USA to France

Hello Karen. Seen your post and my wife and I have just purchased a small house in Magnac-Laval France. I am an American Citizen, and my wife is an EU Citizen from Belgium. We are both completely fed up and burned out on the US politics and the out-of-control gun violence and gun laws. This is our second time moving to France. Our first time we purchased a large village house in Pre-en-Pail France back last year. It didn't work out for us because there were no jobs and France was in the middle of the pandemic. We sold that house luckily fast and returned to the US. So, to make a long story short we are now ready to make our return to France and retire there. I am already retired, and my wife still works, and we hope for better luck this time around with her finding a job since the pandemic has lightened up a whole lot and businesses have reopened. We're not high rollers and are making the move on a tight budget but we did it before and will do it again. We were able to pay cash for our house that we just purchased but we did search for months to find one we could pay for, so we do not have any kind of payments. We presently live in Roanoke, Virginia. We wish you both the best success in your move and maybe will hear from you. Best wishes Tommy & Hilde Wilkens

@sunshine1475 I am. And I I am pulling my hair out just to get the information on what is needed for a 10 day vacation.i am at my wits end with this. People go to france all the time! I don't know if I'll need a letter of acceptance, as I will be staying with an individual.

@composerexpat it depends, some thins are much cheaper (medicine, consultations, hospital, and basically all the medical stuff), other things are often more expensive (mostly electronics but also gas for example) but I would say food and restaurants are roughly within the same price range so depending on your life style you may find it pretty similar to the US although some surprises are lurking in the corner (good and bad ones). Insurance is usually cheaper (top-up) but the system being different motor insurance can be a surprise depending on your exact situation for example... All in all it's difficult to make a general statement but hope that comment is kinda helpful? ;-)

@sunshine1475 Yes i am, hopefully fall of next year or early 2024.

@GuestPoster323 I m planning to move as well.  How much of your belongings did you ship? I m struggling with that issue

@bmarionnet I m planning to relocate in early 2024. I have a staging business in the us; I would prefer to have something to occupy my time when i move, on a part time basis. I ll be 70 years old by then,; any input would be appreciated

@Dennis McCuistion what are you planning to do to occupy your time other than travel?

@sunshine1475 I am

@LoveGreenTea Nice sounds good

@earld would you mind if I ask who you used for shipping? We’re moving from US to Arles in august.  There are so many international moving companies out there, that I don’t know who to trust.  Also, seems price differs drastically.  We aren’t taking much; no furniture except a bookshelf my father handmade, and some area rugs.  Quite a few boxes but we’ve whittled it down as much as we can for a family of 3.