What’s Your Dream?
Seriously! We want to know. It probably comes as no surprise to you that Martin and I get asked one question more than any other:
Where do you prefer to live?
We’ve pondered the question over and over, and we really can’t give a solid answer right now. Europe, the US, the city, the country, the suburbs… so many choices. So many good points (and fortunately, so few not-so-good points) in all the places we’re calling home this year.
So we thought we’d throw it at you. We’re both really aching to hear what you would say is your dream place to live regardless if you’ve been there or not. So come on. Give us your best. Where do you prefer to live?
May 11th, 2009 at 5:49 am
For now, my dream is a suburban ranch home (1 level). Right now I’m in a 2 story cape cod + basement (family rm. in basement) and so it’s virtually 3 floors to clean, maintain, and wonder where my son left a toy he really wants right NOW. Up and down a lot attending to him. So I’d love a ranch home in the suburbs (quiet)…that’s my dream. But I have to be happy with what I have now.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Short answer: It’s complicated.
Long answer: Although I am American and am married to an American, I feel more at home in Europe. I feel like I fit in better and that the lifestyle (walking most places, speaking many languages, working sensible hours, really enjoying things like food and drink, etc.) suits me. If it were just me and my husband, I think we’d probably still be in Prague. We were very, very happy there. However, having kids really changed our priorities. We had a hard time being so far away from extended family and wanted our children to know their grandparents. Carrying a stroller up four flights of stairs to our flat really sucked. And speaking of strollers, we had two stolen out of our building within four months of my giving birth. We never felt unsafe physically in Prague, but we did endure a lot of petty crime, and that wears on a person after a while. Once we had kids, we knew we couldn’t maintain the constant vigilance necessary to protect ourselves.
Conclusion: It’s complicated. :)
May 11th, 2009 at 7:08 am
My dream place to live is somewhere exciting, warm and friendly.
Of the two places I have lived, Chicago is exciting and Montana is friendly. Both are cold in the winter, but wonderful in the summer. I would imagine that San Diego has my ideal weather. Despite being from Montana and living in Chicago, I detest snow!
In reality, I think there’s a tradeoff between my three desired attributes. Friendly places usually are not crowded, but excitement and warmth usually attracts crowds! Crowds can be good — I enjoy a good baseball game or concert — but lots of people can attract criminals and beggars, so that’s less fun. At least from my experience, more people also means more traffic, which further decreases the friendly-o-meter.
Nevertheless, the question is about my dream place, so I guess we’re not confined to reality or subject to tradeoffs. I say my dream place is San Montan-cago!
Really, it can be a dream to live in most places. I think the trick is to find the best part about your locale and relish that. As my mother-in-law told us on our wedding day, “bloom where you’re planted.”
May 11th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Well, we love love love our house here in New Jersey. It’s cozy, comfortable and totally us. But we are a three hour drive from my parents and family….however, we just returned from a vacation in florida, and this is the very first time we’ve ever returned from a trip and wished we were still on vacation. It was that great. I know it would be different if we lived there – for one, we simply couldn’t afford it. Because my sister in law and I both love real estate, we called up a couple of realtors and toured a few homes – a 3 bedroom condo similar to the one we stayed in for a week was on the market: $2.2 MILLION dollars. Uh, not in my price range at all! But since you asked for our dream: Matt and I would love to live on the water on the gulf coast…but not in the summer. In the summer we’d travel. :)
May 11th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I felt very comfortable whilst visiting the Devon and Cornwall area of England. I think I could be happy there because of the beautiful countryside, charming villages, nearby coast, culture, etc. I like the idea of local food products too, so I’d have a garden and hens, and buy local products. But moving to England would be difficult with all our family here in California. Perhaps Oregon would be better. It has a similar climate, but alas, no beautiful little cob cottages….
I have never wanted a large house, it seems so silly and wasteful. And I like the traditional European style of life: lots of walking, daily shopping, appreciation of food, art and culture. So basically I’d say my dream home would be an old cottage on a piece of property large enough to have a veg garden and chickens, and close enough to a village to have a sense of community.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Even though I’ve not been there yet. (Will go some day.) I think Kyoto would be fabulous! It looks like a great mix of the modern world and tradition.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I agree with Nicole. I feel so much more at home in Europe (Germany specifically). My husband is half German and has family who live around the Heidelberg area of Germany. Everytime we go for a visit, I feel so much more happier and alive. I cry everytime we have to leave and come home. If I had my choice to live anywhere, it would definately be Germany.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Well, I’d like to live in England. I’d like a flat in London as well as a nice house in the country. It would be close enough to the continent that I could travel through Europe and only 6 hours from the States. Plus all that history! Mmmmm….castles, cottages, pre-historic sites, famous houses. Oh, yes, I could be quite happy there.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Really enjoy your website. Even though you don’t know me I hope you don’t mind an anonymous stranger answering. I am most happy living where I have all my life, eastern PA. If DH gets a job offer he can’t refuse I could go slightly north or south. MD or CT, maybe. But mid-Atlantic suburbia, driving distance to the NJ shore, NY city, DC, mild weather (no tornados, few hurricances, no earthquakes) is just fine.
Having seen 31/50 states, Canada, the Carribean, a little of Europe, not sure I could adjust to actually living, as opposed to visiting, ANY of these places. (Although I LOVE traveling.) Foods I like not being available, different rules, different living spaces. You have an adventurous spirit. Honestly, I’d be complaining! :)
May 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I used to want to live in England – and now that I’m here I dislike it. People here are far too ‘easy going’ but to the point of being taken advantage of. If we went to a restaurant and ordered steak – my husband ordering his well done – and it came closer to rare, he would eat it and not say word. I can’t stand the public bus system, and the governement has no control over the youths. They created something called an ASBO which is more of a ‘cool’ thing to youths than the warning it should be. They wear it like a badge of honor. I hate having to pay to call my doctor (5p a minute), a mobile (up to 56p per minute), and my neighbour (daytime is 3p a minute)….yet calling the states is free. I’m sick of the schools letting kids out of school at 16, and giving them unemployment right away. I hate that the normal thing around here is to go to the pub and do binge drinking – and being considered ‘boring’ because my husband and I prefer to stay at home with the kids. :) I want to move back to the states… Either Wyoming or California…. Or maybe a house in one. Most ofmy family live in California now – but I consider Wyoming my home… If I got annoyed by family we could go for a break to see 2 of my sisters (and their families) in Wyoming…. and if it got too cold I could go to California. That would be perfect! Anywhere I can see the sky
May 11th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I have this dream of living off the grid on a local island. Dropping out of the crazy day-to-dayness of modern life, and baking and sewing and writing.
However, I am really happy living in the suburbs. Where I am now provides a great balance. I can walk to several stores and restaurants and have a garden. There is forest and ocean nearby. The only major downside is the commute to work, which I’m hoping to eliminate. Otherwise, it’s a pretty good compromise for our family of 4. :)
May 11th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
My husband and I are pretty much in love with the area we live in now. It’s a good-sized town, but we live outside city limits. If we’re craving that big city atmosphere, we’re only a half hour drive outside of Asheville, North Carolina.* Plus, we live in a valley, where we are surrounded by mountains covered in trees, we rarely use the air conditioning because there is always a breeze, you can smell the dairy farms down the road on warm days, our dog has plenty of room to run, and we have a clothesline!
The downside is that it is not our house, it is a parsonage attached to the church where my husband works. We had to ask for permission to paint and get the color approved, and I can’t take a sledgehammer to our bathroom like I’m itching to.
So, the mountains of western North Carolina is my (current) dream area, but this is not my dream house.
*I do realize that this does not qualify as a big city to most people. I’m from a small town in South Carolina, so it’s big enough for me. My husband wants to go to grad school in DC, and I’m nervous. I’m really not a hick, I swear.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I’ve visited Belize several times and it is one of my favourite place in the world. I just love the water and the beautiful reefs. I could spend a lifetime just in the water there. I visited a hotel there out on an isolated caye. There were simple wooden shelters/huts with louvred windows, mosquito nets over the beds. The little huts were practically right on the beach. It was all really rustic. I could not imagine living there full-time but it sure would be nice to spend a few months a year there and then spend the rest of the time at home, here in Canada.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:11 am
I grew up living all over the US, so speak from experience: If we could transport our German family, the pace of life and eco-friendly everyday-ness we experience here in Germany to the island we used to live on back on Boston’s north shore, that would be the perfect locale. I like the personality of Americans better than Germans. Americans — even tough old Yankees! — are more welcoming than the Germans. We have some very nice German friends here, don’t get me wrong, but culturally they’re not as involved friendships as we’d have to Americans we’re just as close to. Since those kinds of relationships are important to both me (american wife) and my German husband, we always feel torn about staying in Germany (with it’s long list of pro’s) or trying to move back to the States (option 2 has lots of messy strings attached). I have to say I’m thankful we don’t live in a small German village, I just hear horror stories about people NEVER managing to make good friends out there! Our university town/city suffices just fine =)
May 12th, 2009 at 6:03 am
oh dear… tough question for me. I would love to go where I call home – back to Indonesia. The thing is, there aren’t really jobs and careers out there. Perhaps Thailand or Singapore? The kind of place with beaches and heat and fried rice and motorcycle taxis.
I would love to live in Europe, though. I love little quaint old towns, be it the ivy-covered Oxford or Kandern. Who knows. I hope I don’t stay here in Dallas!
May 12th, 2009 at 7:03 am
I would like to live near my family. Currently, I do not, so my hope is that I will live near my children when they are adults. Now…it would be great if we could all move to Europe and live there, wouldn’t it?!
May 12th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Oooh my gosh. I’m dreaming of so many other places Martin and I should check out. He’s not going to like this…! :) Love your ideas. More important, the passion behind why you’re all choosing the places you do. Beautiful!
Katie
May 12th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Whenever I go on vacation, I wonder why I live in St. Louis-no beach, no mountains, nasty summers, etc. But what keeps me here for now is family. I guess in a perfect world I’d have a beach house and a mountain home, lol. Even in St. Louis, I have a dilemma-city or county? I love city living, for sure, and the old homes and architectural details are fantastic. But, the city simply isn’t as safe as the county and that might be a factor when/if we decide to have kids.
May 13th, 2009 at 9:36 am
My ideal place to live is my wife’s family’s plot of land in the lovely St. Croix River Valley in western Wisconsin. The trees, the river, the seclusion, the space — all wonderful. One day…
May 13th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
It’s funny to think about that question because growing up I’ve had the dream of going to/living in three places: San Diego, Italy, and Australia. I’ve lived in San Diego during the first two years of marriage to my loving husband, Jim. Then we traveled to Italy twice (once for our fifth year anniversary, and once before moving overseas). Now we live in Sydney, Australia. Since my “childhood” dream-places have been checked off, it’s time for new places. I’d love to live in the countryside of England like in the movie “The Holiday”, or in a Mediterranean Island close to the beach, or in a log cabin in the mountains somewhere. :)
May 18th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
i love where i am. city but county…………..large college town i guess. i just wish it was technicaly in canada.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Dream place? That’s a difficult one… as I dont think I could choose just one. Our plan is to buy a place in Italy in a small village and a pied a terre in Paris. But then for tax reasons we might just need to live part – time in a tax haven such as Belgium. I’ve finally convinced my husband that we do need to a piece of property in AMERICA though… I’d love a small little house nearby my sister’s home in Oklahoma so that whenever I visit I have my own place to stay.
Hmmm… Diva Tours better start making some serious money to fund my plans!!!!