San Diegans Moving to France

I meant to look for her videos on YouTube, not Facebook.

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It seems we have much in common! My wife’s sister lives in Copenhagen, married to a Dane - we were just there in November for a visit and that’s yet another reason for us moving. And yes, I have been watching Adrien Leeds youtube videos as well! Thank you for the Webinar references (FAB french insurance is also good in our experience). If you are interested in meeting up in person to share information, we are definitely open for that - either here in SD, or LA or somewhere in between - please message me if you are interested! Hoping that the recent horrendous firestorms in LA did not affect you directly


We’re Americans who moved to France with a similar problem- cancer. Before we moved we got an online appointment via Doctolib with a sympathetic English speaking generalist who got us a referral to the cancer center in St Herblain (ICO). A week after we landed, we had an interview with an oncologist there (who happens to be the General Director of the whole place and is following us) and have been under their excellent care ever since. ICO-St Herblain might be a good option for the OP, as he has a son in Brittany. However France has something like 18 of these cancer centers scattered throughout the country and I suspect they are all good. There is so much less stress having the treatment here. Everything is coordinated by the secretaries at the cancer center. There is no fighting with any insurance company. When the doctor orders something, it is done. So much more logical than the ridiculous and cruel system that the OP is doubtlessly very familiar with


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They are named after the city, so it’s “Niece”, as in sibling’s daughter


Nice hands down. Living here for more than 20 years.
If it gets too hot or crowded in the summer, get AC and stay indoors or travel to cooler parts of Europe.
Good luck!
John

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Another video I relocated and thought may be of interest. Lots of stats, but of course, at end of the day where one’s heart feels at home and happy is where it’s at.

Many of his maps and stats are very old!!

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I think all his preferred areas are too rainy. Conversely his flooding data doesn’t allow for variations within dĂ©partements. Neither does he allow for topographical differences within dĂ©partements

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Bonsoir,

Yes indeed
small world ! Our children/grandchildren from Copenhagen were here for a visit during the end of the year holidays and left two days after the fires began. We were not personally affected by the fires as we live near Marina Del Rey but know many friends of friends who have been. The movement to help those who have lost all of their belongings is going strong here. We don’t have any plans to be in the San Diego area in the near future but if you happen to be in L A we would be happy to get together for coffee and to discuss the subject of relocating to France.

P.S. Last year we learned about the American Club of Paris
a very friendly group of Expats and some French people who are interested in interacting with English speakers . They host monthly “happy hours” in the 7eme and interesting cultural and social events in Paris.

For what it’s worth, using his methodology he’s successfully identified areas I wouldn’t dream of living in :face_with_hand_over_mouth: As he says, horses for courses.

One really needs a personalised and prioritised list, with must-haves and must-not-haves and then tour the short list.

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We are working hard to organise the list! Trouble is there are so many attractive aspects to many regions of France
some completely excluded by our particular requirements but no doubt easy to visit once you are in France.

Make sure to prioritise the list. In reality you’ll sort the location wheat from the chaff pretty quickly.

Well! That was a nice surprise. I watched the video and of the departements the man narrowed it down to, two are our favorite parts of France–the Orne and the Mayenne. He included the Sarthe, which is scenic but rather dull.

We like the Orne and Mayenne because they remind us of our green part of the US, with lots of rivers and hills.

The Perche (the southeastern part of the Orne as well as of Normandy) is pretty much unspoiled. But house prices in the Perche are no longer affordable since Parisians discovered the place in the 80s and 90s, and then during the so-called confinement they came in droves to the Perche and brought up lots of country houses. I don’t dare even look in an immobilier’s window in the Perche.

The city of Mayenne has our favorite restaurant, but otherwise doesn’t appeal to us. We do love Laval, even though we aren’t city people at all. It’s a city on a smaller scale, very lively, prosperous, cosmopolitan, with one of our favorite bakeries and plenty of good restaurants. It also has medical facilities that other towns don’t seem to have.

Farther south is the town of Chateau-Gontier, a lovely small city with more flowers and parks than you can shake a stick at. It won the grand prize for Villes/Villages Fleuris so often that they were asked to sit out the next competition.

The Mayenne river runs through Mayenne, Laval, and Chateau-Gontier down to Angers. The former towpath is now open to walkers, bikers, and people who fish. When we visit we try to walk along the river at least twice a day. That is our favorite thing to do when we visit France, besides eating.

I saw Rennes mentioned on one of these “where to move to” threads, maybe this one, maybe a different one. I had made up a map of Rennes’s half-timbered buildings in advance, but I was stunned by how much graffiti there was and on the whole I didn’t enjoy our visit.

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I certainly think you are going about it the right way, I mean what other way is there? Only pure chance. Which is what we had. Wandering through France with the small caravan we thought, why not look at the Dordogne, rather shallowly thinking that we had heard that lots of Brits go there. It was true then, but now I am only one of 3 in the Commune. :grin:

So we did, in 1990, and came back several times a year thereafter especially after buying a house in '93 and, finally, moving here permanently lock, stock, and barrel in '99. Still here now and for the next few centuries, however long they last, though a little further apart now with Fran just down the hill with the others who have gone before, and where one day I will join her.

More power to your arm, and I really hope it all works out for you. :joy:

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We did exactly that when we relocated and I produced an A4 sheet with 20 prioritised items. We found a place that ticked the first 19 boxes. The 20th box was only entered tongue in cheek and said something like “within close proximity of a secret lake containing large carp” because I am a keen angler.

Two years later my dog found a hole in the fence of a well-protected but completely abandoned estate. Inside were three lakes containing large carp. It gave me great pleasure to write back to the immobilier and say he had been 100% successful.

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Cold with the Atlantic weather blowing - and if you’re from San Diego, you’re not going to enjoy it. We also found it pretty parochial and it just wasn’t our cup of tea.
We are now settled near Uzes (very cosmopolitan) and Nimes, Arles, and Montpellier are fairly close.

That’s a lovely part of France.

Looks absolutely beautiful based on internet photos. We will try to visit during our stay. Thank you.

Happy to have a coffee and talk more about the area if you do get here - please do not hesitate to get in touch

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