Moving to Europe for a few months?

Say you were young, had no debt, no lease, no real obligations at home, and you were able to work from anywhere in world (for sake of this thread we're talking only about Europe), where would you move to? What city/area would make for a good jump off point, so to speak?

I only speak English and very basic French BTW.

Are you able to speak any other language besides English?

I just got back from London and Paris and was very impressed... from an SF perspective, a much greater appreciation for dressing nicely and enjoying the finer things in life (food, going out, etc). There's something to be said for a culture where most of the people are on the street as opposed to in cars driving to strip malls. If you're single, the girls were stunning- seemed like every subway car especially in Paris had at least an 8, and you'd see perfect 10 stunners every few minutes on the street. Ever since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin hanging out in Versailles, Americans have been fascinated by Europe... I'd vote for Paris.

are you looking to achieve anything in your career, or just have fun for a few months?

if the later, I'd be going to eastern europe, probably prague, although that seems to have run its course, maybe warsaw, slovenia.

also, Bologna is a great city - not as touristy as other places, full of students, great food

same question, but how long can I realistically stay without a visa, and can I rent an apartment, etc? American passport.

If I had the chance, I'd stay in Istanbul for a few months.

Originally Posted by impolyt_one

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same question, but how long can I realistically stay without a visa, and can I rent an apartment, etc? American passport.

With an American passport? It's definitely possible. I have a buddy who did that. He had a job in Spain that paid cash, so no work visa, and lived there for a while.

It all depends on what you're looking for. If you want a serious job, then probably not. If you just want to kinda kick it and not just kind of kill time, then yeah, you can. For what it's worth my friend's progression was this: English teacher at a school (visa), private tutor for some rich family's kid (doubt he had a visa), working at a restaurant in some Mediterranean seaside town (cash, no visa). In all he spent several years there with teaching being a relatively small percentage of the overall time.

With TOJ and whatever else you have in the works now though, I'm guessing your priorities are different than his were at the time.

I'm sure pretty much anything is possible though, so what it will probably come down to is how willing you are to bend/break the rules.

I wouldn't need a job there - have plenty of stuff I work on already, can all be done from my laptop and quick little trips to places for the most part. Just kicking around ideas. I figured if I/we don't work over there, and just 'vacation' in the EU (much as we've been living in Korea, except I have a special visa, she doesn't) it'd probably be just fine. Was wondering if non-residents could rent decent homes or buy cars, stuff like that - any input there? Would I be able to get into a tax haven like Monaco, or is that just for the mega-wealthy?

Originally Posted by globetrotter

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are you looking to achieve anything in your career, or just have fun for a few months?

As long as I have internet connection and my laptop, I can work my current job from anywhere in the world. It will be tough as all of my clients are in North America, so being in Europe would require me to be slightly nocturnal. But January to August (which is when I plan on going) is slow season so I wouldn't even need to be working that much. I would be earning Canadian dollars FYI and my budget would ideally be $3k/month but I could extend that to $7k if need be.

Paris for some reason really appeals to me. I'm not sure why, but it does. But If I plan on being there for that long, I'm not sure I would want to make my "home base" in such an expensive city (hence this thread).

I should also add that I plan on going everywhere (including Beirut) so maybe I should pick somewhere more central (such as Munich).

Originally Posted by bawlin

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As long as I have internet connection and my laptop, I can work my current job from anywhere in the world. It will be tough as all of my clients are in North America, so being in Europe would require me to be slightly nocturnal. But January to August (which is when I plan on going) is slow season so I wouldn't even need to be working that much. I would be earning Canadian dollars FYI and my budget would ideally be $3k/month but I could extend that to $7k if need be.

Paris for some reason really appeals to me. I'm not sure why, but it does. But If I plan on being there for that long, I'm not sure I would want to make my "home base" in such an expensive city (hence this thread).

I should also add that I plan on going everywhere (including Beirut) so maybe I should pick somewhere more central (such as Munich).

munich is good. I like paris too. I like "hot" cities - places that are a little new, or a little more active than older cities like london and paris. but you could also move around. have fun

Originally Posted by impolyt_one

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Was wondering if non-residents could rent decent homes or buy cars, stuff like that - any input there?

Would I be able to get into a tax haven like Monaco, or is that just for the mega-wealthy?

actually, i'm not aware of the concrete visa requirements.

there are a lot of americans living in e.g. vienna.

renting a home is based on availability and your cash, nothing else, buying a car either.

running a car. needs an address for registering the plates. nobody cares if you really lives there as long as you pay the insurance.

i remember, a friend of mine did it with hotel registrations in germany. dunno, if this still works.

eastern europe should be pretty easy, as well.

Paris, London, Istanbul, Barcelona, Bretagne, Provence, Munich or Heidelberg, Arrezzo/Firenze/Sicilia, ... plenty of nice places to travel to/stay - depends on whether you like small or big cities, warm or semi-warm weather and so on..

Paris indeed is an impressive city. Expensive - that's right - but impressive.

I think I would go to Firenze or anywhere in the Tuscany (or your favourite Italian region). You could start learning Italian in a crash course and learn more while living there.

Been looking at Paris apartments and the 1BR's look amazing for roughly +/- 2000 Euro a month, literally a steal in my book for how they look/size. I guess I'll tuck that away for future reference, because I can't go anytime soon

Originally Posted by impolyt_one

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Been looking at Paris apartments and the 1BR's look amazing for roughly +/- 2000 Euro a month, literally a steal in my book for how they look/size. I guess I'll tuck that away for future reference, because I can't go anytime soon

Link?