You can live anywhere East Coast US, Spain or France - which city do you choose?

[Yepper]

We currently live in Switzerland and love the lifestyle and weather. The kids 8 and 10 are now fluent in French. I’m the breadwinner, DH has a small trade-based business which he does pt whilst juggling looking after the children.

I’ve been headhunted for a new role in an industry I’d love to get in to. Whilst the company takes a “remote-first” approach, the role can’t be based anywhere meaning we need to move out of Switzerland.

Out of the list they’ve specified, east coast US, France and Spain are the locations we would go to.

But given it’s a wfh role, we can pick the city. So where do we begin?!?

So ignore things like visas etc for a moment. Based on lifestyle choices, where would you live?? We love skiing in the winter and swimming (lake/sea) in the summer.

Working from home means less opportunities to socialize through work and would be relying on school / kid / hobby stuff.

Lyon could give us a similar lifestyle to now - close to skiing, not far from lakes or even the coast, along with travel opportunities. Toulouse may be similar. Paris is a great city but not sure we’d get the leisure activities there.

Barcelona I’m not sure about Catalan being thrown in the mix, but nice lifestyle. Madrid feels too inland? No idea on other Spanish cities.

US east coast, I wouldn’t know where to start!! Connecticut? NYC? Upstate NY? Florida??? God knows.

Help!!!

Marseille coast without hesitation.

Sigh… The OP is in Switzerland where abortion is only permitted (barring medical emergency) up to the 12th week. The UK is similar.

Couldn't let this pass. I don't know anything about Switzerland but in the UK it's 24 weeks.

Id move just over the boarder into France. Maybe round Geneva, or towards Lyon.

In the UK abortion is legal at any point in pregnancy for medical reasons.

Before 24 weeks, it’s legal but you need medical sign off, usually given on the basis of likely mental distress to the mother. It’s often a technicality and many women are unaware of it but it does mean that a woman could find herself unable to access an abortion if no doctors were willing to sign it off. Therefore campaigners in the UK have for a long time pressed for abortion on demand, as is the case in some other parts of the world, including the US States referenced. The 1967 Abortion Act legalised abortion very much in the context of health, resulting in the situation we have.

I live in Barcelona and I love it. Near to sea, mountains , great transport links.

Catalan isn't too much of a problem. Just speak Spanish if you can (don't believe the hype about them not speaking Spanish ). In Barcelona city also everyone speaks English less so the further out you go.

I live 40 mins away and here they speak limited English but Spanish is perfectly acceptable

Forgot to say. Catalonia is expensive compared to the rest of Spain , but I like the fact we get seasons (it's very hot in the summer )

Go to France.

Take holidays elsewhere if you're still hankering for adventure.

Would Austria or Slovenia be an option at all?

Is Scandinavia too far north?

Boston and its surrounds. Excellent schools, great communities, 3 hours from
good skiing, gorgeous lakes and beaches of the North Shore in summer. 3 hours from NYC. We moved here and love it

Boston. You get gorgeous summers with beaches galore, world class schools and skiing in winter. For all that is good and holy do NOT move to Florida!

If you love Switzerland I would just stick to Haute Savoie and have access to Geneva. Maybe Annecy if you want to be in a city?

If OP is worried about summer heat, Avignon, Montpellier and Perpignan will probably not work for her. The south is also really not very international in feel, other than maybe Aix-en-Provence or Marseille.

Unfortunately the Mont Ventoux skiing rarely opens for more than a few days these days, the snow cover is not good enough.

I wouldn't want to live in the US myself (worked there for many years) but if I had to choose it would be somewhere near Boston. Not great access to skiing though.

Palma? International schools, cheap flights for residents. Amazing airport, island life.

So ignore things like visas etc for a moment.

Isn’t this kind of critical, though?

Can you even get a visa for the States?

And I don’t understand why the salary is so dependent on where you end up living. Isn’t the salary the salary - i.e. whatever you end up negotiating when you accept the job, and based on where your employer is based?

Valencia?

Madrid is also lovely (DS went to uni there and its where his partner is from) and the train service to the coast (either way) is very good.

Spanish is a fairly easy language to pick up.

Most multi national companies do adjusted pay for your country of residence that reflects cost of living/ spending power after tax. Some also factor in your nationality too ( not all countries regulate against this).

We went through a similar process last year. Definitely not anywhere in the US was an easy elimination for us.

Exeter, New Hampshire

Where did you end up?