Funny how it goes from appealing to "American Lord of the Rings nerds and Peter Thiel" really quickly.
Had our honeymoon in New Zealand and really loved it. Auckland and Wellington are both beautiful, but, frankly, I'd rather be somewhere more relaxed like Nelson. I wish we had spent more time enjoying the south island and less time up north. Not so practical if you're trying to find work, though, I suppose. (I didn't make it to Christchurch).
The housing prices really did surprise, though. Granted, most places I looked at housing costs were more "wandering around town, find real estate office, look at what's in the window" so it ended up being expensive places like Auckland, Queenstown, Wanaka, etc, but it was still quite surprising, and left me wondering how anyone could afford it without bringing in money from the outside.
Then again, the grass is always greener -- I moved from Seattle to the SF area 15 years ago for the better weather and better traffic (don't laugh!) yet every time I travel, I find myself drawn to living in places like Reykjavik, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Nelson, etc. I'm sure the realities of the climates of these various places would come to me after the novelty wore off. And perhaps I just look fondly upon them because they remind me of "home" -- even though I was so happy to leave it.
I left DC for Maine. So far, the novelty hasn't worn off. I like to think of cold, snowy winters as the natural repellent that prevents us from getting too crowded.
I am screwed if my job goes away (screwed in that I'd have to move). For one, there aren't a lot of fortune 500 companies up here, and I've noticed a desire for smaller companies to prefer people with small/startup experience. I don't blame them, some of the challenges are unique. Also, given where I'm at in my career on the low end of the executive ranks, there just aren't a lot of laterals available up here on a good day.
All of those downsides and it's still the best move I ever made.
For a different viewpoint, I moved away from Maine after college, to Massachusetts, and wouldn't move back. The politics of the area are backwards and profoundly broken in the "boy, I hope you're a straight white male or things are gonna get rough" sort of way you don't expect from the general oasis of New England sanity, the drug issues in the places I grew up are rampant, and the public schools are being actively choked to death (because who needs that, yeah?).
It's a beautiful place. I'm glad I left and I'm glad the few people in my family still there are either retired or working on escaping.
I'm in the Portland area, which I think helps. Occasionally we miss city life, so we head down to Boston, which is a pretty reasonable 90 minute drive.
I don't think I could live too far north of Freeport or Brunswick, and I'm not very interested in living too far west of 95. Parts of this state are certainly backwards. Actually, the majority is if you go by land area, but I think we have a nice thing going in York and Cumberland counties.
My target is to live in Sweden after I finish grad school. I've been looking at ECE positions to gauge the market, and it strangely seems pretty small. The good thing is that Sweden has a special 1 year work visa deal with several countries including Australia, which I am a citizen of. My plan is to use that year to do some direct job hunting and also make sure I like the country!
That's great to hear; it is an amazing country after all! I always joke with my family that if I could choose my country of origin, it would be Sweden! My parents (originally Tunisian) usually end up nodding in agreement :)
Had our honeymoon in New Zealand and really loved it. Auckland and Wellington are both beautiful, but, frankly, I'd rather be somewhere more relaxed like Nelson. I wish we had spent more time enjoying the south island and less time up north. Not so practical if you're trying to find work, though, I suppose. (I didn't make it to Christchurch).
The housing prices really did surprise, though. Granted, most places I looked at housing costs were more "wandering around town, find real estate office, look at what's in the window" so it ended up being expensive places like Auckland, Queenstown, Wanaka, etc, but it was still quite surprising, and left me wondering how anyone could afford it without bringing in money from the outside.
Then again, the grass is always greener -- I moved from Seattle to the SF area 15 years ago for the better weather and better traffic (don't laugh!) yet every time I travel, I find myself drawn to living in places like Reykjavik, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Nelson, etc. I'm sure the realities of the climates of these various places would come to me after the novelty wore off. And perhaps I just look fondly upon them because they remind me of "home" -- even though I was so happy to leave it.