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I live in San Diego, California, which is pretty fine, so you'd need an atom bomb to pry me out of here. If, however, I had to pick a spot outside the U.S., it would be Switzerland. A beautiful country and one which is not on the front line of politics, which these days bores/scares me.
What's interesting to me is that I have neighbors who are Germans. They've lived in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all places in which the dad worked for a major multi-national. Their move here was job-related, but when he got assigned back to Europe, the rest of the family stayed here where the children went to school/university and eventually married. So they made their decision, though I don't know why. It can't just be the cold winters, can it?
1. San Diego-La Jolla area
2. Barcelona
3. Santa Clara, California
4. Austin, TX
Spent a few days in San Antonio, near Austin. Loved the river walk, but like Angela says, the summer is a killer and I lived most of my youth in Phoenix so I know heat (or course I wouldn't go back to live there either).
San Antonio and Austin have a different climate. I know they're only 78 miles apart but it just felt different. I spend 2.5 years in Austin and although it gets hot, it is tolerable. San Antonio on the other hand...a lot more humid. Orlando...yikes. One thing about Florida it rains in the afternoon in the summer and it cools down.
I have spent a lot of time analysing and comparing all possible indicators between countries. Based on the quality of life, well being, freedom, housing, healthcare, crime rate, pollution, education, and so on, countries that typically come on top are: Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
Considering that over 90% of Scandinavian people are fluent in English, language would not be an issue. I would have no problem in Switzerland either.
Taking the climate into account, I would reject Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Canada. Australia is generally too hot, although Melbourne and Tasmania would be tolerable.
The main drawback with Australia and New Zealand is that they are so far away from everywhere else. That's not convenient for someone like me who likes to travel. The distance would be felt for consumer products too. I would also miss the wide range of European food products that are available in supermarkets here. Imported products may be available in a few select shops in big cities (as I found they were in Tokyo), but would be several times more expensive and would require to go to these luxury food shops. I have lived in Australia and really didn't appreciate the presence of giant spiders everywhere.
This leaves Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and New Zealand. I have been to these countries except NZ, and I did not find life to be very different from Belgium. Belgium and the Netherlands are very similar. Belgium ranks lower in some indicators because some industrial cities with higher unemployment and poverty (Charleroi, Mons, Liège) bring the average down. Even so, Belgians enjoy the largest houses in Europe along with the Swiss and Norwegians, but with a higher ratio of house-to-apartments and higher home ownership than Switzerland. The weather and the food are better than in Scandinavia. Belgium has a more beautiful scenery than Denmark or the Netherlands, which are completely flat and boring. When all factors are taken into account, I feel that only Switzerland and Austria can rival with the better parts of Belgium.
I don't think I would ever choose to live in the USA for a number of reasons. Top on the list are the high crime rate (especially homicides), guns, too many religious fanatics, religion pervading most aspects of society and politics, the highly confrontational culture, the blatant gap between the have's and have not's... If I really had to live in the US, I guess I would choose somewhere in New England (although it gets as cold as in Scandinavia in winter) or a good area around San Francisco (e.g. Berkeley, Santa Clara) or southern California (I hear Orange County is nice). Despite the great climate, California has shortcomings of its own too, like wildfires and earthquakes.
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