Best Place to Live (Outside of the USA)

[soul_rebel]

Opinions on what is the best city / country (outside of USA) to live for a Peat centered lifestyle? Additional layer is institutions and political orientation. A thread was recently started for best place in USA.

A place like Mexico checks the boxes for climate and sun, but it lacks rule of law, trusted institutions, and the property rights needed (at least I feel that way). Seems to be common in many developing countries, great climate, bad institutions. Developed countries, cloudier, cooler, but trusted institutions.

 

[Birdie]

Maybe Uruguay:

Uruguay

Are you looking for a true safe haven in Latin America? If so, you need to know about Uruguay—a politically, economically, and socially...

internationalliving.com

 

[strongvirtue]

Spain and Portugal in my opinion :)

 

[kaizen]

Based on how Covid has been handled (it manifests a general philosophy and attitude towards life):

Sweden and Brazil began to look more interesting to me.

 

[Birdie]

Spain and Portugal in my opinion :)

I've been looking at Portugal too and a neighbor's daughter lives there. She was here for Christmas and loves Portugal. It's closer than Uruguay.

 

[triple]

Great thread topic...i have similar apprehensions regarding Mexico but it may be my best choice if my country rolls out forced vaccinations.
Well, either that or go into the bush/off grid and wait it out.

I think they will incentivize the shot with UBI at first here but travel is at risk i feel as well so getting out of my country may become impossible via air flights. I am in late planning stage right now as i write this.

Mexico has altitude living and access to great food as well as a 6 month visa on arrival for most countries that can be extended by crossing the border in Belize on a border run indefinitely from what i understand they are fairly lax on this point.

Uruguay is a no travel country last i looked but has many excellent aspects such as food security and general rule of law and looks to be the ultimate "safe space" in the world to me.

Portugal you would have 3 months stay max per 6 month period unless you have an EU passport same as Spain. The EU looks like the last place i would seek freedom but i do get that Portugal is an outlier in that regard and both countries have wonderful aspects.

Personally, i was planning on moving to Thailand permanently previously because of the people,food,weather,costs and it is so safe...well except for driving is dangerous there but i am ok with that. I left TH last year when the flu showed up, i did not want to be stuck there not knowing exactly was going on now it looks like it was the one of the safest places in the world.
140 deaths so far or approx 2 days road deaths if the stats are accurate on covid deaths.

I have almost zero interest in living the rest of my life in my home country after seeing how mass cognitive dissonance and certain political strains of fascism from the left are developing. I have never felt safer in a major city than in Bangkok. Problem is they are rolling out travel passports there, good thing is they are way behind on vaccinations and may not requite expats to get them. Hard to know. Its a watch and see approach for me with MX and TH at the moment.

It seems the second world countries are slower or may never be able to vaccinate everyone and that may be a blessing. Mexico has a defiant towards government which i like as does Thailand to some extent.

I will be following this thread with interest...

 

[soul_rebel]

Great thread topic...i have similar apprehensions regarding Mexico but it may be my best choice if my country rolls out forced vaccinations.
Well, either that or go into the bush/off grid and wait it out.

I think they will incentivize the shot with UBI at first here but travel is at risk i feel as well so getting out of my country may become impossible via air flights. I am in late planning stage right now as i write this.

Mexico has altitude living and access to great food as well as a 6 month visa on arrival for most countries that can be extended by crossing the border in Belize on a border run indefinitely from what i understand they are fairly lax on this point.

Uruguay is a no travel country last i looked but has many excellent aspects such as food security and general rule of law and looks to be the ultimate "safe space" in the world to me.

Portugal you would have 3 months stay max per 6 month period unless you have an EU passport same as Spain. The EU looks like the last place i would seek freedom but i do get that Portugal is an outlier in that regard and both countries have wonderful aspects.

Personally, i was planning on moving to Thailand permanently previously because of the people,food,weather,costs and it is so safe...well except for driving is dangerous there but i am ok with that. I left TH last year when the flu showed up, i did not want to be stuck there not knowing exactly was going on now it looks like it was the one of the safest places in the world.
140 deaths so far or approx 2 days road deaths if the stats are accurate on covid deaths.

I have almost zero interest in living the rest of my life in my home country after seeing how mass cognitive dissonance and certain political strains of fascism from the left are developing. I have never felt safer in a major city than in Bangkok. Problem is they are rolling out travel passports there, good thing is they are way behind on vaccinations and may not requite expats to get them. Hard to know. Its a watch and see approach for me with MX and TH at the moment.

It seems the second world countries are slower or may never be able to vaccinate everyone and that may be a blessing. Mexico has a defiant towards government which i like as does Thailand to some extent.

I will be following this thread with interest...

Yes thanks for the feedback and I agree, I am curious to what others think on this. Its easy to romanticize the practices of other countries, but still good to hear thoughts. By most formal measures developing and frontier countries are less "free" but I would imagine day to day, they are more "free", by virtue of not have strong institutions (good and bad).

 

[Braveheart]

Belize has worked for me....

 

[triple]

Belize has worked for me....

Care to give some pros and cons on Belize in your experience?
Food quality,safety in general, cost of living, people,vibe?
I am very interested in Belize and the english speaking aspect as well as the fairly simple permanent residency process puts it high on my list to visit.
Thanks

 

[Braveheart]

Care to give some pros and cons on Belize in your experience?
Food quality,safety in general, cost of living, people,vibe?
I am very interested in Belize and the english speaking aspect as well as the fairly simple permanent residency process puts it high on my list to visit.
Thanks

Find all the info you can... then come down and plan to stay 6 months...it is the best way to find out if it is for you. It is an inexpensive, simple and healthy place, the food is good...it is a poor country...you can live very cheaply if you want....you'll be hard pressed to spend money here like in the US...people are friendly....this place is pretty much the exact opposite of the US.

 

[gaze]

as far as avoiding forced vaccinations go, the US is still the best bet. no other country can guarantee it in the same way. all it takes is for a new president in brazil or spain or whatever and it's a completely new policy. just move to florida, texas, arizona, or similar states. don't bet on a free culture to remain in mexico and other countries. these things change rapidly, at least the US has laws in place to protect

 

[triple]

Find all the info you can... then come down and plan to stay 6 months...it is the best way to find out if it is for you. It is an inexpensive, simple and healthy place, the food is good...it is a poor country...you can live very cheaply if you want....you'll be hard pressed to spend money here like in the US...people are friendly....this place is pretty much the exact opposite of the US.

Thanks, ya i have read a lot on Belize but now need to get down there and see for myself.

 

[triple]

as far as avoiding forced vaccinations go, the US is still the best bet. no other country can guarantee it in the same way. all it takes is for a new president in brazil or spain or whatever and it's a completely new policy. just move to florida, texas, arizona, or similar states. don't bet on a free culture to remain in mexico and other countries. these things change rapidly, at least the US has laws in place to protect

I cannot live in the USA but maybe i should consider a refugee status?
Haha, it seems to work for 10's of millions of other people but i am Canadian so i am essentially screwed. If i cross the border illegally i will be in jail. Different rules for different people but ya i would like to live in one of the Free States and i love Americans but i cannot stay there for any length of time, 6 months and i have to leave. I can get longer permanent residence Visa's in Mexico or Belize more easily but you are making me think...

 

[-Luke-]

Switzerland has a high cost of living, but otherwise seems to be one of the best places to live in Europe. Direct democracy, no EU, independent and neutral country, low taxes, beautiful nature. I also like Slovenia and Croatia, but EU...

 

[soul_rebel]

I will have to read about Belize, but Switzerland (outside of the expense) does seem a like a good place.

 

[soul_rebel]

as far as avoiding forced vaccinations go, the US is still the best bet. no other country can guarantee it in the same way. all it takes is for a new president in brazil or spain or whatever and it's a completely new policy. just move to florida, texas, arizona, or similar states. don't bet on a free culture to remain in mexico and other countries. these things change rapidly, at least the US has laws in place to protect

Yeah its easy to complain as an American, but other countries are probably worse. Its why I started this thread to get some opinions on other places.

 

[gaze]

Yeah its easy to complain as an American, but other countries are probably worse. Its why I started this thread to get some opinions on other places.

is a source of income 0 issue for you ?

 

[soul_rebel]

is a source of income 0 issue for you ?

At the moment, not an issue.

 

[gaze]

At the moment, not an issue.

the best part about mexico is that it's close by should something happen. if your in the EU for example all of a sudden vaccine passports might be needed for travel, and then what will you do? you could also just go on a 6 month visit and see how you like it. it's way cheaper so not as big of a commitment as trying out some place like switzerland

 

[Vileplume]

Paul Saladino just posted a video on his Instagram about how he’s living in Costa Rica, because of the slow pace of life, connection with jungle/ocean, and good food:


View: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPbbqN8AW41/?utm_medium=copy_link


I must admit, I’m inspired. From a Peaty perspective, the tropical fruit selection there would be phenomenal. How feasible do you think it is for a single person just leave their country and go live somewhere like Costa Rica? It seems inconsiderable, but I don’t think it is...