A Germany-based American family has opened up about why they left the United States for Europe and how their life has changed since the move. Geoffrey and Sarah left the US in 2017, shortly after Geoffrey was laid off from his job as a software engineer.
The couple, who have been married since 2005, told CNN Travel that moving out of the US was never really on the cards — until the 2016 presidential election made them rethink their choices. The year 2016 was when Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton to become the president of the United States.
A year later, when Geoffrey lost his job, he and his wife began to consider moving out of the US.
Moving to Ireland
“That sort of pushed me over a ledge,” Geoffrey CNN Travel. “I wanted some emotional distance from what was happening around me, and that meant geographical distance.”
While they are today based in Germany, that was not the first country to which they moved.
Sarah had been able to obtain Irish citizenship by descent through her grandmother, and Geoffrey was offered a job in Dublin. Ireland therefore seemed like the clear choice.
But leaving their strong support system in , US was not easy. The couple initially decided to rent out the three-bedroom property instead of selling it.
Finding a house to rent in Ireland proved tougher. So instead of renting a house, the American couple bought a houseboat and parked it at Malahide, a coastal town near Dublin.
The houseboat cost around 64,000 euros (roughly $74,800), while renting a space at the marina cost around 435 euros (around $508) a month.
From Ireland to Germany
The houseboat was the couple’s home for five years, before they moved to a house in Dublin.
“When we were expecting our child, we decided that living on a boat in the Irish Sea was maybe not the best place to have an infant running around,” Geoffrey explained.
After a few years, they began to feel the need to move again. They decided on , since both Sarah and Geoffrey had studied German previously.
In 2022, the couple and their son traveled to Germany and felt an instant connection with Breisach, a town that lies on the border of France.
“We kind of fell in love with the area,” Geoffrey recalled. “And said, ‘Okay, that’s it. Now, let’s start looking for housing.’”
A year later, they moved to Germany after buying a two-bedroom house. The American couple says they were welcomed warmly by locals. Their son, however, took some time to adjust to life in Germany.
“We didn’t expect that a three-year-old would have such a hard time moving,” Sarah told CNN Travel. Things are now better and their son has adjusted well to his new life in Germany.
US vs Germany
After two and a half years of living in Breisach, Sarah and Geoffrey feel like they have made the right decision. One of their favourite parts about life in the German town is how it is focused on community.
“I feel like in the US, there’s often an undercurrent of consumerism across many things that you do…,” Sarah said. “Here it feels like you’re more likely to co-create things.”
The cost of living is another factor that works in their favour. Geoffrey has found a remote US job.
Today, the couple is constantly shocked at the prices when they visit the US. “It just seems so unaffordable,” Sarah said. “Especially going out to restaurants, there’s a lot lower of a bar.”
