I live in The Netherlands (Europe). Although I also dislike the Winters, it’s doable. The coldest Winters are -20 degrees Celsius, which hasn’t happened in a decade or so. Last Winter it was very mild and only a couple of weeks slightly below 0, and only a couple of times snow fell. Usually there are a few weeks with tops -10 degrees. The Summer was also exceptionally warm last year (for Dutch standards). We broke the heat record multiple days that year, with almost 39 degrees Celsius. Note: I once went on a vacation in Turkey where they had a heat storm and it was 55 degrees; but that would be comparable to 35 degrees in The Netherlands in terms of the feeling temperature (probably due to the damaged ozone layer in comparison). So yeah, 38 was freaking warm. I prefer warmth over cold in general, though. But for me the ideal temperature would be 22-23 degrees Celsius, with the sun shining, and walking in the shade with a light breeze The end of Spring is usually my favorite time of year in terms of weather. It does rain quite regularly here, but not extremely heavy or as much as the UK. Usually it’s drizzling rain or slightly worse. When my colleagues from Sri Lanka visited who have actual rain seasons where it could rain almost the entire day and sometimes even multiple weeks, they laughed at our drizzling rains.
There are some big advantages of living in The Netherlands, like no natural disasters whatsoever. No hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, cyclones, or whatever it’s called depending on where you live. No earthquakes (except for very minor ones in the very north or south, which are top magnitude 3.5 - which couldn’t even be called earthquakes in some US cities, haha). Apparently there have only been seven earthquakes above 4.0 ever in The Netherlands, the heaviest being 5.8 in 1992 (also new to me, just read it here on Wikipedia ). No volcanoes. No big forest fires. No tsunamis. The only potential natural disaster we have are floods. The Netherlands lies almost entirely below sea level, and there have been some heavy floods in the past (last big one was 1953). But these days our dams and dikes are very sturdy and I don’t think it will happen again anytime soon.
Another advantage is health care without immense depth, and Dutch health care is rated as one of the best in the world. Studies are also much cheaper overall. Shopping, gas, tax, import, shipping, and other prices are pretty high (although I’ve seen worse in other countries).
Oh, and from next year onward, the maximum speed limit will be 100 km/h on all highways (now 120/130) due to the new nitrogen and CO2 emission rules going on right now… I’m in traffic jams every damn day with only one part of 15 kilometers I can drive at the allowed speed limit (130), so when that becomes 100 my travel time becomes even long (although only slightly). All kinda bs if you’d ask me, since neighboring countries are ten years behind in their nitrogen and CO2 emission prevention, but whatever… These months there are strikes on a daily bases by farmers who had to reduce their cows and get better equipment (yet again) to reduce these emissions; construction workers who weren’t allowed to continue building due to these emissions; oh, and teachers because their work pressure increases and their loans are too low (my dad is teacher, so I know this is true, but of course completely unrelated to the emissions); and I’ve heard 75% of all nurses, doctors, and hospital employees will go on strike soon as well for a better collective labor agreement… As I said, the month of the strikes, haha…
Ah well, The Netherlands may be small, but it’s a good country to live in tbh and I wouldn’t want to move out personally. One thing that’s better in almost all other countries imho: the (beautiful) nature areas. We have some protected parks and natural areas (I live nearby one -De Kil van Hurwenen- and see some deers, 30+ storks, etc. sometimes), but nothing really exceptional. The nature in Germany and France are already loads better, and in Switzerland it’s very beautiful (my favorite vacation thus far). In addition, our entire country (except for Limburg in the south perhaps) is entirely flat as far as the eye can see. No mountains or even large hills whatsoever. The highest point (in the south) is just about 100 meters above sea level (the lowest being 7 meters below sea level).
PS: If everyone living in the US decides to live here, keep this quote I made a few days ago in mind, though.
Greetz,
Quuador