Pittsburgh is one of the places I tried to talk my husband into looking for a job after he finishes residency. Unfortunately he is pretty set on moving back to Georgia to be closer to his family and friends.
I second Pittsburgh, PA. Ugh I miss that place. It always felt so welcoming, like one big giant neighborhood. I would move back in a second.
Saskatoon, SK. Closer to home, but still not home, because I said my hometown is the place I wouldn’t move back to in the other thread. I have come to enjoy ethnic cuisine and not scheduling my shopping around welfare cheque day.
Anchorage. I had no idea there would be so much I’d miss about it.
So you’re from the area Corner Gas was filmed? That was a great comedy show and what they showed of Saskatchewan is very pretty. Saskatoon is in Saskatchewan isn’t it?
Barcelona. Mrs. Ripop and I lived in Sarria (western edge of BCN) for nearly 2 years and it was fantastic. No car! Great public transport! Amazing food and wine! Fantastic culture! Moody but respectful locals! Did I mention amazing food and wine?!
About the only bad part was the ever-present smoking, ugh. But we even got (horrors!) used to that, to some extent.
I tell people Barcelona is a lot like San Francisco… very similar feel to me. Both fantastic.
(I currently live on the SF Peninsula and it’s great for family life… SF’s awesome, but a bit too pricey for family living.)
Except for my small hometown that is far too small for me, I could easily move back to anywhere I have lived.
There are a few problems:
Chicago - truly wonderful people, great food, lots to do and beautiful. However, the weather sucks - and I mean big time sucks. I loved living in Chicago, but the winter is the biggest drawback.
NYC - what’s not to like? You are on overload with stimuli from the minute you set foot there, and living there is an adventure every minute of every day - and I mean adventure in a good way. However, I would need to earn a minimum of $150,000 a year just to live comfortably and I don’t think that is going to happen soon. Being poor in NYC is sort of OK when you are young and stupid, but it ain’t so fun when you are old (and a bit less stupid).
Berlin - again, what’s not to love about Berlin? Great culture, adventure, night life, art, people from all over the world, theater, music, art, food, easy access to the rest of Europe. I lived there just over 14 years and loved it! However, once again that weather - gray skies, drizzle, sleet, cold, rain, rain and more rain.
Los Angeles - finally the perfect weather I was looking for! Also, fun place to meet really interesting people. Lots to do and never have to worry about being bored, even if you just have to sit by your apartment pool and read a book, the days just flew by. However, traffic just got worse and worse, and rents went up and up. Oh, and those little things I experienced there like fires, riots and earthquakes, but other than that, quite nice!
I currently live in Las Vegas and love it here.
Despite the quibbles, if I ever got some really great job that paid really well in ANY of the above cities, I would happily move back lock stock and barrel. They were/are all great places to live.
There aren’t even words for how much I miss Los Angeles, and whenever someone gasps and asks me, “Why on Earth do you live in flyover country?” my answer is, “I don’t even know anymore.”
Obviously I miss the weather and the ocean, but I’d kind of like to live somewhere that isn’t hyper-segregated and evil like Chicago. I miss real diversity, not “There’s a black girl in my yoga class” diversity, Mexican food everywhere, hard core liberal douches, free-wheelin’ attitudes. Sure, traffic was a bitch and the cost of living is way effing high, but you don’t get to live in an awesome fucking town for free.
Word. Every time I visit, which isn’t nearly often enough, I ask myself why I don’t live there.
Minnesota.
I wouldn’t want to live in the tiny town where I grew up, but I’d like to live in the Twin Cities. After 5 years, I’m getting pretty sick of Chicago. And I miss nature. And pick-up hockey games.
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
My beautiful adopted hometown. It’s filled with memories from my childhood and from attending University of Michigan for undergrad. There’s plenty of diversity, wonderful local and restaurant food, beautiful parks, great health care, interesting and intelligent people… and the annual Art Fair, Shakespeare in the Park, the Michigan Theater… I could go on. I love that town with every cell of my being. It’d be a long shot to ever go home though. Living is expensive and the Michigan economy is in rough shape.
Corner Gas is an amazingly accurate representation of the province! People don’t often say SK is pretty, because the terrain is so flat, but it’s beautiful in its own way. Further up north we have the boreal forest which is gorgeous and can rival any forest.
Saskatoon is the province’s largest city with a mighty 233,000 people. Yeah, I know, but we’re also the friendliest people too!
That’s gotten fixed… wanna come back and check the food? I know a couple good places or twenty! The Sagrada Familia has more towers!
OK, details on why I loved Costa Rica. First, I was living in Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste, on the Pacific Coast. That’s probably the part with the best weather; it’s definitely the driest - according to the locals, “the only bad thing about the weather here is the constant wind, except for those few months when it stops… then the heat really builds up and you find yourself wishing for the wind back!”
I was quite confused by that description, then I realized I grew up in Spain’s wind tunnel, aka the Ebro River Valley. Windy is the natural state of things, right?
That area seems to have been populated by a surprising amount of people from my part of Spain; I kept running into familiar lastnames. Arguedas, Corella, Osés, Ochoa, Guillén, Echegoyen… which I guess is the reason why I connected so well with the locals, we really think along the same lines.
Having to avoid cilantro (it’s not a taste thing, it’s an “it makes me dizzy” thing) complicates things but - other than that? Pura vida.
Roanoke VA
Not sure why, we just really fit in there. Smallish city, but still some interesting culture. Absoloutely beautiful scenery and terrain, tha Appalachian Trail passed by less than a 1/2 mile from my house, which was within the city limits.
Prague, in the Czech Republic. I’d also move to Berlin in a heartbeat but since I have not lived there before, just visited often, it would not count as ‘living there again’.
Not to make too big of a hijack but how did you discover this? I’ve never heard of cilantro causing dizziness–how did you narrow it down to that? (I’ve rarely been able to narrow down what food has made me have a various problem, like stomach pain or diarrhea.)
Two places:
San Francisco. I love it. I love it with a love that I can’t even put into words. I even love the weather. It’s beautiful.
Although there’s one place I love more, and that’s Sydney Australia, where I live now. The beaches, the bridge, the harbour, the ferries, the city itself, the history - I am never leaving. I have a whole library of Sydney history. I became an Australian citizen. I love it here.
But I might give it up for San Francisco.
Albuquerque and Honolulu. I had wonderful times living in both.
Possibly Fort Smith, Arkansas. We lived there for a few years before settling in Texas, because my mother was from a small town nearby. I don’t remember very much about the place since we moved before I turned 6, but I visited it many times while my grandmother was still alive, and it seems like a nice place.
But of the three, I think Honolulu is the only place I would seriously entertain notions of living in again if it came down to it.
Maryland’s Eastern Shore, anywhere from Chestertown to Salisbury. Preferrably on the water. Reasonable distance from a chicken house.
Dallas, TX. I’d put up with the long drive to work that I used to bitch about. I’d enjoy living right in the city as I used to.
Zürich, Switzerland
Actually, anywhere in Switzerland would be fine.