For fun: where should we move?

[123LuckyMom]

We just had another dysfunctional family holiday, and DH and I are fantasizing again about where in this country or the world we would live if we never had to see any of our family again! Right now we live in Western Massachusetts in a small, rural college town, and I love it! The schools are good but not high pressure; our church community is phenomenal; it's absolutely beautiful here; there are three major and many minor museums, a theater festival, all kinds of culture. On the bad side, it takes an hour to get to any major highway; the job market is extremely limited, is often all about who you know, and we are not in the loop; the town is a bit diverse, but the surrounding area is extremely insular and homogenous.

When we fantasize about moving, DH always mentions Latin America, because he is a bi-lingual Spanish speaker, and he knows he can work there. I always nix it, because I don't speak Spanish, and I hate heat!

Then we talk about England where I spent some of my childhood. I worry that as a psychologist DH wouldn't make enough money there for us to live comfortably. It might also be difficult for him to work there and difficult in general for us to emigrate there or anywhere in the EU without one of us carrying an EU passport, which neither of us does due to the ridiculous citizenship laws that were in place when I turned 18 and had to forfeit dual citizenship. I chose the US.

We've discussed Canada and many areas of the US, too. We can never agree. Here are my criteria in order of importance:

The government and economy must be relatively stable. I don't want to flee for my life in some kind of coup!

There must be good public education or private education we could afford.

There must be access to both nature and culture.

The place must be accepting of those who are politically liberal.

Dry heat is okay, but swampy/jungly heat is not unless the season is short. I prefer a place with seasons.

Any suggestions of where in the world we should move if we ever got brave enough to flee our family dysfunction?

[SnuggleBuggles]

My friend just spent 7m in New Zealand with her family while doing a sabbatical. It was a great experience and place to live, according to her.

[BabyBearsMom]

One of my best friends from high school has been living in Sidney for the last 10 years and loves it. I think that would tick off all of the items on your list.

[crl]

Have you done the find your spot quiz? Only US suggestions, but kind of fun to see what they suggest.

Catherine

[queenmama]

I think PNW sounds perfect for you!

[123LuckyMom]

I LOVE New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest. DH is afraid of earthquakes and scary issues due to climate change, but both those suggestions make the short list.

Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to emigrate to New Zealand or Australia?

I'm going to look for that find your spot site.

Please keep the suggestions coming!

[squimp]

Southern Chile? Great climate, great people, beautiful mountains.

[123LuckyMom]

Hmmm. Southern Chile. I'm going to look into that!

My town came up as the fourth option out of 24 on my Find Your Spot list!

[gatorsmom]

How about somewhere in Brazil? The economy is flourishing right now, huge and diverse, Portuguese is a Romance language so should be fairly easy to learn.

[AnnieW625]

.....The government and economy must be relatively stable. I don't want to flee for my life in some kind of coup!

There must be good public education or private education we could afford.

There must be access to both nature and culture.

The place must be accepting of those who are politically liberal.

Dry heat is okay, but swampy/jungly heat is not unless the season is short. I prefer a place with seasons.

Any suggestions of where in the world we should move if we ever got brave enough to flee our family dysfunction?

If you are okay with the US then the quoted wants all point to Davis, CA. It is a liberal leaning college city (60,000 or so f/t residents) and my former hometown area (I grew up 10 miles north in Woodland, which is less liberal, and lived in Davis for 4 yrs. post college, if DH and I move back north then it is one of the top areas we want to live).

Private education is do able as there is a Montessori school near by in Woodland, there is a Catholic school in Davis, a Waldorf school in Davis, and a few Catholic high schools in Sacramento (two co-ed, and two single sex (one girls, one boys), but the local high school is really good (even though I went to the rival high school and would have some minor issues sending my kids to DHS, but not really the school is excellent). The public schools by CA standards are good, but depending on what your standard public ed. is in Western Mass., it could be pretty low.

Dry heat is the heat of Nor Cal. I am a wimp when it comes to humidity and anything over about 30% humid to me is absolutely horrible (I think So Cal is humid, and most days it rarely gets over 50%-60%). If you are okay with 10 or so straight days of 100+ heat (this happens at least twice a summer) then you'll be fine.

[TwinFoxes]

What about Boulder?

[marymoo86]

Chapel Hill, NC ticks most of those boxes with the exception of heat/humidity. Asheville, NC might be good as well but it is a bit more remote in the mountains of NC but good access to roads and has an airport. Not sure of the economy and need for your DH's line of work.

[brittone2]

Love Chapel Hill!! ;)

[crl]

What about Boulder?

Boulder is so beautiful.

Catherine

[flashy09]

Boulder is so beautiful.

Catherine

I grew up in Boulder. You should move there, it's amazing. Expensive but amazing.

[crayonblue]

DH and I wrote down our criteria for where we wanted to live, looked at a map and chose SoCal. We LOVE it here!

[wendmatt]

If you have/had rights to live in UK, then you probably still do. If you really want to go there, it is worth finding out about. I think if you had the right to a UK passport, they will still give you one, and I believe the US allows both now. DH's brother has a US passport, a UK passport, and a Canadian passport. Australia and NZ are hard to get into, but if you are young professionals, it depends on your skills, I think it's all about points.

[123LuckyMom]

If you have/had rights to live in UK, then you probably still do. If you really want to go there, it is worth finding out about. I think if you had the right to a UK passport, they will still give you one, and I believe the US allows both now. DH's brother has a US passport, a UK passport, and a Canadian passport. Australia and NZ are hard to get into, but if you are young professionals, it depends on your skills, I think it's all about points.

Well, we're professionals but not so young ;). I'm 42 and DS is 46! I should look into seeing if I could reinstate a UK passport. I do know that, as the rules are now, I wouldn't have had to choose.

I live CO, but it is expensive.