Future move... Where?

[IslandPaws4Raw]

Thanks, Hayley. That was exactly what I am looking for. Haha. You clearly love where you live. I am heavily leaning towards the Bahamas or Australia. Jon keeps recommending NZ so I am looking into that too. I LOVE Ireland but I don't think I would want to permanently live there. I really do just want a laid back life style. I am NOT a person who likes to be going, going, going all the time. I don't even need people around all the time.

As for those who can be offensive... I am married to a Sailor... who works very closely with Marines... I have met more rude, snarky, and arrogant military members than I care to count. I can deal with offensive. Hahaha. And I don't think I have ever been ANYWHERE that was devoid of stupid people. They are definitely everywhere.

Natalie, I do want SOME land, but I don't need a huge amount. I'm not picky, but, if I had to be I would have a small bit of land away from the hustle and bustle of the city but close enough to be able to use it on occasion. I'm happy with how far away we are from Seattle. We are ten minutes from the ferry and then it's a 45 minute ferry ride. I like that.

Then it sounds like you would fit right in over here.......LOL
Here is a lot like Hayley has mentioned. The property gets more affordable the further you are out of town, or from the high dollar tourist locals. My community is about 18 miles out of the main town and lots are still fairly reasonable. The lot we purchased is just across the road from the beach for under 100K. You can get nice sized interior lots ranging from 15K to 50K. There are also really cool communities that are not too bad price wise if you don't mind commuting by boat, like Lubber's Quarters, Green Turtle Cay and Man O' War Cay.

It can be difficult to get work over here now especially in the last few years. The economy has taken a huge hit, so they are trying to protect the Bahamian work force. Most people come in for large companies that need expertise in areas that Bahamians have little experience. Mainly construction or banking.

[Dude and Bucks Mamma]

What is it about those countries that attract you?

I know Ireland isn't in a good place right now financially(Euro Crisis... not as bad off as many other places though), but it's quite pretty.

I'm surprised you are looking so far away however. Is there a reason you aren't considering Canada?

What type of jobs will you be looking for?

Not all of the details are set yet. The move will occur anywhere from 2-10 years from now. I just want to know more about the places I am interested in before we are ready to make the move. I don't want to find myself ready to move and just beginning to do what I feel should be years of research. Canada... I have just never really been interested in living there.

Jobs will definitely play a part in what we decide to do. We can't really know until Nick is out of the Navy. Again, this is all really just research that I want to be actively doing rather than wait until we want to actually move. And I don't want to move somewhere without knowing anything about it!

Then it sounds like you would fit right in over here.......LOL
Here is a lot like Hayley has mentioned. The property gets more affordable the further you are out of town, or from the high dollar tourist locals. My community is about 18 miles out of the main town and lots are still fairly reasonable. The lot we purchased is just across the road from the beach for under 100K. You can get nice sized interior lots ranging from 15K to 50K. There are also really cool communities that are not too bad price wise if you don't mind commuting by boat, like Lubber's Quarters, Green Turtle Cay and Man O' War Cay.

It can be difficult to get work over here now especially in the last few years. The economy has taken a huge hit, so they are trying to protect the Bahamian work force. Most people come in for large companies that need expertise in areas that Bahamians have little experience. Mainly construction or banking.

We really aren't picky. We are both used to commuting. As far as the economy, as I said before, this is not going to be happening for at least a couple of years. Who knows where the economy will be by then?

[Caty M]

I lived in New Zealand for a few years, and I'll be honest, I didn't like living there that much. The weather is nice and it's a really pretty country but in every other way I prefer Canada.

I would love to move back to Dallas, TX!

[MollyWoppy]

It's funny how life ends up. I came to the States, not intending or even wanting to stay, but here I am 10 years later still living in Florida. My husbands health problems forced us to scrap all our life plans. So, if you have a dream, do it whilst you can, don't have any regrets, just get out there and live.
Wherever you choose to go, be prepared for a HUGE culture shock. You may not think there is that much of a difference between similar, English speaking countries, but, believe me, there is, and its huge. Different words, totally different sense of humour (everyone thinks I'm insulting them), different life values. NZ is a welfare state, vastly different to here, everything is smaller, (including restaurant portions), petrol (gas) is 3 times the price, 230v instead of 110/different plugs, the roads here are absolutely awesome compared to home, the US is a rich country, NZ is not (monetary wise), gosh, I could go on and on and on and bore you to death.
I love both NZ and Oz. NZ first of course, because it's home and the best country in the world :D, (and they have the better rugby team - we won't talk about cricket!), but I've spent a lot of time in Oz because I have a lot of family there and though it is a bit different, I'd live there in a second.
Kiwis are definitely both far more laid back than the US, more liberal, not in a political way, its just the way the people are.
I can't tell you much about the job situation as I have not been home for 8 years now, but here is a link to the national newspaper
NZ Herald: New Zealand's Latest News, Business, Sport, Weather, Travel, Technology, Entertainment, Politics, Finance, Health, Environment and Science Under the 'National' heading, are the employment classified ad's.
And, corgipaws brought up a very good point about the dogs. Be prepared, it is very expensive to take them over. For NZ, you will spend 6 months here seeing a specialist vet who has to do periodic bloodtests and vaccinations, then after the flight, the dog/cat is taken straight to a quarantine facility where they have to spend a month, all the time being tested again. There are different microchips, required, 15 digit instead of 9? digit. Just in case I do end up having to take Mollie and Windy back home, I have to make absolutely sure all their shot records, registration and health records are totally up to date and legal, you don't want to have any element of doubt where they will ban your dog from going to the country, and they will if they suspect anything is wrong, they just can't take the chance of rabies or other diseases being imported and decimating the wildlife.
God, I could go on more, but if you have any questions about stuff I've forgotten, please just ask.

[Dude and Bucks Mamma]

Yea, the dogs would really be my biggest concern. There is a LOT to find out before any kind of decision is made. It just REALLY helps to get some feedback from people who have or currently lived in any of these places. And you made a great point. One that I have always thought. I don't want to keep putting off doing something like this and then realize one day that I'm just too old and I went my entire life without doing it. I know I would regret it.