I think some of you are making things more difficult than they need to be.
If you decide to move away from the U.S. there are quite a few places you can go for periods up to 6 months purely as a tourist. Who knows what the situation will be like in 6 months so no need to burn any bridges just yet.
Depending on your ethnic origins you will have various options of where to go.
If you are predominately an English speaker then Canada, U.K., Australia / NZ spring to mind.
Canada is not unlike the U.S. (too much - just less guns), U.K. is fine and Australia is very similar to California (climate wise).
I am an Australian who has lived most of the past 10 years overseas so have some experience with these matters.
For most of 2009 - 2010 I was living in the south of England. I did not need to show PokerStars or Full Tilt anything like bank accounts etc, I just changed my address so that any items from the Stores could be sent to me.
Even though I do have an Australian Bank Account, I survived in England using my Neteller Account which is valid in most countries outside the U.S.
You can get a pre-paid Mastercard from them which you can use in any store as well as obtaining cash from ATM's (US$6 fee). You just withdraw to your Neteller Account and the money is available almost instantly.
If you are travelling all over the place (in my case Europe) this is ideal. There is no need to get cheques sent to your Bank Account using this method.
A word of warning if you are thinking of travelling to english speaking countries you will need to start spelling in english, not american (muhahaha)
That would be cheque NOT check, colour NOT color and humour NOT humor etc etc. I'm sure you get the picture
Personally I quite like the U.K. even though it's a bit too cold for my liking. I was in the south of the country which is the warmest part close to Southampton but it's still quite cold in winter. Luckily it's now almost summer.
I'm assuming Canada would be even colder than the U.S. but surely it would be an easy fit going to the 51st State for an American (apologies to any Canadians reading this - bad joke)
Of course Australia is similar to the U.K. and Canada in that gambling winnings are tax free but right now we are starting winter. Of course if you ended up in Queensland which tends to be tropical, that wouldn't be too much of an imposition.
I don't know if American's need a visa to go to the U.K. but it shouldn't be too hard to get a tourist visa. There are a number of good poker clubs in London if you feel the need to play live occasionally and there are plenty of good live tournaments throughout the U.K. to take your mind off grinding online.
My personal recommendation would be England. Plenty of poker available, lots of history to get you off your arse and out into the fresh air and it's close to Europe.
Warning: Americans will find London in particular quite expensive. You can buy a car quite cheaply but petrol (gas) is about £1.40+ litre (US$2.30) so unless my maths is wrong that makes it about 200% the US price if you call 1 (US) gallon = 3.7854 litres.
I'm not a big fan of exotic locations where the political situation could be volatile or where english is not widely spoken. Having said that I spent most of my time in Russia, go figure.
I hope this may have helped someone to make up their mind. I wouldn't rush into any decision until more is known. There has already been a couple of hassles in the past. #1 - Neteller shutdown and #2 - UIGEA stopping Americans from playing but both of these were short term issues and don't be surprised if this is also.
Good luck and hurry back ... we need more fish.
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