I ASKED CHATGPT WHICH COUNTRY TO MOVE TO – I TOOK ITS ADVICE AND FOUND HAPPINESS

Around half a million people left the UK to live elsewhere last year, and it’s not just retirees. A survey of more than 3,000 young people by the British Council showed that 72 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds would consider living and working abroad, with destinations in Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and South East Asia proving popular.

Many expats are seeking a better quality of life, and cite varying factors – cold weather, high cost of living, extortionate childcare, stagnant wages, dwindling opportunity, lack of work-life balance and even poor romantic prospects – among their motivations for leaving the UK. The i Paper’s Expat Files follows Brits who have taken the leap and settled elsewhere, detailing the ups and downs of their journey.

During a period of burnout, tech worker Julie Neis, 44, asked ChatGPT to choose where she should live – she landed in Uzès, a commune in southern France. Here, she tells Maybelle Morgan why it was one of the best decisions she has ever made.

It was the end of November 2024 when I put my entire life in ChatGPT’s (metaphorical) hands: I asked it to choose where I should move to recover from burnout. I was in a bad way. I had been suffering from depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue as a result of years spent working intense, high-pressured jobs in tech, constantly on the go. Finally, I had crashed and there was nothing left – I was a shell.

Something had to change, but I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities. So, into my keyboard I started typing. Just four months later I arrived in a rental car with three bags, ready to start a new life in a tiny town in the south of France that I had never visited in my life: Uzès. Thankfully, it’s a decision, albeit a wildcard one, that I’m glad I made every day.

I grew up in Texas, in a suburb north of Dallas, a concrete jungle of highways, chain restaurants and shopping centres. In sixth grade, when I was 11 years old, I chose to study French and that was the catalyst that started a lifelong love affair with France. It’s funny that such a small decision completely changed the course of my life.

At university I jumped at the chance to do a study-abroad trip in the summer. For two weeks we travelled around France: Paris, then to the Loire Valley, down to Périgord and Rocamadour, and then back up to Brittany and Normandy. It was sensory overload, visiting little towns with cobblestone streets, watching people sitting in quaint cafés drinking their coffee and seeing all the bakeries touting 15 types of pastries that looked like works of art.

After university, I moved to France for a year’s work placement, but when I came back to the US I threw myself into training to be a teacher. But, by chance, I ended up in the rigging and crating industry. I would go on a trip to Paris every couple of years to get my France fix, even if it was just for a weekend. Then I moved to Paris in 2011 for five years to work in the tourism industry. During this time I went from conversational French to speaking the language fluently.

When the pandemic hit, I lost my job and ended up spending five years as a digital nomad working in tech. The money was good but it was exhausting. One year, I took 65 flights: Six times to Europe from the west coast (16-hour trips), and around the US, sometimes with nine-hour travel days to New York City where I’d meet big potential clients back to back early until late and then leave again.

Each summer during this nomadic period, I spent three months in France. I had friends there and every time I was touched down I didn’t want to leave. At the same time the constant moving, the lack of routine and zero stability was taking its toll.

In the autumn of 2024, I was back in Paris with a view to stay in France, but the burnout worsened. Paris had always been my favourite city in the world, my happy place, but I was overstimulated by city life – the noise, the crowds, the rush. I didn’t leave the apartment, was having constant anxiety attacks and I was crying for no reason. Chronic fatigue meant that I could barely keep my eyes open.

I realised I needed a total change. But my nervous system was fried and didn’t know what to do, where to live or what to do for work. I even got a life coach to try and help but I was overwhelmed by all the conflicting opinions.

I wasn’t exactly an avid user of ChatGPT but I had started to use it more for work. I suddenly wanted a totally unbiased opinion – a lightbulb went on. I typed my backstory, explaining the burnout, my job, my fears and what my friends in Paris were advising: “I’m thinking about moving to a small town in the south of France so I can recover from burnout – is this a good idea and could it help me to get better, or is it a bad idea because it could make my depression worse and I could feel isolated?”

It gave a reassuring response and listed ten potential towns. I added more prompts, telling it what was important to me: sunshine and warmer weather, cultural events in the town, decent restaurants, proximity to nature and easy accessibility to go to Paris to see my friends.

Eventually it whittled it down to three. Antibes, a resort town in the French Riviera where I had already spent the last two summers; Sarlat-la-Canéda in Périgord, a stunning medieval village. And then Uzès, a lively town I had never been to before with a Mediterranean feel and expat community.

They were all good options and I felt I could be happy with any of them, but I wanted to choose the right place. So to take off the pressure, I asked ChatGPT to decide. It felt like flipping a coin – and made it more like an adventure rather than constantly asking: “Did I make the perfect choice?”. Uzès it was.

I flew back to the US, sold my things and car and applied for the “passeport talent” visa. I left my corporate job in early February, and by the end of March 2025 I was back again. I flew into Nice, got the train to Avignon, rented a car and drove to my new rental flat in Uzès – I was paying €1,400 for a beautiful one-bedroom flat with vaulted stone ceilings, and a gorgeous courtyard with a garden with a medieval tower at the end.

I would stroll around the narrow streets, marvelling at the historical centre, or comb the produce at the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, getting to know the vendors. I’d walk to the lookout point in the huge forested area of Vallée de l’Eure, and beautiful rays of sunlight would stream through the trees. It felt healing and joyful. By June, I started to feel my chronic fatigue lifting and I felt lighter. My normal self was starting to return.

Before moving, I had been worried about being isolated because it can be hard to break into French circles – this was definitely the case in Paris. They say French people make friends three times: school, university and when they become parents. Very often, the only way you really can break in is by dating someone.

But within months, I met a couple of French friends via social media. And one day after going to an art gallery, I met someone that introduced me to the huge retired expat community of British, Belgian, Italian and American people (granted mostly everyone was in their 60’s and 70’s). I started being invited for coffees and La Fête des Voisins (which is like the neighbourhood party where you bring food and a bottle of wine).

Then, after starting a YouTube channel to document my experience, an American woman who owns a home in Uzès with her husband reached out, and I credit them for being the ones who have introduced me to so many friends more my age, especially French ones.

I started my own business, French Julie Travels, offering culinary and slow living retreats in the south of France. Last summer, I hosted my first women’s retreat in a nearby town; I’m hosting two this year, one at the end of May in a beautiful chateau near Uzès, and then one in September in a small hill-town near the riviera.

I’ve also started dating an Uzès local. When I first moved I wasn’t in the right headspace to be looking, but the twice-weekly market was part of my routine and I never missed it. I went away to Nice for a couple of months in the summer and when I returned to Uzès in early September, one morning I decided to film the market being set up, when a man approached me. At first I thought he was going to tell me off for filming, but he said: “I always saw you walking around the market every week, and then you disappeared.” We’ve been seeing each other since – I feel like I’m in a Hallmark or a Netflix film.

Of course, I miss my friends and family, and also the convenience and ease of grocery shops like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or stores like M&S. Everything closes on Sunday here, so you really have to plan ahead, but I’m thankful it has forced me to slow down and stop rushing around.

Recently, I’ve moved house again and now I’m paying €750 a month for a beautiful two-bedroom apartment with a gorgeous inner courtyard, right in the historic centre of Uzès. I’ve signed a three-year lease.

I feel restored, like myself again, and I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I recently FaceTimed my best friend back in Austin, and she said: “I’ve never seen you talk about a place like this or light up the way that you are. You have to stay.” I think I might.

2026-02-10T07:04:06Z