So trying to make a longer story short. Dutch citizen guy in my twenties, but a lot more than that to it, I:

-Am a third culture kid who not only is 50% Korean but parents left the Netherlands around 10 years old and constantly traveled for work for around 6-7 years. Knew what a frequent flier card was before I knew what a debit card was. Didn't have a traditional Dutch upbringing for this reason.

-After doing a HS exchange year in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where I actually felt more at home and integrated, chose to complete a full 4 years bachelor degree in Toronto, made pretty much only local Canadian born friends/girlfriend (we since split up) to the point that they often forgot I wasn't born there.

-Moved back to the Netherlands 1 year into post-study work visa due to the state of the job market and savings running out, nothing to do with Toronto or Ontario itself, where I genuinely loved living all seasons. Even now 3 years later, I would say that my friend group is still 90% from there.

-Ended up starting my own online startup business 2 years ago in the Netherlands that makes me more than enough to comfortably live off anywhere in the world. It's a B2B service company and I deal with a location and time zone independent team of both freelancers and employees, some of whom are actually Canadian.

-Due to extra skilled work experience in the Netherlands in my first year back, and learning French as young as 10, qualify easily for both the Quebec and federal point system.

Also important:

-I hate hot weather (anything above 20C and I go crazy) so you wouldn't see me moving to say Spain, Thailand or Mexico. The whole traditional digital nomad at the beach thing therefore doesn't really interest me. Unfortunately most cheap countries are hot countries.

-I really care about integrating somewhere where I live, if I move somewhere, I want to make local friends, want to speak in the local language, care about local issues, date locally.

-Do not like very crowded dense European cities such as Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon etc, also do not care too much about say going to museums, seeing old buildings or needing public transit.

-Have no real problem with 'American' elements and actually like tons of open space, driving, fishing, hiking and camping. Find malls convenient and always wanted to have a single family home in a nice suburb.

-Want a combination of vibrant and bustling city but in a few hours (5-6 hour drive max) be able to be in true wilderness and go camping.

I'm at a point where after 3 years in the Netherlands, I really want to move back to Canada, be it to more Southern Ontario or somewhere like Alberta or the Atlantic provinces (which is a region I've grown to love). My parents strongly ask why I don't just move to Norway, Sweden or Finland instead but for me:

-English and French present a much easier integration for me than learning a whole new language that I will probably then speak with a strong accent and again possible prejudice. Yes I know these countries have very good English levels but I don't want to depend on it. I don't want to be approaching my 30s and spending 1-2 years just learning a new language to have a normal social life.

-I quite like the way I was able to more casually make friends/date in Canada and then slowly expand the relationship. I personally (know a lot of people disagree) find this easier than the European ride or die mentality of making friends.

-I like Canada's multiculturalism, it being apart from obviously first nations, metis and inuit, a land of immigrants, and the fact that there is no real 1 definition of who is a Canadian.

I find that a lot of European countries, even to other European immigrants, have a strong us vs them mentality where even if you choose to live there 10 years, you'll never be seen as one of them. In fact as a third culture kid growing up between EU countries I noticed this very strongly and that was still at HS level and speaking each language (French and Spanish).

-In Canada there is a lot of bigger cities with a lot of things happening and that are international, that are still close to stunning nature (E.g. Calgary or Halifax), as well as travel opportunities in the US.

This concept is much harder to find in Europe even Scandinavia. Looking up cities like Olou just didn't make me very excited.

-Lower taxes and if things sort themselves about tariffs, access to a far larger US market with the same language. I tried looking up being self-employed in Norway and it looked super difficult and expensive.

-Canada has a higher population, larger and more diverse market (both jobs and businesses) and more happening.

am I overlooking something really important about Scandinavian countries (excluding Denmark and Iceland)? Can someone give me more of an independent idea as to what is a good choice to make?

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