I loved living in southern New Hampshire. One hour north and you were in the mountains, one hour east and you were on the coast, 45 minutes south you were in Boston. If you're into the outdoors (hunt, fish, ski, hike, climb, camp, etc) it's great. And there's no state income tax. I guess it all depends on what it is you like to do and what kind of climate you like. Texas is relatively cheap, has no state income tax and has mild winters but brutal summers. If I had to choose a place to live in TX, I'd go with Austin. Dallas and Ft. Worth are unimpressive. 10 more years til retirement and we're out of here, probably to someplace like Gulf Shores, AL.
I wound up in Atlanta because my ex-husband said "I am going to apply to Georgia State's MBA program bc my sister went there and it's great. You should apply for a job in parole or probation and go ahead of me until we sell the house." I got my probation job, hopped a plane to Georgia in late 2010. Next thing I know, early 2011 I'm divorced, living in a city I know next to no one. In the end, it turned out fine. Have the boyfriend, have a good handful of friends (some transplants from up north, some from the south), still enjoy the job. I don't know where I'd like to eventually end up. I'm content with my current living situation. Here and there I wonder if I should move home to NJ, but I remember exactly why I moved and stop that nonsense. The boyfriend will retire within the next 9-10 years and keeps talking about moving to his hometown in south Alabama. It's a cute little town, but something makes me think the locals will see me, hear my accent and grab their pitchforks screaming "it's a damn Yankee with the devil's red hair!" I lived in NJ for 28 years, moved to Seattle and lived in that depressing passive aggressive hellhole for 3 years, and now I'm in Georgia. When I move, I fucking MOVE. None of this piddly hundred miles away bullshit, I jump across the country.
Live and grew up in the tri-state area on the east coast. When I graduate this spring I'm hopping on a plane and heading to LA for work. Thankfully my current roommate and my best buddy from high school are also moving out to various parts of LA for work so I'll know at least 2 people already.
I left my hometown to move across country with my first husband, left him, met my second husband, and moved to Arlington. Arlington is the first place I've ever stayed on purpose. After my second divorce, I didn't want to go back "home", so I stayed here and did what I needed to do. I don't know. Either Colorado, or somewhere seaside, Pacific Northwest. Or Switzerland. Because why not. As for intentionally ending up anywhere - I can't deal with that kind of planning. That's horribly suffocating and frightening to me. I've lived such a roller coaster life that the idea of not being in completely different circumstances in five years is incomprehensible.
Focus: I live here because my school is here. This city gets a bad rap for being full of douchebags, but I've found that the people who believe that are ones that haven't ventured out of a notoriously douchebag-filled part of town. I like being here, but my boyfriend and I are both growing restless. We will probably move as soon as I get out of school and have a year or so of experience under my belt. I've been here for 5 1/2 years, which is definitely the longest time I've lived anywhere. Before coming here I lived in: other cities in TX, a few towns in OK, DC (moved there alone in high school...which definitely makes you grow up a little more quickly), NC and GA. Alt-focus: Austin, Denver or Portland. I like the idea of being close to the mountains (or the Hill Country in Austin's case).
Focus: I ended up where I am now because it's one of the three places I can be posted for my current job in the Air Force. I've already spent around eight years in the tropical north of Australia and had enough and didn't want to go further north so that left Newcastle. So far it's been great aside from the fact alcohol is expensive in Aus and women are crazy the move has been great. Work is decent and the place I'm living in is pretty awesome. Alt-Focus: I'm not normally a fan of the ridiculously hot but some of the places I've visited on the east coast of Aus have been awesome and with the coastal breeze the heat is easily dealt with. Somewhere small and out of the way without the big city bullshit would be ideal for me. ALT-ALT-FOCUS: I've just turned thirty and aside from moving four times in New Zealand before moving to Australia I've now lived in six different cities in Aus plus a few extra house changes chucked in for good measure. I'm hoping the next move doesn't happen for a while. As for stories, thankfully most of my moves have been done by Defence so they've been uneventful.
Focus: I got sick of both Illinois winters and working in a supermarket, so after one trip to Vegas to visit my sister I said "hey, I kinda like it there; clearly that automatically makes it a great place to live!" A little over a year in I finally landed in a job that doesn't have me slitting my wrists, bought a house after five years, and now eight and a half years into my stay it's probably safe to call it a permanent move. Alt-Focus: Probably Florida, though I've been there only once, and didn't venture too far outside the tourist traps of St. Petersburg. Alt-Alt-Focus: I've made a major geographical change only once, from Illinois to Las Vegas. Local moves: To a new house up the road when I was 12, to an apartment and then back in with the parents (preparing to move to Vegas) at 26/27 (yeah, I was right outta the house at 18! [not]), and from my apartment to my house in Vegas. Five times total, only one of them a long distance move. Not all who don't wander are sticks in the mud, just most of us.
Let's see now, where have I lived since high school? Moved from Minneapolis to Chicago (Great Lakes RTC/NTC [3 moves]) for boot camp and school. Augusta, Georgia (Fort Gordon [1 move])for more school. Manama, Bahrain (NCTS Bahrain [2 moves]) for two years. Dam Neck, Virginia (Dam Neck FTC [1 move]) for schooling on some new gear. USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) for six months of deployment. San Diego (USS Fitz, USS Milius [DDG 69], SWRMC, unemployment [6 moves]). Odenton, Maryland (Fort Meade SatCom [1 move]). Paso Robles, CA (Camp Roberts SatCom [1 move]). Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan (1 move). 16 total since graduation. So, yeah. Moved a lot, but always to a new work site. When I finish off this tour, I'm switching career fields and I'll be going to school in central coast California for a couple years. Maybe buy a house and stay put.
I got this as a rep and I wanted to address it. You guys who have plans, and 5 year ideas and things like that? Y'all amaze me. My life, since I was 18, has been so topsy turvy that the very notion of planning to be/do something specific in five years is incomprehensible. My mother, bless her heart, has asked me countless times through the past 15 years "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and every time I get a terrified expression on my face, and shrug, then say "I dunno. We'll see where I am in five years and I'll tell you then..." I can't imagine looking at The Husband and saying "In XXXX years lets do...." because my life experiences have shown me that circumstances change. Almost overnight. Planning on something that is as unpredictable as life freaks me the eff out. It isn't that I'm capricious, or unintelligent, or what have you, it's just that I do better landing in a situation and handling business from there, than trying to predict the situations of the future and make predetermined plans and courses of action.
FOCUS: Was born in Indianapolis, moved back to Milwaukee where my parent's are from when I was 2-3, and they've lived in the same suburb since, upgrading houses twice. I "moved" to Ohio for college for 5 years, and (excluding my two internships for 4 month periods in Traverse City, MI and NYC) my only other major move was to Chicago five and a half years ago, where I've been ever since. Came to Chicago because 1) it was close to my family, without being in Milwaukee 2) a bunch of my college friends migrated here after graduation, and 3) it was a city I had been in love with since I was a little kid. I think the relative stability of my family, moving wise, growing up and my closeness to them has affected my outlook on moving. I have friends that moved 2-3 times already since graduation, major moves from coast to coast, or regionally, and it seems crazy to me. I'm a spontaneous person and hate the thought of routines, but I do like some stability when it comes to that sort of thing, at least for awhile. However, a good portion of my friends have begun to spin off. They've done their 4-5 years in a big city and are now looking to move back to places like Columbus, Cleveland, and St Louis, so suddenly my network is eroding a bit. I still love Chicago, but not having anything severe holding me back, the moving bug has crept into my head slightly, though family is still a factor of sorts. ALT-FOCUS: If anywhere, I'd probably want to move abroad, London or Barcelona specifically. London is my favorite city in the world for a myriad of reasons and it would culturally be a great fit. I don't want to be a permanent ex-pat, but 2-3 years there would probably quench alot of my wanderlust, especially with the ability to easily travel the rest of Europe. Two of my good friends, a married couple, are moving there in the spring for anywhere from 18 to 30 months so it will give me an opportunity to visit multiple times, as well as see what the transition would be like. Domestically, I'd likely choose either Denver or Charlotte. Have always loved Denver and Charlotte hits alot of great checkboxes as well. I've heard great and desirable things about Austin and Charleston as well, but I've never been to Austin, and haven't been to Charleston since I was 12, so I have to reserve judgement on those until I visit.
Regarding five year plans and the like, there's a study that supports the idea that if you have goals (particularly written or accountable goals) you are more likely to achieve them. So having a five year plan with specific steps and focus is valuable because it makes it more likely to come true. And if stuff changes, assuming your goals are generally positive, then you'll probably be in a better position to cope with those changes.
Regarding five year plans and the like, there's a study that supports the idea that if you have goals (particularly written or accountable goals) you are more likely to achieve them. So having a five year plan with specific steps and focus is valuable because it makes it more likely to come true. And if stuff changes, assuming your goals are generally positive, then you'll probably be in a better position to cope with those changes. <a class="postlink" href="http://cdn.sidsavara.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/researchsummary2.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://cdn.sidsavara.com/wp-content/upl ... mmary2.pdf</a>
Fun fact: I have not kept the same address for more than 2 years since high school, about 12 years ago. Four years of college, changing from dorm to apartment to bio hazard disaster zone house, then to Spain for a few months. Interestingly, that's where I discovered Senor Max that led to this place. From Spain to my hometown, then Charlotte NC and Greeneville NC for six weeks each, then changing roommates after six months, then college town, then Honduras. Holy buck futter, that was bad. Before Honduras, I thought Gyardia was just some African-ized name, now I think it's a compliment to a Central American chef. After Honduras, I was in South Carolina for a 9-5 that lasted way too long. I quit James Bond-style and went to Bali for a year. Changed houses there twice. From Bali, I went to SC on vacation (that is the most absurd true statement I have ever made). Then I came to Korea. I changed apartments here once since I arrived. I'm actually looking at Portugal next, or Atlanta. I am terrified to buy a house, because....I haven't stayed put long enough to let paint dry, much less pay off a 30-year loan. I like vagrancy, apparently. I can easily stuff my whole life into 40 kg of luggage and a carry-on, and my house looks like a hotel room, because it practically is. The most fun I can remember is carrying furniture on a 125 cc moped through Indonesian traffic in 100 degree heat. Or buying old shelves in Honduras and seeing a Goddamned tarantula sprint out from underneath it. I have the dumbest near-death experiences of anyone I know.
FOCUS: How did you end up where you live now? Stay in your hometown? Chase the girl/guy of your dreams cross-country? Steal $600k from the mob and need a place to lie low? I live on one of the Canary Islands close to Morocco but part of Spain. I married a girl that I met at a wedding in Texas who is British. Moved to the UK and came here on a vacation a couple of years ago to escape the cold and dreary that is London in the winter. We fell in love almost instantly. My employer changed some of their business model and outsourced support. I asked if I could do an experiment and work from home for a month. I busted my ass that month to show that the model would work and they agreed that I never had to come into the office again. So then we had corporate financing. We moved over the next couple of months. I've been here for a year and I find new reasons to love it all of the time. I think I'll probably live here until I die. The island is poor in a lot of ways and exceedingly rich in many others. The idea of having to go back to America for any length of time gives me borderline panic attacks. Beaches here are clothing optional and I have seen many many model caliber tits in the past 12 months (a few flabby British tourists as well), food is amazing, wine is cheap, food is cheap (and really good), living expenses are cheap and it is legal to grow weed. My job will last as long as my company does because of the type of projects that I work on. I'm learning to surf (kite and board), do Muay Thai, grow veg, speak Spanish better and integrate into a community that isn't exactly easy to crack. There are challenges but I truly love my life. If something unforeseen happens that means it ends in the next week, I'm okay with that. I don't think that I've ever felt more at home in a place. Sometimes I miss conveniences. I miss Denver in the winter. I miss In N Out burger. I miss Red Vines. I miss some of my friends. I miss football games. All of those things however are at the end of a long plane ride.
FOCUS: How did you end up where you live now? Lived in NY from birth to age 3, then from age 10 to 38, then the wife and I moved to NC. We moved to NC because things were getting really really expensive in NY. I had a really cushy job making $26.00 an hour and fully paid benefits. Unfortunately, the office manager, who treated me more like a favorite cousin than an employee, retired and within two months I could see the writing on the wall. She was the glue that held that place together and once she was gone it rapidly declined. My wife's sister had moved to Tennessee about a year prior to this and we couldn't figure out why. When we asked her she told us about findmyspot.com (which unfortunately no longer exists). My wife and I took a bunch of tests designed to find "the right spot" for you, and the city just outside of where we live now came up on each of our results. We planned a road trip, fell in love with the place and decided if push came to shove we would do it. Eventually push came to shove. ALT-FOCUS: Where'd you like to live, given the option? Be realistic. Pretty much near to where I live now only I'd prefer more land in a more rural area than we now live. Ideally I would have a 10 acre ranch with some horses, other than that I wouldn't really change where I'm at. ALT-ALT-FOCUS: Share your number and funny/awful moving stories in general. My overall number is around 17 or 18. The worst experience I had was when I was 13 about a year after my father died. The movers came to get our stuff at around 8 A.M. and said they would be there after lunch. They didn't show up until 5:00 P.M. and then half way through unloading demanded more money before they would finish. My brother, who was 26 at the time and an absolute monster of a man at 6'1 300 lbs nearly beat the living hell out of one of the guys. The police came. It was fun. All the other moves in my life went very smooth as far as I can remember. My wife and I have ZERO intention of ever moving again. Her number is even higher than mine. I think it's something like 25 or 26 times. I tell her all the time if I die to bury me in the back yard. I'm not going nowhere. Unless it's to a 10 acre ranch with some horses.