View Full Version : Change of scenery
hpdrifter
12-12-2010, 11:44 AM
I've been thinking about moving. I've lived in the NW US my whole life (aside from a 2-year stint in LA) and I feel like it would do me some good to try another part of the country.
I've always been slightly fascinated by places like Vermont and New Hampshire. I have this vision of charming little snow covered towns. Or the southeastern coast. Beachy, quiet little bergs.
Do I need to be disabused of these notions? Are there other places I should consider? I also thought about Chicago. Always been interested in it for some reason.
kaiser soze
12-12-2010, 12:03 PM
The only place worthwhile living for people new to VT is Burlington - charming little snow covered towns are few and far between (Bristol being one). The others are just desolate farm towns (mostly family farms as well) with dirt roads, you have to drive a good hour or so to get your shopping done.
And there is a larger population of rednecks compared to friendly hippies and yuppies.
NicRN77
12-12-2010, 03:47 PM
And there is a larger population of rednecks compared to friendly hippies and yuppies.
must agree. I grew up in southern New Hampshire...so not quite the sticks. I couldn't imagine living in a small town though. Living outside of Boston is just the right fit...city is right there but I'm next to the ocean and the mountains are just a short drive away.
jabumbo
12-12-2010, 05:02 PM
we can swap places if you want?
would you have to find a new job and friends and stuff?
hpdrifter
12-13-2010, 10:31 AM
Well yeah. But I'm probably going to have to do that stuff anyway.
Echewta
12-13-2010, 10:42 AM
Are you sure the cold is where you want to be?
Dorothy Wood
12-13-2010, 10:42 AM
can't really recommend chicago. unless you like torturing yourself. it's 11 degrees right now though, so I'd probably have a different opinion if you'd asked in summer.
savannah georgia is lovely...I always wanted to move there some day.
nodanaonlyzuul
12-13-2010, 11:40 AM
I think it's important to explore. Especially if you find that things are getting stagnant for you in your current town.
I experienced living in three different places now. The third and final place I fell in love with. Because of that I'll always encourage people to explore. I say go for it. (y) I cannot recommend any of the places you mentioned though since I have not been there. My suggestion would be talk to people from those areas to get an idea of what it may be like. Visit once before making a final decision if you can swing it.
skra75
12-13-2010, 01:42 PM
Move to Amsterdam. It's ex-pat friendly and it rules.
Whatever you do, don't move to New England, it's goddamn cold and crappy here.
NicRN77
12-13-2010, 02:24 PM
Whatever you do, don't move to New England, it's goddamn cold and crappy here.
No it isn't!! Sure, we have winter...but I grew up here and love it. Having 4 seasons rocks.
yeah i kind of like it here honestly. not that i've ever really lived anywhere else i guess.
the people are kind of jerky by large but sometimes you just don't want to talk to them anyway
hpdrifter
12-13-2010, 02:58 PM
Are you sure the cold is where you want to be?
Well, I'm used to long periods of gray and rain and, while I enjoyed the beachy times I got to experience in L.A., I found that it being constantly sunny/the same weather every day really annoyed me after awhile.
To me cold implies cozy, laid back. But, to your point, it doesn't have to be cold all the time. I would prefer 4 seasons.
hpdrifter
12-13-2010, 02:59 PM
can't really recommend chicago. unless you like torturing yourself. it's 11 degrees right now though, so I'd probably have a different opinion if you'd asked in summer.
savannah georgia is lovely...I always wanted to move there some day.
Savannah sounds like a nice place. Quiet, beachy.
I just had to do massive New England research for my travel company. Burlington, VT has been rated One of the Best Places for Small Business and Careers, Best to Live with Small Children and one of America's Prettiest Cities. You have to love the aspect of being a college town mixed with tourism. Educated people, arts and beauty.
What is your favourite thing in the world? Find out the place that has lots of it and go there.
You could go nomad for a while.
Echewta
12-13-2010, 04:03 PM
Well, I think Los Angeles/California is the place to be until you are older and don't care for going out and just want a garage painted with your favorite football team logo and look forward to pie at 4:00 p.m. coming free with your meal.
I've lived here for most of my life and still haven't seen or done everything. Weekends always have something to do and sometimes, you have to pick and choose. We get our rain and cold but mostly warm and comfortable which means any hobby or thing you enjoy doing, can most likely be done. I noticed some of the trees changed color but apparently they didn't get the memo from the other trees.
New York is cool but the weather there can be horrible as well.
My gripe with LA is unless you have some money, it's not a great place to live. Sure, there's "free" stuff to do, but in reality, there's only so much "free" stuff any one person can handle before they just want to do the cool shit LA offers.
And PS - the sunny days get boring!
NicRN77
12-13-2010, 09:32 PM
if you move to the Boston area, at least you would have Bob and I to be friends with! (y)
This thread has me thinking about where I live.
Sheffield in England. Old steel town but has half a million of us here, two large universities so we get up to about 200k+ of students for nine months, although some will already live here.
Anyway, it's on 7 hills (like rome) and as I get older I realise it's like a giant village. You find out your friends are also friends with your friends of friends and for most part that is no real rivalry or violence. Most of us settle for the mediocre happy life, we don't earn loads but a pub with an open fire with cheap good ale is easy to come by. I live about 3 miles from the centre and if I walked there I could pass 19 pubs on the way (from just counting in my head), not all my favourite places in the world but still places to go.
It's winter now, but because of the hills and the snow landing people find places to go snowboarding, skiing, sledging - whatever really. If I go a few miles away from the centre in any direction I hit the rolling country side with more hills, trails, camping etc. I'm no where need that dump they call London but if for whatever reason I needed to be there I have a motorway all the way there or a direct train.
Yet, I still wanna travel, hmmmms. Maybe just to miss this place enough to want to come back?
Anyway, what you're looking for might already be there. But I totally see why you'd want to get away in your scenario. Good luck! (y)
jabumbo
12-14-2010, 10:42 AM
GO CATAMOUNTS
Echewta
12-14-2010, 11:25 AM
Sunny days get boring? Thats bizzare to me.
Dorothy Wood
12-14-2010, 01:43 PM
I love sunny days!
me and the old man are thinking about moving somewhere north of L.A. in the future, like 5-10 years down the road. for the weather, mainly.
but who knows...we got a lotta good friends here. considering NYC too, because we liked it there so much when we visited recently.
what would really be great is to have a lil house in all the cities and towns you like. but that seems pretty expensive.
p-branez
12-14-2010, 01:55 PM
^ I've been interested in raising kids in various different places in the US to see how each one turns out.
(Maybe this is some bad social experiment.)
Regardless, the midwest is nice... we have four seasons.
Echewta
12-14-2010, 03:16 PM
We have the Four Seasons too in Los Angeles its just expensive to stay there.
^ I've been interested in raising kids in various different places in the US to see how each one turns out.
(Maybe this is some bad social experiment.)
Regardless, the midwest is nice... we have four seasons.
I think the result will be having various kids growing up with a fairly absent father/mother (I dunno if ya male or female). You'd need to clone yourself for scientific results. Also, all variables apart from the place have to be the same.
It'd be interesting.
Or we could just look at data averages and work out from that how a place influences how someone turns out. Good luck tho (y)
Sunny days get boring? Thats bizzare to me.
maybe it's one of those things where you don't appreciate them until you don't have them every day
i like sunny days but in the winter i kind of resent them. when you look outside and see the sun shining bright you have a certain expectation and that expectation is not a cold biting wind blasting your face. at least when it's dark or gloomy out you're not let down by the fact that it's also cold but if the sun's out there's a feeling of what i can only call betrayal. like the sun sees you down there, freezing your balls off but it's like "yeah...no i can't right now, i...i have a thing, gimme a few months"
Main problem with the sun in winter is how low it is. When driving or riding you're sometimes forever adjusting the shade or sun glasses (a lot harder on the bike).
And then the tarmac is wet so it reflects off and you end up almost suffering from snow blindness (but with rain/wet ground). (n)
hpdrifter
12-15-2010, 10:40 AM
I'd live on the Central CA coast (San Luis, Santa Barbara) if it weren't so damn expensive. I guess if I were to move back to L.A. (hey at least it's a known quantity) I'd go a lil south of the city. Manhattan or Huntington Beach, maybe even La Jolla.
Boston would be a legit poss.
nodanaonlyzuul
12-15-2010, 12:44 PM
La Jolla is incredibly expensive. (!) Just in case you do consider that.
ms.peachy
12-16-2010, 07:06 AM
Why stay in the US? Make a big move, really challenge yourself. I mean unless you're at a point in your career where you feel like, you're really on a streak and don't want to risk altering your trajectory because everything's looking good on the horizon, push the envelope and give yourself the gift of something totally different. You'll learn a lot more about yourself and about life than just moving to somewhere where you can go "Oh wow, this WalMart looks like the one back home!"
mickill
12-16-2010, 12:23 PM
^ Yes. Try Canada, for instance.
M|X|Y
12-16-2010, 12:25 PM
If i was to leave the country, i'd definitely go to Canada or Australia. You don't see Oprah doing Canada shows so probably Australia. Do they have Walmarts in Australia?
jabumbo
12-16-2010, 06:50 PM
I did hear that TAL is looking for a wife...
Why stay in the US? Make a big move, really challenge yourself. I mean unless you're at a point in your career where you feel like, you're really on a streak and don't want to risk altering your trajectory because everything's looking good on the horizon, push the envelope and give yourself the gift of something totally different. You'll learn a lot more about yourself and about life than just moving to somewhere where you can go "Oh wow, this WalMart looks like the one back home!"
you never hear stories from people who took a giant risk and had it blow up miserably in their face and how if they could do one thing different with their life it would be to go back and not make that terrible mistake they made. maybe it's because giant risks are always good ideas. or maybe they're all living in refrigerator boxes or something i dunno
you never hear stories from people who took a giant risk and had it blow up miserably in their face and how if they could do one thing different with their life it would be to go back and not make that terrible mistake they made. maybe it's because giant risks are always good ideas. or maybe they're all living in refrigerator boxes or something i dunno
Its because if it does fail you can say "well I tried" and you have the experience to learn from it. You're no longer the person who always talks about these great plans and never executes them. We all do it to a certain extent.
Also, I think you have to go head first into these sometimes, I've tried plans but always sided on caution which means I can always go back to what I know even though that is not exactly what I want.
but in addition to the people who failed and learned from it, there must be people out there who didn't think it through at all and just got ruined by it. like they packed up and moved to eastern europe to do human rights work or something and now they're a sex slave and every day they wake up chained to a bed thinking "wish i'd planned this out a little harder". maybe they just don't have internet access
I did hear that TAL is looking for a wife...
You heard wrong.
I like sex
always a bright side i suppose
I've found the perfect place for ya.
The Dream of the 90s is Still Alive in Portland (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/18/portland-home-of-the.html)
NicRN77
12-18-2010, 08:49 AM
I've found the perfect place for ya.
The Dream of the 90s is Still Alive in Portland (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/18/portland-home-of-the.html)
good one. I must send this to my friend in Portland, OR!
I really love Portland, OR. Great city.
Dorothy Wood
12-18-2010, 07:01 PM
you never hear stories from people who took a giant risk and had it blow up miserably in their face and how if they could do one thing different with their life it would be to go back and not make that terrible mistake they made. maybe it's because giant risks are always good ideas. or maybe they're all living in refrigerator boxes or something i dunno
they're all dead!
well, I like my life alright, but I wish I would've done a little more research and thought things out, before moving to a big city with $300 to my name.
Actually, I guess I wish I could take back the risk of going to the college I went to. I should've just gone to IIT in chicago from the start. I would have a lot more money. but I probably wouldn't have met my best friends. or I would've maybe...if their lives stayed the same.
bah, it's no use thinking about impossible things.
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