9/11 ruined air travel forever, I can put up with say, 3 hours flights, however I'm damned if I'm going through all the crap for a 250 miles trip, which isn't that bad a drive.

I agree air travel has changed forever since 9.11

I caught a flight yesterday with an 82 year old in tow. She had to take off coat, cardie and shoes, all very difficult with her aches and pains.

just flown in from St. lucia. put all the iffy bits, mascara. lip gloss etc. in a see through bag. When i got it out the guy said Nah. leave them in the bag they are OK....had to take shoes off though. A lot of confidence in the clock when the arrivals board was 20 mins fast

Cricketman is right, the money will go very quickly. We all have dreams but your 33 and have many working years ahead of you:-). You can buy a cheap property where there are no well paid jobs, but it will need a lot of work and most of your money will be gone. To be totally self sufficient you'd need more money, as it would cost thousands to get a decent solar system with battery (technology not that good yet) and rain water harvesting system etc. Otherwise you still have to pay your taxes, water, electricity, food, will need a car too. You also mentioned Malta, but it's far too expensive (especially property) and it's very overcrowded. Your mortgage free, so just keep working in the UK, save a bit more and enjoy life. Or, you look for jobs online and just see where you can get a decent job. Other thing would be to buy a decent camper van and travel + work. That way you'll really know where you'd like to be. Sorry, I don't know what properties you've seen for 25-50k but there's so much more to consider. You need to do a building or structural survey, so you know what costs are involved. Earthquakes and flooding are big issues if you go to certain places like Greece. Are these properties connected to mains, electricity etc. The cheapest properties you can buy are probably in Bulgaria. Just look on bulgarianproperties.com but do you really want to live there???

Learning a foreign language as an adult can be difficult. This is particularly true for those that have never learned another language. Even school exposure to French or Spanish makes it easier in later years to acquire competence in a foreign tongue.

On the contrary my friend.
We were given duff information by council officials. Had it not been for my wife, I would have put a lot down to a lack of understanding. After the council, there´s the health and safety, regulatory body, regulatory body health and safety ..... the electrician that produced a certificate for €400 which turned out to be worthless, and unneccessary, and the list goes on and on
I´m sure it could be have been done without a native speaker but at what cost? Not that I don´t trust the council but they would have been rubbing their hands at the fees they were prepared to unload!

There are terraced houses for sale at around £30K in a couple of areas of my city of birth, Sheffield. However never leave it unoccupied, and for god's sake don't go out on your own at night. I recall these properties when they were inhabited by decent working class folk, it is so rough these days that the now disgraced, Prince Naseem Hamed received a good hiding there when he was world featherweight champion.

Houses are cheap for a reason.

I see your point, I read it as you would not have had the confidence on your own.