My longest running e-mail account is doubtlessly my GMail account.
I've had it since August 2004. That's right, more than 20 years by now.
But just like my choice to leave Apple behind, I wish to leave Google behind. The US simply cannot be trusted anymore.
I looked around for EU alternatives and after studying them I decided on Posteo.
It's German and they charge 1 euro per month as long as your mail stays under 2GB.
Setting up my account and paying was easy-peasy. Instructions for adding my account in 3rd party e-mail client were spot on. Hell, most e-mail clients have settings for Posteo built-in and ready to go. Very nice.
Just like my Apple use, my use of Google will take time to extricate from but now I've at least taken the first step!
Until I'm satisfied that my GMail-address has been changed everywhere I've enabled forwarding so all my e-mail is collected at Posteo. I suspect this will remain the case indefinitely.
I have already abandoned the GMail e-mail app on my Nothing phone, opting instead for FairEmail, an excellent free and open source app made in the Netherlands.
For my Linux desktop I have chosen Betterbird, a fork of Thunderbird, made in Germany. If you sense a theme you're absolutely right. :)
An odd perk of this is that I’m now building a local mail archive agan.