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Original poster

If you lived somewhere extremely remote, did you feel like life was passing you by?

26 replies

fepwoe · 15/05/2024 19:17

We have the opportunity to move to a very remote part of the world. It would take about 4 hours to get to any proper city. Maybe 16 hours back to the UK. No direct flights. It's an island, population no more than 20,000.

It would be a great adventure, but we think we'd miss living in central London.

If someone lived in such a remote area, did they feel life was passing them by without taking full advantage of it?

OP posts:
EveryOtherNameTaken · 15/05/2024 19:24

Depends if was permanent or not. If you can come back fairly easily, I would go for it.

I've lived in a few countries and loved them all.

If you own somewhere are you renting it out?

foreverbasil · 15/05/2024 19:25

Do you have any experience at all of living rurally? It's very different. If you have the mindset that living in a city is the centre of the universe it sounds like you might be reliant on external sources of entertainment.
To live remotely you need to be resourceful both practically and emotionally. You really do need to be content in your own skin.

coxesorangepippin · 15/05/2024 19:25

Interesting!

Do you have children?

PanicAttax · 15/05/2024 19:26

I think only you can answer this one. If you enjoy reading and creating or regularly talk about "living off grid" you'd be OK for a few years. I would be treating it like a break from the internet/pressures of the modern world. I wouldn't do it if I had kids as I don't think it sounds as though education would be easy and they'd need social lives.

Maybe think about it as a short term thing - few years?

Thursdaygirl · 15/05/2024 19:29

Instead of feeling you are missing out, you could actually feel like you’ve escaped!

Although what about access to a doctor/dentist/vet/decent hairdresser?

AllAtSeaAgain · 15/05/2024 19:36

I think it depends on where it is. I've lived very remotely and enjoyed it and certainly didn't feel that life was passing me by.

I also did a year on the Falkland Islands and didn't much enjoy it. 😁Nice people, but it was just freezing and little to do. I went because of work.

CommeIlFaut · 15/05/2024 19:58

It will be a huge change from central London. Don’t underestimate how boring it might be after a while. There’s only so long you can look at a view, and no escape. You also have to learn pretty quickly to rub along with whoever you happen to bump into, few social opportunities and to be willing to travel a very long way to have any sort of social life.

I lived for two years in a small town in northern Namibia. I guess that was pretty remote, except there was a thriving community in my town. After the novelty of being in the middle of nowhere wore off after about two months, I also used to spend most weekends in Windhoek hanging around with the United Nations Peace Corps staff in nightclubs! It was worth the four hour drive.

That having been said, I loved the sense of wilderness and how tiny it makes you feel on the Earth. And whenever we go back, and drive that long deserted road out of the capital, I probably feel my happiest.

OP posts:
Els1e · 15/05/2024 20:23

Tortola is one of my favourite places on earth. I would jump at the chance.

Setyoufree · 15/05/2024 20:24

If it was just me & DH, I'd jump at it. Not sure if I would with kids, depends what the education opportunities are like?

skibiditoilet · 15/05/2024 20:32

I don’t understand what you mean when you say ‘life passing you by’. To me, moving here would be grabbing life by the horns and living it.

Formuledeux · 16/05/2024 06:25

I can see what you mean. You wouldn’t be able to pop out and try a new Burmese restaurant or get last minute tickets to a West End show or recital at the South Bank.

I really think it would be the community which makes or breaks somewhere like that.

Equally, you’d likely feel the same if you live in the far West or North

Perfectlystill · 16/05/2024 06:33

I'd live there for eg a year. Not for ever.

mjf981 · 16/05/2024 06:47

OMG do it, as long as its not forever. Its a Caribbean island! A year or 2 spent in the warmth, swimming in the sea every day, vs living in dreary crowded polluted London? Jump at the chance.

renthead · 16/05/2024 06:57

We moved from

renthead · 16/05/2024 07:00

That should read we moved from the Midlands to Vancouver Island - so not remote, but a rural-ish area of an island - and I felt for years that "life was happening to other people, somewhere else". I have felt much less like that in recent years as I've built a life here, but I do still feel that way to an extent!

I wouldn't touch the place you're considering with a barge pole, but it might be OK for a year or two if you're very intrepid and outdoorsy.

Canyousewcushions · 16/05/2024 07:02

I grew up somewhere not dissimilar.

It was amazing, never felt like the world was passing us by but it was a more mindful and slow way of life- more time to swim, walk on beaches etc. In a lot of ways it was like being permanently on holiday.

It was somewhere that had a fair sized transient expat community so there was a lot of stuff happening to join in- there wasn't any TV for most of time I was there so finding ways to entertain ourselves was important (am-dram, art shows, lots of hosting/having meals with other people etc).

Cons were that when we moved back, it did feel like a lot had passed us by- but that was pre-internet days. The Internet would make a massive difference to that. It was also a really small community and the gossip travelled FAST- that aspect can be suffocating.

For me education was also an issue- though if you have kids thst age I guess that may be less of an issue where you're looking to live than where I was!!

Eddielizzard · 16/05/2024 07:03

How long minimum would you have to move there for? 2 years I'd jump at the chance.

Kalevala · 16/05/2024 07:04

skibiditoilet · 15/05/2024 20:32

I don’t understand what you mean when you say ‘life passing you by’. To me, moving here would be grabbing life by the horns and living it.

Yes, depends what you call 'life'. I'm in a new build in a country town and long to be off grid somewhere with land and chickens and so on. I feel like life is passing me by where I am.

TheCatJumps · 16/05/2024 07:29

This is one only you can answer, OP. I’ve lived by myself on an otherwise uninhabited island (no power, often cut off from supply boat in bad weather), and loved it, but that was for a finite period, and I did feel as though I were embracing an opportunity to step out of the world for a bit, and slow down, focus on my surroundings, which were harsh but beautiful.

Unexpectedlysinglemum · 17/05/2024 09:06

I'd give it a go for an adventure! Just come home if it doesn't work out

Unexpectedlysinglemum · 17/05/2024 10:01

skibiditoilet · 15/05/2024 20:32

I don’t understand what you mean when you say ‘life passing you by’. To me, moving here would be grabbing life by the horns and living it.

Indeed

OmuraWhale · 17/05/2024 10:05

My friends moved from London to Bermuda, which is a bit bigger but not much. They've been there for years, bringing up their kids there, seem very happy.

Whatdoyouexpecthonestly · 17/05/2024 10:07

Torn! It looks stunning but I've spent time in stunning places and believe it or not it gets very dull after a while. After living in London .....I dunno

Original poster
fepwoe · 18/05/2024 15:56

I think Bermuda is a lot more built up/like a small city right?

OP posts:
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