Tell me about a city, town, community you love

[bludiva]

As a counterpoint to the moving out of the US thread, I’d love to hear about cities, towns, neighborhoods you love living in or dream about living in and why… anywhere in the world

 

[Missy]

I love living where we do. I feel we have the best of both worlds if you will.

We live in a great neighborhood in NYC where the people are super friendly and fun and there is always so much to do and exciting things to enjoy.

We also live at the shore where the smell and sounds of the sea are everywhere. I can get out of my head here and just enjoy being free and cycling by the sea.

I love both for different reasons. Both areas we live in are relatively safe and if it wasn't for cost of living we could go on like this indefinitely. But thinking about the future I am concerned. We really pay the price for living where we do. But I am not sure how happy I would be elsewhere.

People where we live lean to the liberal side and are kind and relatively intelligent for the most part. I could never live somewhere people judge others based on color, race, religion, gender etc. Or live where one's rights could be taken away just like that. So yeah we pay a high price (literally) for living where we do but the alternative isn't palatable.

I don't know where else I would go. I have thought about this long and hard. I have friends moving to the South (lower cost of living) but I don't feel that is an option for us. I don't have friends leaving the country just yet but for reasons having to do with my family I don't see us doing that either. It isn't that I haven't dreamed about moving elsewhere I just haven't found a place that I think would be better living than where we are now.

Always happy to learn more and re evaluate as things change/happen. My mind is always open to new adventures, experiences and possibilities.

 

[dk168]

If money is no object, I would love to have a base in central London again, so that I could visit the Big Smoke as often as I like.

I used to have a tiny studio apartment in a nice part of central London - the hotel rooms across the street are bigger than my flat! I regret I did not really make the most of living in the city while I had it.

It would need to be a bigger property so that I could bring my dog to stay with me though.

Paris would be another city where I would like a base, again, in the city centre near Montmartre as it is a vibrant part of the city.

I love where I live, in a medium size town in Wiltshire, South West of England, about 2h's drive from central London, and just over an hour by train.

It is small enough to be friendly, yet large enough to have good amenities including a cinema and other leisure facilities. The town is also vibrant and very active with lots of events throughout the year, which is great compared with other towns nearby.

Although I relocated to outskirt of the town in 2006, I only started to get to know and get involved in the town's activities just over 4 years ago, when I started to go to a pub in the town centre.

Nowadays I am involved in a number of local groups and charitable organisations, and have a busy social life.

Being an ethnic minority in this town kind of makes me stand out and easily recognised. However, it makes me feel content in knowing I have been accepted as part of the community when I am asked to get involved with events and activities via words of mouth.

This evening, I shall complete my application and formally join an international charitable organisation via its local branch. They are rather pleased for me to join as I am probably one of the younger ones if not the youngest!

The town is surrounding by easily accessible countryside where I can walk the dog. It has good public transport link (2 buses, one does not run on Sundays) from my house into the town centre which is about 1.7miles away.

All in all, my home town is great, and my house suits my needs, and I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

DK

 

[Austina]

We loved where we lived, in a suburb just outside London. It had everything we wanted and needed, we had a beautiful home, and great neighbours. It was a relatively quick and easy commute in to London, although having lived in London most of our lives, and DH working in London, it really didn‘t hold much appeal for us any longer. We had a local theatre where the West End shows would come after their London run, shops, multiplex cinema, great dog walking places, and it was safe.

But life has a way of throwing a spanner in the works, and as of last week, we’re now living in Austin, Texas! We don’t regret the move one bit, we’re now close to our son and daughter in law, which after the last 18 months+ is a huge relief for us all. We’re moving to a semi-rural area when the house is ready, but we’re getting the house of our dreams, and looking forward to meeting new people and having new experiences.

Life is what you make it, and we’re going to throw ourselves in to the community and get on with living.

 

[Missy]

We loved where we lived, in a suburb just outside London. It had everything we wanted and needed, we had a beautiful home, and great neighbours. It was a relatively quick and easy commute in to London, although having lived in London most of our lives, and DH working in London, it really didn‘t hold much appeal for us any longer. We had a local theatre where the West End shows would come after their London run, shops, multiplex cinema, great dog walking places, and it was safe.

But life has a way of throwing a spanner in the works, and as of last week, we’re now living in Austin, Texas! We don’t regret the move one bit, we’re now close to our son and daughter in law, which after the last 18 months+ is a huge relief for us all. We’re moving to a semi-rural area when the house is ready, but we’re getting the house of our dreams, and looking forward to meeting new people and having new experiences.

Life is what you make it, and we’re going to throw ourselves in to the community and get on with living.

So happy for you @Austina and your family.
And you and your DH coming here to live just made our country better on many levels. So thank you. Plus for other selfish reasons I hope when the pandemic is over we can make up for lost time. Our last visit was cut short. We are long overdue.

 

[bludiva]

I feel we have the best of both worlds if you will.

it sounds like you do have the best of both worlds, city + the shore = the dream for a lot of people. are you concerned for the future because of weather or something else? we worry about it where we live - freak storms, floods, etc. happening more often plus the summer heat is punishing here and will likely get more intense over time.

It is small enough to be friendly, yet large enough to have good amenities

i loved my time in bigger cities but i think i'm looking for exactly this in our next adventure... small enough to have a little bit of everything you need, hopefully walkable and with good bike trails also. sounds like you've found a great community DK.

We loved where we lived, in a suburb just outside London. It had everything we wanted and needed, we had a beautiful home, and great neighbours.

something to be said for having great neighbors... my experiences have been mixed so far, it's not until the last few years i've become friendly with a few neighbors and i think that's because our current area is pretty dense, you run into people all the time which is nice.

 

[AprilBaby]

I would love to have a house on the beach somewhere between Ocean City New Jersey and Cape May New Jersey

 

[Matata]

And you and your DH coming here to live just made our country better on many levels. So thank you.

+1 @Austina

 

[Matata]

I find something to love about where ever I am but wouldn't necessarily want to live in those places. I have wonderful memories of every place we visited in Europe mostly due to the people we've met and hold special places in my heart for Scotland and Slovenia. Amsterdam is one of my fav cities. I love the vibrancy of large cities but can't tolerate the crush of people and unrelenting noise.

 

[bludiva]

I would love to have a house on the beach somewhere between Ocean City New Jersey and Cape May New Jersey

That sounds lovely. I want to check out the beach towns between LA and San Diego... something magical about being near water. I'm wondering if there are some nice lakeside towns I should put on my "to visit" list too...

 

[bludiva]

I love the vibrancy of large cities but can't tolerate the crush of people and unrelenting noise.

It's hard to find that sweet spot of the vibrance without the crush. I love the idea of finding another little big town but not sure any cities stay that way for long.

 

[Missy]

it sounds like you do have the best of both worlds, city + the shore = the dream for a lot of people. are you concerned for the future because of weather or something else? we worry about it where we live - freak storms, floods, etc. happening more often plus the summer heat is punishing here and will likely get more intense over time.

No, I am not terribly concerned (a little bit but not majorly concerned) about the weather. We survived Sandy and hopefully there won't be another horrible storm in our lifetime but if there is we will deal with it. I mean wherever we would move there would be weather issues or mother nature issues to deal with-that is pretty much a given. Earthquakes, floods, mudslides, tsumanims, hurricanes, tornados, scorching heat, drought, etc. There really is no escaping something, My dad has a wise quote (that I have oft quoted here lol)...no one gets out of this life alive. True dat. But I digress. All this to say that isn't what gives me pause (or as the kitties say paws...:lol). Though yes, I hate storms and they scare me. Every time there is a bad storm I think I am crazy for living here but then quickly realize where else would I go?

What makes me think twice about where we live is the cost of living. It is incredibly expensive. I am talking for the USA as I know in other parts of the world cost of living is prohibitively expensive. But for the USA, where we live, we are paying an exorbitant cost. My DH is going to retire soon (maybe sooner vs later due to Covid) and while he assures me we will be OK I have seen the rise in cost of our medical expenses as we get older and as our health insurance covers less and less and less. And our property taxes rising so much. All my DH's assurances don't make me feel better because he always looks on the bright side of things and I am the realist. Our property taxes in both cities (RE taxes here and maintenance charges in NYC) are crazy. If we add them together it is more than I earned yearly as a healthcare professional. Elsewhere in the USA the costs are much less than what we are paying. But again there are pros and cons to each area and we live where we think we are happiest.


We could give up a home (and most probably will one day) but which home is the question. It is hard because they are so different and I don't want to be full time in the city or full time at the shore. I wish there was one place we could be that would offer all we need like these two places we live in now. Maybe this sounds spoiled but we worked very hard for all we have. Neither of us come from well to do families. We come from solidly middle class intellectuals. No rich parents or grandparents. Everyone worked hard to get to where they are and I have zero complaints. We all make choices in life. So if we choose to stay here we pay the price and will have to adjust accordingly. If we choose to move we will pay that price too. The price of leaving areas we love where our friends and family are in near vicinity. The price of leaving all we know and love for an unknown. The devil you know if you kwim.

I always say home is where my DH is so truth be told wherever we end up will be home if he is with me. That is all that matters. Not our beautiful homes, not the states I love living in, no. Wherever Greg is will always be my home. But I would miss my family and my friends and all I know and love and long distance isn't the same. Especially when one doesn't like take planes to get to where one is going.

Ultimately I am a pretty resilient and wherever we go (if we do move) I know I will eventually be happy there. I might loathe change but once change happens I adjust quickly. I think the experts say we all have a level of happiness that doesn't fluctuate very much from our norm. Studies show humans quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. I find this to be true for the most part.

 

[MRBXXXFVVS1]

@missy What about downsizing one or both properties? It lowers your taxes and maintenance, and still allows you to keep a place in the city and at the shore, near the people you love!

 

[Missy]

@missy What about downsizing one or both properties? It lowers your taxes and maintenance, and still allows you to keep a place in the city and at the shore, near the people you love!

Great suggestion thanks @MRBXXXFVVS1 I don't think we could go smaller where it would make enough of a great financial difference if you kwim. It's the area and the location that is expensive. And we basically live in every room so no waste of space. Greg needs his workroom/man room and I need my workout space. But if someone wants a cat or two or three (haha) let me know and maybe we can downsize a bit.

 

[MamaBee]

Great suggestion thanks @MRBXXXFVVS1 I don't think we could go smaller where it would make enough of a great financial difference if you kwim. It's the area and the location that is expensive. And we basically live in every room so no waste of space. Greg needs his workroom/man room and I need my workout space. But if someone wants a cat or two or three (haha) let me know and maybe we can downsize a bit.

Oh @missy! Kiss that boy for me!

 

[bludiva]

@missy you bring up so many of the points I think about regarding where to live next and what to prepare for when we retire. healthcare costs and property tax (also expensive where we live) are worries for us as well.

it's awful to me to read about people having a 20k bill for having a baby or other common human activity, thousands of dollars for setting a broken bone, etc. or even how expensive COVID testing was initially, there seemed to be a lot of gouging going on. you worked in healthcare if i recall correctly so guessing it's even more frustrating knowing the system from the inside.

i agree that people find their baseline level of happiness pretty quickly, but a big move is hard. i'm worried we'll end up unhappy in the future if we don't move, but i don't have a good idea of where we could go, either. wishing us all luck

 

[Matata]

you bring up so many of the points I think about regarding where to live next and what to prepare for when we retire.

AARP can be helpful. https://www.aarp.org/home-family/yo...retire.html?intcmp=AE-HF-YHM-BPL-R1-C2#slide2

I'm always googling "best places to retire" both in the US and the world because I find it interesting to see what attracts a majority of people. We bought our house to stay until we die but these past 5 years of choking wildfire smoke for 5 months straight is taking its toll.

What we like about where we are is that it's a fair combo of rural and city. We have great theaters and some very fine dining options, a small but steadily growing population, and live within a 1 hr drive to mountains and 3 hr drive to the coast. The most celebrated events in the past decade have been the opening of a Trader Joe's and an REI

 

[bludiva]

We bought our house to stay until we die but these past 5 years of choking wildfire smoke for 5 months straight is taking its toll.

I'm from CA and always thought I'd want to go back but the fires give me a lot of pause. A combo of rural and city sounds nice - i've always liked the idea of a small town near a big city.

 

[Matata]

i've always liked the idea of a small town near a big city.

Yeah, me too. Best of both worlds. It's difficult to find that perfect spot. As soon as they're discovered, they get loved to death and end up turning into what we thought we'd escaped. I hope your find your perfect place.

 

[Missy]

Oh @missy! Kiss that boy for me!

Do you want him Joanne? He told me he would love to live with his Auntie Joanne.

 

[Missy]

@missy you bring up so many of the points I think about regarding where to live next and what to prepare for when we retire. healthcare costs and property tax (also expensive where we live) are worries for us as well.

it's awful to me to read about people having a 20k bill for having a baby or other common human activity, thousands of dollars for setting a broken bone, etc. or even how expensive COVID testing was initially, there seemed to be a lot of gouging going on. you worked in healthcare if i recall correctly so guessing it's even more frustrating knowing the system from the inside.

i agree that people find their baseline level of happiness pretty quickly, but a big move is hard. i'm worried we'll end up unhappy in the future if we don't move, but i don't have a good idea of where we could go, either. wishing us all luck

Yeah it is a tough decision no question. And to start all over with doctors. Plus you want to be near a good hospital. So many factors go into deciding where to retire. Because when we are older that is generally when healthcare becomes even more critical. And I agree completely. NO one should go without proper healthcare because they cannot afford it. It is a travesty that in this country that good healthcare isn't a right. Healthcare should be a given no matter one's socioeconomic status. Period.

Wishing you good luck in deciding.
Wishing everyone good luck.
These are not easy times.

 

[MamaBee]

Do you want him Joanne? He told me he would love to live with his Auntie Joanne.

I would in a split second! S is allergic to cats..Darn husband..You could never give up Oliver! He’s sooooo cute!

 

[MRBXXXFVVS1]

A while back, DH and I picked a few cities we were interested in and quantified / force ranked them in a matrix based on our priorities. We included the following factors in our analysis: housing, career, commute, family, friends, medical care, airport, things to do, and nature. We also modeled our finances based on: income, housing, taxes, and other expenses. We took different scenarios into consideration including: lifestyle, kids, retirement, etc. This exercise really put things into perspective for us.

 

[bludiva]

A while back, DH and I picked a few cities we were interested in and quantified / force ranked them in a matrix based on our priorities. We included the following factors in our analysis: housing, career, commute, family, friends, medical care, airport, things to do, and nature. We also modeled our finances based on: income, housing, taxes, and other expenses. We took different scenarios into consideration including: lifestyle, kids, retirement, etc. This exercise really put things into perspective for us.

we have a spreadsheet like that... we are looking to check out the locations on the list over the next couple of years. i'm always interested to see if there is a place i've overlooked though.