In the current climate it appears remote working will be more common. So where would you want to move too? Or would you become a nomad? Or is current home, perfect?
Close to Denver. High elevation town at 8200 feet, homesites to 9800 feet elevation.
Adequate internet.
Cheaper than Evergreen, and a bit higher.
High elevation is good for health.
Wildlife (deer, migratory birds, elk, foxes and the occasional Black Bear).
Small town but has what is needed. (Grocery, vet, medical, dentist, car repair, chain saw shop)
Same distance from ski areas as Denver.
Lots of snow in winter, and mild sunny summers.
I live in Cambridge and its perfect for my needs, for now. Small university town, everything at bikeable distance, cosmopolitan: if I want to meet a person from any country or experience their cuisine, eveything is available here. London is just an hour away by train. And companies like Microsoft, Apple and IBM have their offices here. The only problem is that in UK its extremely hard to get a sense of community and make new friends - especially with the native Brits, who prefer to be aloof and not really interested in connecting beyond the surface
I don’t think you are missing out, since in my experience you usually only find “pub” friends to drink with, who often have unhealthy drinking habits and don’t become actual friends (albeit I’m faux British: in New Zealand!). Any activity (sport, hobby, work) where you hang with locals gives you the chance to make healthier relationships.
For anyone looking to make friends in a pub, you want to find a pub that is social. Some signals to look for: (a) a very wide range of ages that go there, (b) casual drinkers who are there to socialise rather than get drunk, (c) a single woman can drink at the pub comfortably without getting hit on, (d) not heaving full but rarely empty, (e) no loud music - or even better no music - if any live music it is quiet enough to talk over, (f) not a “popular“ place but a place for locals, and (g) it “feels” like someone’s house rather than a bar. That style of pub is dissapearing, and they are hard to find in large cities, but they do exist and they have a completely different culture.
Edit: if anyone from the Isles can comment on their take on this, I would appreciate it.
True in the past, but a non-issue these days, especially with younger colleagues.
> Also, being "white" helps, I think
Maybe in very provincial communities in parts of the country but not in the major cities - at least not since the 90s onwards. If anything I'd say the UK is one of the more open minded countries I've seen.
Another thing I just remembered. The British have a great love for volunteering. I had a friend who moved to St Albans due to work and volunteered at the de Havilland air craft museum and got good friends of all age groups in the area from that and got to help out on restoring planes.
Shame it's so astronomically expensive. I don't think I could ever afford a nice family house there. Don't really understand where all the lecturers and tech workers live.
True! I think it gets inexpensive very rapidly as one moves away from the centre - and thats where most workers live. I am single so I can afford living near the centre for now.
I found that when I first moved to the area, but it's not too hard to get involved with groups like Makespace, Cambridge Wireless or Cambridge Network, CSAR or the Centre for Computing History to expand your circle.
I lived in Cambridge for 18 months in 1987-88. You should be very very glad of the tech companies there, because there's now a community to be a part of that isn't the university. When I was there (working for Schlumberger out on Madingley Road), there was almost nothing happening in town that wasn't university-related, and if you didn't have an inside connection, you weren't a part of it.
I have a sort-of-cousin who lives there now, and he loves it , though he did find a way into the university crowd anyway.
I can't imagine wanting to use satellite internet as my daily driver. A quick search says that the physical limit for latency is around 500ms? That's unplayable for most video games, and would make things like SSH'ing to a server pretty annoying.
But I imagine you'd probably go there to get away from things, and just rely on internet when absolutely needed.
Starlink will be a LEO (low earth orbit) satellite network. Satellites travel at much lower altitudes resulting in much lower latencies (I think easily below 50ms was what I read before).
And, in practice, the latency will actually be better than fibre. So instead of a 240msec ping to the US from NZ, it'd be closer to the theoretical minimum of 25msec, but by how much, who knows? I could see a realistic 50-80msec perhaps.
FWIW I've been using conventional (geo-stationary) satellite for the past 7 weeks. SSH is surprisingly not horrible, though it could obviously be snappier. RTT for servers that are physically ~250 km away is ~600ms. (Obviously you really shouldn't be ssh'ing into your servers anyway - that's what configuration management tools are for.)
No one wants to use satellite as their daily driver, but almost by definition some of the best places on the planet are necessarily a long way from a) people, and b) modern infrastructure. Everything is a tradeoff.
Most video games are perfectly playable -- but I suspect you meant most multiplayer video games, and yes, that latency's not going to work for you.
Why not Far North instead - the county of never ending summer?
I'm too excited for Starlink capabilities for offshore sailing and working (though sailing is involved enough that working on the side didn't work well for me before).
However, if you're earning a good salary, I would suggest Lake Hawea if you want to still be part of society. (and you should still be covered by the nations gig fibre network there)
Not quite all of them - I'm out in Rakaia Gorge, no fibre for me :)
But I have a 5gz wireless connection from Netspeed that works just fine for video conferencing and collaboration. It's more expensive than fibre and it comes with data limits, but it lets me work from where I want to live, so I consider the extra cost to be worth it.
This next year or two might be your chance to get a home for a good deal. Vegas and similar cities are projected to have a very hard landing due to them being so dependent on tourism, boom and bust cycles, etc.
Healthcare and social safety nets would be my reason. Even people who thought they had adequate healthcare can go bankrupt, and every time I see a Reddit post about one doctor being "out of network" leading to a large bill I'm glad that sort of thing doesn't have to occupy any of my mental space at all. I had a hard enough time picking car insurance.
The social safety nets is not so much for myself, but being surrounded by others who are struggling is unpleasant but also leads to societal issues overall (crime hotspots, etc).
I long ago decided that settling in the USA would be great if I ever magically become rich, but until then since I have no roots in the area it's nice to visit but I'm not sure I'd stay. One definite benefit though is that the states vary a lot in culture and feel so you can probably find an area that suits you.
On a small sailboat outfitted with batteries and solar panels. Ideally I'd dock only once every few days to take meetings/sync my data/connect to the internet, and then head back to open waters.
This is my fantasy as well. We are so close to reliable cheap satellite internet, the only thing you'd need to come to shore for is groceries/ water/ fuel.
I'm going nomad for a while and going to live in a travel trailer. I'll probably buy multiple air cards from different phone providers to make sure I have a good connection. This way I can visit the communities I have roots in for extended periods of time while still exploring other places in the U.S.
I'd live more country-side, where you get a lot more house and land for your money. Preferably near a forest and a small lake. I want to get away from the city, but I'd still like to have a town nearby for schools for the kids so that they can have friends to walk/bike to. I'd just like the space to build a fire, build a pizza oven and not bother anybody. And I never want to hear anybody else's outdoor speaker ever again :) (All this in the Netherlands.)
Also I'd like enough rooms to have a proper office (big desk, many screens, drawers filled with Raspberry Pi's, I love computers), now I work in my sons room. I'd also like to have the space to put something like a car wreck on my land, so the kids can explore it. You know, create a rich learning environment, outside and inside.
Edit: Just like Deanna and Riker on Nepenthe [0] but with other people within walking distance ;)
I live in Montevideo, Uruguay and i’m really interested on why would you like to live here? I was born here and think it’s a nice little place but would like to have the perspective from someone from the “outside”.
How is it living there? I'm from Buenos Aires, but I'm seriously thinking of leaving. Being close and much freer Uruguay is a natural choice, but I'm not entirely sure. Would you recommend emigrating to Montevideo?
Definitely! It has a much slower peace than BsAs, but quality of life is pretty good plus it’s quite stable economically and socially speaking. If you are in the tech industry you will have plenty of work, and if you export software you have some nice tax exceptions. Judging from the outside and being your neighbor, i’m quite worried about the direction Argentina is headed right now.
It's pretty worrysome. And it's not just the economy that's tanking. The way the government is limiting more and more freedoms every day is quite concerning. I think you guys have a much stronger tradition of upholding freedom, so I might move there once restrictions are lifted.
Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Italy, Spain, South France, etc.
Maybe Tunisia or North Morocco.
Depends on which culture makes the best impression, and after that, I would settle down for 5-6 years.
My 2nd choice would be the Carribean, but the countries are more hit and miss, small islands means everything is expensive, and hot weather year round sounds nice in theory, but I'm sure I'd get tired of it within 3-4 months. I like seasons.
nah, Mediterranean is huge. Many affordable places there. If you look at the well advertised "brand" places then for sure it's expensive. Greetings from Cyprus.
There was a phase of my life where I felt a nomadic existence would be ideal.
Later I went through another phase in which I imagined finding the perfect place and establishing an amazing existence there in an environment uniquely suited to my temperament.
In the current (perhaps final?) phase I realized that everything I want to do and which is important to me is connected with the place I happen to be.
I've often said to people "There's no such thing as paradise. Everywhere has its issues and problems. What matters is whether you care about those problems or not."
When I lived in Seattle in the 1990s, I cared about the problems I saw/knew about in the PNW. When I lived in Philadelphia for 22 years, I really didn't care about the problems. Seattle felt like paradise. Philadelphia just felt like a place to live.
Seattle, exactly where my family lives now. I didn't move for work all those years ago, though it obviously helped that I could move somewhere and have a job.
Living in a city is awesome for us; we don't have to drive, can walk to almost everywhere we want to go on a daily basis, and have super close access to all of the nature, culture, and the like we could ever want.
I'll be working on moving to Vancouver, BC in the next few years. Small house not near people. I'd like to heavily customize the interior - a thing that I don't do while I don't own.
I think I’d still prefer living in a city on the East or West coast. I’m in the LGBT community, and I like living in a state with explicit legal protections against housing, healthcare, and employment discrimination. On top of that, the LGBT community has a lot of history in these cities, and lots of social groups to connect with. I also just enjoy city activities more!
A lot of people underestimate how important this is for us. So many countries in which I'd love to live are ruled out immediately, and we simply don't have the flexibility to only take into consideration cost of living, natural beauty, family, etc.
Relatively speaking, are very few places in the world where you can live a "normal" life as an LGBT person.
I'd like to go nomad, let's travel! I am french, but I think that if I want to settle, I will go Taiwan : mountains, beach, city, good foods. And the life there is a mix between innovations and traditions, it's really nice.
If it's for a short term, I will go back to Philippines, the life is really sweet and enjoyable there.
I was in Kaohsiung from 2014-2018. There's a good community of hospex (was CouchSurfing, now hopefully BeWelcome), including weekly meetups in Taipei, Hsinchu, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.
Just don't dare to speak up about the air pollution. It's bad, but trying to do anything about it could get you in trouble.
My parents are actually from Taiwan and taiwanese, but me being born and raised in CA, I would still hesitate to live in Taiwan due to the language barrier.
I'm curious why someone like you, who likely speaks even less mandarin than me would want to live there?
Language wouldn't be a really problem to you in Taiwan if you choose a more modern and bigger city to live. You probably would straggle to speak English to old people in some counties, such as Yunlin and Chayyi, but younger adults would try to speak English to you at their best effort and whether who they are and the level of their English ability, they would be very friendly and warm to treat you.
Easy: Los Angeles, where I already live. Most multi-cultural place in the country, best weather (fantastic for mental health), and since I'm remote: zero of the traffic that most people associate with LA.
A ton, for every appetite and style! This is exactly why LA rocks, it's got a little something for everyone. DM me on Twitter @aloukissas and I can share some stuff. Pie 'n Burger in Pasadena though is insanely good.
I've often joked that there are only three choices of where to live: near your family, near your partner's family, or New York. In our case, we were able to use the fact that I went remote to live closer to my partner's family in New England. For many of us in relationships, being remote doesn't offer the flexibility to live anywhere in the world, but it means we're tied to a particular region by only one job instead of two.
I wonder why so many people wishing to live in rural locations pick places with brutally cold winters, rather than the tropics. If you want to live off the land you'll have a much harder time of it in cold places.
These are people who are living remotely. It's probably better than they pick a place where the land is less productive, since they intend to live off their coding skills. They can leave the productive land to the people who need it.
I think the issue is that everyone already lives in the warm places. You have what -- Southern California (high taxes, very populated), Florida (it ain't cheap and gets wiped off the map by hurricanes every few decades), Hawaii (expensive), the deep South and Texas (not that warm in the winter really), the desert southwest (it is very nice in the winter, but it's 110 every day in the summer).
There just aren't a lot of places in the US that have nice winters. Those that do are already overflowing with people. Part of the reason that the bay area is so expensive is because the weather is so nice. People are on to your little scam of avoiding winter ;)
Hawaii is not very expensive unless you want to live in a country club neighborhood and survive on imported products.
You left off Puerto Rico.
I know many Americans who have moved to Central/South American countries without much trouble. Costa Rica is so popular they're worried about gentrification. Ecuador is up and coming for expats.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 559 ms ] threadClose to Denver. High elevation town at 8200 feet, homesites to 9800 feet elevation. Adequate internet. Cheaper than Evergreen, and a bit higher. High elevation is good for health. Wildlife (deer, migratory birds, elk, foxes and the occasional Black Bear). Small town but has what is needed. (Grocery, vet, medical, dentist, car repair, chain saw shop) Same distance from ski areas as Denver. Lots of snow in winter, and mild sunny summers.
I don’t think you are missing out, since in my experience you usually only find “pub” friends to drink with, who often have unhealthy drinking habits and don’t become actual friends (albeit I’m faux British: in New Zealand!). Any activity (sport, hobby, work) where you hang with locals gives you the chance to make healthier relationships.
For anyone looking to make friends in a pub, you want to find a pub that is social. Some signals to look for: (a) a very wide range of ages that go there, (b) casual drinkers who are there to socialise rather than get drunk, (c) a single woman can drink at the pub comfortably without getting hit on, (d) not heaving full but rarely empty, (e) no loud music - or even better no music - if any live music it is quiet enough to talk over, (f) not a “popular“ place but a place for locals, and (g) it “feels” like someone’s house rather than a bar. That style of pub is dissapearing, and they are hard to find in large cities, but they do exist and they have a completely different culture.
Edit: if anyone from the Isles can comment on their take on this, I would appreciate it.
True in the past, but a non-issue these days, especially with younger colleagues.
> Also, being "white" helps, I think
Maybe in very provincial communities in parts of the country but not in the major cities - at least not since the 90s onwards. If anything I'd say the UK is one of the more open minded countries I've seen.
I have a sort-of-cousin who lives there now, and he loves it , though he did find a way into the university crowd anyway.
But I imagine you'd probably go there to get away from things, and just rely on internet when absolutely needed.
Which is still pretty mind-blowing.
No one wants to use satellite as their daily driver, but almost by definition some of the best places on the planet are necessarily a long way from a) people, and b) modern infrastructure. Everything is a tradeoff.
Most video games are perfectly playable -- but I suspect you meant most multiplayer video games, and yes, that latency's not going to work for you.
I'm too excited for Starlink capabilities for offshore sailing and working (though sailing is involved enough that working on the side didn't work well for me before).
However, if you're earning a good salary, I would suggest Lake Hawea if you want to still be part of society. (and you should still be covered by the nations gig fibre network there)
But I have a 5gz wireless connection from Netspeed that works just fine for video conferencing and collaboration. It's more expensive than fibre and it comes with data limits, but it lets me work from where I want to live, so I consider the extra cost to be worth it.
The twist is I could probably arrange that, but my daughter lives in So Cal.
If I can move with a community that wants to be nomadic I'd try that.
If not, Vegas, here I come :)
The social safety nets is not so much for myself, but being surrounded by others who are struggling is unpleasant but also leads to societal issues overall (crime hotspots, etc).
I long ago decided that settling in the USA would be great if I ever magically become rich, but until then since I have no roots in the area it's nice to visit but I'm not sure I'd stay. One definite benefit though is that the states vary a lot in culture and feel so you can probably find an area that suits you.
Also I'd like enough rooms to have a proper office (big desk, many screens, drawers filled with Raspberry Pi's, I love computers), now I work in my sons room. I'd also like to have the space to put something like a car wreck on my land, so the kids can explore it. You know, create a rich learning environment, outside and inside.
Edit: Just like Deanna and Riker on Nepenthe [0] but with other people within walking distance ;)
[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9420288/
Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Italy, Spain, South France, etc. Maybe Tunisia or North Morocco.
Depends on which culture makes the best impression, and after that, I would settle down for 5-6 years.
My 2nd choice would be the Carribean, but the countries are more hit and miss, small islands means everything is expensive, and hot weather year round sounds nice in theory, but I'm sure I'd get tired of it within 3-4 months. I like seasons.
It's a bit like California: all the parts of it I'd want to live, I can't afford, and all the parts I can afford, I don't want to live in.
Californian coastline is ~850 miles.
Also, much, much lower COL in certain countries, obviously going up for premier destinations (like Ibiza, etc.)
California coastal properties are ALL mind-blowingly expensive. I don't work at FAANG so CA property is a non-starter.
Later I went through another phase in which I imagined finding the perfect place and establishing an amazing existence there in an environment uniquely suited to my temperament.
In the current (perhaps final?) phase I realized that everything I want to do and which is important to me is connected with the place I happen to be.
The grass is greener on the other side for me. I always feel someplace else is better than here.
When I lived in Seattle in the 1990s, I cared about the problems I saw/knew about in the PNW. When I lived in Philadelphia for 22 years, I really didn't care about the problems. Seattle felt like paradise. Philadelphia just felt like a place to live.
I would be more likely to change jobs if remote working becomes predominant than I would be to change where I live.
Living in a city is awesome for us; we don't have to drive, can walk to almost everywhere we want to go on a daily basis, and have super close access to all of the nature, culture, and the like we could ever want.
Once they're gone, though, my partner and I have talked a lot about spending 2-4 months at a time in different parts of the world.
We have a list of places on basically every continent that we'll want to visit. Semi-nomadic is probably the way I would describe the ideal situation.
I don't really like Málaga but Granada is also a solid choice if you can bear the hot weather.
Relatively speaking, are very few places in the world where you can live a "normal" life as an LGBT person.
If it's for a short term, I will go back to Philippines, the life is really sweet and enjoyable there.
Just don't dare to speak up about the air pollution. It's bad, but trying to do anything about it could get you in trouble.
I'm curious why someone like you, who likely speaks even less mandarin than me would want to live there?
There just aren't a lot of places in the US that have nice winters. Those that do are already overflowing with people. Part of the reason that the bay area is so expensive is because the weather is so nice. People are on to your little scam of avoiding winter ;)
You left off Puerto Rico.
I know many Americans who have moved to Central/South American countries without much trouble. Costa Rica is so popular they're worried about gentrification. Ecuador is up and coming for expats.