Cultural Divide
This divergence of opinions on the issue of gun control illustrates the cultural divide expats often have to bridge when trying to make a new country their home.
For those heading to the US, the actual question of gun ownership is one aspect. But it is understanding and living with the underlying beliefs that support such positions which are likely to prove the bigger test.
Personally, I loved living in America. I loved the landscapes, its space, the optimism and can-do attitudes. And I met nothing but warm, generous, friendly people.
Nevertheless, the country’s political environment, its commitment to capitalist economics, and prevailing sentiments around healthcare, education, religion and a host of other factors may prove insurmountable obstacles for some.
Global Challenges
And it is not just America. Such political, economic and cultural considerations should feature in your decision, whatever your intended destination.
For example, Europe offers an abundance of cultural delights, with untold historical riches, beautiful architecture, and a culinary smorgasbord from which to sample. But can you cope with Italy’s red tape, French workers’ proclivity to strike, or the famous British reserve?
It is never easy to know until you are on the ground in a country, facing the life it offers day after day.
But if you ask yourself the testing questions on how suited you are to a life abroad before you go you will be better equipped for the changes ahead.
Tags: Abroad, America, Arizona, Brit, capital, Constitution, country, cultural, destination, economic, Education, Europe, expat, freedom, French, gun, healthcare, home, Italy, life, political, religion, Shooting, States, US, world
The Holiday Season is well upon us. But if you live abroad you’ll need to get used to a whole different category of celebrations.
Take today, December 6. For many of us it may be another dreary Monday at work. But not everywhere …
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
December 6 is a special festival for children in many European countries, as well as some American cities – for it marks Saint Nicholas Day.
In the Netherlands in particular, Saint Nicholas’ Eve is the equivalent of Christmas Eve, when Sinterklaas (the original Santa Claus) brings gifts for all the good boys and girls. Similarly, in Germany children traditionally put a boot out for St Nicholas to fill with small presents and sweets.
Advent of Democracy
December 6 is a special holiday in Spain too, albeit for different reasons. This is Constitution Day, marking the Spanish public’s vote in 1978 to approve the Constitution of Spain, and thus the country’s formal transition to a democratic state.
As a citizen of the UK, with its long democratic history, it is easy to forget how recent the establishment of such political rights was in Spain. If I was a Spaniard, however, I would have been born in a dictatorship.
In the developed world it is easy to see democracy as a right, one we take for granted. But days like today remind me how blessed we are.
Tags: Abroad, America, Children, Christmas, citizen, Claus, Constitution, countries, country, December, democracy, Democratic, developed, dictator, Europe, Eve, festival, Germany, holiday, live, Netherlands, Nicholas, Saint, Santa, season, Sinterklaas, Spain, Spanish, UK, world
Living abroad has become so much more viable as the cost of travel plummeted.
The rise of the budget airlines, and the need for other travel operators to slash prices to compete, means moving overseas is no longer the one-way journey of old.
Instead, expats within a short-haul flight of home have suddenly been able to afford to pop back for regular weekends to catch up with family and friends. And those who relocated to another continent can make their annual pilgrimage home without needing an investment banker’s salary or a second mortgage.
For those expats flying to or from the UK though, the November 1 rise in Air Passenger Duty (APD) may shift the balance.
The new rates mean a family of four flying from the UK to Europe will pay £48 in APD when travelling economy class. For journeys to the US the family will be charged £240, to the Caribbean or South Africa £300, and to fly to Australia it will cost them £340 in tax (a rise of 55%).
Add in the actual cost of the ticket, plus the inevitable wad of spending money, and face-to-face contact with old friends and family looks a lot less appealing.
Tags: afford, Air Passenger Duty, airline, APD, Australia, budget, Caribbean, economy, Europe, expat, family, flight, friend, home, journey, living abroad, money, overseas, price, relocate, South Africa, travel, UK, US
So France has the best quality of life in Europe. Or at least that was the finding of a recent study by consumer comparison service uSwitch.com, as I highlighted in a recent posting[1].
I imagine the residents of France may be thinking something different as this week’s round of strikes and protests gets underway.
News reports say the strikes are set to widen to include a range of sectors, including road transport, energy, posts, telecommunications and public service. The industrial action has brought fears of fuel shortages as workers at oil refineries walk out, and rail chaos as train staff join in, threatening to bring the country to a standstill.
The protest has been spurred by moves to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, and the full retirement age from 65 to 67 years – a change that rather undercuts one of the advantages of French life highlighted by the uSwitch.com survey. The government claims it is needed to prevent the country’s pension deficit from spiralling out of control and threatening the system as a whole.
In total, Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has announced plans to cut spending by €45bn over the next three years in a bid to meet its budget deficit target.
Meanwhile Spain, which came second in the uSwitch.com quality of life rankings, has seen unemployment more than double (to about 20%) since 2007. In a bid to curb its budget deficit, the government is raising the top level of income tax and introducing a range of austerity measures for 2011 designed to cut spending by 8%.
Of course, the UK faces its own economic difficulties – as, for that matter, does the United States. But if you’re aiming to escape your home country’s problems and find a better quality of life by moving abroad, it’s important to remember the grass is not always greener on the other side.
[1] http://expatliving101.com/living-in-spain/what-quality-of-life-can-you-expect-abroad/
Tags: budget deficit, country, economic, Europe, France, French, fuel, government, home, income, industrial action, Moving Abroad, pension, protest, quality of life, Retirement, Spain, strike, survey, tax, transport, UK, unemployment, United States, uSwitch
We’ve long suspected it, and now it appears to be true – the French, those lucky blighters, have the best quality of life in Europe.
Or, at least, so says a new study by consumer comparison service uSwitch.com[1].
Its research examined 16 quality of life factors – such as net income, food and fuel costs, life expectancy and working conditions – across 10 European countries to see how they stacked up.
France emerged with the best overall score, followed by Spain. The UK came ninth, with Ireland propping up the bottom of the table.
The reason for the UK’s poor score, said uSwitch, included its high living costs, below average government spending on health and education, shortage of holiday entitlements, high retirement age and lack of sunshine.
France, by contrast, was found to have the lowest retirement age, the longest life expectancy and the highest healthcare spend.
Meanwhile, Spain benefited from low living costs (especially for alcohol and cigarettes!), the highest number of holidays (at 43 days per year) and most sunshine hours.
The firm went on to note that three in ten people in the UK believe now is a good time to emigrate[2]. Given the low quality of life it seems they can expect to enjoy, is it any wonder?
The Full Picture
Yet before everyone starts packing their bags for France and Spain, it is important to remember that while such surveys make for attention-grabbing headlines, they don’t show the full picture.
For instance, the uSwitch report gives no consideration to the countries’ current or expected economic growth rates. Or what about the 20% unemployment rate afflicting Spain?
It gives no weighting either to the burdensome red tape that is so often cited as a feature of life in France and Italy.
The percentage of GDP spent on health is a blunt tool too by which to measure and compare the efficacy of countries’ systems. The United States, for one, spends a considerably higher percentage of its GDP on health, yet millions of its citizens remain without adequate, or indeed any, health cover.
The uSwitch survey also takes it as given that the greater the hours of sunshine the better. Yet the impressive sunshine quota seen in southern Europe – as well as places such as California and parts of Australia – bring with it high summer temperatures that frequently provoke raging forest fires, water shortages, pest infestations and crop failures.
In addition, the summer heat may force residents, especially the elderly, to spend weeks of the year trapped indoors, and can even lead to spiking death rates (as seen in Europe during the 2003 heatwave).
In short, these types of reports and surveys – a plethora of which are produced around the world each year – can give some helpful indication of the life you can expect to find when moving abroad. But to get a real picture, don’t forget to consider all the elements, the pros and the cons, and what they mean specifically to you.
[1] UK and Ireland Trailing the Rest of Europe for Quality of Life, uSwitch.com, 22 September 2010,
http://www.uswitch.com/press-room/press-releases/uk-and-ireland-trailing-the-rest-of-europe-for-quality-of-life-1769.pdf.
[2] uSwitch.com Consumer Opinion Panel, May 2010, amongst a sample of 3,640 adults.
Tags: Australia, California, citizen, cost, countries, Education, emigrate, Europe, Food, France, French, GDP, growth, health, holiday, income, Ireland, Italy, living cost, Moving Abroad, quality of life, resident, Retirement, Spain, summer, sunshine, survey, UK, unemployment, United States, uSwitch.com, work
After a nail-biting finale, the European team just pipped the USA to the post at this year’s Ryder Cup. The tournament is golf’s showcase international event, and its prestige was served well by some remarkable performances on both sides.
Unfortunately, it was the atrocious conditions that dominated the early stages of the competition though, with long rain delays that forced play into overtime on Monday … when, sod’s law, the weather made a volte-face and bathed the country in glorious sunshine.
Well, what can you expect from Wales in October?
In truth, Britain in autumn can be a challenging place to live. Hurricanes, like the famous one of October 1987, might be blue moon events. Wind and rain, however, are guaranteed. Add in the fading daylight as the days shorten and it starts to sound a bit bleak. No wonder so many millions of Brits dream of escaping to a life in the sun.
Mind you, in New York, where I spent a year at the turn of the millennium, the descent from the broiling heat of summer to freezing winter is even more precipitous.
By contrast, in the corner of north-eastern Spain where I lived until recently, the thermometer frequently nudged 30°C through to the end of October. Calm, sunny days meant there were a lot of leaves on the trees right up to Christmas, and oftentimes we could still venture out in T-shirts.
But now we’re back, experiencing our first autumn in the UK in eight years. I confess, weather-wise it is nowhere near as appealing as where we have come from.
The upside is the warmth we enjoy from being back among family and old friends.
Tags: autumn, Britain, Christmas, Europe, family, friend, Golf, New York, October, Ryder Cup, Spain, sun, UK, USA, Wales, weather
The headlines this morning are full of the news that Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film editor, Sally Menke, has been a victim of the heat wave that has hit Southern California.
Ms Menke reportedly died from heat stroke while hiking in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park on Monday. The day saw temperatures in the city climb to a record-breaking 113°F (46°C). Tuesday was cooler, reaching a high of 99°F, but that was still 17 degrees more than is normal for the time of year.
To make matters worse, the record demand for electricity as people turned up their air conditioning caused outages that left 11,000 Los Angeles residents without power.
Seeking Better Weather
You couldn’t get much more of a contrast with the weather hitting northern Europe at the moment. In the UK, we woke up this morning to cloud and heavy rain showers. More is forecast for the rest of the week.
And with October just around the corner we can hardly expect an improvement. Nope, autumn – with its shortening, squally days – has well-and-truly taken hold.
Faced with such weather conditions, moving to somewhere that promises year-round sunshine, short winters and long, guaranteed summers has an obvious appeal. No wonder places such as California, Australia and the countries of Southern Europe are so popular with expatriates.
But a life in the sun can brings its discomforts, as LA’s population can attest. And as Ms Menke’s tragic death shows, it has its dangers too.
Tags: Australia, California, death, editor, Europe, expat, film, Griffith Park, heat stroke, heat wave, LA, Los Angeles, Menke, rain, record, sun, Tarantino, temperature, UK
Spain 30 – England 20.
No, it’s not some freakish football score. It’s the current temperature differential between our home in the UK and our former one in the north-east of Spain.
The forecast for the coming week in England doesn’t look much more promising either. Temperatures barely struggling out of the teens centigrade, and the threat of heavy rain showers. Yippee.
Remind me – why did we move back to the UK?
Sort of summer
Still, that’s a British summer for you. The odd few days of glorious sunshine, when there seems like no more beautiful place to be on Earth, followed by leaden skies and rain squalls.
It’s a season of uncertainty – periods of joy mixed with gloom. One day you’re in shorts and sandals and the next it’s jumpers and coats.
As for making plans to enjoy the Great Outdoors … in the words of Hugh Grant in Mickey Blue Eyes, Forgeddaboutit.
In other words, hardly ideal conditions when you have kids who want to be spending their days building sandcastles on the beach, or splashing around in a pool.
(For that matter, have you swum in the sea around Britain recently? Are you crazy?)
Sunshine costs
Nevertheless, seeing the BBC News reminded me that the scorching summers seen across southern Europe and elsewhere do have their downsides.
For instance, parts of the Spanish coast are being plagued at present by an invasion of jellyfish, to the painful detriment of the people that have come in contact with them.
Meanwhile, swathes of northern Portugal are being cremated by a series of forest fires, an annual occurrence in many parts of the region.
There is, after all, a price to be paid for the sun.
Tags: beach, Britain, British, coast, Earth, England, Europe, fire, home, jellyfish, kid, outdoors, Portugal, sea, Spain, Spanish, summer, sun, UK
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