# Geography Survey: Where have you spent the most time in your life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744 "2005-03-22T17:57:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/41 "2005-03-23T15:36:50Z")
**Michigan: Lifer** I am either the most pathetic person here or should be awarded the \*\*Golden Pothole Award. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/42 "2005-03-23T15:48:03Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > We get to list all the states and coutries we’ve visited? I didn’t realize that. Sure. So I stretched the OP a bit. Leave me be, it’s the only real exercise I get. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/43 "2005-03-23T15:50:54Z")
Cities 1. Houston, TX (born and raised here, 34 years residence) 2. Austin, TX (12 years residence, occasionally visit the area) 3. Angleton, TX (7 years residence) 4. Kwajalein, Republic of the Marshall Islands (2 years residence) 5. Singapore (1 year residence, off and on) 6. Jakarta, Indonesia (1 year residence) 7. Sydney, Australia (4 months residence) 8. Little Rock, AR (convention every year for last 15 years) 9. Orlando, FL (convention every year for last 13 years) 10. Las Vegas, NV (convention every year for last 13 years) States 1. Texas 2. Arkansas 3. Nevada 4. Louisiana 5. Florida Countries 1. USA 2. Indonesia 3. Singapore 4. Australia 5. Republic of the Marshall Islands ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/44 "2005-03-23T16:03:15Z")
**Cities** 1. Bristol, VT - Hometown, 17 years 2. Troy, NY - College, 4 years 3. Saranac Lake, NY - Current residence for first “real” job, 8 months 4. Wells, ME - Family vacations there every summer for one week, I have missed this vacation only once in my life…so that’s about 20 weeks total 5. Burlington, VT - Closest “city” to where I grew up, I would say I averaged about an hour or two a week when I was growing up, so that’s…a couple of months worth 6. Malone, NY - Where I have been working since December. I spend ~40 hours a week here, so that’s…about a month of total time spent 7. Albany, NY - Close to Troy, about two or three hours a week for four years. That’s almost a month of time. 8. Cimarron, NM - Spent about 14 days there on a hiking trip 9. Boston, NY - Probably acrued almost two weeks worth here 10. Orlando, FL - A couple family vacations. As with Boston, almost two weeks total. **States** 1. Vermont 2. New York 3. Maine 4. Massachusettes 5. Florida **Countires** 1. USA (obviously) 2. Italy (class trip - ten days total.) 3. Canada (Almost a week’s worth, I would guess) 4. Germany (just a few hours for a plane transer) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/45 "2005-03-23T16:23:06Z")
**Counties/Cities** **Stafford County, VA** - born and raised there - 18 years **Richmond, VA** - Attended college - 7 years **New Kent County, VA** - Current resident - 15 years **States** Virginia **Countries** US ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/46 "2005-03-23T17:18:23Z")
> [@Fear the Turtle](#): > > 1. Glen Burnie, MD 18 yrs + 7 yrs (born there - hey **Misnomer** , what are the odds?) I’d say the odds were slim, hon! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/47 "2005-03-23T18:22:27Z")
Anchorage, AK: 16 yrs total, growing up and working Juneau, AK: first ten years of life Port Hueneme, CA: 7 years while in the Navy Frankfurt, Germany: 3 years Oak Harbor, WA: 3 years Moscow, ID: 2-1/2 years South Weymouth, MA: 2 years Brussels, Belgium: 2 years Lisbon, Portugal: 2 years Bamako, Mali: 2 years Kampala, Uganda: 1 year Five countries (excluding the U.S.) Germany Portugal Belgium Mali Uganda Five States: Alaska California Washington Idaho Massachusetts ---
**Author:** ![Iris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@Iris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iris)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/48 "2005-03-23T18:53:25Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > We get to list all the states and coutries we’ve visited? I didn’t realize that. Me either, but what the heck. **States** (limited to states/cities where I’ve spent significant periods of time) \*\*Montgomery County, MD \*\* - I’ve technically “lived” here my entire life. Born and raised and this is where I live and work now. \*\*Salisbury, MD \*\* - 4 years for college \*\*Frederick, MD \*\* - where my parents have lived for 12 years, spent summers during college here **VA** - this is really the only other state I’ve spent significant time in because half of my family lives here **Countries** (limited to countries where I’ve spent significant periods of time) **Spain** - 6 weeks in college on two separate trips **Germany** - 2 weeks for vacation **Czech Republic** - 3 months total (my ex-husband was from here) **Chile** - 1 month for vacation **Argentina** - 2 weeks for vacation **New Zealand** - 1 month (I almost didn’t come back!) **Indonesia** - 1 week for work **Armenia** - 1 week for work **Ecuador** - 1 month for vacation And more recently… **Italy** - about a week last summer, but it wasn’t enough time! ☹ **Holland** - 5 days this past November ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/49 "2005-03-23T18:55:57Z")
1. Hamilton, Ontario (born there, lived there off and on for 39 years) 2. Toronto, Ontario (lived there when I wasn’t living in Hamilton, for a total of 10 years) 3. Tallahassee, FL (going on 7 years) 4. Jacksonville, FL (in-laws live there) - sorry, I haven’t lived or regularly visited anywhere else. Provinces: 1. Ontario 2. Manitoba 3. Saskatchewan 4. Alberta 5. British Columbia States: New York Florida California Countries: Canada USA ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/50 "2005-03-23T22:24:22Z")
Cities 1. Portland, OR - lived five years 2. Hayward, CA – lived one year 3. Fremont, CA – lived 15 years 4. Oakland, CA – lived seven years 5. Sacramento, CA – lived one year 6. San Francisco – lived 22 years 7. Reno, NV – part of work territory while living in Sacto, and up there often to hang out 8. San Jose/Santa Clara, CA – visiting relatives often when I was a kid. And quite a few trips down there as an adult. A little change of pace from San Francisco. 9. Berkeley, CA – there’s a fun place over there that I’ve been going to on and off for nearly 30 years 10. Los Angeles – vacation/hang out, mainly in the 70s and 80s States California Oregon Nevada Washington Tennesse (visiting relatives) Countries US Mexico Canada Thailand Taiwan ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/51 "2005-03-24T00:09:46Z")
1. Woodbury, MN 2.Easton, PA 2. Lexington, KY 3. Rochester, NY 4. West Lafayette, IN 5. Albany, NY 6. Hiawatha, KS 7. Hendersonville, NC 8. Lac du Bois, MN (though I’m not sure it counts as a city, I spent more consecutive time there than many other places I’ve been.) 9. New York City? States: Minnesota New York Kentucky Pennsylvania Indiana Countries U.S. Israel South Africa Canada Botswana ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/52 "2005-03-24T00:36:56Z")
Not that it matters, but for the sake of my own peace of mind, I really should amend my list of cities. Cities 1. Waukesha, WI (Lived for ~12 years) 2. Gothenburg, Sweden (Lived for ~6 years + family visits while living in US) 3. Glasgow, Scotland (Study at University, spent 2 years there so far) 4. Heppenheim, Germany (Born there, lived for 2 years - don’t remember it though) 5. Vasteras, Sweden (Lived there for 1 year) 6. Halmstad, Sweden (did my national service there for almost a year) 7. Auckland, NZ (In the middle of a 1 year study abroad exchange here) 8. Nelson, NZ (spent this past summer there working) 9. Minneapolis, MN (visiting my sister who lives there on a few occasions) 10 could be anywhere I’ve visited in my life - can’t remember staying anywhere for too long of a time period) …can’t believe I completely forgot about spending a year of my life doing my national service in the army which puts Halmstad at no. 6 on my list. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/53 "2005-03-24T01:08:35Z")
Some of these places definitely don’t qualify as “cities”, but: \*\* Vallejo, CA\*\* - born & raised **Davis, CA** - college **Cobb, CA** - 3 summers **Hayward, CA** - more college **La Honda, CA** – home & work in a YMCA camp for 7 years **Danville, CA** – 2 yrs **El Cerrito, CA** – 2 yrs **Concord, CA** - 4 yrs **Volcano, CA** - 7 yrs **Pine Grove, CA** - 6 yrs & counting plus a few other seasonal stints in odd corners of CA … States: California Nevada Oregon Washington Colorado _Countries_: Canada, for 20 minutes in 1960\* Mexico - walked over the bridge & back from El Paso, just to say I’d been there \*actually it was 1959 and probably 4 hours, but I couldn’t resist ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/54 "2005-03-26T14:05:21Z")
Cities 1. Bremerton, WA - 12 years 2. Chagrin Falls, OH - 8 years 3. Danville, KY - 7 years 4. Greenville, NC - 6 years 5. Laurinburg, NC - 5 years 6. Denver, CO - 3 years 7. Bloomington, IN - 1 year 8. Cleveland Heights, OH - a few months when an infant 9. Tucson, AZ 10. Seattle, WA States 11. Washington 12. North Carolina 13. Ohio 14. Kentucky 15. Colorado Countries 1. USA 2. Canada 3. Mexico ---
**Author:** ![Caiata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Caiata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caiata)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/55 "2005-03-26T14:52:51Z")
**Cities** 1. Fort Wayne, Indiana (16.5 boring years) 2. St. Louis, Missouri (8.5 years) 3. Canberra, ACT, Australia (2 years, 3 months) 4. Garrett, Indiana (14 months) 5. Wellington, NZ (11 days) 6. Bateman’s Bay, NSW, Australia (9 days) 7. Melbourne, VIC, Australia (7 days) 8. Broadbeach, QLD, Australia (7 days) 9. New York City, NY (7 days) 10. Toronto, Ontario, Canada (6 days) **States** 1. Indiana 2. Missouri 3. New York 4. Massachussetts 5. California **Countries** 1. USA 2. Australia 3. New Zealand 4. Canada 5. Japan (22 whole hours!) ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/56 "2005-03-26T14:56:40Z")
Cities 1. Rochester, NY (15 years - birthplace) 2. Berkeley, CA (5 years) 3. San Jose, CA (3 years) 4. Sausalito, CA (3 years) 5. La Canada, CA (3 years) 6. Los Angeles, CA (2 years) 7. Ansbach, Germany (2 months) 8. Neckarhausen, Germany (1 month) 9. Boston, MA (1 month) 10. London, UK (1 month) States 1. New York 2. California 3. Massachussetts 4. Maine 5. Washington, DC 6. (If Washington doesn’t really count as a state 😉 ) Florida Countries 1. USA 2. Germany (West Germany, as was the fashion at the time) 3. UK 4. Canada 5. French Polynesia ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/57 "2005-03-26T15:15:11Z")
Cities 1. Redlands, CA - 25 years, born and raised 2. Sauk Rapids, MN - 13 years, resided 3. St Cloud, MN - 5 years, current residence(good lord, I have lived in MN for 18 years already) 4. San Bernardino, CA - 8 years, work and school 5. Becker, MN - 3 years, work 6. San Luis Obispo, CA - visiting siblings on and off since 1974 7. Minneapolis, MN, son now lives there, going to UM, have had many day trips there. St Paul is included here, as they are the Twin Cities. 8. Laguna Beach, CA - a friend’s parents had a condo, we partied there, alot. 9. Big Bear Lake, CA - same friend, parents had a cabin, when the parents would go to Laguna, we’d head for the mountain. 10. Day or weekend trips to many places, San Diego, Temecula, Dana Point, Newport Beach, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Pasedena, Santa Barbara, and Avalon in CA, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Alexandria, and Mora in MN, and I can’t forget Chicago2004, and the stuff that went on there. States 11. California 12. Minnesota Countries 1. USA 2. Mexico - spent a week in Ensenada, many moons ago. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744/58 "2005-03-26T21:10:31Z")
**Cities** I’ve actually lived in: [ol] [li]Tel-Aviv, Israel (lifer. Total of 35 years and counting)[/li][li]Haifa, Israel (3 years, college)[/li][li]Newton, MA, USA (2 years, non-consecutive)[/li][li]Rochester, NY, USA (1 year, college)[/li] Other cities I’ve spent significant time in: [li]Ramat-Gan, Israel (3 years, work)[/li][li]Rehobot, Israel (3 years, work)[/li][li]Herzelia, Israel (2 years, work)[/li][li]London (multiple visits as a tourist)[/li][li]Paris (ditto)[/li][li]Boston, MA (when living in Newton)[/li][/ol] Countries: [ol] [li]Israel[/li][li]USA[/li][li]Britain[/li][li]France[/li][li]Italy[/li][/ol] And I **have** actually spent nights in at least five US states: [ol] [li]MA[/li][li]NY[/li][li]FL[/li][li]RI[/li][li]CA[/li][/ol] Dani [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-survey-where-have-you-spent-the-most-time-in-your-life/295744.md?page=2)