under35

I believe the 3 best places to go in the world are germany, canada and australia.

canada - freedom, resources, western, stability, but a bit cold maybe!
australia - climate, friendly, sporty but a bit dry and hot with spiders
germany - cultural, hidden depths, established, educated, 4 seasons, but a bit "german" and stuffy maybe, socialist.

I wondered if people with families had experience in either of these places and if had a choice, were they would go?

In terms of economic future i think the 80M germans have it tougher than anyone else.

JAJ

(For a British citizen), it's entirely theoretical unless you have a chance of qualifying to immigrate to Canada or Australia.

After that, it depends on the individual. Note the need to change language in Germany, also in parts of Canada.

under35

well, for a lot of folks they probably do qualify for all three. i guess i do.

i speak german so that wasn't a factor. in any case, learning a new langauge is part of the challenge.

i wondered if many germans were leaving for places like canada or oz?

notathome

We very nearly moved to Canada 20 years ago, my husband was offered a top job there. However, when his firm here offered him promotion, to tempt him to stay,we decided to stay in Germany. I had even chosen a house out there, in Hudson, my parents were considering joining us. What stopped us? It would have meant my husband losing his German pension, and any money we managed to save would have had to remain in Canada when we wished to leave again. Also lack of holidays, we were keen travellers then and being restricted to a couple of weeks holiday a year would have been hard. Restrictions on exporting ones savings might have changed by now, I dont know. All our friends were either in Germany or the UK.

Australia never came into consideration during our working lives, but family and friends have moved there, about 40 years ago, and all have stayed. We would love to visit there, but somehow moving there has no attraction.

Germany, well we have lived here since 1968, so it cant be that bad. We did live in Holland for 5 years in the 80's, and couldnt wait to get back to Bavaria.
It has a good standard of living, moderate climate, is handy for reaching most of Europe and in Bavaria at least, heaps of public holidays.

Bikbergen

Was is that bad living in Holland? I'm curious what part of the country you stayed in? Most Brits seem to like it there....
And don't worry, I'm not at all offended by your comments, just curious

notathome

It wasn't that we didnt like Holland itself, we were just homesick for Bavaria and our friends. Our main hobby in those days was walking, mountain walks, and in Holland in our area-Bollenstreek- there were not many places to walk the dog. Winter was o.k., one could then take the dog on the beaches. Our visitors loved Holland, particularly the quaint old villages and of course the flowers. We nearly bought a house there, Lisse, but decided to return to Bavaria, which has the perfect countryside and is so close to Austria, Switzerland, Italy and so on.

Bikbergen

Yes, Holland is flat as a pancake
I have an Aunt in Passau and my mother originates from Bamberg so I know Bavaria fairly well.
Lisse of course is beautiful, next to Amsterdam the main tourist attraction for the flower fields.......
And it was a nice country to live in, in the 80's, I wouldn't recommend it anymore now as a place to settle down in. It's changed a lot and not for the good in my eyes.

Leamar

Although I have lived neither in Canada nor in Australia and therefore can't tell how good it might be staying over there (I lived in Italy, Taiwan and China) I can recommend Germany and particularily Hamburg :-)

Firstly because it is very beautiful! It isn't too big but provides everything you would expect from a city and more... the Alsterlake, the harbour, lots of cultural events and attractions (e.g. a small but nice jazz scene for those who care), nice parks and alleys, fresh air, polite people...

No I'm not originally from Hamburg (and also don't get any commission for luring people to move there;-), but I've lived there for well over 10 years and definitely fell in love with the place, so: If you still consider moving to Germany, then you may want to consider Hamburg :-)

Bikbergen

Where in China have you lived?

I would love to live in Shanghai, apparently its a great place to be as an expat and it still has a lot of the old world charm, historical colonial architecture next to the new.

Leamar

I would have loved to live in Shanghai as well, believe me (and it IS a great place for Expats), but I wasn't that lucky... I lived/worked in Wuxi, which is a middle sized (for Chinese standard, means ~5 million residents), vastly growing industrial city <150 km northwest from Shanghai... with nothing that would wow anybody I know (well, my mother sort of thought it wasn't as bad as I said it was... but it is in fact a rather dull place).

Shanghai is a great city, but it's not a representative place for China really - like Hongkong. It is a cultural mix of East and West with all the good bits thrown together, if you ask me. If you lead an expat life in Shanghai, you are unlikely to get very close to "China" or the Chinese people. But it definitely is very comfortable, no question. If I had had the choice, I would have picked Shanghai for sure!

Bikbergen

Hong Kong is changing real fast, all the old neighbourhoods are disappearing, which is sad in a way as it takes away a lot of its character.

I was born in Singapore in '62 and spent my first 10 years as a child there, it was a great time. Singapore has changed beyond recognition since then.

I had another look at Michael Palin's "Around the world in 80 days" last night and in it he visits Hong Kong and several other cities in China including Shanghai, but this is very dated now as the program was made in '88 I believe. the scenes in Shanghai looked really charming....

Of course I love chinese food as well, the real chinese food not the crap that you get here in Europe.

I better stop as I'm getting very off topic here.....

Ray51

Back to the original question :
if I had a choice today ( which I don't ) , it'd be :
Canada clear 1st ( Toronto/Montreal only ! ) ,
Germany 2nd ,
Oz far 3rd ;
very personal , unbalanced , based on experiences over many a year ,
= my 2 EUrocents' worth ?

adamlt1972

Well if your only downsides to Australia are the heat and spiders then why not consider New Zealand (I think the immigration regs are easier here too).
Mind you, compared to Germany the beer here is awful.

adamlt1972

The wine is great though.

majorlee

none, would goto New Zealand instead!