Obviously, the answer right now is probably “Far away from Planet Earth,” but let’s keep it within the realm of possibility, people!
I have mentioned before that I don’t really like living in Arizona. I like it more than my wife does, but she really hates it, so that’s not a challenge. We’ve been here for 24 years, and it’s depressing that I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, but such is life. We want to move, but Arizona still manages to be cheaper than a lot of places in the country (well, it’s probably not as cheap as the deep South or the upper Midwest, but who wants to live there?), and for now, we’re a bit stuck here. My wife is getting more and more grumpy about living here (I mean, we did just name a freeway after a racist podcaster who loved violence except, I guess, when it was practiced against him, so I can see where she’s coming from), so who knows if we’ll be here much longer. My point is: I don’t really live where I want to live.
Maybe you do, and that’s great. Or maybe you really like where you live but also have a desire to live somewhere else. We loved living in Portland, and we do wish we could go back. So that would be my first choice, I suppose. But I’m a bit bummed out about the country right now, so if I had the wherewithal, I think I’d live abroad for a while. Germany would probably be my first European choice, because I’ve always liked Germany and it’s centrally located and it’s just neat. But I think my choice would be Melbourne. I really liked Melbourne when I was there as a student, and I wouldn’t mind spending a longer period of time there. It’s a nice city — more “European-feeling” than Sydney, which definitely feels more American, but it’s also very modern and it has a lot to do. Victoria is a beautiful state, and from Melbourne, you have easy access to Tasmania and Adelaide, which are cool places to visit. Melbourne is a very walkable city with excellent public transportation, and while I don’t know how the Australians deal with special needs people, I can’t imagine it’s more frustrating than here (although Arizona, somewhat surprisingly, has pretty good services for special needs people). I don’t know if I’d love it, but I would definitely like the chance to see if I would.
Where would you like to live, if you could live anywhere? I’m always curious about such things!
