Around half a million people leave the UK to live abroad each year. A survey by the British Council showed 72 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds would consider living and working overseas, with cold weather, the high cost of living, extortionate childcare, a lack of work-life balance and even poor romantic prospects among their motivations for leaving the country. The i Paper’s Expat Files follows Brits who have taken the leap and settled elsewhere, detailing the ups and downs of their journeys.
Patrick Wood, 73, has spent the last three years living in the rural surroundings of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Not only has he found a girlfriend after his divorce, he also rents a charming house for €250 a month. Here, he tells Silvia Marchetti about his new home.
I’ve always imagined myself living somewhere in southern Europe once I retired (even before getting married), but I never thought I would find such a charming and cheap country as Croatia to call home.
Shorts
When I divorced from my wife in 2021, a year later, I retired from my job as a market researcher for the UK’s private environmental sector, and I spent two whole years touring Europe to find the ideal place where I could turn the page.
