Moving to France in our 50s was NOT what we expected.

so a little bit of life on the road here washing clothes noisy machines coming back from food shopping at some new Supermarket that you have to figure out and then sorting it all on here at the Airbnb but it's always fun drinks and new friends anyway we do this over and over and over again nomadic life oh boy what can I say nothing in life comes neatly packaged all perfectly put together and tied with a ribbon in living on the road for months at a time is certainly no exception we all wasted hitting the road on a journey of Discovery always looked like this [Music] and that's exactly what folks on social media will show you but life can also look like this rough messy uncomfortable it's inescapable that in order to have a true adventure you will need to experience it all it's barely enough for it human being it's an all or nothing proposition in our case we've chosen this mode of living as a means to an end in other words we are willing to bounce around for an extended period of time creating some incredible memories but also tolerating a great deal of discomfort in the name of finding our true home here in France and establishing new Roots so that we can end this nomadic mode we're in so on the one hand we are experiencing the ups and downs of living out of our suitcases which is inevitable while on the other the pains and aches of adjusting to an entirely new country and culture in our last video Cecilia and I talked about whether France was it if you haven't seen it I'll provide a link above we filmed that over two months ago which is quite a bit of additional time for more fatigue to accumulate more insights to be gathered more assessing to take place there's always that ongoing sort of unspoken question as to whether or not we have it in us to continue on this journey as much of a thrill as it's been in many ways it hasn't always been easy sometimes we're exhausted sometimes we feel like this adventure is kicking our asses we are after all in our 50s not exactly spring chickens anymore there's an equal question as to whether or not we love it here enough in France to keep us going do we have the patience to wait until spring for more houses to come on the market and then hang in there until we find the home of our dreams without settling for anything else does the country itself satisfy our various desires for a new place to live well stick around as I dissect the various aspects of our nomadic life in an effort to establish perhaps once and for all whether or not France is really it when we arrived here in France back in September the initial goal was to scout out a general area somewhere in the countryside that fit our various requirements those were and still are within an hour of Paris quiet beautiful with some strong home options in the right price range access to excellent food and of course access to other amenities like Medical Care Etc so basically goal number one was to find and commit to a region and then refine from there a daunting task No Doubt with France being such a big country with a plethora of options my wife being the one spearheading all Airbnb bookings and being so amazing at researching good options too pinpointed this one particular area about an hour outside of Paris as a starting point from there we booked a series of places to visit in Normandy as we'd sort of snake our way North up to the coast it's amazing how ultimately that very first area was exclusively the one we fell in love with go figure how that works how you can nail something from the very beginning how on Earth does that happen but it did of course being that we're in a Perpetual exploratory mode we had to do the requisite hopping around to see what that section of France at large was about while visiting these other towns and cities added a lot of color and dimension to our adventure it also acted as a sort of process of elimination reinforcing over and over again what we didn't want after a while it became clear that what we really wanted was to continue exploring in that very area we had started in and every time we returned to it that feeling would be reaffirmed which was a fantastic and very welcome sign this feels like home this could really work nothing like that feeling [Music] okay so let's talk about the food because it's clearly such an important topic to me the food in Paris has been consistently awesome I would say eight or nine out of every 10 restaurant experiences have been really really good so the expectation coming into the countryside was that it would be largely the same unfortunately it hasn't been quite the same I would say about 50 percent of the experiences have been above average and memorable but that's okay we're not done exploring the good news is that shopping locally at supermarkets has been a very positive experience you'll walk into a place that might not be the most attractive but they have this insane Bakery later you're having these Breads and pastries and you're like how is this possible from the most random place this is the big Market version here in France okay look at the cheese just the cheese alone people come on so I don't know what I want you to predict did we nail at least the area or the type of thing what's nice about this one is that we're like 50 minutes from Paris yeah about an hour it's gorgeous and we are in an area where there's a lot of preserved old towns the charm is on steroids I'm loving this hard combine the tastiest and most delicious ingredients with my wife's amazing cooking and I am continually a happy man now I'm talking about months and months of this I thought for a while it might be the honeymoon phase effect but I am continually amazed at the quality of the food I have never ever had this experience before so while the restaurant scene around here has not been the greatest eating in has and since we are actually not huge on going out to eat all the time anyway it works out really well so as long as my wife is happy to cook the status quo is fine with me now our diet has been a little spotty in the last few months it's really hard to be on the road and eat consistently well especially when you go crazy over cheeses and desserts and other tasty treats that are impossible to resist this is where ag1 by athletic greens has been a great health supplement for us on the road it has a truly incredible nutritional profile tastes great and having it every day has made us feel really good ag1 is packed with over 75 vitamins minerals Whole Food Source superfoods and adaptogens in every scoop it ensures that you're giving your body everything it needs to feel focused and energetic throughout the day which is exactly what we need especially in our 50s with all this crazy travel packing unpacking running around and worrying about a million administrative things it is sourced from Whole Foods therefore very bioavailable which means that you don't just urinate it out your body absorbs it and uses it for all its value bottom line ag1 is an extremely high quality source of nutrition and we couldn't be happier to have found this amazing product so if you want to feel fantastic throughout the day as well click the link in the description below for a one-year supply of immune supporting vitamin d3k2 and 5 travel packs free with your first purchase thank you athletic greens for sponsoring this video [Music] access to Paris has been fantastic whether by car or by train it's been very easy to hop over frequently and enjoy the vibrant City time with our sun and quality time as a family spending time with our boys and being a big part of their lives has always been a top goal and one of the main motivators for us moving to Europe we completely uprooted our lives so we could be closer to these two very important people I always like to say what's the point of all the hard work and effort if not to enjoy ultimately and fully the things that matter to us the most so now the fact of all of us being in the same continent with great proximity to each other in that continent being Europe makes the whole deal even sweeter it's like wow we are not just us but the four of us manifesting all the things we want in our lives that just gives me goosebumps makes all the pain and discomfort of this crazy nomadic life sort of fall away when we can see the fruits of our labor and how much richer our lives have become it makes it all so worthwhile wow back in Paris we're like always back in Paris heading to an Argentinian restaurant for the big game today [Applause] settling here in the gorgeous French Countryside is really like having The Best of Both Worlds if Paris can provide all the action and excitement the countryside is beauty peace and groundedness to offer an equal measure living here we get to do things on our terms markedly increasing our quality of life which we're craving now more than ever and all that while we have access to Paris and the rest of Europe for that matter when we want it which to me is mind-boggling so far people have been lovely wherever we go very respectful and for the most part very helpful hardly any incident to speak of which is remarkable as foreigners after these many months we don't feel unwanted or pushed aside it's quite the opposite actually I do wonder where the heck people are sometimes maybe you guys out there can help me out with this one we will be driving through towns or out for a walk and be shocked that we are completely alone where the heck are the locals more often than not there is no activity to speak of anywhere and equally mysterious is how the hell does anything ever get done you'll see some construction or hear some gardening going on here and there and you might even see a worker or two but when and how the work actually gets done beats me and yet these towns are really well run they look beautiful and are clearly fully functional so no problem there secrets of France that I hope to uncover over time I've decided to end this video here and publish a part two in a few weeks so I can get content out to you guys a little bit more frequently next time I'll talk about the house hunting process here in France very different than the us our lives living in airbnbs struggles with the language and constantly adapting to new scenarios and then of course I will summarize and finally answer the question is France really it foreign [Music]

Channel: Beneath the Surface

Views: 487,137

Keywords: travel to europe, traveling to europe, european travel, moving to europe, moving to france, nomads, nomadic life, living in europe, living in france, france countryside, french countryside, life in the countryside, how to move to france, how to move to europe, life in europe, life in france, the french way, the european way, how the french live, how europeans live, moving abroad, moving to another country, my life in france, living in the countryside, the countryside

Id: w2nNQeXnvyU

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 23 2023