Nataly

... you've elsewhere admitted to basically done exactly that (IMO), so, how did that work out for you? Maybe there's your answer to this? Who hasn't at one point made the bad decision of jumping into bed with an ex?!! I had always planned to come back to the UK to sort out all my stuff - the first trip to France was a recce to get an idea of where I'd like to move. What I *didn't* plan on was wanting to stay in the UK!! D'oh! Why the move to France? Well, change of scenery... Better weather... Different lifestyle... Plus (and this is a biggy), I want to invest in a property, and would prefer it to be in an area where I can imagine myself retiring - I can't imagine myself retiring in the UK for a lot of reasons (including weather!!). "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Can't believe I never thought of that - it solves the social *and* the housing issue!! Good one Remi!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Great links - thanks!

I've felt that a couple of times in my life. It almost seems like you have evolved and the world around you hasn't. What's even weirder is that if you stay there long enough you find yourself slipping back into the person you used to be as well... Not completely, but just think when you visit your parents as an adult... Stay for an hour, and you are among peers; stay for a day, and you're clearly in front of your "superiors;" live with them for a week, and the next thing you know you're throwing a tantrum about your curfew!! Travelling has a way of changing your view on things, but you are still fundamentally you. Point is, if you stayed in your hometown long enough you would find that this unsettling feeling does fade and what feels surreal to you now would become your reality again. It's what allows humans to adapt to new environments - in time, the stuff you see every day becomes "normal." "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

It's funny 'cause it's true!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Nope. Just a country full of strangers!!! ETA: In case I get accused of "complaining" again, I'm not doing that. I feel really lucky to have the option to move at all. I'm just trying to figure out a way to make the change less scary. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

It's prolly really simple... Because they can. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Right. I'm in the UK at the moment and it feels nice and comfortable - I've been here so long they even gave me a bloody passport, so it's "home." That said, I made a decision to change my lifestyle, take a break, and re-locate to France. Trouble is, coming back here is really making me doubt that decision. ARGH. Shouldn't have come back so soon.. It's almost like getting into bed with an ex right after the breakup! I'm *really* tempted to just stay here for another couple of months.. You know.. Until I'm really ready to move to France.. Hmm.. Does anyone have tips on settling/integrating into a new place/culture? I've done it myself before, but the French seem even more culturally different to me than the Brits.. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Why on *earth* do you proclaim to be the World's Most Boring Skydiver - you crack me up!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

They say time heals all wounds, and it's been my experience that no matter how awful I felt at one point in my life, the pain eventually *does* subside.. And after getting over the worst lows is always when I've felt most happy. You would never intentionally lose all your money, possessions, friends, limbs, etc., but it seems that people who do experience this (and survive!) are happier afterwards (as opposed to coming back to neutral or feeling less happy overall). Wonder why that is? 'Cause you appreciate the value of something more when you lose it? Anyone else feel a whole lot happier after getting over something bad? ETA: I gave pretty extreme examples, but the question is open to every degree of "bad" experiences - not necessarily just life-changing ones. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Agree with people who said talk to your neighbours... Normally landlords can't demand things like that (although I appreciate that tenancy laws vary wildly between countries - let alone states within the same country). Do a bit of googling to find out your rights as a tenant. Take pictures, and argue against it (within reason). It might be just like you said - they need more money... Fact is, that some people will fall for it, and they are probably counting on getting *some* suckers that pay and others that don't. But make sure you check what the laws are first. Just in case. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I use a mixture of what is available... GPS: fantastic if you have a precise destination you need to get to quickly - I especially like that it will re-calculate if you veer off route (ie: to avoid traffic). GOOGLE EARTH: (satellite + roads option) really useful to see what a neighbourhood looks like (say if you're house-hunting). Also great for checking out in advance where the nearest parking is for your vehicle once you do get to your destination. MAPQUEST: About a month ago, out of curiosity, I typed in a destination I'd driven to hundreds of times... It found me a very direct route that took about 30 minutes less than the one I was used to. Never would have thought of it because it started me off in the "wrong" direction. TFL: God, every city should have this... TFL.gov.uk (Transport For London) calculates routes for you and gives you the quickest, the most direct, or any variety of option in between for getting somewhere using public transportation. It's live, gives up-to-date info about traffic / roadworks / tube breakdowns. It will re-calculate given these constraints. And if walking is the best option, it will give you that as well. AWESOME tool - used to use it pretty much daily. You could even select which modes of transportation to use / avoid (ie: un-select buses if you get car-sick). PAPER MAPS: Awesome when you're on foot, trying to "understand" the geography of a new place (either a city, or where it stands in relation to somewhere else). Plus, I had a gigantic street-map of London in my last apartment - it was *excellent* for giving you an idea of where everything is... London is one of those places where you get so used to public transport you could easily use the underground to get from one station to the next without realising that as a crow flies, they are only 20 yards apart! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Hmmm... Definitely some worse stories than me! Ended up waking up to critters crawling out of my ear... Turned the lights on and bugs/fleas were everywhere. Left the room in the middle of the night and went to an all night cafe... Luckily, I folded up the drapes to capture the little critters... I went back in the morning to show the owner-to my surprise, he didn't argue, he gave me my money back and apologised profusely. Note this was not the same guy who first came to check out the problem and pretend to spray a bit of pesticide in the room-this was the owner. That guy looked me up and down and practically accused me of carrying the bugs in myself!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Argh! Rather ironically, we had emptied the truck and put all our gear in the motel room thinking it would be safer there . Still, perhaps it's better that the thieves broke into the motel rather than the truck... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Not half as funny as yours but I did get the following a few weeks ago: "hey you, it's me-call me back!" The number was "private" and I have no idea who it was!! Maybe it was just a prank call "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Eek.. Another jumper and I got all our camera equipment stolen out of our motel room in Montreal... The owner and the cops didn't give a shit... Most gutting was losing all my footage of travelling across europe... That, and realising the military base was litterally about 10 feet from that motel and if we had spent just an extra 5 minutes looking for it everything probably would have been fine (plus accomodation would have been either free or dirt cheap). D'oh. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Oh my gosh I found their website http://www.whitetowersmotel.com/ Looks better than in 1998!!!. Ahhh memories... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Ha ha! That just reminded me of our post boot-camp graduation party! We booked this place that sounded pretty classy called White Towers or something like that... When we told our instructors they sort of chuckled and when we got there we understood why... What a shithole! But apparently they get lots of business from all the bootcamp grads because it sounds like a classy place!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I think what you probably meant was that most women don't enjoy sex with you... Right? "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Smartass "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Omg-you can't leave me hanging like that! Detail, DETAILS!!! Eta: btw this is not the worst hotel I've stayed in but I also don't have anything properly horrific to contribute to this thread! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I'm hardly a fussy traveller-I've been known to sleep in my car and consider it a decent alternative to hotels! If I do have one pet peeve, though it has to be cleanliness-even the cheapest places can afford basic cleaning supplies... So tonight I find myself in the only available room under €100 and it is dirty, flea-infested & reeks of cigaretts... And no, I'm not kidding about the fleas. On the plus side, it has wifi, a tv, and is only 400 meters from the train station, so I guess it's not all bad... Honestly, though... A bit of bugspray, a quick spin of the vacuum and clean sheets... Is that really asking too much for €50 per night? Please comment and while you're at it, feel free to share horror stories-surely people can one-up me on this one and make me feel better "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

So what? If it's true just use it to your advantage... Promise to take her shopping in exchange for sex-should work the same way as when women want something except that you guys need to withold the shopping to get what you want! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

It's nuts to put yourself through that but if you have solid goals in mind it can be worth it. Guess it depends on what you're willing to sacrifice... I've worked like that for the past 5 years... I gave up on hanging out with friends, jumping, sleep, relationships, and a lot more besides. But now I'm in the South of France looking for a house to buy . If I went back in time would I do it again? Yep. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Bumped and voted