My family and I have chosen to move to Nantes, France – a city focused on equitable mobility, proximity to daily essentials, and solidarity. Let me tell you why we feel like moving to France is the right choice and what it means to leave a place that we know so well.
#france #urbanism #cities
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41 Comments
Safe travels ✨
As someone who also moved from the USA's pacific northwest to Europe, I absolutely agree that it's massively improved my quality of life. It's the best change you can possibly make to see true increases in your happiness and decrease in stress and anxiety.
I moved to the Netherlands next door to France, because it has the best bike infrastructure in the world, but I've heard some parts of France are pretty good in that department as well, and like you said it's definitely better than the US!
Congratulations and best of luck getting resettled, it definitely takes a while to feel at home again but it's worth it
This is the first time since your big Seattle video that YouTube has served up a video of yours in my home feed. And it seems it's well deserved. I'm jealous. I've lived around Seattle all my life, and I plan to move to the Netherlands for similar reasons as you for moving to France. I'll be honest, I haven't nearly researched France as much as I have the Netherlands, Germany, or Sweden. But this video prompted me to start looking into France as an option.
Great decision. I wish Americans immigrating out of the country for a better quality of life was something more of us and our politicians were aware of.
As someone else that lives car-free in America I sympathize with your frustration and am sorry you got hit by an SUV. No one deserves that awful ordeal and I wish they would have locked the driver up!
That being said, I still think it's rather cowardly and extremely pessimistic to just abandon your home nation simply because changes towards positive urbanism aren't happening fast enough…
If people run from problems, how can we ever address them? If you truly cared for the residents of Seattle, I am sure there are some neighborhoods there you could raise your daughter in that would allow you a comfortable enough car-free life.
Instead of just abandoning the rest of us that would like to fight improve our homeland, or don't have enough money to move, to stay in a car-centric culture that we currently have.
Things will improve in North America if we stay strong and keep building our movement, I don't care about you "cheerleading from afar", help us or just shut up. We don't need another condescending a**hole like Not Just Bikes pretending things are perfect in Western Europe.
I will stay subscribed for now to see if you have a change of heart, maybe use some of your prior experience to start a NEW non-profit that advocates for more active transportation in WA? I hope so, we could use ya on our team way more HERE.
This is why I don't take issue with Not Just Bikes saying people should give up on North America. He could have chosen his words better, but to an extent, he is right. Most places aren't going to substantially improve within a generation, so either you stick around and advocate for change, with no guarantee that it will happen, or leave to greener pastures. If you can make the move, you probably should. Personally, I like Seattle so far, but that is partly because it surpasses the exceedingly low bar of "better than Reno".
Je suis en d’accord mais vous allez ou, en faite? Seattle c’est un ville, et la France c’est un pays énorme
You're moving to Nantes! Great choice for a place of living in France, I hope you'll find what you're looking for here. We'll be lucky to have you as an activist here as well 🙂
I feel this hard as a Seattle-ite who's likely moving to Norway before we have kids so our kids don't have to grow up in the US
I'm curious about your decision on Nantes specifically? Did you tour a bunch of places? Hear about them online? Do you speak French? I'm sad that the US is behind and I'm hoping my city makes progress by the time I need it. I'm excited for you!
Best of luck with your move, I hope it gives you the freedom and mobility that you lack in the US.
Bon voyage!
He only got a 125$ ticket for almost ending your life???? What the actual fuck like what the actual fuck
Well, street security in Nantes will disappoint. It's not the same as 5 years ago, already.
Make the most of the move but don't be naive about France current security situation.
https://youtu.be/KTY_0hOoWyM?si=ArthGvHnekkt27ao
Good luck, Godspeed and go 'Hawks !
What is your “chosen family”?
fantastic and very touching!
Thanks for this video. I’m considering moving to South America for public transport, not having to buy a car every few years, health care, housing policy, environmental impact . It adds up. Recently paid a fortune for health care, and right now trying to decide whether to put another $20k on a car because I feel forced to in order to participate in society and visit friends and family, or just save and try somewhere else
Welcome from France, and huge respect to Seattle, to all of Washington State and to all of US; hope you and your family will have a good life in my country ! I don't know Nantes really much, but I think it is a good place. Proud and happy to see Americans coming there
I apologize if this is a personal question – I recently came back to the US after 10 years living in Japan, and though the friendliness/openness of strangers is nice, I'm reeling from shock at the urban sprawl, the need for cars to get anywhere at all, and how little people seem to congregate compared to what I'm used to. I spent several weeks in France with my French ex-partner last year, and have been looking into the idea of school or work in Europe, where I appreciated the trains and cultural centers, healthcare (ugh, I could go to the dentist for $20 in Japan), and food. May I ask if you're going on a work visa, to work with a company in France? I ask because I've been looking into the visa options quite a bit.
What a brave move to make. I'm sure France will surprise you in many pleasant ways, air quality, variety of landscape, politeness of the people and of course cars that are about half the size you're used to.
The problem with moving to another country is that you will automatically be victimized by American foreign policy and wars. The destruction of the Nordstream pipeline (perpetrated by the US) just increased your energy cost in the EU exponentially, because now you have to buy it from us. And if the USA declares war on Russia China, NATO will have to go along.
As a Canadian living in a city with sprawling suburbs, this really resonated with me. I'm planning a lengthy trip to Europe in 2024 in part to experience city life that doesn't revolve around the car. I do what I can in my community to make it safer for active transportation (as if there needs to be a term for that) but at some point I could see myself trying to make the move to a city in Europe with safer streets.
Im sorry
2:21 change "american drivers" to "americans"
Thank you for an excellent video! Very informative. What are your thoughts about Expat seniors living in France? As retired educators (we helped a new school open in Lviv – Aug-Dec), we are exploring Poland (Dec-Jan), Estonia (Feb), and possibly France. Paris is beautiful and walkable. Nice too looks beautiful and welcoming. We seek a walkable, affordable, and comfortable place to call home. My wife Cindy has MS, so calm is a required component. I grew up in Los Angeles, working & driving 24/7, so the European pace is very attractive. Thank you. Dean & Cindy
Hope you document your integration into French Society.
I'm right behind you. Perhaps our paths will cross.
Bienvenue en France ! La vie n'y est plus parfaite mais ce n'est pas mal quand même. Et puis Nantes est si près de la Bretagne où il y a une vraie identité avec des personnes que j'ai trouvées très accueillantes. Quand vous aurez visité la baie de Quiberon, si ce n'est déjà fait, vous serez définitivement conquis !
Same, same, and same! My family and I are moving this year too. See you on the flip side, friend!
Thank you Devin. I appreciate having had to opportunity to work with you. I'll miss your energy and dedication to improving housing equity in Seattle. Your move is a big loss for Seattle (and a big gain for France). The number of commenters who have already, are planning, or are considering a similar move should be a message to Seattle's so-called policy leaders.
What a great video. Welcome to France! We've been here 17 months and love it. I do miss 🌮 but it's worth it for healthcare. 😅 Good luck with everything as you settle in!
Hi Devin, I understand this feeling. I’ve lived in Japan myself for over a year now, and to this day my family talks about “when” I return. When my friends hear this, they simply say to them not “when” the word is “if”. Since moving to Japan I’ve thought of certain things available to me that I would never have considered in America. Homeownership, a healthy body, the prospect of children. I know of course now more than ever that Japan isn’t perfect. But it would take such an energy that I don’t have to make America even half of what Japan is now. I miss Seattle too, I miss my friends who have stayed behind. But I know, as you do, that this was the right decision. Good luck to you in France sir, may you find peace.
Maybe Seattle should be in the title 👏👍🏽
I moved to France after spending my whole life up until that point in Texas. I had visited a few times and as a cyclist both for sport and leisure, France is very good and hard to beat in the US. I'll probably never move back to the US. Life in France is for living. Life in the US is for working for money with no time to enjoy it. The food quality and effects on health is a giant factor as well. I am so much healthier in France due to the quality of the food. It tastes a lot better too.
Damn buddy this is a good video. I got here from your Seattle video and now I'm going to look at more of your past videos. Hope you will tell us what Nantes is like, as your time allows. I know you'll have a good life in France. I wish I could go but I'm too old.
C'est touchant émouvant..et fou ! And ..because .i looking in the French tv "Seal team" only one 6minutes advertising for a episode !.. .c'est un peu d'humour.😉
Bonjour! Excellent video. Your activism resonates with me. We are retired educators from Portland. We just finished a long stay in Europe: 5 months helping a new school open in Lvivv, one month in Krakow learning about WWII, and a month in Tallinn. My focus as an educator remains on/for social justice, Socratic dialogue, engaging discourse, and access to services like healthcare, public transportation, and walking distance to markets. Merci beaucoup! Dean & Cindy
Safe streets? In Nantes? What about the drug dealers and aggressive homeless people all over the city? What about the crime rate? Nantes is ranked the 72nd most dangerous city in the world, just below Nairobi and Brasilia. Seattle is far behind in the ranking. You clearly have a biased vision because of your ideology.
The population in Nantes is more than 50% less than Seattle, no wonder it's more livable.
what is this BS ??? I had to stop my activities to stop youtube :)))) soo paranoia video
Aww Seattle 💓 I was there for 1.5 years and lived in building next to Seahawks stadium. Great place! Found this channel while researching moving to France as well.
A lot of your story is similar to mine when I lived in the US, especially the not having a car and not having stable housing (I managed to avoid the debt part, thank gawd, but it was still rough). And then I saw an opportunity to move to South Korea for a job, with a government contract, and I took it, lived there for 5 years and it was the most stable I'd ever been in my whole adult life. Met my partner while there, who is French. I wanted to stay there but the Korean government defunded most of the program I was in so it was becoming too expensive for them to keep me on and it wasn't possible to move into a new job sector there because of the type of visa I had. So me and my partner decided to settle in France. We decided against the US for infrastructure alone, too many disadvantages. I'm not gonna lie the transition to France was much harder for me than Korea and I don't know exactly why, I haven't had many bad experiences here, I think it might've been just me, like I had way more culture shocks here than I ever did in Korea, maybe it's because I'm from California and am used to many different kinds of Asian cultures, lol, I don't know. But infrastructure where I live, just in the banlieues of Ile-de-France, is still much better than it ever would've been back in the US, I don't need a car here (though I wish my town and the ones near me were more bike friendly, they seem like they would be but they aren't), most of what I need is in walking distance, I can afford the healthcare here, I now own my home, sure it's a smallish 2 bedroom condo in a pretty big building and I have co-op fees to pay even after the mortgage is payed off, but I have a home that's mine that I'm not gonna lose. I would love to live in Nantes though, but it's not an option.