Choosing the Right Place to Live
You have waited most of your life for this day. Finally you are ready to buy that vacation or retirement home that you’ve spent so much of your life dreaming about. Maybe you thought you knew exactly where you wanted that place to be, but along the way and through the years, you have visited many places, fell in love just as many times over and have changed your mind about what that ideal place would be. But this time you are ready and the time has come. And even those of us who have known all along where we would ideally relocate to should re-examine what we truly value before making the final decision. Whether a lazy laid back lifestyle on a remote beach in an exotic location or a place full of adventure, the need to thoroughly research and gather as much information as possible is essential. The place of your dreams has days that are warmer and stars that are brighter. There are now many countries fighting to welcome you with open arms and are vowing to be the best place for you to live your dreams. We will try and point out a few things to consider when you are choosing the right place to live.
Relocating no longer means just moving down a few miles away to another home. Today, we continue what our great, great grandfathers have done for thousands of centuries. We are easily making journeys to entirely different parts of the world and across continents. The major difference obviously between now and then are the vast numbers of people doing it and the simplicity of jumping on a plane and using a shipping company compared to the actual physical hardships that it took as recently as even century ago. When you left your homeland in the past, in most cases you never returned and if you had an idea of what to expect, things could completely change before arrival. You never really knew what you were going to see; there were no televisions, high-tech travel agents or computers to do thorough research.
Today, we can move anywhere and find almost all relevant information pertaining to the place you are interested in. Some important factors to consider are: the population, average age of the population, literacy rate, education, weather, medical, schools, roads, air quality and majority religion and political affiliations. In addition to these important factors, you should also look at Google Earth that gives satellite views of areas. There are also online forums where you can get unbiased opinions of places, people and ideas. There are blogs from adventurous travellers to blogs by bored teenagers discussing where they live, travel agents with hundreds of brochures and thousands of books to choose from. You can really know a place before you move, but you must be true to yourself.
Many people move to an area with an idea of what they want, however no place is perfect so it just depends on what you can and can’t live without. For example, if you found a perfect location BUT it was 10 hours flight away from your home land - could you live with that? Or, if you love the idea of warmer weather all year round BUT that meant intolerable heat and humidity during the summer could you live with that? Or, you love the idea of a quaint, little island BUT, eventually would you go stir crazy? Would you miss hustle and bustle or the ability to get to it if you wanted to? Or if you move to a country where English (or whatever your mother tongue is) is not widely spoken would you be able to learn the language or would you be able to live with it in the long run? This is what we mean when we say to be true to your self.
Make sure to do the research and honestly answer what you can and can’t live without before making your move.
Lastly, all you need to do is narrow down your choices of places to live and then the last step is to actually go visit your top choices and if possible stay for a couple months (at least) before taking the plunge. With the proper planning your move will be enjoyable and you can truly live your dreams in a place that is right for you. Enjoy your discoveries and travels!