# You have a 'free ticket' to emigrate. Where do you go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592 "2005-08-25T17:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/61 "2005-08-29T11:49:17Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Holy hyperdefensiveness, Batman! Why’d you ask your “small question” in the first place, when you obviously think that you know the answer already? :Ok, on to my answer: the reason I said NZ is because I know people who have lived there and people who have traveled there. Of the countries I haven’t been to myself, it’s the one that I hear the most positive things about. > > Good enough reason for ya? 😉 Yes Robin, your answer is good enough. I wasn’t slagging off NZ, I’m just in mid election mode…shit I wan’t to leave right now. I will feel more or less positive about NZ after the election. I’m a Kiwi, obviously I love it here, I just don’t like my country seen ONLY as some bungy-jumping-wilderness funpark WITH sheep. I am over my grumpy moment though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/62 "2005-08-29T12:03:50Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > I’m a Kiwi, obviously I love it here, I just don’t like my country seen ONLY as some bungy-jumping-wilderness funpark WITH sheep. > > I am over my grumpy moment though 🙂 In spite of all this, I’m also going to jump on the Enzedd bandwagon. My reasons are thus: [ul] [li]I don’t have to learn another language - y’all might talk funny, but I’ll be able to converse without having to use a phrase book. At least no more than I would if I were to visit Alabama. (Sorry, **Sampiro**. 😉 )[/li] [li]It’s an industrialized nation - i.e. certain amenities can be considered to be part of the norm: Electricity, modern medicine, dentistry, and food delivery.[/li] [li]I believe it has a rather reasonable climate. Or more accurately, there are settled areas that are pleasantly cool, by my standards, not simply tropical only. [/li] [li]Finally, everyone knows that Enzedd women are hot. \[/li][/ul] If language weren’t a problem - Finland is a possibility. But, I have great difficulty learning languages that don’t use roman alphabets. It really doesn’t come easily to me at all. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/63 "2005-08-29T12:07:16Z")
Hey! We talk funny AND you will need a phrase book…unless you know what “wear your jandalls but bring a jumper” means 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/64 "2005-08-29T19:01:42Z")
Switzerland, because it’s so gorgeous! I’ve never been to Italy, though I suspect that if I had my answer would change. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/65 "2005-08-29T20:05:50Z")
Canada. They allowed us to get married there. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/66 "2005-08-30T00:31:16Z")
Sweden. Pleasantly cool summers, snowy winters. Best country in the world to be member of the working class. Public transport is clean, runs on time and goes most places. No homeless, no underclass, no gang wars, no immigration problem. Clean, safe, orderly. And Swedes tend to be aloof and introverted, so I wouldn’t stick out as much as I do in America. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/67 "2005-08-30T16:01:24Z")
Australia. I loved it when I was there. I’d go back in a heartbeat. The Aussies are all crazy. I felt right at home. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/68 "2005-08-30T16:05:48Z")
I’ve lived in Australia, the UK and the US, and could also live in New Zealand if I chose to. At the moment, I’m working in the US because that’s where my job is. When I retire, I plan to go back to Australia, because that’s where most of my friends are. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/69 "2005-08-30T16:47:27Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Canada. Just like America, minus the Christian fundamentalists, the gun nuts, and the war mongers. One more vote for Canada. (They _do_ have fundies, mostly in the interior. They tend to stay away from the larger cities.) Second choice: Denmark. Beautiful low-key women, tasteful modern design, jazz, herring, bicycles, and licorice ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/70 "2005-08-30T17:10:02Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > licorice ice cream. Licorice? Really? As in _black_ licorice? As in anise (and Anisette and Sambuca)? Gaaah! What a horrible thing to do to ice cream . . . where’s the puke smiley when I need one?! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/71 "2005-09-01T07:10:11Z")
New Zealand. My mom’s best friend in high school was a NZ exchange student and we used to visit her regularly. I’ve been good friends with two other Kiwis who were here for a couple of years. Pros: landscape, low population, no one wants to bomb them, no political prisons, liberal laws. Cons: no guns allowed, high taxes, imported stuff is expensive and it’s pretty much all imports. Switzerland, Sweden, or Finland would be my other choices, but the climates there suck more. I like cold, but usually not **that** cold. For people who said Japan, you really need to live here for a while first. Visiting is cool, but take it from someone who’s been here for about 5 years now, it starts to suck real fast. It’s crowded, polluted, the most expensive place to live on the face of the earth, the people are often very bigoted and small-minded, and the social nastiness is buried underneath where it can make sneak attacks on your flanks when you’re not looking. Japan is just about the last place I would pick to spend the rest of my life. There are things I like about it, but I sometimes think they are best appreciated from a distance. You might like it, but I’m pretty burned out on it right now. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/72 "2005-09-01T07:22:18Z")
Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/73 "2005-09-01T20:45:15Z")
Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia or Alaska - you get the picture. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/74 "2005-09-01T22:47:25Z")
I would pick Australia because of the weather and having family there, it sounds nice there. I already have UK and Canadian citizenship and I’m a US permanent resident. ---
**Author:** ![Sensibility](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Sensibility](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sensibility)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/75 "2005-09-02T08:35:36Z")
To the BEST Cal-Mex I know of course Johnny! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sensibility](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Sensibility](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sensibility)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/76 "2005-09-02T08:40:10Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > By ‘free ticket’, I mean that you can move to any country you choose, find employment, and make a life for yourself there. You do not have to give up your present citizenship, but my be a ‘dual citizen’. This poll is to find out where you would go if you were to emigrate, so ‘I would stay in the country I’m in now’ doesn’t count. Please say why you want to go to the country you choose. > > Me: England. > > It’s where my ancestors are from. I like the history. I can speak the language. I find many English women attractive. It’s fairly easy to visit the Continent. I like the beer. I like the architecture. I have two British cars. I like _Jerusalem_ (aka _The Glastonbury Hymn_). If I could choose one airplane for personal transportation, it would be a Spitfire. I enjoy my eccentricites, and I think I’d fit in. YEah yeah yeah! You’de fit in Johnny, you would! 😃 And Italy on a visit from here can cost as little as £80 return air fare - probably even less if you have time to search the net more. Hey - you can even DRIVE there within a day or so! ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592/77 "2005-09-02T13:59:47Z")
Belize or the Cayman Islands I’m a diver. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-free-ticket-to-emigrate-where-do-you-go/318592.md?page=3)