What's the best country in the world?

[So]

Anyone lived in Italy?

It's a country I love to visit, I like the people, but I imagine it's not a great place to live unless you're wealthy and well-connected. Am I right?

[Dazed and Confused]

NordicCrankShaft said:

What people fail to understand about Norway is that wages are extremely high. So for you to come as a tourist, yes it's expensive..... extortionate even but for us folk that decided to live here the stupid high wages balance it out nicely, I work a 37.5 hour week, get 2 weeks off at Christmas, 2 weeks for Easter, a week in October or February and then the entire month of July.....I've never worked so little in my entire life and earned more money than I've ever had living here. Summer time is spent out by the coast with the relatives on their boats then the winters spent up in the mountains skiing and staying with friends or family in their cabins.

Yeah I don't get to go out and eat nice food or whatever all the time but then you take those things for granted less because when you do then it's more special.

That's cool, but I don't know why anyone would choose to move from here to Normay.

[King Herald]

NordicCrankShaft said:

What people fail to understand about Norway is that wages are extremely high. So for you to come as a tourist, yes it's expensive..... extortionate even but for us folk that decided to live here the stupid high wages balance it out nicely, I work a 37.5 hour week, get 2 weeks off at Christmas, 2 weeks for Easter, a week in October or February and then the entire month of July.....I've never worked so little in my entire life and earned more money than I've ever had living here. Summer time is spent out by the coast with the relatives on their boats then the winters spent up in the mountains skiing and staying with friends or family in their cabins.

Yeah I don't get to go out and eat nice food or whatever all the time but then you take those things for granted less because when you do then it's more special.

Another odd thing in Norway used to be the publication of everybody's salary and net worth in public. Noggys I used to work with offshore told me about it, their local newspaper would tell everybody what each person earned, their house value etc.

I told them that was disgraceful, and they were firmly convinced it was the same in the UK, until I put them right. There was also a web site you could find those details, and we discovered that my chief mechanic offshore was earning US$180,000 a year! (And that was ten years ago) He was on more than the captain, who was also Norwegian, (and double what we Brits earned) but their salaries are decided by the Noggy government, not by our company.

They all had detailed and exacting contracts of employ, and worked a 40 hour week on basic salary, with the rest as overtime, despite working 12 hours shifts, 7 days a week with the rest of us.

If ever they were stuck on the ships due to adverse weather or any other reason qthey would get triple salary for every singe day extra they had to do. A disgusting amount of money, compared to what the rest of us earned.


But then the Filipinos and Indonesians onboard, earning US$1000 a month probably thought exactly the same about we Brits and other whiteys.

[NordicCrankShaft]

Yeah that used to be a thing a few years back, but is no longer done. Although you can have access to someone's tax records which will show how much they're worth, what assets they have and what salary they earn. You have to pay for this information and once you go through the process the person will be notified that somebody looked at their "file" and who that person was. It's not like we all go round looking at what each other has

[GetCarter]

Well according to Rough Guide, this one is the most beautiful, if not the best:

https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/most-beautiful...

[MegaCat]

GetCarter said:

Well according to Rough Guide, this one is the most beautiful, if not the best:

https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/most-beautiful...

I'm good with the winner! Sutherland, Outer Hebrides & many other wonderful places - have you guessed where it is yet! ; )

[Robertj21a]

GetCarter said:

Well according to Rough Guide, this one is the most beautiful, if not the best:

https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/most-beautiful...

I think anyone who has spent time there will probably agree.

[uncinqsix]

Robertj21a said:

GetCarter said:

Well according to Rough Guide, this one is the most beautiful, if not the best:

https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/most-beautiful...

I think anyone who has spent time there will probably agree.

There was a New Zealand tourism poster on the wall of Murray's office in Flight of the Conchords that said "Like Scotland, But Further Away." I always felt that was pretty accurate (like most of FOTC).

[paua]

uncinqsix said:

Robertj21a said:

GetCarter said:

Well according to Rough Guide, this one is the most beautiful, if not the best:

https://www.roughguides.com/gallery/most-beautiful...

I think anyone who has spent time there will probably agree.

There was a New Zealand tourism poster on the wall of Murray's office in Flight of the Conchords that said "Like Scotland, But Further Away." I always felt that was pretty accurate (like most of FOTC).

Grandmother left Scotland in 1922/3 for "further away"

[Roofless Toothless]

I think your choice depends on what stage of your life you are at.

Most people are deciding on the grounds of the best country to live in rather than visit, though the thread title doesn't make that clear.

When I was a young man I lived for a few years in Venezuela. A beautiful country, lively, gifted and intelligent people, great food. What's not to like. Then my wife got very ill, and we very soon saw the downside of a country with an underdeveloped health system. Certainly wouldn't like to live there now.

So England became a great place to bring up kids, educate them, have loads of leisure and hobby opportunities, and get the support we needed to get our health back in order.

With kids off our hands, time to travel a bit, we fell in love with Italy. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to, people are engaging, food terrific and if you have an interest in art and history there's no place better.

But I am older now, and perhaps Italy would be a bit too lively for me these days.

So as an old git, retired, not too well, but still taking an interest in people and the world around me, I think a small town in Holland would suit me very well. Friendly, well cared for, nice food but not too fancy, and a great place just to sit and watch the world go by.

[Amateurish]

I've travelled extensively and agree with a lot of what has already been said about the merits of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Canada. Personally not so taken with Norway, Finland, Aus and NZ; horses for courses.

I spend a lot of time in French Alps and love it here. If you enjoy an active lifestyle it is perfect. The locals are great as well, despite what you may have heard. It's pretty dead off season so wouldn't move here.

I've been to Germany several times, work and pleasure, and always thought it would be a great place to live.

Recently took a trip to Vienna and was really impressed with the place. It seemed like an excellent place to be. Anyone lived there?

[So]

Roofless Toothless said:

I think your choice depends on what stage of your life you are at.

Most people are deciding on the grounds of the best country to live in rather than visit, though the thread title doesn't make that clear.

....Italy. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to, people are engaging, food terrific and if you have an interest in art and history there's no place better.

But I am older now, and perhaps Italy would be a bit too lively for me these days.

.

We've been to Italy many times and have a long-term love affair with it. The people we've met are generally more pleasant and polite than Brits and there is an overwhelming sense of live and let live. But the country has its issues economically. I don't think I'd live there in my dotage unless I was either very rich or surrounded by family.

I wonder what's going to happen to Italy's beautiful architecture going forwards. Part of its appeal is that is crumbling, but that's a process that cannot continue indefinitely.

[paua]

Roofless Toothless said:

I think your choice depends on what stage of your life you are at.

Most people are deciding on the grounds of the best country to live in rather than visit, though the thread title doesn't make that clear.

When I was a young man I lived for a few years in Venezuela. A beautiful country, lively, gifted and intelligent people, great food. What's not to like. Then my wife got very ill, and we very soon saw the downside of a country with an underdeveloped health system. Certainly wouldn't like to live there now.

So England became a great place to bring up kids, educate them, have loads of leisure and hobby opportunities, and get the support we needed to get our health back in order.

With kids off our hands, time to travel a bit, we fell in love with Italy. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to, people are engaging, food terrific and if you have an interest in art and history there's no place better.

But I am older now, and perhaps Italy would be a bit too lively for me these days.

So as an old git, retired, not too well, but still taking an interest in people and the world around me, I think a small town in Holland would suit me very well. Friendly, well cared for, nice food but not too fancy, and a great place just to sit and watch the world go by.

A well reasoned opinion. Be happy to have a beer/ wine with you, anytime. Cheers

[jshell]

Lived in Norway for years, I was delighted to get back to Scotland.

[SCEtoAUX]

From my "not that well travelled" perspective it's Iceland. Absolutely love the place and the people though I've only been a couple of times.

Australia on the other hand... well I've also been there twice. The first time I wasn't impressed, the second time I wasn't impressed either. Yes, they have some lovely scenery and beaches but you can find everything they have a lot closer to the UK. I found the people I met to be quite dismissive, happy to knock England at every opportunity, and generally rather too full of themselves.

I also love Austria, beautiful country, lovely people, some great roads too :-)

[Adam B]

RBH58 said:

Just spent a week in Croatia. It could live there! Stunningly beautiful villages/towns/cities, great food, great wine, friendly laid back people. I loved it.

so did I, but bit daft to base opinion on the flattering situation of a weeks holiday, also people were not particularly friendly at all

[Roofless Toothless]

paua said:

A well reasoned opinion. Be happy to have a beer/ wine with you, anytime. Cheers

I just looked up your location in your profile. It may have to wait a while!



PS. You have too many earthquakes where you are to get high up my list! I experienced an earthquake once in Venezuela. Scared the living daylights out of me.

[paua]

Roofless Toothless said:

I just looked up your location in your profile. It may have to wait a while!



PS. You have too many earthquakes where you are to get high up my list! I experienced an earthquake once in Venezuela. Scared the living daylights out of me.

The big quake here late last year wasn't a lot of fun. Still a bit chaotic here - have just put 2 new wheels on wife's car, bent rims from crappy roads. Would never have believed a few potholes could feck steel rims!

[RobDickinson]

We still have major roadworks in Sumner due to quake damage due for completion 7 years after..

The quakes themselves are scary but its the aftermath.. Chc is back on its feet again and a good city to live in but that took years

[Shay HTFC]

Adam B said:

RBH58 said:

Just spent a week in Croatia. It could live there! Stunningly beautiful villages/towns/cities, great food, great wine, friendly laid back people. I loved it.

so did I, but bit daft to base opinion on the flattering situation of a weeks holiday, also people were not particularly friendly at all

I was there last year and everyone was ridiculously friendly. I Had a few days in Zadar and was treated like royalty everywhere I went, and then spent a few days in Split, which admittedly was less friendly (presumably due to the hordes of tourists there), but still hardly 'unfriendly'!

Edited by Shay HTFC on Monday 4th September 23:50