I crave variety so it's difficult to imagine giving up one place for only one other. I'm currently living in Oregon. It's beautiful in the summer but the winters bring out a strong desire to travel. I'd love to spend winters in Mexico, Sante Fe, or Sedona to start.
I've been trying to figure out how to create a winter and summer place to live. Ideally, I'd have two houses (in different regions), but right now I don't even have one :) So, baby steps. In the interim, I'll probably keep a small apartment somewhere in the US and then sublet it out while traveling.
Consider my home state, New Mexico. (I am proud to point out: a blue state. People overlook/ignore NM and Colorado, and dismiss the entire intra-coastal US wholesale.) They have something like 350 days of sparkling sunshine a year, and a lower cost of living than Southern California. I don't know of you consider Albuquerque or Santa Fe 'urban' enough compared to NY, Boston, or LA, but they're not rinky-dink small towns, either.
I quite like Santa Fe. Funny, when I was having my meltdown in NY in Jan/Feb 2021, I started looking at homes in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Palm Springs, CA, and Los Angeles. I might look at Santa Fe again, though in my ideal world, I'd end up somewhere a little warmer in winter :) But if 2025 becomes even more apocalyptic, I might head to Europe (on whatever visa I can finagle first) and figure out the rest later. Let's be honest, this is where I'm leaning, anyway. The health insurance costs are sooooo much higher if I remain in the US as a freelancer.
Santa Fe is urban enough. I really just want a small walkable area that functions like a self-contained neighborhood. I made the "urban" distinction more for US readers because I've been asked why I don't simply get a cabin in a tiny town in someplace like northern Vermont. So I need to clarify that I don't want to be in a rural place, or the kind of mindless suburbs with identical housing, no place to walk, and the shopping options are Walmart or Costco.
I crave variety so it's difficult to imagine giving up one place for only one other. I'm currently living in Oregon. It's beautiful in the summer but the winters bring out a strong desire to travel. I'd love to spend winters in Mexico, Sante Fe, or Sedona to start.
I've been trying to figure out how to create a winter and summer place to live. Ideally, I'd have two houses (in different regions), but right now I don't even have one :) So, baby steps. In the interim, I'll probably keep a small apartment somewhere in the US and then sublet it out while traveling.
Consider my home state, New Mexico. (I am proud to point out: a blue state. People overlook/ignore NM and Colorado, and dismiss the entire intra-coastal US wholesale.) They have something like 350 days of sparkling sunshine a year, and a lower cost of living than Southern California. I don't know of you consider Albuquerque or Santa Fe 'urban' enough compared to NY, Boston, or LA, but they're not rinky-dink small towns, either.
I quite like Santa Fe. Funny, when I was having my meltdown in NY in Jan/Feb 2021, I started looking at homes in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Palm Springs, CA, and Los Angeles. I might look at Santa Fe again, though in my ideal world, I'd end up somewhere a little warmer in winter :) But if 2025 becomes even more apocalyptic, I might head to Europe (on whatever visa I can finagle first) and figure out the rest later. Let's be honest, this is where I'm leaning, anyway. The health insurance costs are sooooo much higher if I remain in the US as a freelancer.
Santa Fe is urban enough. I really just want a small walkable area that functions like a self-contained neighborhood. I made the "urban" distinction more for US readers because I've been asked why I don't simply get a cabin in a tiny town in someplace like northern Vermont. So I need to clarify that I don't want to be in a rural place, or the kind of mindless suburbs with identical housing, no place to walk, and the shopping options are Walmart or Costco.