You Want to Move Where?

The Beginning

"If Bush wins we’re moving to Canada."

"If Trump wins we’re moving to Canada."

"If Trump runs again we’re moving to Canada."

Every time a liberal in American faces a future they find unpalatable they announce that they’re moving to Canada, but when was the last time you visited a friend’s new place in Montreal? How many acquaintances have moved to Edmonton? The threat is as empty as Donald Trump’s reading list.

Last summer we started telling friends, "We’re going to retire in France." They smiled and looked at us like we’d said, "American politics are exhausting. Don’t you agree?" But we meant it. We are GOING TO  MOVE TO FRANCE.

Yes, we are fed up with American politics. We hate how far right the country has become. We hate the guns, the shootings, and the unwillingness of anyone to do anything about them. We hate the virulent anti-women and anti-LGBTQ+ laws that have infested Texas over the last few years. Austin, my hometown, has always been a liberal bastion, but conservatives from California are quickly buying up the property in the suburbs, closing in on us like red ants on a blueberry. 

But frustration about America is not the only thing motivating us. Lately, we have been imagining what the next part of our lives should look like. Roberto is 53 and I am 50. We don’t have children, but we have two dogs we spoil rotten and converse with way too often. We are too young to retire but not too young to consider a new way of living which involves less of a work grind and more curiosity and discovery.

"So where do we want to go?" we thought. Roberto and I are not beach people. We don’t golf nor do we want to learn. We need more stimulation than a country house in the middle of nowhere. We want good restaurants, cafes, film, art, and architecture. We don’t to be so far away from the US that we can’t see family and friends fairly often. We want public transportation and a good walking city so we don’t need a car. We want fantastic health care. We are not super-wealthy so we can’t move to Paris or London (we’d have to live in a cupboard). We need a location that will hopefully not be destroyed by a flood, tsunami, drought, nor cyclone in the next thirty to forty years. We want a place that is neither too hot nor too cold—ha ha. Just kidding. This last one is now as likely as Ted Cruz announcing his pronouns.

With our list, we landed on . . . France. (In a later post we will explain why we eliminated other countries). The more excited we got about the idea of France and the more we started to move forward with a plan, the more people around us began to all ask the same question: but how?

The truth was, we weren’t exactly sure how. We’re still not. We’re making it up as we go along, flying by the seat of notre pantalon, which is why we have begun this newsletter. So many people have asked us how we’re making this happen that we’ve decided to share our experiences as we go through the process of choosing a city, purchasing an apartment, getting visas, transporting our dogs, shipping furniture, making friends, finding decent old fashioneds, and a million other things we haven’t even considered yet.

So please subscribe if you want to follow our joyous lunacy. 

Best,

Carolyn & Roberto

PS- I did once get deported from the UK, so be warned this may not turn out well.