UK Winter is killing me

MikeJXE

eDicky said:

During my years of living and working in Southeast Asia I made regular trips to the UK, where people often thought I was a bit mad if I remarked on how much I enjoyed the cold rainy weather, but it was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. Everything is relative...

By chance I've just started listening to the latest in Dr Micheal Mosley's excellent series of 'Just One Thing'  - 'Cold Therapy'. Quite interesting:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p0gt2krh?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I enjoyed my time in Gran Canaria, I moved there with intention of staying forever, applied for residency and registered on their  NHS

 After 18 months and a bit fed up of the sun I got scared, I had had 2 heart attacks 2003 and 2014 and didn't fancy the idea of ending up in a Spanish hospital where I wouldn't like the food and couldn't speak the language so I came home. 

 I don't regret any of it. 

tightauldgit

Voyager2002 said:

tightauldgit said:

rufuschucklebutty said:

I am 52 and the last two winters I have really suffered from the cold, to the extent that its a miserable time for me , I need to find a solution for next year. 

Where could I go that is warm, quiet and peaceful and live very cheaply and minimally for a month or two ? 

Loads of places in many parts of the world. 

SE Asia, India/Sri Lanka, Lots of Africa, Large parts of Latin America. 

 

As a rule, Africa is rather expensive.

Some of it certainly. Kenya wasn't for example though. A lot of what is or isn't going to be expensive is going to be based on the cost of flights which will depend a lot on the specific dates being discussed.

Certainly the warm parts of Europe aren't necessarily going to be cheap either. 

The_Unready

MikeJXE said:

eDicky said:

During my years of living and working in Southeast Asia I made regular trips to the UK, where people often thought I was a bit mad if I remarked on how much I enjoyed the cold rainy weather, but it was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. Everything is relative...

By chance I've just started listening to the latest in Dr Micheal Mosley's excellent series of 'Just One Thing'  - 'Cold Therapy'. Quite interesting:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p0gt2krh?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I enjoyed my time in Gran Canaria, I moved there with intention of staying forever, applied for residency and registered on their  NHS

 After 18 months and a bit fed up of the sun I got scared, I had had 2 heart attacks 2003 and 2014 and didn't fancy the idea of ending up in a Spanish hospital where I wouldn't like the food and couldn't speak the language so I came home. 

 I don't regret any of it. 

Why couldn't you speak the language after being there for 18 months?

MikeJXE

The_Unready said:

MikeJXE said:

eDicky said:

During my years of living and working in Southeast Asia I made regular trips to the UK, where people often thought I was a bit mad if I remarked on how much I enjoyed the cold rainy weather, but it was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. Everything is relative...

By chance I've just started listening to the latest in Dr Micheal Mosley's excellent series of 'Just One Thing'  - 'Cold Therapy'. Quite interesting:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p0gt2krh?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I enjoyed my time in Gran Canaria, I moved there with intention of staying forever, applied for residency and registered on their  NHS

 After 18 months and a bit fed up of the sun I got scared, I had had 2 heart attacks 2003 and 2014 and didn't fancy the idea of ending up in a Spanish hospital where I wouldn't like the food and couldn't speak the language so I came home. 

 I don't regret any of it. 

Why couldn't you speak the language after being there for 18 months?

Because where I was (tourist area) almost everyone spoke English

I did try a couple of lessons with a teacher but after repeating phrases for a  day I couldn't recall them the next day so I gave up 

DullGreyGuy

MikeJXE said:
I had had 2 heart attacks 2003 and 2014 and didn't fancy the idea of ending up in a Spanish hospital where I wouldn't like the food and couldn't speak the language so I came home. 

Seems odd you'd want to go somewhere for 18 months, and possibly permanently, where you don't like the food and cannot speak the language. In many parts of the world being unable to integrate is going to make life much more expensive, may still be cheaper than the UK but not as cheap as it would be otherwise. 

We stayed in Mexico over winter (180 day visa free) and if you avoid the "gringo tax" then you can rent a flat or villa for circa £250 inc utilities per month (based on a couple of months stay) with shared pool, probably less if you go away from the coast and the major tourist hotspots but then English will be limited speaking. Eating and drinking out can be very cheap assuming you like local food (2L jug of beer £1 & 4 tacos £1) and public transport is pennies. 

Grumpy_chap

eDicky said:

During my years of living and working in Southeast Asia I made regular trips to the UK, where people often thought I was a bit mad if I remarked on how much I enjoyed the cold rainy weather, but it was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. Everything is relative...

That reminds me of a former colleague who was brought up living in Pakistan.
His perfect weather was the typical; British summer day - grey. overcast, not too cold, not warm.
He was quite averse to the rare time we got clear blue skies as he associated the sunny days with simply being unbearably warm and uncomfortable.

Doshwaster

MikeJXE said:

43722 said:

And as far as I can see, a UK citizen would not be able to spend 18 months in Gran Canaria these days. 

Thats true without a visa now but 90 days out of the cold is a good chunk of our winter 

It's also 90 days in a 180 day period so if you use up all of your allowance in the winter then that limits your ability to travel in Europe in the summer. Hopefully this will be sorted out by time I retire...

eskbanker

Doshwaster said:

MikeJXE said:

43722 said:

And as far as I can see, a UK citizen would not be able to spend 18 months in Gran Canaria these days. 

Thats true without a visa now but 90 days out of the cold is a good chunk of our winter 

It's also 90 days in a 180 day period so if you use up all of your allowance in the winter then that limits your ability to travel in Europe in the summer.

It could limit travel opportunities in spring or autumn, but shouldn't impact summer!

rufuschucklebutty

My online research has settled on the Canary islands,  very cheap flights, 20⁰c climate during a UK winter, and outside of the holiday destinations is not busy at that time of year. 


I may well go for a slow relaxed plod around the trekking paths on the islands for 90 days. 

MikeJXE

A good choice in my opinion, plenty of sunshine and cheap food 

There is a bus service that runs from/to the southern resorts to Las Palmas every hour, with a  reduced frequency over night, very cheap compared to the UK

 Some stop at the airport 

Excellent taxi services too