Be warned, you're in for some price shocks. Cost of living in NZ is nuts atm. Best of luck tho, it's a solid place.
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Did you get a job before moving? Just curious about the logistics of a visa
Congratulations! Made it to the UK from the US yesterday myself. Let's hope our new lives will be great!
Welcome to the uk did you pick up your complementary kettle on the way in? Sorry the rail network is such a mess but what can you do. Glad to have you bud o7
Honestly, other than the fact that we were really confused about where to go due to poor signage (and missed our train twice and got lost when we were supposed to change trains), we enjoyed the train ride. We did pay for first class on for the Avanti West portion, but it was worth every penny. (Or am I supposed to say worth every p now?) And since we came from the land of very few trains that all suck, the actual train rides were great. And people were super helpful with our heavy luggage.
Glad to hear you arrived safe and well. Also, for your information :
Galleons: The primary unit of currency, typically made of gold. One Galleon is worth 17 Sickles.
Sickles: The second unit of currency, made of silver. One Sickle is worth 29 Knuts.
Knuts: The smallest unit of currency, made of bronze.
P.S. : Next time for the train you should get to Platform 9 and 3/4
You'd better have a tv license or your going to jail
Hopefully OP can live with trading "needing a TV license for a TV no one uses anymore" and "actual healthcare" for a "failing democracy turned Christian nationalist oligarchy"!
Welcome! Weather's a bit shite at the moment and monsoon season (February to May) is just around the corner, but it'll brighten up for 2 weeks in June and for the last 2 weeks of August.
Drop me a DM if you're heading up Manchester way and I'd happily give you a tour and you're more than welcome to come over to my family's place for a Sunday Roast.
How does one move to New Zealand?
Asking for a friend.
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Move to Australia.
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Miss.
We treat NZ like another state so this isn't all that far from the truth.
If you're serious then here you go
Take a look at the skills shortages list as well, because if you can get a job in something on that list, you'll have a much easier time. We desperately need Healthcare workers
You will be welcome here for the most part, but I have started noticing some things that are starting to annoy me, and I know I'm not alone, so fair warning:
Please remember why you're coming here. Nothing annoys me more than Americans who move here and then never shut up about how things were better back home. We have no 2a, our stores are small, and we don't tip. I consider those to be GOOD things. Also, even our right wing party (National) would be considered center left over there. (Sadly that seems to be changing)
If you're just looking for what America was 15 years ago, Australia is what you're looking for. That's not a joke either, I mean that very seriously, Australia is a better fit. It's the USA of the southern hemisphere (sorry Aussies, but tell me I'm wrong)
It's a process, but it can be done! Good luck!
No 2a, our stores are small and we don't tip.
Next you'll tell me that the government expects me to take time off from work to care for my health and family. And that having a personal car is expensive and unnecessary.
My take: Aussies are Americans with British humour.
Sorry for everything you had to leave behind. Good luck in your new life
Jealous. Congratulations
Isn't New Zealand currently going through their own slide to the right? The Māori only represent like ~17% of the population over there. New Zealand just elected a conservative coalition.
Seems like you're just moving from one place you (presumably) don't agree with to a new place that also just signed up for shit you probably aren't going to agree with.
I mean it looks beautiful but if your travel is for political reasons I fear you're just heading to a different slice of the same.
Have a safe flight.
It’s nowhere near as bad here in NZ
Oh absolutely not. It's a much smaller population and being an island it's got a figurative and literal buffer to the rest of the world.
I have always loved New Zealand. It's like the cooler uncle of Australia minus all the spiders the size of my head.
And it's just a beautiful place. Makes me wanna go frolicking in the mountains with an elf, dwarf and old white guy lol
Much of the world is sliding to the right. And much of it is not sliding nearly as far or as fast as the USA.
Re NZ politics - Yes and no.
The currect situation is due to some very specific circumstances thst emerged in the chaos of the last 10 years.
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The centre left Labour Party & PM were hugely popular during covid & won an unheard of majority (normally our electoral system requires a coalition). A swing back to the centre-right was inevitable.
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The centre right National party, usually our most popular party, had their leadership retire & endured years of in-fighting that made them unelectable
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Because of this, they've bled a lot of voters to the "libertarian" & "centrist" parties (ACT & NZ First)
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Also because of this, the current National Party leader is rather inexperienced & has given up some things in the coalition agreements that are more extreme than the public likes leading to record breaking protests.
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The "centrist" party leader (Winston Peters) is a whole thing that I can't neatly summarize, but imagine a political party designed to cater exclusively to the oldest & dumbest 5% of voters run by that Monorail guy from The Simpsons
In summary, less a slide right & more a correction back to status quo + a few unpopular chaos agents
Good luck man!
As someone that left the US a decade and a half ago, here's some things to go ahead and start getting answers to so you don't have to figure it out when the time comes:
- Figure out how to get a bank account (hopefully you've already worked this one out before arriving)
- Where to buy toiletries and medicine. Specifically deodorant. The UK is mostly spray deodorant where as I'm a stick deodorant person. At one point I was just bringing 4 sticks of deodorant back with me after every trip home. I'm not sure which way NZ leans but it was definitely something I hadn't considered before
- Where to buy socks and underwear you're comfortable with
- Figure out how the health service/insurance works. Go ahead and book dentist and doctors appointments 6 months in advance if possible so you get in the habit.
- Figure out how paying taxes works
- If you're a US citizen, remember you're still required to file taxes with the IRS every year.
- Learn how to make friends. I still haven't figured this one out. Let me know if you do.
Nau mai ki Aotearoa e hoa. (Welcome to New Zealand, friend)
NZ? You a billionaire?
Congrats on having a backbone. Hope you enjoy the vast experiences in your new life!
How have you prepared yourself for living upside-down and in the future?
just remember to keep voting, don't let what happened to Venezuela happen to you guys
Good choice