{"id":845203,"date":"2026-09-12T11:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/845203\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T11:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T11:08:29","slug":"portugal-greece-or-switzerland-americans-on-the-pros-and-cons-of-moving-to-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/845203\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal, Greece or Switzerland? Americans on the pros and cons of moving to Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel\u2019s weekly newsletter<\/a>. Get news about destinations, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, and where to stay.\n<\/p>\n

\n In our roundup of travel news this week, what five Americans discovered when they left the States for new lives in Europe. Plus Mongolian throat singing, Portuguese big waves, and a Greek vacation romance that lasted through the ages.\n <\/p>\n

\n Packing up and moving to a new country is an alluring dream for many, but relocation is always a delicate balance of pros and cons. CNN regularly talks with people who\u2019ve done it. Here\u2019s what five Americans who relocated to Europe had to say about how it worked out for them.\n <\/p>\n

\n Retiree Paula Dreyfuss, who swapped San Diego for the Portuguese city of Porto five years ago, loves that she can now afford vacations several times a year and restaurant meals multiple times a week. She finds the locals \u201cso warm and so nice\u201d and loves feeling safe enough to be comfortable walking alone at night.\n <\/p>\n

\n The downsides, she says, are the bureaucracy and learning a new language: \u201cNothing is perfect.\u201d Read more<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jeffrey Davidson and Walter Zak were approaching 60 when they decided to move from Florida to the Peloponnese region of Greece.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe lived in the land of make-believe,\u201d Davidson says of their former home near Walt Disney World. \u201cNow we stumble over ruins that are several thousand years old in every direction.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n They love Greece\u2019s \u201cwonderful chaotic energy\u201d but admit the transition would have been harder if they\u2019d left it until later in life, as they \u201cstill have a lot of learning time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe still have issues here with earthquakes and wildfires,\u201d says Zak, and \u201cGreece will still get a little colder than we\u2019re used to.\u201d Read more<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a story for CNN subscribers, Emily and Robert Toole shared how they moved to Switzerland more than a decade ago, after Emily was offered a job in Geneva.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even though she arrived with a foothold in the work world, the first year was \u201chorrible,\u201d according to Emily. She found it difficult to adapt and build connections.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s no welcoming committee,\u201d agrees Robert, saying that Swiss people tend to \u201ckeep to themselves.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Today, though, they\u2019re happy and settled, and they think the outdoorsy lifestyle of hiking and swimming is the best environment to raise their five children. Read why they changed their mind<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"Passenger<\/p>\n

Disruptive passenger duct taped, zip tied during flight\n <\/p>\n

A disruptive passenger was restrained with flexible handcuffs and duct-taped to his seat as his American Airlines flight from Dallas to Newark was diverted to make an emergency landing in Baltimore on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Disruptive passenger duct taped, zip tied during flight<\/p>\n

0:43<\/p>\n

\n A disruptive passenger was restrained with flexible handcuffs and duct-taped to his seat last week, forcing his American Airlines flight from Dallas to Newark to be diverted to make an emergency landing in Baltimore. Watch scenes<\/a> from the incident in this video.\n <\/p>\n

\n A Delta Air Lines flight was also diverted last month, but due to crew illness. A pilot landed a Boston-bound flight in Detroit, after saying he was ill and needed to go to the hospital<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n A shocking incident in which a passenger was reportedly sucked partly out of a shattered window made global headlines in July. Michael O\u2019Leary, the outspoken CEO of budget airline Ryanair, this week disputed the injured man\u2019s version of events, while conceding that he was \u201ccertainly sucked in very dramatic circumstances<\/a> towards the window.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Live long and prosper<\/p>\n

\"119049_JapanEdoRun_Vertical_Clean_Thumb_2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Japanese ‘Edo-style’ running goes viral\n <\/p>\n

Katsunori Oba has been researching how Japanese people may have run hundreds of years ago and his unusual techniques have since turned him into an internet sensation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Japanese ‘Edo-style’ running goes viral<\/p>\n

1:42<\/p>\n

\n Two men on opposites sides of the world make the case for embracing physical activity as we age.\n <\/p>\n

\n A 91-year-old man has become the oldest hiker to complete the 2,193-mile-long Appalachian Trail<\/a>, which runs between Georgia and Maine, becoming a social media star in the process.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dale Sanders, trail name \u201cGray Beard,\u201d was born in 1935, two years before the trail was even completed, and holds numerous other age-related records, including becoming the oldest person to paddle the entire length of the Mississippi River.\n <\/p>\n

\n In Japan, Katsunori Oba \u2013 a relative whippersnapper at 61 \u2013 has become a viral hit through his unusual style of long-distance running, which he says is how Japanese people may have run hundreds of years ago, during the Edo period. Watch here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the six-part CNN Original series \u201cChasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta,\u201d Gupta travels around the world as he searches for the secret to living a longer, healthier and happier life. CNN subscribers can stream it here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"119558_WXAPP_NazareWaves<\/p>\n

How a giant European canyon and Atlantic storms spawn epic surfing\n <\/p>\n

Nazar\u00e9, Portugal, is home to some of the world\u2019s biggest waves. The reason lies beneath the surf, in the form of Europe\u2019s largest underwater canyon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How a giant European canyon and Atlantic storms spawn epic surfing<\/p>\n

2:25<\/p>\n

\n Nazar\u00e9, Portugal, is home to some of the world\u2019s biggest waves, attracting surfers from around the world each winter. The reason lies deep below the water\u2019s surface, in the form of Europe\u2019s largest underwater canyon.Watch<\/a> here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n A major tech debut. A weather milestone. A moment of remembrance.\n <\/p>\n

\n What do you remember from the week that was<\/a>?\n <\/p>\n

\n He thought he\u2019d never see his 1985 Greek vacation fling again.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then he felt a tap on the shoulder<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n You\u2019ve never heard singing like this.\n <\/p>\n

\n Watch<\/a> to see where you can witness a unique music tradition.\n <\/p>\n

\n This was the hottest US summer on record.\n <\/p>\n

\n And there\u2019s more on the way<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel\u2019s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations, plus the latest in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-845203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}