I am moving to Austria
 

In about two years, when I retire :woot:

Why? because they are on the top 10 list of most happy countries.

They are number 8, but the top 7 are all frozen snow realms, not enough motorcycle riding time. And Austria's cousin, Australia, is full of deadly spiders, snakes, and birds, too risky. I will see what is required to emigrate to Austria and set up a small mountain cottage. What's the cost of living like in Austria? Is there a bunch of crazy taxes, like England's TV tax? :shifty: What does a loaf of bread cost in Austria? I know gas is high, but I can deal with that.

What language do Austrians speak? Any other helpful tips are welcome :rock:

:stare: German for the most! With kind of a very sympathetic accent. A girl speaking normal German with Austrian accent, sounds very se... I mean pretty. ;)

In some regions, Italian also may play a role. But with German you'll be fine everywhere.

At least as long as the German football team does not play the Austrians. :D

German? Ok, got it. Can you imagine what German sounds like with a Texan accent? I hear it at restaurants in central Texas all the time.

Or you could always learn Slovenian and live in Klagenfurt in Karianthia and then jump down to Slovenia from time to time. That is if you can survive the perilous mountain trip with more swerves than a snake.

As for your other questions, well, I'm not Austrian, but for a lot of goods Slovenians still go to shop there because of the better quality/price ration. So I'm guessing things aren't that pricey, if you have their salaries/pensions that is. I hope your 401k can survive our (European) taxes!

Then what is Austria if not a snowy realm?

The last 12 months -

http://fs.weatherspark.com.s3.amazon...perature_f.png

I've even got it in old money for you instead of ºC. That's just for Vienna, if you move westwards into the Alps I'm sure it'll be colder and more snowy. (But great in the summer!)

And if you move to Villach or Klagenfurt you'll probably have Betonov banging on your door every weekend asking for towel-buying advice. :O:

This may help - http://www.migration.gv.at/en/living...agreement.html

Edit - I took ages typing this (researching!) and didn't see Respenus's post re Klagenfurt until after I'd posted, now VipertheSniper's mentioned it too - is there any other website in the world that has three consecutive posts mentioning Klagenfurt? I'd never even heard of it until today!

Consider this:

While we may be one of the happiest countries in the world, immigrating here is said to be a pain in the ass for non EU-foreigners. Also we're getting taxed like crazy.

On the other hand, we're a retirees paradise, they are a very strong voting group and getting stronger relative to the workforce, so they're heavily catered to by politicians.

Frankly I'm very skeptical about this happiness-index, not that I'm not happy with my current situation, but I don't see Austria doing anything but falling behind in terms of competitiveness every year. To me, the fact we're on eighth place says more about the blissful ignorance to looming budgetary and economic and educational problems, than it says about a realistic outlook to the future.

If you still decide to move, Klagenfurt is located in a basin, that is very prone to Inversion

Maybe you should ask Arnold why he left....:hmmm:

It's name is Celovec :stare: :O:

Austria is nice. I wish I could work there and live here.

Graz would be the one place/city I would be most interested in finding out about. And the countryside around Salzburg (outside tourist season, if Salzburg even has a non-tpourist season...). My Dad was in SB several times when they played the classics festivals there, he said it was beautiful countryside, and very kind people, but overcrowded, due to the tourists.

I know the area between Bad Reichenhall and Salzburg from earlier holidays. Very beautiful place to live, both on the German and Austrian side of the border.

go to belise

its cheap to live there and its a tropical paradise full of English speaking laid back people.

you would still be able to ride a water bike and its the economy version of living in Hawaii

the only drawback is all those tanned half naked women all over the place down there.

Sold!

You'd be much better off in the UK (but I suspect you must still be involved with a certain Geman lady) :cool:

Also here in the UK you'd not need to be so wary if a local invited you to a game of dungeons and dragons :03:

Well Neal if you really do i promise to meet you in Bregenz - we just paid a visit to a friend living in the 'Vorarlberg' area. Bregenz is the old roman Brigantium, and a very nice city to visit with its 'Seebühne' and lake constance promenade. Graz and Vienna are totallly worth a visit, and living there as well.
And, if you did not already read it, i urge you to have a look at "Setting Free the Bears" from John Irving, beautiful book :yep:
Austrians have a very special kind of humour though, so be prepared :03:

Bunk at Jim's house. I understand it is a retirement home now. You can play with his Corgi collection. :D:up::O:

Absolutely no problem....may even put up a bid to take on SubSim if it's going to retire with you :)