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For me personally, it would be very difficult to visit Vietnam. Even if most of the people today were not born, there sure are a lot of ghosts.
Of course this just seems natural to me as well. Why would you want to return to and live in a place that holds some of the worst memories and experiences of your life even if it was the 1970s.
Wow, thanks for your service but you seem to be stuck in 1970. Most people you encounter in Vietnam weren't even born when you were there, how can you possibly judge a country based on events from almost 50 years ago? Do you avoid Germany and Japan as well?
Great retort!
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Originally Posted by lieqiang
Might as well take if farther to England, I can't believe anyone would visit there since those Redcoats overtaxed us, shot our people, and burned up parts of Washington DC.
LOL. Thanks for the chuckle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang
IMO Vietnam is a wonderful place to visit, with lots of natural beauty and some of the best food in the world.
It is. I was there in February and visited several areas, including Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), but the by far most beautiful was Halong Bay, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Of course this just seems natural to me as well. Why would you want to return to and live in a place that holds some of the worst memories and experiences of your life even if it was the 1970s.
Because it is cheap. You know, really important to pay 5 cents for a beer or whatever. As soon as you pay that small amount for your beer and get some local to clean your room for almost free, you will quickly forget all about that nasty war and what happened to your friends there. It will just be entirely forgotten. Because everything is always about money.
Such incredibly insensitive treatment to our Veterans here on C-D by thinking they should just forget all that and go enjoy the country side there and the food. Simply amazing. Like we don't have great country side and food in the US already we must go there. Fail.
To those who served in the US military we can't thank you enough for your service, and it was unforgivable the shabby treatment many US citizens gave you when returning home. I had many friends who returned home from that experience and quite frankly none of them were ever the same.
How is the healthcare though? Do they have high tech equipment for testing like they do here? Are the doctors knowledgeable? Those are the things we are worried about and would probably stop us from moving from the U.S. However, the cost of healthcare in this country is getting completely out of hand. I'm not retired yet, but will be in about 12 years (give or take). I just got $6k work of bills due to deductibles. How can I save for retirement when I have to pay that every year! It's terrible!
The bolded is part of the reason why health care costs in America are a rip off. Most of the things necessary for lowering health care costs are low tech. Things like living in environments that are set up so that walking / biking are the norm. Where friends, family, and community are higher on the priority list than working to spend money. Places where eating healthy food is the norm and junk / processed foods are rare or much less prevalent than in the U.S.
When living the type of lifestyle outlined above becomes the norm, people live longer and with fewer disabilities, their need for various forms of health care drops like a rock, and so do health care costs.
I would be interested in knowing what these countries are. Portugal does have a Golden Visa program for retirees, but it is aimed at rich people, not people trying to make it on a modest pension. Austria has a high cost of living and high taxes, and doesn't even want you if you are still working. I can't imagine they would want a pensioner to come and help drain their health care system.
The Portugal one doesn’t require “rich”. You need to own a home there outright for 5 years that is 30 years old and costs 350k Euros. Once you pass the language test and become a permanent resident, you can sell it. Or become a citizen after 6 years and sell it then. You can AirBnB it for those 5 or 6 years. You only need to be in country 2 weeks per year. It’s not the $200k of this thread but 350k Euros for 5 years could be a mortgage on your US house the last 5 years you’re working.
Because it is cheap. You know, really important to pay 5 cents for a beer or whatever. As soon as you pay that small amount for your beer and get some local to clean your room for almost free, you will quickly forget all about that nasty war and what happened to your friends there. It will just be entirely forgotten. Because everything is always about money.
I don't know about "really important" but it seems you're framing wanting to pay less for something as a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with people choosing to live a higher quality of life for much cheaper if it's in another country that you enjoy, it doesn't mean everything is about money anymore than someone in US comparing prices on something they are buying even if they have the means to pay the higher price.
Nobody said anyone has to forget about any war (to each their own) but plenty of veterans who served in the Vietnam war have since visited Vietnam as tourists and enjoyed what the country has to offer for those who enjoy travel, just as many WW2 veterans have traveled through Europe and Japan. What about Cambodia and Laos, are they off limits too since were part of the war? Maybe the entire region, cross off Thailand.
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Originally Posted by eastcoastguyz
Such incredibly insensitive treatment to our Veterans here on C-D by thinking they should just forget all that and go enjoy the country side there and the food. Simply amazing. Like we don't have great country side and food in the US already we must go there. Fail.
You have both an incredibly low bar for "insensitive" and a knack for constructing straw men to attack. We have a great country and good food therefore there is no need to see anywhere else in the world? If that's your take that's fine, but many people enjoy exploring the world and experiencing different things across the globe, it doesn't mean they are endorsing the idea that US is lacking in anything.
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Originally Posted by eastcoastguyz
To those who served in the US military we can't thank you enough for your service
You just explained the Golden Visa. Retirees can live in Portugal without the Golden Visa. Non Habitual Tax Resident Visa is one option, I think there is another.
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