Originally, our family was thinking of selling it all and living on a sailboat in the Caribbean. That idea was jettisoned for many reasons, and as we were letting the idea go my husband offhandedly said, ‘the kids are in french immersion, why not go live in France for a year?’ I gasped, because it seemed so impossible, but then we talked it out, and it became not impossible.
The location itself in France almost chose itself, the whole country being possible. But we had just come through a winter with a mountain of snow and 3 inch bumps of ice on the road right in to April, so a southern location was much more appealing. The SW corner of France on the Mediterranean, near the Spanish border, advertised itself as having 300 days of sunshine a year (compare that to foggy Nova Scotia). The other southern part of France, near Nice and Cannes, seemed too pricy and chi-chi for us.
As for an exact location, we wanted smaller town rather than big city. We knew nothing about the area, and started to search online for out of season house rentals, and bingo, this area was gold for that. Many homes that are in demand in the high season, with pools, all amenities, and big price tags, are available off season -in our case, from September through June for the school season – at a hugely reduced rate. In fact, for about the same amount we could live in our home in Nova Scotia for, but in this case, in a gorgeous renovated farmhouse with a pool, set in the peach fields and vineyards, and only 2 km outside of a town of 7000.
We can highly recommend this area, it has incredible living options, an expat community, a friendly culture, more wonderful places to visit in the immediate area than we can get to, cheap flights (like $30 one way) from Girona Spain (one hour away) to lots of incredible European destinations, a great climate with snow ONLY on the mountains, and I could go on.
You and your family will have your own criteria. Maybe you want a big city. Friends here rave about living in Montpellier, with its Mediterranean location, large pedestrian old city, and endless amenities. Maybe you want a spanish speaking country. You could easily pick Spain or Mexico -the advantage there being staying on a similar time zone. Living in Thailand, or New Zealand, or Australia… where have you always dreamed of being?
Here are two sites I have used for dreaming and looking:
https://www.homeaway.co.uk/
And, if you have a home that might suit home exchanges:
www.homeexchange.com
That’s it, write out what you are looking for, and just start looking.