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@Gina all this to say: nowhere is perfect. Upsides and downsides for every location.

So, I feel your pain!

@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 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 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 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!

@jpm @neoluddite @zzt I’ve recently been returning to the idea of finally setting up a pi hole with a Raspberry Pi, but this thread gives me pause. Would it be better to do it on an Orange Pi than a Raspberry Pi?