What is it like to live in the Netherlands?

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Dmitrii Eliseev

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What is it like to live in the Netherlands?

What is it like to live in the Netherlands? There is no universal answer, obviously, I can tell what comes to my mind first after living 10 years here.

• The infrastructure is good. Transport, roads, trans, mostly in good condition.

• Transport is expensive. A single-use metro ticket (at the time of writing this text) is €3.40, and in Paris, for comparison, €2.50. A 40-minute train ride from Amsterdam to Rotterdam costs €19 in one direction - if you want a round-trip with your family to visit a museum, good luck - a train will be more expensive than the museum itself.
• The Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest population density. A standalone house here is a luxury; even if you have a house, it will most likely be like this, with a “garden” about 2x3 meters:

• If you don’t have money for a house, or don’t want higher maintenance costs, an apartment can be in a place like this:

• Some expenses here are crazy high, for no obvious reason. A full-time kindergarten/daycare for your kid can cost 1300€ per month. Some people I know have a daycare for only 2 days per week because it’s too expensive.
• The medicine is affordable (at least compared to the US, here you pay only about 150€/month for insurance) but slow - you must convince your GP to send you for extra analysis/checks if needed, and the waiting list in hospitals can be months long. I’m luckily healthy enough; some people got treatment in Germany or Belgium because it was faster.
• Food is okay. It's better in France, Belgium, or Italy, but I don’t care too much; you can find everything in the supermarket.

• Climate is boring. Summer is okay, but be prepared for the dark and rainy season from October to April. You wake up, it's dark, you come from a job, it's dark, and it's almost always wet. There were only 3 sunny days last December. It may be beautiful in the photos, but in reality, it's depressing.

Personally, I see some disadvantage of living here:

• Western Europe is a desired place for millions. It can be 500 applicants for viewing the apartment for rent, and 100 applicants per job position. Good luck with that.
• The cost of living is high. Taxes are also high. If you do a remote job, it will be a disadvantage for you compared to people from cheaper places. Let’s say, if some guy from India, Bulgaria, or Ukraine can do the job for 1500€/month, I physically cannot compete with him - in the Netherlands, it will be a level of poverty.
• Salaries in Western Europe are, in general, higher. But (see previous item), considering the higher costs, it's mostly not an advantage for you - you also spend more. Especially in jobs that can be done remotely, there is a high chance that the job can (and probably will) be outsourced. Dutch businesses are good at calculating money.

In general, as a person who has a normal engineering 5x8 job and no social help or benefits, I don’t feel confident and safe here in terms of my future and job security.

PS: Last but not least, just a personal observation. I had a Tinder account for about 2 years, and I got likes from almost all countries. Except locals. No local woman will be interested in dating an expat, it's just not prestigious unless you’re not from the US or UK :)