This isn’t about a fantasy of moving somewhere you’ve never even visited, but about a place you’ve been briefly.
If you could chose to move somewhere - another country, another state/providence/county, just another town - you’ve been, but have spent no more than a week (total), where would you like to go and start a new life? What place impressed you during your ever-so-brief visit?
I’d choose Virginia, probably towards but not actually right on the coast. We vacationed there for a few days when I was 17, and it seemed nice. The people seemed pleasant enough, the scenery was lovely, and it doesn’t snow much there compared to here.
I had two of the funnest weekends I’ve ever had were in NYC. Those were the only two times I’ve been to the city. I’d move to Manhattan in heartbeat. If I could afford it.
Speaking of huge cities that I’ve only been to once or twice … my ex-father-in-law lived in LA. The ex and I visited once when we were still living in Maine, and after we moved to San Francisco, we drove down once to stay for a week. Love, love, love that city too.
About half of the time I go on vacation, I end up thinking “I could move here” in at least one of the cities and towns on the trip. (This is of course, knowing nothing other than what it’s like to be a tourist there for a day or three). On the list are:
Victoria BC (I’ve probably spent more than a week here altogether, but never more than 2-3 days at a time)
Budapest
Dunedin NZ
Rome
Venice
Istanbul
Seoul
Northcentral Indiana – say around Goshen or Thorntown. I’ve been able to visit there a couple times and I just love the people and everything else there.
I have spent a grand total of four days in Slovenia, but it struck me as a very nice country that I would happily go back to. (Croatia would be even higher on the list, but I’m pretty sure I spent more than a week there.)
I’ve been to 25 different towns in southern France; I could live in any one of them. My first choice would be Nice. It has everything Paris has, but a more manageable size… plus a beach. Other top choices would be Montpelier, Grenoble or Lyon.
My husband has been in more places than he can remember, and would be happy anywhere.
I like central and southern Virginia too. It is my ancestral homeland and I like most things about it. Rural and suburban North Carolina is the same.
I could switch places with aceplace57. I live in southeastern Massachusetts but am also a partial owner of a farm in northwestern Arkansas as well as a bunch of other large property. I would rather live in Arkansas than Massachusetts if it weren’t for my daughters. New Hampshire and Vermont would be perfect if they weren’t so cold most of the year. My childhood dream was to move to rural Vermont but I already did that and it probably isn’t going to happen again even though I loved it at the time.
The really good thing about being an introvert with simple tastes is that I can’t think of any state that I wouldn’t live somewhere in it. I am from the Deep South yet I have been to every state in the East multiple times and many in the West. The all have their nice areas and good points (yes, even Mississippi). The checklist is easy. How affordable is it, how much crime is there and what is the climate like? Ironically, cities like New York, San Francisco and Boston hold the least appeal to me although they do serve the useful function of sucking up so many people that it frees up desirable land for people like me. I can get anything I want in 2 days including exotic food with a simple Amazon Prime subscription almost anywhere. You make your own fun after that.
The only exotic place that I have seriously considered moving is the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica but it isn’t as cheap as it once was for American style housing and the infrastructure, especially roads, is flat-out terrible. I have been there for more than a week and I am still working on it but I can’t do it for several years. Neighboring Nicaragua is still very cheap and rapidly improving but I am not sure I am quite that adventurous. English speaking Belize is another one on the map. I have spent months cumulatively in the U.S. Virgin Islands and I would consider moving there for a year or two as well. The white culture is fairly small and incestuous but the three islands have world-class Caribbean beauty.
For me it would be a toss up between Flathead lake, Montana and Cairns, Queensland. I’d probably be happier on a beach in Oz then frozen in Montana but Flathead is amazing in the summerand I’m working on getting my wife to buy some property to retire on in the area.
Conshohocken, PA. There were beautiful paths stretching along for miles that made running a pleasure. Philly is not far away if one craves big city stimulation and good restaurants.
Arroyo Grande, California. Much like its neighbor, San Luis Obispo, but without the We Are Such Hot Shit attitude.
Also Cedar City, Utah, where the Great Recession of 2008 saw the foreclosure on the house my late wife and I bought there in 2001, and never got a chance to live in.
