Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Just out of curiosity, can you remain as long as you like, or is it contingent on remaining on active duty or something?<< I still have 7 years minimum on active duty before retirement, and I have enough contacts here that I could stay here as a DA civilian if I wanted, which is a strong possibility. Weather is similiar to Washington,alot of rain, but a little colder with more snow. But the fact that it rains so much means the entire country is green, with beautiful hiking/bike trails and a ton of skiing. I think one of the reasons why I like Europe is the public rail system is outstanding. I know you have a great system in Japan Mr.X, and can probably agree that a good public transportation system is a positive when living somewhere. Mr. X, if you are ever in Germany let me know, they have some incredible beer halls and it is a fantastic experience.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***I have enough contacts here that I could stay here as a DA civilian if I wanted, which is a strong possibility.*** Very cool that you have good options! ***Weather is similiar to Washington,alot of rain, but a little colder with more snow.*** Sounds similar to Tokyo, actually (which is a damned site better than my hometown of Boston lol). ***But the fact that it rains so much means the entire country is green, with beautiful hiking/bike trails and a ton of skiing.*** Sounds beautiful! ***I think one of the reasons why I like Europe is the public rail system is outstanding. I know you have a great system in Japan Mr.X, and can probably agree that a good public transportation system is a positive when living somewhere.*** Agreed 100%. I really wish America could get something like that off the ground (I was really excited about the Obama high speed train plan, but I'm skeptical about it ever getting off the ground). It's great to know you can zip around Japan anywhere you want to quickly and easily, at a fairly reasonable cost. Sounds like Europe is pretty much the same. ***Mr. X, if you are ever in Germany let me know, they have some incredible beer halls and it is a fantastic experience.*** Will do!
Originally Posted By Mr X By the way, thanks to all who wrote in with their thoughts and favorite places! Keep em coming, this is a fun thread to read!
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<I really wish America could get something like that off the ground>> If you could get a train off the ground, it would be an airplane. LOL. OK, it could be a monorail too. But I agree about public transportation, and it's one of the reasons why I enjoy Tokyo and London...they are both very easy to get around without a car. Paris is good too.
Originally Posted By Mr X lol. New York is pretty maxed out too, though. And I thought the public transit in Boston and San Francisco were decent enough though in need of improvement (Boston WAY more than SF). It'd be neat if America could manage to connect a few of the cities though (even a big one to a few medium sized ones). With a halfway decent high speed rail system, the entire NorthEast corridor could be a breeze, and it wouldn't be much of a stretch to integrate Chicago and thus most of the midwest. Just as Japanese people generally only take to the air when traveling far North or South, it would be VERY cool to connect America in three places (Northeast, West, and Central via a Texas/Southern network) so requiring a flight would only be for truly long distances).
Originally Posted By trekkeruss The northeast corridor does have high speed rail; I guess it could be argued it's only halfway halfway decent. I haven't ridden the Acela, but the trains are supposedly quite nice. The thing that drags it down is the tracks. They run on conventional lines, unlike the dedicated tracks that the TGV and Shinkansen lines have. So consequently they can only run up to I think about 240kph; a full 60kph slower than the European and Japanese systems. On top of that, because there are so many tight turns, the average speed only about half its maximum, making it ridiculously slow in comparison.
Originally Posted By Mr X Acela? That's not half-way decent, it's stupid. They built the good trains on the old tracks (as you said)...it's my understanding that they can only run the thing at top speed for an 18 mile stretch. I don't consider the northeast corridor to have "high speed rail" whatsoever, sadly. How much time does it cut off the journey, 20 minutes? Compare that to Tokyo-Osaka in 2.5 hours (a 7 hour drive). Acela is a real bummer as far as I'm concerned (plus it's very expensive to boot, is it not?).
Originally Posted By Labuda Well, as amazing as it may be to everyone, for my primary residence, I honestly can't think of any place better for me than Austin. I dig the whole "Keep Austin Weird" scene, the fact that we've got at least 200 bands playing in town every night, and for a town as small as this, the theatre scene here rocks. Also, we've got some great museums, specifically the LBJ Library and the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum. Also, we're in a prime spot in Texas - the base of the Hill Country, and we're less than 2 hours from my beautiful hometown San Antonio, less than 3 to Houston, and less than 5 to Dallas/Ft. Worth. Loads of great day trips exist in this area, and we have the wonderful Lady Bird Lake (formerly town Lake). Austin is about community, and it shows. I truly love it here. San Antonio will always be Home, but Austin is home. And, as for my secondary, there's the hard part. Seeing what you gentlemen have said about Hong Kong makes me want to name that as my second home. I love cities that never sleep, and while Austin is a BIT like that, it's not enough like that to keep me happy. In order to find one of the GOOD 24-hr restaurants in town, I have to drive about 10 miles. Nothing here in my neighborhood. Bummer! Also, I'm drawn to the French countryside. It just looks SO pretty, and relaxing. As long as I still had high speed internet, I could easily be happy living in the country again - grew up in the country, and it was great. Oh, and Seattle would be my 4th home - everyone I know tells me that with my personality and love of rain, Seattle would be a very good fit for me. Thanks for starting this thread! I look forward to reading what everyone else says.
Originally Posted By disney pete weve had this before and i still stick with orlando florida i could put up with the sticky summers.
Originally Posted By ecdc Nice, France. Very close to Cannes and Marseilles, on the French Riviera. It's also very close to Monaco. You're a day's drive to Rome and Paris.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Nice, France.<< Stayed there a week for Christmas and didn't really like it. Although Monte Carlo is a hell of a city, I just didn't like Nice, felt too dirty for me... Then again, I didn't like Paris either. ecdc, have you ever visited Nice?
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin I was stuck in Nice - airplane, train, and bus strike in France. A strike in France, NO! I didn't really like it. I like sand beaches, and it didn't feel very friendly. I do love Paris. I'd like to live in coastal So Cal, somewhere close enough to LA and DL, with perfect year-round weather.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney I agree, I seen a little of the French countryside and its VERY beautiful but not for me. Not trying to bring Labuda down lol, I just think its overhyped. But admittedly I'm not a country person. I really am a bright lights, big city person. I HAVE lived in a small town before, my university, but even then it was close to a big city (San Francisco)and being a university student where you live on a big campus within the town is obviously not the same, as life is just more different. But I'm not a Paris fan at all. Its nice, but yeah not the cleanest place (but I want to live in Asia lol, so cant exactly complain) and the people just dont do it for me (sorry, but its TRUE!!!). Not France mind you, just Paris. But I could see myself living in Nice for a year or something, but not forever...but I might get there and never want to leave lol.
Originally Posted By onlyme Cambria, CA...a nice little house overlooking the rocky shores of the Pacific. Nothing else even comes close.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<I'm not a Paris fan at all. Its nice, but yeah not the cleanest place (but I want to live in Asia lol, so cant exactly complain)>> As an aside, my sister likes to comment that when we go to Japantown in LA, the stores, restaurants, etc. are nice and clean, but when you go to Chinatown (we're Chinese) everything is dirty. She's not too thrilled by that aspect of our heritage; that Chinese society is not particularly concerned with cleanliness.
Originally Posted By lesmisfan i would so live in europe!!! I don't know why but i would. its so lovely there!!!
Originally Posted By Labuda No worried, WD, you're not bringing me down. I, too, am a bright lights, big city kind of person, BUT I grew up in the country, and know I can survive it quite well if I get stuck living in the middle of nowhere.
Originally Posted By Labuda Ans here's a neat article about Austin from the NYT. <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/travel/29hours.html?hpw" target="_blank">http://travel.nytimes.com/2009...html?hpw</a> See? My town TOCKS!
