Do you want to live in the city or country? Either way, why? Is there a specific place you’d like to live?
I lived in Suburbia as a child. Happiness is a thin veneer over the contempt the majority of neighbors feel for each other.
I lived in rural towns for much of my young adult life. Monopolized utilities and services, as well as the issue of small-town indoctrination, were reliably present.
I currently live in a metro. The rampant corruption and vehicle-oriented culture are noxious.
I guess I want to live in outer space. It’s pretty quiet up there and I’d imagine it doesn’t really smell all that bad.
In space, everyone knows you farted.
I currently live in a metro. The rampant corruption and vehicle-oriented culture are noxious.
Not all metros are that shitty. IDK about corruption, but at least in Europe there are cities with less car-oriented culture.
A stable country with solid social safety nets where the people I love are not considered criminals simply for existing would be ideal.
Beyond those requirements, I could live in a cabin in the woods, a trailer in a park, a mansion in the countryside or an apartment in the city. It wouldn’t matter as much.
Sounds like good decision making there.
The Shire
A nice little cabin in the woods and by a lake.
Far enough from the nearest town that I don’t have neighbors, but close enough that I can reasonably make a grocery run each week.
I want to live on a sailboat and be nomadic.
I’d like to live in the woods in the PNW. It’s pretty, I like the weather and there aren’t too many bugs (compared to other parts of the country).
Not in one single place.
I am lucky right now that my life is spread over 2 continents, with vastly different cultures and climates, and I love it
I also love the contrast, because not any single place is perfect, and switching every few months is just the best
There’s no single one-size-fits-all solution to your question. But maybe there are several answers.
Countryside, as far away as possible while still having a reliable internet connection
I’m thinking of moving to Mongolia one day. Vast open spaces and a bitter cold winter. It’s nice to be forgotten by the world.
I lived there for a while, it’s very cool, it feels like going back to the wild Wild West. Bonus points if you like to drink, deduct points if you’re a vegetarian (they mostly just have meat dishes).
Reminds me of when I was up in Iqaluit (far north in Canada). The best way I could describe it is imagine Mos Eisley if it were on the planet Hoth.
Yeah that’s very accurate! I forgot to mention the fighting, they fight a lot there.
That’s the impression I always come away with - similar to Montana or one of the Dakotas in the US. How was the language barrier?
Hmm I don’t remember it being too bad, but I was very used to traveling at the time. Work-wise I was able to find well educated staff with a good enough knowledge of English to work ok so it was all good.
I want to live in an area that has a great music scene. It has to be clean and pleasant with plenty of community engagement and friendly people. I have to be able to afford a home, food, healthcare, and some things that I and the family just want. I don’t want to be scared for myself or my transgender kids, or my wife. I don’t want to be scared of the government or the people who wanted this version of it.
Basically, I want to live in United States that was promised to me when I was a kid. No matter where it is.
EDIT: Or Cicely, AK.
Somewhere in the countryside with lots of nature around but not too far away from civilization. Ideally in a small country mostly unaffected by geopolitics and with a temperate climate.
I want to live in the woods in New Hampshire again some day. It’s a beautiful place and also a place where the state and local governments don’t make me grind my teeth in frustration all the time*. I would have a house, a lot of land, and no neighbors except for pine trees.
I had most of that already and I left, because I was very lonely - I think I talked to another person face to face about once every few weeks. I thought I would be OK with that because I was used to being alone, but having no family, no friends, and a 100% remote job was too much for me. Apparently even I start going crazy if I am that isolated. Now I live somewhere I really don’t like (New York City) but I’m close to my family.
*New Hampshire is a rather libertarian state. Taxes are low but the town where I lived (population 15,000) didn’t provide water, sewers, or garbage collection. Many things are legal that aren’t legal in most other places. For example, you can drive without insurance, set off fireworks, and do almost anything with a gun except shoot another person. The state motto is “Live free or die,” and I would tell my guests that as long as they did one or the other, the state’s duty to them would be satisfied.
That sounds nice. I work remotely now and don’t talk to people outside of my home very often, but I do have a family that lives with me and they provide plenty of interaction. When we were moving, I did spend a few weeks completely alone here and it did get pretty lonely. I’m sorry you now live somewhere you don’t like.
No need to be sorry for me - I think my story is of the “learning what really matters” sort and my family is much more important to me than where I live is.
That’s a very respectable attitude.
Ireland or Finland. Senegal or Mexico when the cold gets unbearable
I only do well in cities. I need diversity, culture, community, and transit. You don’t get that in the middle of nowhere.
I think you can get a pretty good community in a remote place, but “the middle of nowhere” has some flexibility; it’s very true that if you’re nowhere enough, you probably won’t have enough people for a community.
I’m basically there. I wish my property were a bit bigger with some woods and a freshwater stream coming out of the mountains, but I’m like 95% happy. Here is rural northern Japan. Having a grocery store closer would be neat. Maybe if the town grows again (it’s at around 50% of its pre-tsunami population) the one nearby will reopen.
Awesome that you’re basically there - it sounds like the idyllic environment I’ve seen in a lot of Ghibli shows. I definitely get the grocery store thing … I’ve lived in a few rural areas and the trip to get supplies is always a bit of a downer.
