Well it's certainly tough
@Robbyv213 especially if you have roots to a place.
I've lived a very nomadic life, including one six-year period in a very remote location without any contact without the outside world (it was wonderful!). Without wanting to trivialise this, digital nomads are a real phenomenon now. People live and work all over the globe. Global travel is pronounced. The beautiful city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, for example, is now full of international people 'working from home'.
I believe, if I may be so bold, that this kind of outward-facing attitude is less true of US citizens where 45-50% have passports compared to, say, the UK where the figure is over 85%.
So a lot comes down to what you are used to. I don't know if I've spent a single year of my adult life, except during covid, when I haven't travelled abroad. And as a child my parents took me on some epic adventures. I don't feel that I belong to any one country anyway. In fact, having spent so much time in other cultures enjoying the very best they have to offer and seeing their darker sides, I'm an internationalist. I'm the very last person you'd find waving a national flag. I see positives and negatives in every country and I believe that generally extreme nationalism and religion are the two curses that have caused more conflict on this earth than anything else. Just my opinion, mind
There's a big psychological and practical difference though between travelling and living, especially if you are forced to uproot and flee. And the older you get, the harder it becomes. Culture Shock is a real deal.
Apart from recalibrating mindset the other factor which holds people back is often friends and family that they will leave behind. The internet has of course made this less of a factor but not wholly.
On a practical note, as
@Devlyn has reminded us, there are no restrictions on a UK citizen living in Ireland. And an Irish citizen can live and move anywhere within the 27 member states of the European Union.
Other countries have visa policies that range from nigh-impossible to very plausible. Thailand, for instance, has a Retirement Visa scheme which really isn't too onerous and neither is it particularly expensive. At the other end of the scale there are Golden Visas for those with serious money, and many countries offer various options in-between.
So don't be overly negative. It's perfectly possible to live in another country. You need a positive mindset and then to go and do it.
xx
