I'm not disagreeing with any of those posts! The hire car thing is mental. Pre Covid19 we had a few summers where we literally had a day on our own before more family/friends would arrive. I'm not complaining, saves me going anywhere to see them
A benefit of living somewhere where people go on holiday (our location, and a lot of Ireland). Hiring a car was not just affordable, but cheap! I think some were getting a small car for around 18-20 euro a day. A mate looked into it recently and is driving over as it works out pretty much the same when all said and done, and as a few are coming to hit golf balls about the place, can split all the costs which makes it cheaper!
The cities are stupid prices rent/houses wise, and risen considerably since we arrived. However, there is value in the countryside if you don't mind being a taxi service to kids (but that's the same pretty much everywhere these days) and commuting for work.
When looking at property, we saw a good few places that were complete wrecks, some without power, some without a roof
One sticks in my mind - just into Wicklow (Wexford end) , completely run down, but someone clearly lived and died there recently. Tiny, tiny 2 bedroom farmstead. Sold for 225k, but it did come with a shit load of very good land. Without that it would have been 50k and someone would have bought it even then to renovate.
It's the same argument all over; houses sold for inflated prices, pricing out the local community etc. I don't know the answer to that. We bought our place as no one else would! I don't feel guilty for pricing out a local as they didn't want it (access issue meant no bank would give a mortgage on it), we first saw it 14 months before we actually bought it.
As with the outside toilet experiences, we've not a cesspit, but a septic which requires looking after. We don't have mains gas or water, gas comes in bottles, the water from the ground - not a bucket job, we have a bore and pump etc! But that is the same in most countries, rurally. It's not for everyone, but we fucking love it