How I Decided to Quit My Job and Move to France

We talk about the decision Jason made to quit a high-paying job in the US in the prime of his career, then take a career break and move to France as a family.

00:00: Asking "Is this it?"
01:00: What am I doing next?
02:00: New opportunities and big dreams.
02:50: Can we afford this?
03:30: It's scary. What we worried about.
05:18: What we realized that helped us make the decision.
06:34: Compounding experiences
07:10: When life is a 6 it's hard to change.
08:54: Go for it!
09:05: Getting through the ups and downs.
09:55: What's your moment?

About Us:
We are an American family of 3 who moved to France for an extended stay adventure in 2022.
We wanted to experience Europe as more than rushed tourists on a 10-day vacation. To dive into the culture, learn a new language, experience daily life, and truly know what it was like to work and live somewhere other than the US.

In France, we set up a business, enrolled in a middle school, found housing, and even got our cat a European passport!

While in the US preparing to leave, the information we found about staying in France for longer than a short vacation was directed at college students, young & single digital nomads, or retirees. Where was the useful information for families like us?

With a year under our belts in France, we created Baguette Bound to pass on what we have learned. We hope to make it easier and inspire other families who are interested in experiencing a long stay in France with their families. Stay tuned for more information on French culture, local travel ideas, and the logistics of moving across the world.

[gkuhlberg]

Well, I've been here as a resident since September '23 . I cam alone at the age of 77 and female. I went through the same emotions you describe, but at least I didn't have the job worries. I did have to run the numbers many times to see it was so doable. People ask me why, at my age, well why not? I don't look my age, that helps some. I certainly do not feel it, well maybe on the steps in Montmartre or going up the Arc de Triomphe steps. I decided at the end of 2021 to go to France and travel. I came in April of '22 for 2 months and stayed a a month in the south and Provence. Then I went to Paris for a month, where I discovered the suburbs of Paris more to my liking. I found myself so enchanted with France, the French people and the language I made a decision. I came back to the US, started packing and telling my kids. I did a lot of resurch and came back to France to find a place to live and open a bank account. Then back to the US to get my long term visa approved, and to sell my house and car. I've been settled 5 months now my French is at a toddlers level, but improving well. My French National Health Card is on the way and next I tackle my drivers license exchange (well after filling taxes in two countries!) It is wonderful, it is doable for a single ( I'm a widow) woman. One just needs to want it enough to put one foot in front of the other.

[rickchandler]

Mine was a heart disease diagnosis at 52. Got past it with a triple bypass but the surgeon asked me about when I was planning on retiring and I said probably 10 years and he suggested I move that up to ASAP. Life is short as I found out. Now live in Portugal and am having an amazing time. I don't regret a minute of it.

[dbmorton]

I know someone who took that leap over 30 years ago and has never looked back. As they say in France, vive la différence !

[Alex-mpzb]

I like how you're down to earth: you wheighed the pros and cons and did not leave the US on a whim. Also you seem to be a close-knit couple, which is important when you have to make so many important decisions. I wish more people like you came to France! And remember, if you decide to stay, when your daughter goes to college it will only cost you 200-300 euros per year if she becomes a French citizen (or 3000 otherwise). The best of luck to you!

[lindylee]

You’re lucky you have each other- that makes the leap a little less scary than it would be for a single person.

[Sonorus]

We moved from the US before the Affordable Care Act was conceived ; a family member with disabilities was going to lose health care coverage and that was the deciding moment. We moved to Ireland for work, became citizens, then moved to France for retirement (different administrative issues moving to France as an EU citizen). Healthcare was a big factor, but I already had B2 level French and we both had been engaged with French culture and arts for a long time. We love it here. America is 15 years behind us now.

[rowandowland]

We look forward to watching your videos and following your experiences. We're in our 60s and we retired just over two years ago to move from Australia to Italy and France. We sold up everything and began life all over. It's been the toughest thing we've ever done but also the most rewarding. We have bases in both Lombardy and the Haute Savoie and we are now spending time researching both France and northern Italy with the aim of eventually settling somewhere. Best wishes Rowan e Maria

[sahmyeti]

Our family is on a similar path. Just decided to move from Colorado to France. We are a family of 3 with a 6 year old girl. I have a corporate job and my husband has started his own business. The corporate world is exhausting. There are angry people everywhere and everyone is an expert. Just scared for our daughter’s future in a place that increasingly hates women. And it is exhausting to try to keep up with decent food here. Every day the food is getting worse. We eat at home all the time because the restaurant food increasingly tastes awful and makes you fell awful. Don’t know French, but food is so important we are willing to learn anything to be among people who rejoice in good food and time with people.

[gkuhlberg]

Even over 70 can do it alone, the best things in life do not come easily, but the effort is worth it a thousand times over.

[richardmargolis]

The decision point can be very simply described: which would give you more regret, trying and finding out it wasn’t for you; or never trying at all? If you get to asking yourself that question, there’s usually only one answer….

[jonathanlevel]

Bravo à vous d’avoir franchi le pas, cela demande du courage.
J’aime bien vos vidéos.

[thepreppypharaoh]

Just stumbled upon your vlog and absolutely love it. It’s always been a dream of mine to live in the South of France ever since first visiting it as a teen. Last year, I had the chance to rent a flat in Nice for a full month and live like a local. I retuned to the US (San Diego) completely enamored. In about two weeks, I’m embarking on another 5 week stay in Nice again as an experiment to see if I still love it as much as the first trip to get past the “vacation halo” effect. If the answer is yes, my goal is to put together a 5 year plan to relocate permanently. I have all the worries; job, finances, visa, etc….
But your channel is inspiring me to look at it through a different lens. I will keep tuning in and hopefully this trip will push me to get the process started. 😊

[ariasjohanna]

i agree with you
we just did it from Canada

[gkuhlberg]

My sentiments exactly, but I am a long way from fluency, 8 months now and i think I'm equalivalnt to a 3 year old! I am in Versailles and love it.

[devinsilvernail]

Great video. This captures a lot of the feelings my family has been experiencing since we made the decision to hop over to France. I'm at the beginning of the "post-work" lull so it's good to get that perspective too. Great video. I hope this helps more folks take the chance. It's worth it.

[JustJami]

You two are so mellow and down-to-earth. Thank you for sharing your story.

[NoObligationToday]

We are moving to France this year starting on October 25, 2024….18 days away! Hardest part is downsizing and putting our household goods in storage. We are stressed out from the commotion and not to mention taking 2 small dogs with us which adds another dimension to our perils. Leasing our home and the insurance was a challenge. Not many insurance companies insure homes in California since our insurance will change to Landlord insurance. However, we found AAA does and that worked. Our Longterm Visitors Visa is complete and from our visit to the VFS office to process our visa took literally 4 days! We were worried that they would delay since we had only 30 days before we had to leave.

If it was easy, everyone would do it… it is a journey uphill but you have to keep telling yourself what brought you to this time in your life. I like change but my wife is good with it and I have to keep reminding her that time is passing quickly and that if it doesn’t work out, we can comeback. If you think about it, October 2023 was a blink of an eye. So don’t have regrets at the end of your life thinking why you didn’t put yourself out there and accomplish something that few people will never do.

[robertfrank]

I moved to France @71 years of age. France is no utopia, but I love it. I can not express how happy I am to be here. I am living in Bordeaux. I do have one advantage over most other Americans in that I speak almost fluent French. I am just so happy to be in this beautiful city. In this great country. I do appreciate that the US is really the protector of Democracy, a new concept to humans that came basically from France. The idea that humans can govern themselves. It's messy, but hope the US decides to continue with this experiment that is only 250 years old. There are forces there that want to return to imperial rule. I hope they fail!!!
Just an observation - the French secretly love the US. They love to complain about it as the French do about everything. Underneath it all they know that the US with all its problems is the protector of Democracy, they know it and they appreciate it. They appreciate that we liberated them and that we keep Europe free.
But, I'm still happy to be here. Mercy la France.

[zeitgeist]

We are planning our move to France and came across the video. Looking to move to Alsace area in approx 2 years and really look forward to more videos of your experiences.

[MichelDahan-zr]

Thank you for the motivation. I do speak French and I have always wanted to move to France and is the time. Thanks