Ask HN: European HNers, what's your plan B if sh*t hits the fan?

[mclbdn]

A few months back I moved back to Europe and what I'm seeing lately is disturbing me every day a bit more.

Daily, there's either Putin threatening with a nuclear war, far-left/far-right protests in my capital, tighter border controls, and/or just very grim predictions for the future of Europe.

That got me thinking: Do any of you have a plan B if the things go sideways here? And what's your plan B?

[kstenerud]

Things won't go sideways here. The worst that will happen is some power rationing this winter and a shaky next year.

The left-right split is a natural consequence of a world that's been stable for too long with creeping inequality. There's nothing like a good war to shake things up and bring people back together!

Europe's future is actually very bright! 5 years from now it'll be boom town.

[jonas-w]

"Boom town" - oh i see what you did there.

[smt88]

Aren't regular, peaceful protests a good thing and a sign of healthy freedom of speech?

I understand your misgivings about tighter border controls, but if you're already inside the EU, I'm not sure why that would motivate you to move.

[mclbdn]

Yes, you're 100% right about the mentioned freedom of speech and that's how it's supposed to be like.

Still, as the far-left/far-right gets more media coverage due to recent protests here and overall mood (read pro-Russian (and we've been occupied by Russia before lol)) on social media, some of them won in the recent regional elections and now these extremists have officially their electorate inside town halls.

Who knows how far can it get in a few more years.

[f1shy]

First, I do not think is going to happen anything extremely bad here around. Extreme parties have been around for some decades now. And nothing very terrible happened until now.

That being said, I do have a plan B, in the case that it goes really bad: I would try to work remotely somewhere from south America. It is far enough, I can manage it with the language, and have some nice landscapes...

If it is possible to work from there in EU, is a big question. Right now it would no be legal, if that would change in case of a big chaos, I'm not sure.

Absolute worst case, start over in south America... why not?! After all is what many people did in the 50s.

[mclbdn]

That's what I've been planning to do too.

Ironically, I moved back to Europe from Mexico, since the life here is much easier and I had more opportunities here as a Junior Dev (still am a junior).

That being said, I miss the locals & the way of living there very much.

[f1shy]

It's all about putting all in the balance. More money, more safety and security (it almost every aspect of life). On the other side, family and friends left behind.

If you just came: don't think people are different here (anywhere in EU) as in Mexico. You will do new friend here, locals, and for sure other expats. The food, if you search, you can find almost everything. I've been many places (also Mexico) I found China and Japan to be very different than Mexico, but the EU is not that far away. Just chill, enjoy the good, and if at any time it gets too heavy, you can always go back, and have an interesting experience in your CV.

[mclbdn]

Sorry, I might've explained myself incorrectly.

I am European and I've spent in Mexico only 2 years of my life which is not much.

Anyway I cannot help myself but to disagree with "don't think people are different here (anywhere in EU) as in Mexico".

My experience have been the total opposite: I consider us, Europeans, generally much more distanced and serious. It was definitely easier for me to make friends in Mexico (as an expat with locals) than as a local here with other locals.

Of course that talking about infrastructure, money, security - that's a whole different story.

[LatteLazy]

London here: Pray my employer can move me to the US office.

Putin won't be invading any time soon, but our economy is collapsing and the root causes are political and demographic (as well as energy right now) so they won't be changing.