Portugal has similar climate and is very economical to live in. Same for rural northern Italy. I’m giving serious thought to spending my next ten years in either. I try to move every ten years to a new place usually a new continent. Before leaving the work force for the capital class I was a geologist of many flavors and an engineer working on 6 of 7 continents chasing that black gold. With all the fortune 500 companies coming to the DFW mega city my land alone is worth 5 times cut up into subdivided parcels what I paid for it more than enough to buy a sizeable chunk of rural Italy I don’t see the USA being a viable option anywhere in a few years.
Despite investing nearly all of our money and years of effort into our properties in the Puget Sound region... we are hoping to bug out of here soon as well. We also have looked into both Italy and Portugal. Reasonably priced real estate, friendly inhabitants, lots of entertaining activities and beautiful places to visit.... what more could you ask for. WE even have a friend who owns property in Italy. My wife and I spent time learning Italian using one of the computer-based language courses and practicing together. Dov’è la toilette? Dov’è la fermata dell’autobus?
We were discouraged especially by the Italian government’s policies on Covid. Up until recently they were requiring visitors to show proof of vaccination to go to a restaurant along with restrictive entry requirements. They are still requiring masks at basically all indoor events. Washington State has been one of the most restrictive states in the country when it comes to Covid and we are nervous about relocating to any country which has followed an even more draconian path regardless of their reasons. Look at the nightmares that have developed in Australia and New Zealand.
Lately, we have been looking more into moving to a state with low property taxes and conservative state and local governments. We are hoping for a reversal of idiotic policies that have been rapidly eroding the value of our retirement but the long term trends do not look good, so like you we remain fairly pessimistic.