Hello. And welcome to the forum.

I can't speak too much about the neighborhoods. But I will say that commuting in Luxembourg is not as bad as people think. There are a lot of commuters coming from Belgium and France. And this clogs up the A6 and the A4 daily. On a good day, it takes me about 25 or 30 minutes to get to work. On a bad day, it can take as much as 60. But the bad days are few. I live in Kleinbettingen which is about 18 km from the city center.

Regarding whether you should make the move. That is really only a question that you can answer for yourself. I can tell you that Luxembourg is a beautiful country. It is a small country and Luxembourg City is a small city. So if you're looking for big city life, you won't find it here. But there are plenty of things to do. And Luxembourg has close proximity to many other interesting European locations (like Paris, Strasbourg, Köln, etc.).

I came here from Washington, DC and now live here and am married to a Luxembourgish woman. I lived in the city in Washington, DC. And I live in the country in Luxembourg. And I have found Luxembourg to be a very enjoyable place to live.

Regarding the schools... I do not have kids. But I'm told that the schooling for english-speaking kids is limited. And that that quality is not akin to good schools in the US. So keep that in mind. If you chose to send them to regular schools, my guess is that your 3 and 5 year olds, will probably be just fine. But the 7 year old might have a tougher time of it in a non-English speaking school.

Good luck. I hope that others chime in to give a bit more prospective than my point of view.

Brian

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Some really good points were shared. I have a few other things from the perspective of being a mother and somewhat permanent expat. With your children's ages, the will be just fine. The public school is challenging for English-only kids. The younger the kids are the better. I have been stunned at how fast they can learn the language. I'm quite jealous, I wish I could progress so quickly too. Having shared that, I am not impressed with the public school education. If my child were to return to the States, the scores would be such to require repeating a grade or not being able to progress without remedial help. The multilingual aspect of the education seems to be the most important thing while other more progress stuff like math and science aren't. I hear mixed reviews on the private schools including ISL. It's very expensive and I don't 'see' anything impressive in the education there either. Yes, the weather is very similar to Seattle of which I am not a fan. It's late April and our heater is still running! It was 11C today... The word suburb here isn't the same as in the States. Our 'suburb' is minutes away from Lux City. The commute depends on where you live. We rely on the bus/train for commutes directly to/from the City at high traffic times. It is VERY expensive here, rent, food, eating out, entertainment and such. BUT, fuel is cheaper. Most people shop in the surrounding countries. As far as where to live depends again on school, work and what you want like a yard, city life, quiet community and so on. More affordable housing tends to along the border towns and way up north. I guess my biggest concern when I saw this is what is the motivation to uproot your family for 2 years to uproot them again and then relocate back to your first location? If your life is really good where you are, is it worth that for your family? (food for thought) Having said that, there are experiences you will have here that will stay with you for a lifetime. Life here is really good and we love it. It's hard sometimes but we wouldn't change it for anything. We love the pace and quality of life, the kindness of so many and all the history that surrounds us. My husband and I really do go for walks, smell the roses and just sit and "be"; we've embraced it all. We eat well, live well, spend times with amazing friends and sleep great at night! As a parent, there is so much to consider and I understand the conflict. Best wishes as you make your decision.

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