We've been talking about this idea of moving to Ireland with the kids and they're somewhat on board (adventure and such), but the idea of having to go to school after bothers them a lot. Side effect of homeschooling their entire life is they have no idea what school is like but they are pretty damn sure they DO NOT WANT.
@bigzaphod I’m going to assume you’re talking about the Republic of Ireland as opposed to Northern Ireland (UK). I live in the UK bit, but it’s a small enough island, so if there’s anything you want to know about feel free to ask away (or DM if it’s stuff you want a bit more private).
Good luck with the exploration of possibilities!
@mo yes, the republic of Ireland since they're still in the EU. 😛 I "reclaimed" ancestral citizenship of Luxembourg a couple years ago so technically I guess my kids and I are EU citizens (although I haven't tried to actually get a passport yet since I have to go do NYC or Luxembourg to do it). In theory being an EU citizen should make an experiment like this a lot easier, I'd think. Maybe?
@bigzaphod I think it would for sure. Being from Northern Ireland and having been born before 1998, I am allowed to be a dual citizen of UK and Ireland, so it certainly makes EU wide travel a lot easier for me 🙂
City life, especially in Dublin, can be very expensive, but rural life in Ireland can be wonderful and there are a lot of rural areas that are really well provisioned for Fibre to the Premises Internet access. My parents’ house in County Donegal has the option of 1Gbps!
@mo the housing situation looks like one of the biggest problems. Well, that and the logistics of a move like this (selling literally everything before moving, having 4 pets to bring, etc). From my poking around it seems like there aren't very many rentals anywhere and if you add a pets filter or something like that, they mostly all disappear. That alone seems like it would make it very hard to even have a place to stay temporarily. I guess housing pricing is pretty messed up everywhere though.
@bigzaphod they have a bit of a housing crisis in The South (that’s what we nordies call the Republic) at the minute. Apparently there are way more properties on AirBnB for short term renting than there are long term rentals!
@mo I think Canada calls the US "the south" too. Meanwhile to me, "the south" is like.. Alabama and Texas. lol
@bigzaphod you would also hear it referred to as “The Free State”, as it was officially named The Irish Free State before it formally became an independent republic. We’ve got so much complicated history, but you’ll feel right at home. We had a war of independence and a civil war. They were just a bit more recent than yours! 🙂
@bigzaphod the political climate in the UK is pretty poor these days, and we’ve got a lot of crap going on in Northern Ireland, but luckily for you it’s not going to make its way across the border. Very little will make its way across the border if British politics continue on their current trajectory!
@mo haha - well, the political climate here sucks and just doesn't look good from where I'm sitting which is why this whole moving idea is being considered in the first place.