lf you could...

[kona]

If you could live anywhere in the word where would it and why? Maybe take yourself out of the everyday drudgery and live your dream!

ETA: words

[kh826]

This is such a good question, but such a hard one for me, surprisingly!

I have really settled into Philadelphia, and I am happy here. It took a while, but I don't really desire to live anywhere else. I love to travel, but this area feels like home. I love being close to J's family here. I am only a 6 hour drive from my family (or a 1 hr flight), which isn't too bad, and works well for our relationship with them. Ideally I would like to move to one of the more expensive suburbs outside of Philly (there is an area here known as "The Main Line" -- the schools are amazing, and there are some really cool historic homes there. It feels like suburbia, but it is only 20 mins from the City. If cost were no option, that is where I would want to settle long term. Housing prices are high and the taxes are steep, so it is unlikely we will be able to afford that area for our next home, but maybe a town adjacent to it might be an option.

I've lived in Maine (no desire to live there again!), and I've lived in suburban Boston (where I grew up). I used to think I wanted to be back in Massachusetts long term, but I don't think I want that anymore. I like PA and the life that we have built here.

Don't get me wrong, I love to travel, but as for a home base, the general area we are in now feels like the best choice.

[cetcar]

I'm sure CAR will jump in with her thoughts here too, but since I travel a lot I often think about other places. We're mostly in LA because of my job, which is pretty unique and only based here and has a lot of benefits. LA has the great weather, but unless you're solidly the 1% you're priced out of most of the areas with decent commute times, safety, and space.

If we could find somewhere I could work in a similar job, we've passively talked about either Seattle or Boston, where our families are, or Chicago, where a lot of similar industry for me might be. Really, we just want to be able to get more bedrooms and a yard...

Abroad, of the places we've been, my picks would be Copenhagen or Sydney. Copenhagen definitely the top there though.

Edited to add: kh826, Philly has also been passively talked about since it's a bit more manageable of a city than LA & I've met a decent number of colleagues there I respect.  (I'm about to spend the better part of December in downtown Philly, actually)

[ionaerebor]

This is a really hard question. I have moved around a lot when I was younger, and I've now been living in Stockholm for 8 years, and I feel like its very much home, but I don't think I'll still be here when Ailsa starts school to be honest.

I really love Germany. I lived in the Düsseldorf area for two years as a child, Aachen for three months when I studied abroad, and then Hamburg for four months for part of my master's. Id love to move back, possibly to the Berlin area or around Kiel but I really disagree with the way their middle school works, so I couldn't settle their forever either.

I also kind of fancy moving somewhere hot for a bit. Most likely Spain or Cyprus. But again, I dont think I could stay forever.

I also want to live in Shetland, in Lerwick. It kind of keeps me within Scandiavia whilst actually being Scottish, and its very beautiful up there, and Lerwick itself seems like a good mix between rural and urban.

So in short, probably Kiel or Lerwick.

[kekaellypula]

I've lived in Europe, the USA, and the Middle East. Kass and I went to Europe a couple years ago and we are hoping that we get stationed there. I love France, Germany and Ireland. I lived in Germany and Ireland in my early/mid 20's. It was amazing and if we had a choice we would go to Germany and stay in Europe forever.

[rikkiandjulie]

DW and I have lived in a Few major cities.

Portland, Oregon - amazing, but we enjoy it more when just visiting, and it is getting pretty expensive as the years go on.

Denver - I LOVED Denver. Julie was less excited about than I was, but now that her dad and step mom love there it sweetens the pot back up I love them both dearly too, I also have opportunities for work transfers here.

Kansas City- I also liked a lot more than expected, but it's nothing special as far as cities go, and it is incredibly affordable. But for some reason I really liked it. The Kansas side and most of the MO side are mature streets, beautiful old homes, etc. I would have a hard time convincing Julie to move back, as she HATES the Kansas politics, and I mean HATES them.

Currently we live in Iowa City. It's a wonderful place to put down roots, Julie's mom is here and closest brother with his wife. She has tons of aunts and uncles. Both of my sisters are here, my aunts/uncles and my grandma. It's a very cool college town, with an awesome vibe, and great opportunities. We grew up here and it feels good to be here. My youngest sister will be graduating college in the next year or so and moving to the Bay Area or Chicago, once she does move it'll be super weird. My mom lives in Sacramento ( We have no desire to live there again, really) and my dad and step mom live in Santa Rosa. I would consider living there, but for once I'm ready to just live and not think about the next move. Julie has another 9.5 years at her current job for student loan forgiveness, and the only two places for me to transfer/move up are either Denver or Minneapolis, and I love Minneapolis too.

[healz413]

I don't know the answer to this.
I want to live in a small city, I think. Possibly a college town. I want racial and cultural diversity. And queerness. I want access to more wilderness than farmland but some woods and a river would probably do the trick.
I don't want to live farther from my family than we do now (unless we made so much money we could fly regularly) and I want to be able to afford a house.


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[rikkiandjulie]

Nov 20, 2015 21:44:11 GMT -5 healz413 said:

I don't know the answer to this.
I want to live in a small city, I think. Possibly a college town. I want racial and cultural diversity. And queerness. I want access to more wilderness than farmland but some woods and a river would probably do the trick.
I don't want to live farther from my family than we do now (unless we made so much money we could fly regularly) and I want to be able to afford a house.


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IOWA CITY! Gay Capital of the Midwest, tons of culture, amazing schools, and affordable

[healz413]

I've been to Iowa City a couple of times. It's a cool place. And the alcohol is wicked cheap.
Maybe if I finish my PhD, I can get a job at the university


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[healz413]

I've been to Iowa City a couple of times. It's a cool place. And the alcohol is wicked cheap.
Maybe if I finish my PhD, I can get a job at the university


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cetcar]

Nov 20, 2015 21:44:11 GMT -5 healz413 said:

I don't know the answer to this.
I want to live in a small city, I think. Possibly a college town. I want racial and cultural diversity. And queerness. I want access to more wilderness than farmland but some woods and a river would probably do the trick.
I don't want to live farther from my family than we do now (unless we made so much money we could fly regularly) and I want to be able to afford a house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if it fits all your criteria but Northampton, MA is pretty gay (the motto on the parking garage says, Welcome to Northampton. Where the coffee is strong and the women are stronger), is a college town (there are 5 colleges in 3 neighboring towns), on the Connecticut River, and lots of places nearby to go hiking. Good luck finding your perfect place

[2brides]

Honestly I have no idea. Except for a 18m stint in Tampa, I've been in the DC metro area since I came for college - 23 years ago. I've lived here all of my adult life. There are things I love: diversity, lots of things to do, easy access to the city...plus a job I love, 4 distinct seasons, friends, etc. L would love to go to a small college town in New England, but it isn't really feasible with our jobs at this point and I'm not really interested in lots of snow. I'm not interested in going south/middle states due to discrimination (we are so insulated here), and I don't really want to go west because it would put us really far from family (right now my dad is a 10 hr drive and L's is 15.) - but they do visit several times a year.

I don't like the crazy traffic of this area, the frenetic pace of life, and the insane cost of living.

I think we are probably here until at least the kids leave for college and then we may look at options in New England.

[wittyandwaiting]

Nov 20, 2015 21:44:11 GMT -5 healz413 said:

I don't know the answer to this.
I want to live in a small city, I think. Possibly a college town. I want racial and cultural diversity. And queerness. I want access to more wilderness than farmland but some woods and a river would probably do the trick.
I don't want to live farther from my family than we do now (unless we made so much money we could fly regularly) and I want to be able to afford a house.


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So, it sounds like you'd like to live in Hamilton; perhaps in the Locke Street area. (except for that I'm not sure where your family lives though so that could kibosh the whole plan!) www.buzzfeed.com/katangus/wretched-armpit-of-despair?utm_term=.pqpZPdrn5w


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[wittyandwaiting]

I have no idea where else I would like to live; I really love where I live now. That could change mid-January when it's 40° below freezing.


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[healz413]

Nov 21, 2015 7:58:44 GMT -5 wittyandwaiting said:

Nov 20, 2015 21:44:11 GMT -5 healz413 said:

I don't know the answer to this.
I want to live in a small city, I think. Possibly a college town. I want racial and cultural diversity. And queerness. I want access to more wilderness than farmland but some woods and a river would probably do the trick.
I don't want to live farther from my family than we do now (unless we made so much money we could fly regularly) and I want to be able to afford a house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So, it sounds like you'd like to live in Hamilton; perhaps in the Locke Street area. (except for that I'm not sure where your family lives though so that could kibosh the whole plan!) www.buzzfeed.com/katangus/wretched-armpit-of-despair?utm_term=.pqpZPdrn5w


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I think Kitchener-Waterloo or Hamilton are the most realistic at this point for us.

[healz413]

Nov 21, 2015 0:47:45 GMT -5 cetcar said:

Nov 20, 2015 21:44:11 GMT -5 healz413 said:

I don't know the answer to this.
I want to live in a small city, I think. Possibly a college town. I want racial and cultural diversity. And queerness. I want access to more wilderness than farmland but some woods and a river would probably do the trick.
I don't want to live farther from my family than we do now (unless we made so much money we could fly regularly) and I want to be able to afford a house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if it fits all your criteria but Northampton, MA is pretty gay (the motto on the parking garage says, Welcome to Northampton. Where the coffee is strong and the women are stronger), is a college town (there are 5 colleges in 3 neighboring towns), on the Connecticut River, and lots of places nearby to go hiking. Good luck finding your perfect place

I would love to live in Northampton. It would be far from family but who knows ...

[bexincanada]

I love where we live now. It's a medium-sized city, beautiful old downtown, nice old houses, two rivers and lots of trails and parks. It's an hour into Toronto where H's family is.

We love New Zealand, and while we were travelling there fell for Wellington as a place we would love to live. What it came down to was being too far away from family at a stage in our lives where we're about to have kids.

As far as Canadian cities I've always loved Vancouver, however it's way too expensive.

[jazibel]

This is a hard one. We're always talking about where we would live. That said we just moved back to our favorite town/area in Northern California (SF Bay Area) that I can't imagine living anywhere else. I love it here so much. We've traveled a lot, and lived abroad several times (Germany and Roatan, Honduras) and we're definitely open to living abroad again. I just think we'll likely stay settled here and just live elsewhere for brief stints.

I'd chose a short stay (6 months or less) almost anywhere, but I'd love NYC, Boston, Seattle, Buenos Aires, Germany, San Diego, England, Spain, Italy.

[karlamo]

This is THE question at our house right now. We have lived in DC for a few years and then Chicago for 5 years and then we moved to the Boston area. I'm from Mass and my wife is from Chitown. I love Chicago and would love to move back and raise our kids there. Her family has since moved to a very nice town outside of Indy. So we are debating where to move and raise the boys; Chicago, Indy or stay in Mass but move to a new town. If we stay in Mass we are debating about moving to Amherst/Northampton.

Our dream place to live is Sonoma. We love it out there. I could drink ALL the WINE!!

[rikkiandjulie]

Nov 23, 2015 10:23:25 GMT -5 karlamo said:

This is THE question at our house right now. We have lived in DC for a few years and then Chicago for 5 years and then we moved to the Boston area. I'm from Mass and my wife is from Chitown. I love Chicago and would love to move back and raise our kids there. Her family has since moved to a very nice town outside of Indy. So we are debating where to move and raise the boys; Chicago, Indy or stay in Mass but move to a new town. If we stay in Mass we are debating about moving to Amherst/Northampton.

Our dream place to live is Sonoma. We love it out there. I could drink ALL the WINE!!

My dad and his wife live in Santa Rosa, it's AMAZING. I would totally move there if I could, but anywhere in Sonoma county is amazing.

[JustJudy]

Great question! If we could live anywhere without worrying about working or money it would for sure be Florence, Italy. We've both traveled a lot -together and separately- and we truly did not want to leave Florence.

[Deleted]

I don't know. Pacific Northwest maybe? Somewhere coolish but more temperate than the Frozen Tundra of WI. Chances are we'll stay for family reasons right here.. but I have serious lust in my heart for packing it all up and heading west. I would probably choose somewhere like Lexington KY for the horse country, but gf says no. Hell no. to anywhere southern in particular for health reasons.

[kona]

M and I have traveled and lived in a few different places. I think my biggest issue is that we can't really afford to live where we would like. I like the city but need space and we can't afford 3,000 square feet in the city. I would love to live where the weather is better...but So Cal is also out for mostly affordability reasons. I also feel that the south and middle of the country are out.

At this point I don't really care about family being close. They stress me out and in the first 16 months of O's life have not really been all that much of a help. I would like to live closer to my sister again but she doesn't know where they will end up since her wife is still in school and her family in the on the west coast. M has always gone along with my whims to move but it might be different now with a kiddo. I still have the desire to pick up and leave and try something new. We have done that at least 3 times before. I do hope to raise our daughter someplace comfortable for all of us.