I mentioned already how much I love London, but Germany is growing on me as well. It’s another place where I could see myself living or at least spending a lot more time in.
My Fondness For Germany Is Growing…Time To Move?
Every time I visit Germany, I am reminded of how well it functions.
Take Heidi’s hometown of Lörrach, in the southwest corner of the country where Germany, France, and Switzerland meet. It’s a lovely mid-sized town with all the essentials needed for a good life. Great grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. There is also nature within walking distance, great public transport, and even Basel Airport 20 minutes away by car (or Frankfurt Airport an easy three-hour train ride away with no changes necessary).
Real estate is expensive there with prices not much better than Los Angeles, but every time I am there we consider how different our life might be, perhaps for the better, if we spent most of our time in Germany instead of California.
There are certain things I would never want to do, like run a business in Germany (at least one that required employment), but as both a visitor and the husband and father of German citizens, I love the functional nature of German society, a superior healthcare system in so many ways, and a vastly superior system of roads and highways. It’s also cheaper for groceries and despite the high price of fuel, overall it is cheaper to live and has a far superior climate for my fair skin (I’m not in LA for the heat…).
Furthermore, blogging is far easier in Europe than from the West Coast, where I feel like I am behind the East Coast news schedule from the morning I wake up.
With my family and my church of three decades in Los Angeles, the idea of permanently moving is a non-starter. But dual residence sounds better all the time.
CONCLUSION
I do not get to Germany all the time anymore like I did when running my old business, but I am thankful to get there twice a year and love it very much. Having lived there for a couple of years and spent a whole lot more time in Germany than any other country outside the USA, I also feel confident in saying this is not just an infatuation, but truly a place that would be ideal to raise my family in.
I absolutely agree with you. Europe has been growing on us for a while now to the point it will become a reality in a few years. A mix of US and Europe balanced over 12 months of the year looks perfect for my family.
I prefer living in Los Angeles, period. Living in Germany is an infatuation, a mirage born out of the privilege of financial independence. A nice country for vacationing but otherwise pretty close minded and boring.
hehe
I love Germany as a country as well. Also the food as you mentioned in the other post (it can get quite repetitive though on a longer trip through Germany).
Germany has a reputation for being a challenging place to live as an expat however. In your case it would of course be a lot easier with your wife and her family being Germany. That said, it can be very difficult to break into social circles in Germany and truly integrate with the local population. Social networks are often formed very early in childhood and it’s difficult to break in as an international who is adult age. The language is part of it, but also the German culture which has a clearer distinction between personal and professional life. Southern Germany is more difficult than Northern in my experience. And of course the bureaucracy and insistence on things being done the ‘German way’ can drive you mad after awhile.
But yes, on paper it’s a wonderful country. Things are organized and work well, especially the infrastructure, healthcare, and educational systems. You just have to adapt to the German way of doing things. London is very different in my experience given that it’s so much more international and diverse compared with Germany (which has the diversity as well, but you don’t see or feel it in practice as much as you do in London).
Ryan, while there is a kernel of truth in what you say as someone who has lived in a few places in Germany I’d strongly disagree. If you’re in a small town making social contacts might indeed be quite hard. But if you’re in a reasonable big city it’s very easy to make friends and find acquaintance through all the usual social activities. Many of the folks there will have moved to these places themselves. Of course you’ll need to speak German unless you are in a place that has a lot of foreigners like a university town or a city with a lot of international industry.
I would move back to Germany if it weren’t for such expensive real estate especially in Oberbayern where I’m from (Rosenheim) and wages could never compete with what I make in the US. I would have to downsize with my wife and two kids considerable and make less money. However, to your point I do love going back as it’s still home and walking with my kids to the Rewe in the morning for groceries is a little thing I hold close.
Downsizing in Europe to me is the better alternative. Kids have a significantly better quality of life there and the fact that you can walk everywhere or easily take public transport means you will not be inside your McMansion as much. In America, houses are big because you are stuck inside so we believe it’s better, but in comparison it’s much worse.
Servus aus München!
I get everything around blogging and remote work in general, but I cannot see how living in more than one place could possibly work when one has to look after school age children. I don’t think it could work even with the same curriculum, let alone when different cultures and languages are involved.
I was thinking (for now at least, summering in Germany from late May to Late August every year.
You are correct that anything more than that would require homeschooling (banned in Germany) or a very difficult process for the kids.
I find it fascinating and quite sensible that homeschooling is prohibited in Germany. That makes for a better balanced society. We could learn from that.
The German “Schulpflicht” (school attendance requirement) actually has specific exceptions for children of parents that do not have a permanent residence. This was originally done for e.g. families in travelling circuses. I have not heard of any digital nomad successfully claiming this exception, though 🙂
Or is the difference you notice actually the difference between living and raising children in a small town/rural environment vs. a megacity hell hole like LA? There is absolutely no way I would make my children attend a public school in any of the US’s large cities–LA, Chicago, Philly, and on and on. Maybe the same in Germany’s large cities, but I have no knowledge of that. I live in the middle of the US, actually on a small farm, right in the middle of the dreaded “flyover country”, and would much prefer to only visit the large cities of the world, but never actually live in any of them.
I live in a nice suburb of LA with among the best public schools in the country – the issue is not hustle and bustle of living in a city center or poor public schools. I guess it is more cost of living and the pace of living, which could be accomplished in a domestic venue outside LA…as I see during my annual trip to Green Lake, WI.
You “Flyover” people just love to show the world your ignorance. I cannot speak for NYC, but there are public schools in Los Angeles that are some of the best in the country. Not to mention it’s public University systems (both UC & CS) are not only the top public universities in the world, but also in the top 20 of all universities in the country.
So you go ahead and stay under your rock on your farm, while those people not controlled by irrational fear will take advantage of the wonderful public schools that exist in LA.
Who rates UCLA and CSLA among the best in the world ? Nonsense . I rate USC as the best . So there .
As a Bruin, I beg to differ. 😉
This is in no way a criticism of any kind but you’ve never been particularly forthcoming about your work. That is 100% correct for you to make that choice. As a result though it’s extremely difficult to make meaningful comments here in your current context of living comparisons.
I presume that your award booking service is still active. The only other specific income stream you’ve mentioned is a resale business for luxury goods. For these companies you may or may not have to hire people in Germany despite your trepidations. Speaking of which, what’s so awful about having an employee in Germany?
Sigh. Seems we’re all ready to get out of Los Angeles these days. This was such a special place…
Matthew, I am reading your blog today from the Mainz Hyatt Regency, thanks to your recommendation. So glad I came! Spending three days here with my daughter who lives in Berlin. I loved my 10 years living in Germany (two stints—Nurnberg and Stuttgart) and am “homesick” after every visit since then. I absolutely think spending the summers here with your family would be a fantastic lifestyle. So good for all of you. If Heidi can work out her employment, I’m sure you can, and your children would benefit immeasurably. Go for it!! Alison
I think there’s a lot of truth in many of the comments, especially Ryan’s above. But I also have to be blunt about things: I often have felt you romanticize the idea of living in Germany. I did that once too. Now, I’m married to a wonderful German woman, but stuck in a very unfriendly place (Nuremberg, home of some truly awful history) and homesick almost every day (like late last night when watching the Dolphins-Chargers NFL opener from your corner of the world thanks to my VPN … it was on German TV, but who wants to watch the NFL with German announcers?!?!)
I’ve only lived in three places in my life for the most part (months long work in China nonwithstanding): Boston suburbs as a young kid, Fort Lauderdale/Miami and Beverly Hills. This place for all the good (amazing pretzels, cakes, ice cream and Thai food … yes, Thai) has never felt like home and never will. Making friends is near impossible and the cultural differences/language barrier can be real. People are not friendly. If you smile at someone they assume something is wrong with you or you want to have intimate relations with them. There’s a coldness here that a few friendly Germans can’t mask.
Ultimately, I am here because my wife is tied to a government job for the next 15 years. We have a home in South Florida that my mom lives in and I get to a few times a year, but this is it. And it’s boring, loaded with bad history, conservative, has very little diversity and often feels like many of the people here think it’s 1975 or 1985 at best.
I romanticized so much of Germany and Bavaria until I had been here 4-5 years and had to face reality. The pandemic definitely helped push me in this direction. I’d trade this place in for LA in a heartbeat. Sure, healthcare is better (or more equitable). Food has far less ‘crap’ in it (even McDonald’s is worlds better). There is more work-life balance for most. But weather is beyond depressing. Global climate change has made AC a need and the Germans do not understand that. Your wife is a nurse, right? Ask her if she’d enjoy working at a hospital with no AC when it’s in the mid-80s as it has been here since August turned to September. … Infrastructure is most definitely not better here. Roads are a mess. Trains are always unreliable because DB has been chronically underfunded. I could go on … there’s so much to love about Germany, but much like I feel about Florida, I’d tell people it’s a great place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live here.
That’s true about the AC. Many Europeans have a strange phobia because they’re convinced it will make them sick. There’s a whole stubbornness around it and it’s made life in europe much worse over the years as these summers get hotter and hotter.
Michael S. – I sincerely appreciate your comment and my heart skips a beat when I read them. I do wonder whether I would have the same feeling. Even speaking German, which I can, I would still be an outsider.
Matthew — I’m not in any way trying to talk you out of anything. I’m just bringing a perspective. If you had talked to me a decade ago, or even five years ago, my tone would have been quite different. But with age comes experience. And I can write a thesis on all the great things about living here … and then turn around and do one on all the terrible things about living here (did I mention how paying for water drives me absolutely insane?!)
My wife read my original post and she couldn’t disagree with any of it. Turning things around, her aunt (now 84) married a US serviceman in the 1960s, moved to the Bay Area and hasn’t looked back. The woman still speaks with a strong German accent, but she is all-American. Retired after a long successful career with a major American bank. She was accepted into American society in a way I will never be accepted into German society (did I mention I was Jewish?) Anyway, if you ever want to bounce ideas/thoughts about the country, let me know.
Ryan — the AC situation just drives me nuts. They truly don’t get it in a country that is generally highly educated (certainly compared to the USA). They absolutely think that AC will kill them by blowing air on them, but have no issue with 80-plus degree heat blowing on you in a department store on a 50 degree November day. Even when there’s a place with great AC, they waste it (in a nation that wants to be green) by propping doors open. It is maddening. One reason I am not a big Lufthansa fan is its planes are often uncomfortably warm and its jets largely don’t have air nozzles above the seats because why would they? It has been very hot in September. Now at midnight, it’s over 70 degrees outside and over 75 (and uncomfortable) inside. One battle I finally won: before next summer, AC will be coming to the home, albeit just the bedrooms as we live in a historical building and getting a form of central AC would be an insane process and ridiculously expensive.
Im an American, married to a German, living about an hour from you (Munich). My experience could not be more different. Maybe because Munich has many people from outside Germany, is a bigger city, etc. You do need to know German, but the only cold Germans I have met in my years have been at the Kreisverwaltungsreferat 🙂
I love it here. But then again, you couldn’t pay me to live on either Florida or CA. For me, those are nice places to visit but never live.
Paul — glad you are enjoying life here in what I jokingly call ‘our Big City’ … the reality is that Munich just feels to me to be a much larger and wealthier version of Nuremberg. I’m sure speaking the language fluently helps, but to me the entire culture is just … well, cold. I find the people there to be largely like here. The only city in Germany I have found with people who seem much friendlier is Cologne.
As to the States, Florida was a great place to grow up. I really don’t know what has happened the last 20-plus years, but I wouldn’t want to live there either. California is a different matter entirely. I love that state with all my heart. It has diversity, true diversity, in every aspect of life. I’d move back tomorrow if I could.
I enjoy visiting Germany, but I would never want to live there. I love the history and culture of Europe, but it’s too territorial, bureaucratic, and their taxes are just too high and difficult to avoid. Besides….California is where the future begins….and the rest of the world follows. No comparison to the ideas and creativity that come out of it.
Not to mention, there’s a reason more than 40M people live in California and deal with all that we have to deal with living here….the weather. Even with climate change, I’d pick living in a few degree warmer LA over any of the big cities back east, or anywhere in the southeast which is quickly becoming uninhabitable (not to mention, uninsurable).
America has a lot of hidden taxes. Think of how much more expensive your healthcare is, especially if you use it. Or perhaps how expensive childcare is.
Need to go to a grocery store? Well that requires getting in your car and sitting in Traffic. Speaking of groceries you will be spending more of your income than in Germany.
Just because it is not labeled as a tax, doesn’t mean you are exempt from paying.
Interesting comments. I lived in Germany 22 years..I married a German..I had a privileged life my husband being a top industrialist…but even then speaking the language and embracing their society I was never accepted. Not even by my husband’s family…I was auslander..I still have friends I visit in Germany but after returning for two week periods it’s time to go…I’ve lived in london..vienna..Spain Bucharest and istanbul…..the past four years I am back in the states….trying to navigate my future because ametica is not what it used to be…but Germany unfortunately could never be my home..complicated….but fun to visit..
Enjoy it while you can. Thanks to uncontrolled illegal immigration it will soon become Germanistan. Lost, same as Sweden, UK, France…
Kind of scary that Home-schooling is Banned by the German government!! Also isn’t the tax structure there even worse than our federal tax rates and even calif(13,3%)??