Help me choose 4 cities to live next year

[jeffnc]

3 months isn't really long enough. Even if you did 6 months, you'd get odd seasons in different cities which might be a problem. (Toronto winter and summer are different, natch). Plus, have you considered the overhead involved for such a short stay, then move?

edit: on second thought, you could pick prime weather to enjoy each city - Toronto or Minneapolis in the summer, Las Vegas in the winter, or whatever. Three months would work in that sense, but still an awful lot of overhead.

[polkaface]

I vote for Mpls, Austin, and Vancouver/Seattle as great options. If you want to get BIG, substitute Chi-town for Mpls.

[talentdeficit]

vancouver is much prettier and cleaner than seattle, has better beaches, better shopping, better schools, better skiing/snowboard, is more multicultural and, most importantly, gets way less rain.

[ChicagoTroy]

Given you're looking in 3 month chunks, Chicago is perfect. Do it in the summer.

[traz]

No one ever mentions Montreal, but I like it more than Vancouver. That being said, for OP's specific criteria, maybe Montreal's not perfect. But it's one of my favorite cities for sure

[Gildwulf]

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No one ever mentions Montreal, but I like it more than Vancouver. That being said, for OP's specific criteria, maybe Montreal's not perfect. But it's one of my favorite cities for sure

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I would have said Montreal except education and the language barrier. Good luck getting a decent English education in Montreal (or anywhere in Quebec) for 3 months.

If you homeschool your kid and go during the summer (DO NOT GO TO MONTREAL IN THE WINTER), you'll have a fabulous time.

[Badger]

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Are you serious? How is moving four times in a year good for a child who is just beginning to develop friendships?

It's required in many cases but instability in the home as you jaunt about isn't what a 4 year old needs. This is head poundingly bad.

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I agree I need to research more about the effects for the children. We just had a long (one month) trip , we drove a lot, took many flights, went to Houston-New Orleans-Toronto-Carolinas and both of them were pretty happy all the trip, but of course it's only one month versus one year.

BTW, we're thinking about home-schooling him (not decided yet) and he has never been on day care or any school yet, always home with us.

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I think a lot of people missed the point that you will not be moving to these four cities every year. What do you want to do with respect to the seasons? Living in Minneapolis in July, August and September then going to Austin for October, November and December would be dramatically different than the inverse. Do you want to see the best a city has to offer, or deal with the worst?

I think this is a great idea to find somewhere you truly love to live. I'd take every city listed in this thread and evaluate it against a more detailed personal criteria, then go check them out.
I'd like to add that the cities I've lived in (in order) have been Minneapolis, Madison WI, Austin, TX. Coming from the north to Austin, the heat actually isn't that bad. I'm a cold weather person and I adjusted quickly. Don't get me wrong, it sucks a lot sometimes, but it's totally manageable. From what I've seen of the rest of Texas, I would never consider living anywhere other than Austin.

Also, this probably deserves another thread, but home schooling has always sounded like an awful idea to me, for all but the very first years of school.

[RoundTower]

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If you homeschool your kid and go during the summer (DO NOT GO TO MONTREAL IN THE WINTER), you'll have a fabulous time.

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Anyone saying "go to this city in Summer but avoid it during winter", etc, is missing the point. If OP is looking for somewhere to spend a large part of the rest of his life, he needs to see more than the highlight package.

[DamitBob]

We didnt see the sun for 5 months last winter. Drizzle and darkness. So sick of this dreary weather.

F Seattle

[mmbt0ne]

Let's talk about Atlanta.

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- We want to live near a big metropolitan area (this is not in the middle of Nebraska)

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Obviously

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- We prefer a multi-ethnic city (like Toronto)

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Not very European, but lots of other races.

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- We want a good educational system for the kids

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Fayette and Cobb counties

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- We prefer a progressive city, but still family oriented (Is that possible?), we have liberal views on general, but we really value a community where family values are important.

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This might be something people say you'll have an issue with, but I see much more racism in places like Chicago than I do in Atlanta. The state is red, but the city is pretty blue.

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- We prefer US cities, but maybe Canada is ok; Europe a distant possibility

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Ding

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- Too hot (temperature) is bad, so 100+ cities (Phoenix?) are not eligible; near water is better (lake, river or sea), near forest is also good

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Atlanta doesn't have any months with average highs at ninety, but obviously there are hot days. There is a large lake nearby, and lots of nice forests/rivers in the northern part of the state.

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- Not outrageously expensive cost of living cities is better, higher than average is ok

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Clearly this is one of Atlanta's strongest points, whether you live in the counties or the city.

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- Plenty of parks and museums please

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Again, not the most of any place you'll be offered, but there are lots if you're willing to look for them.

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- Cities not hated by mother Nature

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All we have is the rare tornado.

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- Cities whose citizens are very respectful of the law

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Crime has been dropping for about 4 straight years. This ain't no Baltimore.

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- Professional Sports team is a plus [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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3.5 of them, plus big college sports.