So your situation is one that allows you to up sticks and go at this point without any real issue. I would make a few comments / questions:

Wherever you go be sure that you want to be there all year round - for instance Malta is lovely in the spring and autumn, it is hot in the summer (moderated by the sea breezes) and a little chilly in the winter (but way better than the UK - though it is not unknown, even if it is unusual, for it to snow and settle for a short while). Some parts of Malta close in winter due to lack of numbers.

Are you going to work and if so do you have the right to do so? If you don't initially what hurdles do you have to go over to get the right to work. Are your skills, and your fiance's, in demand in the country / region you are thinking of going to? Can you develop your skills into something needed in that community?

Are you going to sell the properties that you have or rent them out - renting out allows an easy return to the UK at relatively short notice for whatever reason?

Initially there is a lot of sense in long term renting (12 months plus) in your target area to ensure that the area suits you, to ensure that you can get involved in the community - as has been said just sitting around with the tourists will not be spiritually fulfilling. One thing about having kids is that it forces you to integrate into the community through their schooling - typically lots of friends for you both come from that.

Finally, once you have moved post your address up so we can all come visit you - you know it makes sense. For those that arrive after any child arrives they can be considered voluntary babysitters.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

You aren`t leaving only your bad weather country and a house you sold, you leave a country with a mentality and culture you can read with blind eyes. You will get bored by nice and warm weather and you will wish rain and coldness back.

You are leaving your friends and other social bindings you will earliest recognize in the moment when they aren`t available. You will proof your relation to your fiancee and vice versa the hard way!

You replace your well known legal rules and procedures against new written and unwritten ones. And maybe this you have to learn through existing language barriers.

You may think you will leave rascism and xenophobic behaviors but will earn new forms of this equal where you go. You be will an active part in it instead of being somebody who only hears and read more about.

It did it twice in my life, by job for a couple of years and with the help of relocation services as well as a boss who help me a lot in integrating in the new social society and finding friends. It`s all manageable but it was hard and tough time for me. I recognized a substitution from old dislikes and problems against new ones.

You can do it without support and services I had but be sure it will be tough and hard. You will learn a lot new about youself, your fiancee and you will suffer from paying much more than locals in the first time. It will be a time and nerve consuming adventure for a long run.

Only after going through this by quite some time you would know if your dicision was right or wrong and if you would have found your place of desire.

I am happy that I did it and that I made the experience in my life twice. I am also happy that I know I will do it better next time. And that I learned more about me, my needs and wishes.

Only advice I would give to you is: Reserve some money for a restart in your home country in case that all wouldn`t work as you wished and wanted.

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Yep 100% overpopulated & the weather is shit, expensive? i disagree on that one.

Your age will always be an issue unless you have loads of money, i got in just in the nick of time, they want you to work & pay taxes for said amount of years, thus why there is a cutoff date (age wise).

In all honesty Ted you should have been doing this ten years ago, with your skills they would have rolled out the red carpet.

Mezo.

Sounds like you need a holiday Ted. Lockdown with nothing but the BBC, The Mail and Facebook to sustain you does tend to do strange things to your psyche. Dump the lot, take a day off and go for a walk on the moors. Breath deep and remind yourself that none of that stuff is real. It's all just a bunch of chancers trying to separate you from reality (and thereby your bank account).

My take on it is that life on Planet Earth runs on the three laws of (social) thermodynamics:

1. You can't win

2. You can't break even

3. You can't get out of the game

Moving somewhere else for a negative reason (e.g. 'I can't stand this place') has pretty much ended badly for everyone I've know who's done it. They've either regretted it (and been stuck so they can't move back) or a short while later found themselves in more social sh*t / dodgy politics than they were surrounded by originally. The good moves have usually been e.g. where a job's been on offer or they had some prior connection with the area. I (long long ago) once considered moving down to the Garmisch area of Bavaria for lifestyle reasons until my (then) girlfriend's Bavarian rellies told me all about the '39-45 politics still considered normal in the area. The grass may look greener from a distance but you need to look carefully at what it's growing on.

I agree on the weather though (and the overpopulation, and Brexshit and Indy Ecosse and .....)

You say that, but I come from a North European country, and I have done enough counter-cyclical travel to realize that I need seasons. I can't live somewhere like Singapore, where the weather is damn near static year-round. I need winter for the same reasons that soil needs crop rotation.

That's part of what I like about NZ - it's got the advantages of Australia (a language I speak, excellent variety of nature, sane approaches to things like healthcare and education) without the disadvantages (nothing is particularly poisonous, there are places to legitimately enjoy winter/spring/fall, and the national self-image seems to be significantly less full of itself).

I used to go to Malta a lot for work. Scandalized my Israeli and Cypriot colleagues by having a dip in the sea in February. But my god is that place full up. This is a bike enthusiast forum, right? Exactly one long coastal highway where you zoom a bit, and no real free land to offroad on... And the only ferry connection is to Sicily, so you might as well move there for the same weather, more space, and much better food!

Good question and some thoughtful answers.

I am with Ted with regards to how the UK at the moment is but I firmly believe that this will be temporary. If you look at the policies of the current Gov they are to the left of Corbyn in some instances, well done Rishi.

Agree with both ^^^

I will probably settle/stay in the UK. The UK is a great place, where the majority of folk are tolerant, kind and understanding. They are the ones I like to focus on and surround myself with. One day I will head towards the countryside but will still enjoy travel if I can.

I have lived and travelled to a few places and I've been tempted to stay longer than planned but I still haven't found one place that would keep me there forever. I haven't spent long enough in many places I briefly visited to get a proper feel of the place and I haven't visited everywhere I'd like to yet, so for me it's impossible to say where is best for me to settle.

I am very open to settling outside the UK but I think it would be a decision based on circumstances at that moment in time, especially the people around me at that time.

+ 2 on Colombia my home
Although New Zealand looks pretty good But my pension could not afford any luxury in paradise

Well,
if you like to drive or travel by motorcycle.
Then it is better to live were there are more possibilities.

The problems with snow and ice on the roads in Sweden during winter, did not follow me to Portugal.

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I'd have to agree with your assessment. Malta is a lovely little country and I enjoyed visiting it - but it is definitely not a paradise for motorcycling.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

I wasn’t advocating Malta - it is certainly no motorcycle heaven - but using it it’s an example regarding the seasons - and meaning that you need to see a place over a longer period than, say, two months as you may all into the trap of assuming that it is like that all year round.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Personal aspects we had disucussed already.

Social aspects
As long as you leave (and stay) as couple - you be fine for the start. A relationship is not allways easy. So much communication can go wrong if you had to talk in another language. And then there is the different culture. My full respect for all who keep a relationship running that way!

In your case you both had to learn the langugage and the culture, to get local friends with the time. As a couple you can be self sufficent for a while, but I would avoid to stick just with expats around you.


Money aspects:
You come from the first world. High Income with an expensiv environment. You can work as a barkeeper in a nightclub in equador for 500$. Normal income for a local, you can live too for that cash.

But like the locals in Equador you are not able to travel out of that cash you earn. You dont do anything for your own pension too.

Even with an educated job you earn just enough for a good life, not for getting cash too for your retirement. You mostly dont earn enough money for travelling like you can now.

Work hard too, for less cash - that is not easy to accept after some years.

So with leaving your homecountry for an extended time, you are not able anymore - to go back to your homecountry and to live there without help of the gouverment - pension is too small.

I dont want to say you cant go. You just have to consider that.

If you want to buy a small house with 5`000m2 of land, partly growing your own vegetables, your own fruits, live a healthy and simple live - that is easier where the land dont cost you 400`000$ and the 4 Saisons gives you a short time to grow up stuff for eating.

If you still want to be able to buy a new car from time to time, to own a newer smartphone to surround you with the actual editions of Television and Hifi - you better stay in the first world.

The hard thing is, that we cant know exactly - what will make us happy in 15 years. And you are not alone. What makes you wife happy in this time? And your growing kids?

These are difficult decisions that cannot be easily reversed. 15 Years you didnt pay into the pension system - will bring you under social care at age if you will go back. Baby teds probably also not happy to pay for you later.

This only counts, if you (or your family) wants to go back. If you are happy there - you will have a good life in paradise.

Moving inside of the first world, can push you also for career, can easily end with an higher income. To move in the 2nd or 3rd world - may be a one way path.

Lucky you if you already retired - you can life where you want - specially if you will get the pension out of the first world.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

We have travelled a fair bit, separately before we met and together. In the end we are both Europhiles.
We love the history, architecture and art. We love the fact that you can be in 4 different countries in 1 day, all with different languages, food, architecture, culture etc... and the diverse geography is compacted into such a small area. Take in North Africa and you can be in any of the world’s topical regions within a 2 week holiday.
Obviously this is us and everyone is different.
We also like the seasons and living in the UK, with all the social etc reasons already mentioned.
However, I do find England crowded, even though I live in a rural county. The other thing I have a mental block about is the ferry/tunnel. For some reason it feels like a much bigger hassle and expense than it really is. We have Dutch friends and sometimes meet them in the Ardennes for a weekend. Takes us 2 days to get there, they can work till lunchtime on a Friday and pull into the campsite at 5.30. Yes we could do it in 1 very long day but then you’re knackered for the weekend.

So all things considered it’ll be Northern France I think, possibly Brittany running a small holiday business to keep us busy - not as an income (to dodgy).

Ted, if you don’t like the cold you could head south. You’d be surprised how much warmer it is in the south east counties of England. We’re originally from Surrey but have lived in Manchester, Sheffield and now Lincoln. When our friends come up we forget about the temperature and eventually realise when they’re sitting on the sofa with a jumper and coat on - then we put the heating on. Also when we head south we really notice the nice weather.
Oh, and it’s not too late for Oz - 50 is the cut off point. But it’s not the UK with sunshine, it’s very different and not for everyone (50% return, I believe) so be careful.

Or you could just have kids and you wouldn’t have the time or energy to think about this......or anything else

This is a solid scenario. We all have dreams, but unless all the right pieces fall into place they are only fantasies.
There are two stages to retirement.
1. An active stage where you have the cash and hopefully the health to fulfil your fantasies, on average in the UK thats around seven years after retirement.

2. Your health starts to decline and this impacts on all aspects of your life. On average in the UK retirement lasts for 18 years (According to HSBC Planing for retirement) 7 years you have money after that..well who knows.

You have to be strategic and plan. You have to be realistic and not rely on the state to look after you, this post war scenario is rapidly diminished.

A. Establish some clear goals, both short and long term
B. Benchmark yourself
C. Establish a comprehensive financial plan
D. Implement the plan
E. Keep your plan under review

Keep your eye on the financial pulse!
I think Mark's statements are the most viable scenario, but others circumstances vary-so enjoy yourself while you can!
Kind regards
James

Doesn't quite work like that, you need 65 points & the younger you are the more points you get, 33-40 is 25 points, 40-45 is 15 points & over 45 i don`t think you get any & as Brucey used to say "points make prizes" not sure what Ted`s skills are worth? and even if they are on the list at the moment?

Mezo.