Tldr; I love my job, hate the Netherlands, want to move somewhere warmer but where and how?
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The saga continues. 🥲
We've established that I need to move abroad. I still don't know where to. And I have two cats to bring along.
The problem is that buying a campervan will easily erase 1/3rd to 1/2 of my savings. And I need those savings to buy a house or start a business. It would be much cheaper if I just knew where I wanted to live and moved there, but noooo. 🙄
I'm worried about spending all my money on travelling and then not having any left to move.
9/n
@Gina I did it the other way round: spent my early life as a nomad, partly living on boats, and then settled down in the Netherlands. I'm also outside the 'huisje, boompje, beestje' class, I can imagine your fatigue. I would give it a gentle try first - nomadic life is hard if you have creature comforts or like predictability. I tried living out of a small camper in South Africa for a few months. Whatever location you choose will be coloured by your experiences there, so try a few.
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What I could also do, instead of buying a van, is take short city trips by plane during long weekends all over Europe and try different places.
But that would limit me to big cities. While I think I might prefer smaller cities or even the countryside. But still with an expat vibe. And good coffee places. And quiet. But also lively. Sigh. 🤦🏼♀️
11/n
@Gina what about travelling by bus? With companies like Flixbus it should be possible and would help you connect to smaller cities.
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Clearly it's time to go (even though I'd be willing to stay a bit longer for a ~particular role~, in case my boss is reading this 😂), but the question is..
..go where?
Australia was a contender, but I haven't heard back from my visa application. Finding a visa sponsored job also hasn't led anywhere. Plus, it feels like Australians are dealing with their own financial challenges, especially aspiring home owners.
6/n
@Gina I grew up in Aus so I have the freedom of being able to move back there whenever I want, but I still haven't done it after 13 years in NL.
I cannot tell you how much I feel you on your criticisms of Dutch weather, and the lack of landscape and nature. I miss Australia terribly for this exact reason.
Doesn't help I spent a lot of time out bush through the years - I used to be an outdoors guide. It's been quite the change living here!
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@Gina I grew up in Aus so I have the freedom of being able to move back there whenever I want, but I still haven't done it after 13 years in NL.
I cannot tell you how much I feel you on your criticisms of Dutch weather, and the lack of landscape and nature. I miss Australia terribly for this exact reason.
Doesn't help I spent a lot of time out bush through the years - I used to be an outdoors guide. It's been quite the change living here!
@Gina But every time I think about moving back, I remind myself of daily city life. Here in Amsterdam, almost every friend is within a 30 minute cycle. The choices for food, art and entertainment are incredible. Day to day life here is just wonderful on those counts. Compare that to Aus where you drive everywhere. Cycling is extremely dangerous (I used to do it, but everyone thought I was weird, and you arrive everywhere sweaty due to the distances, hills, and heat).
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@Gina But every time I think about moving back, I remind myself of daily city life. Here in Amsterdam, almost every friend is within a 30 minute cycle. The choices for food, art and entertainment are incredible. Day to day life here is just wonderful on those counts. Compare that to Aus where you drive everywhere. Cycling is extremely dangerous (I used to do it, but everyone thought I was weird, and you arrive everywhere sweaty due to the distances, hills, and heat).
@Gina and the jobs market for software is nothing like it is here in Europe. You might be up for working remotely, which hey maybe that's your thing (I personally hate it, I like seeing humans), but the time difference makes it intolerable to work with both the US and Europe. I tried. Couldn't do it.
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@Gina and the jobs market for software is nothing like it is here in Europe. You might be up for working remotely, which hey maybe that's your thing (I personally hate it, I like seeing humans), but the time difference makes it intolerable to work with both the US and Europe. I tried. Couldn't do it.
@Gina I think I've gone through the exact same through process as you: I need more sun and nature, so Southern Europe seems like a good idea. Barcelona has 1000 hours more sun per year than Ams! Just like my home town!
... but I don't speak Spanish. Or any other languages besides English and Dutch.
Maybe you already do, in which case you'd bypass the reason I didn't try moving South: I didn't want the isolation of living somewhere I don't speak the language.
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@Gina I think I've gone through the exact same through process as you: I need more sun and nature, so Southern Europe seems like a good idea. Barcelona has 1000 hours more sun per year than Ams! Just like my home town!
... but I don't speak Spanish. Or any other languages besides English and Dutch.
Maybe you already do, in which case you'd bypass the reason I didn't try moving South: I didn't want the isolation of living somewhere I don't speak the language.
@Gina all this to say: nowhere is perfect. Upsides and downsides for every location.
So, I feel your pain!
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@Gina what about travelling by bus? With companies like Flixbus it should be possible and would help you connect to smaller cities.
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@Gina I grew up in Aus so I have the freedom of being able to move back there whenever I want, but I still haven't done it after 13 years in NL.
I cannot tell you how much I feel you on your criticisms of Dutch weather, and the lack of landscape and nature. I miss Australia terribly for this exact reason.
Doesn't help I spent a lot of time out bush through the years - I used to be an outdoors guide. It's been quite the change living here!
@Brendanjones what are you still doing here?!? 😭
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@Gina haha got it 😂
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@Gina
Maybe according to your definition (and maybe not even then). We have an apartment in Ginowan, a city of about 100k, and directly connected to Urasoe, then Naha in the south; and Chatan and Okinawa City in the north.To me this is still urban (if not the big city vibe of, say, Osaka or Tokyo). Many japanese consider Okinawa as a whole as the far-end of nowhere.
We have streetlights and sidewalks. That's at least semi-urban to me.
@jannem @Gina I LOVE Japan, the people, the food, the aesthetic, a lot of the culture.. but my experience living there was that if you planned to put down roots and integrate you would have to reckon with the gender-essentialist and extreme hierarchical nature of Japanese society. And it's a society that exerts suffocating social control. But my knowledge is 25 years out of date, so I'm curious to hear from Janne if it has changed.
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What I could also do, instead of buying a van, is take short city trips by plane during long weekends all over Europe and try different places.
But that would limit me to big cities. While I think I might prefer smaller cities or even the countryside. But still with an expat vibe. And good coffee places. And quiet. But also lively. Sigh. 🤦🏼♀️
11/n
Kay, I've found a few options in the €35k to €45k range. What do we think?
12/n
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Kay, I've found a few options in the €35k to €45k range. What do we think?
12/n
@Gina hum... 🤔
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Kay, I've found a few options in the €35k to €45k range. What do we think?
12/n
@Gina Those look very posh but also high mileage. Looks good, but dunno about the maintenance and reliability.
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Kay, I've found a few options in the €35k to €45k range. What do we think?
12/n
@Gina for me number 1 has a fantastic layout, but is the longest by a half meter. I'm currently converting a LWB van and parking locations in towns can be tricky to find. On a campsite the space is great. Something to think about maybe?
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Tldr; I love my job, hate the Netherlands, want to move somewhere warmer but where and how?
Basically that. It's time for a change. I love my current job, and I wish I could stay in that role for years to come, but a. It's temporary and b. Good god do I hate living in The Netherlands. To a point where something's gotta give.
I'll be slow posting in this thread today, not sure how many toots. Feel free to mute me if this thread becomes annoying. 🫶
1/n
@Gina I’m just curious; have you thought about looking at the Caribbean? It’s a very different lifestyle, but if you’re looking for nature, warm weather, and sun, I can’t think of a better place.
I meet many European expats when I go there.
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@Gina I’m just curious; have you thought about looking at the Caribbean? It’s a very different lifestyle, but if you’re looking for nature, warm weather, and sun, I can’t think of a better place.
I meet many European expats when I go there.
@OGjester I've been to the 'Dutch' Carribbean islands, Curacao. Didn't like it.
Edit: half of the islands felt like a vacation park for trashy Dutchies, the other half poor and miserable. The beaches were so so.
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@Gina Those look very posh but also high mileage. Looks good, but dunno about the maintenance and reliability.
@lalalasombra Yeah the 145.000 km one might be too much. 100k I can live with.
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Kay, I've found a few options in the €35k to €45k range. What do we think?
12/n
@Gina they all look good :)
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Kay, I've found a few options in the €35k to €45k range. What do we think?
12/n
@Gina are you alone with your cats? Those three are huge.
A fellow camper recommended staying under 6m total length. If your camper is longer, you have bigger parking and transit costs.
Nevertheless: nice choices. I'd take one as well for myself.
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@anton true, but the small ones look so cramped 🥲
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@Gina are you alone with your cats? Those three are huge.
A fellow camper recommended staying under 6m total length. If your camper is longer, you have bigger parking and transit costs.
Nevertheless: nice choices. I'd take one as well for myself.
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Immagino che ne abbiano discusso nel "Board of Peace", no ?
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@Gina they all look good :)
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@thatgiga @matz @lysander @Uilebheist @marcoboh no, nel server
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@kaia not even an eyeroll?
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AI made writing code easier. It also made being an engineer harder. https://www.ivanturkovic.com/2026/02/25/ai-made-writing-code-easier-engineering-harder/
Early CodeGen enthusiasts talked about "I can accomplish code while walking my dog / taking my kid to the park". Shock and surprise, capitalism doesn't work that way.
Engineers are working longer hours, doing less fulfilling work, are expected to ship faster, often after their org experiences major layoffs, and the quality of output is lower.
