We’ve just returned from a quick trip to the city of Bath. My (camera phone) pictures do not do it justice, but the whole place is lovely.
Whenever M and I visit a new place we always ask the: could we live here question? Quite often the answer is a resounding no, but not this time – Bath has made it into our Top 5!
Our current top 5 (which remarkably we both agree on):
- New York (never gonna happen!)
- Cascais/Lisbon area
- London
- Where we are now
- Bath.
It’s a fun game!
Do you play the could I/we live here game?
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Absolutely! Bath is one of ours too, but top of our list is Canterbury in Kent.
Oooh I’ve never been to Canterbury – I’ll add it to my places to visit list
Wow, great pictures! It looks like you had a great time there! We play this game almost every time
Sometimes it’s just during the stay but sometimes, when we’re back at home, we still think about it and all these “what if…” ideas. But even without this game, we always think if we want to be back there again in the future. Maybe not next year or two but you know… one day.
Hi Shovellicious – are you still trying to move to Switzerland?
I’m in Poland right now due to exams I had but I keep on sending my applications to companies based in Switzerland. Acctualy, we live on the French side, near Swiss boarder, so I’m counting the days when I’ll be back there! Just few more days
I used to play that game all the time. I’m not sure it did me any good though.
Everywhere has it’s good and bad. Bath is nice, but heaves with tourists in the summer months and is dreadfully expensive. Beautiful architecture, and lots of things of interest. Nice parks and walks. Good restaurants.
Yes, it is a fun game to play. Asking yourself *why* that place appeals can be quite revealing.
For what it’s worth here’s my list:
1. Bangkok, Thailand – few cities have ever left their mark on me as has BKK. You either hate it, or it changes your life. For me it was the latter. Very easy city to live in and get about in, despite all the bad press to the contrary. Great quality of life, city never sleeps, endless things to do and beautiful islands a couple of hours coach ride away. I thought I would hate it, but BKK stole my heart. Would love to spend a year there, and write a book about the city.
2. Koh Lanta, Thailand – endless sunshine, beautiful beaches, beautiful people, superb diving and fewer tourists. There’s a wonderful cliff top restaurant I used to go to for breakfast. Great coffee and breathtaking views. Would probably get bored after a year though.
3. Sydney, Australia – sunshine, beaches, excellent outdoor swimming, outdoor lifestyle, endless things to do. I’ve never been there but have read a lot about it. Regret not immigrating there in my younger years.
4. Portland, Oregon – wonderful city. Had a great time there. Would love to go back and see more of the place one day.
5. Batangas, Philippines – great diving, lovely people, many areas unspoilt. There are more attractive places in the Philippines to live but Batangas is very liveable and not that far from Manila. Downsides are the typhoon season, malaria, dengue fever, and occasional kidnappings.
6. Where I am now – not much sunshine, lots of rain, no beaches, not much to do. Close to my children. Close to my parents. Close to my siblings. Libraries, country lanes, tea shops, history. I can pop down the road to Jane Austen’s house, look around, take a walk on a route she used to walk, and finish up in a cake shop. Close to the South Downs, North Downs, and some fantastic English countryside. It’s home.
It sounds like you love Bangkok like I love NY and I would love you to achieve your dream.
I seem to be drawn to places that attract tourists – it doesn’t really bother me (as long as I can walk every where). Driving in busy traffic I don’t like!
I wonder if I would like Sydney – I think I would. My daughter has been and says I would – too old to move there now unfortunately!
We enjoyed visiting Bath but I don’t think I’d want to live there – too many tourists. The places we visited in GB that we loved the most were Keswick and Edinburgh. I think I could live in either although I don’t know much about the weather. Lovely pictures – looks like you had a nice visit.
The weather is awful, like most of the UK
I seem to be drawn to places with lots of tourists!
Camera-phone or not, I just went, “Ahhhh – can’t wait till we make it to the UK!” (one day)
Definitely great fun playing the “could we live here” game!
When you do make it, I’ll be your tour guide!
Since I do not know many places ( I am not used to travelling), I would say :
1 paris
1 ex aequo london
for both, money is a main subject
3 a cistercian abbey near Bordeaux (no money needed)
4 most places would be nice for one or two years, I definetely need internet, books and people …
Since I do not know many places ( I am not used to travelling), I would say :
1 paris
1 ex aequo london
for both, money is a main subject
3 a cistercian abbey near Bordeaux (no money needed)
4 most places would be nice for one or two years, I definetely need internet, books and people …
nicole from france
Hi Nicole, how are you? I like the idea of one or two years in different places!
Love Bath. There are so many places I could live – nearly anywhere by the sea. So why are we living in the Midlands???
Yes, why ARE we living here??
1.) Denver-my U.S. base of operations! Love this place. Will always own a place here
2.) Bogota, Colombia-this place is calling me
3.) Miami, Florida-am looking at buying a rental there
4.) New York City
5.) Madrid
A rental in Miami? Tell me more Michelle – that would be amazing!
I want a condo in a small art deco building with no more than 15 units. I looked at several for around $80,000. I would like to rent it throughout the year to European and South American families to offset the expenses. Then, I would spend time there whenever I could get away and I didn’t have a vacation renter.
I cannot get over how green the grass is first of all. I will be posting photos of our “Grass” tomorrow, ours is white!!!
My top five:
1. Cades Cove Tennessee, will never happen it’s part of a National Park
2. Charleston, South Carolina, will never happen, too flipping humid and full of no see um’s (biting insects!)
3. Creemore Ontario, could happen when dh retires
4. Where we are now
5. Off the coast of Scotland on an island, won’t happen as won’t leave Canada, it’s home and that’s where the kids are……..
Oh no, more snow Gill!!
I love your list – very different places!
Yes! We play that game! And Bath is on my list! And York, but I live in Montana. So it is a beautiful dream!
Hi Andrea – York is lovely, good choice!
Oh we love this game! The only other place in NZ we would live is Wellington. Will be doing a big trip later this year so will see if any international cities take our fancy. Would have to be a city – I’m a city gal through and through.
Me too, hopefully we’ll be living in, or very close to, one soon! Enjoy your trip
I don’t really play the game but if the thought comes to me then I’ll let it go wild in my head. I may just have a negative nature but I have to admit more often the thought of “I could never live here” comes. I obviously need to put more effort into choosing the places I visit! Love the pictures of Bath, I’m a big Georgette Heyer fan and it’s one of the places that gets mentioned a lot. A friend of mine when we were in school (about age 7) used to go there for summer holidays. I thought it was hilarious that there was a place called Bath. And just could not stop laughing when the next year she went to Pool [sic].
I visited my sister in Sydney last year and it was definitely on the list of places I could never imagine living. But I think you see a different side of somewhere if you’re staying in a ‘real’ house out in the suburbs than you do if you’re staying in a very central tourist location. Jervis Bay on the other hand…well, in general Australia seems to very much be the kind of place you can’t live without a car, which I’d find annoying and the whole issue of rising oceans/erosion/flooding comes to mind too, but for the gorgeous beaches there, I’d have to add that to my list of places I’d have no difficulty spending a long time in.
Hi Moonwaves – we don’t tend to visit many places and must get really lucky when we do
I’ve never been to Australia – the flight time puts me off – but perhaps one day I will.
One thing I would definitely recommend is breaking the flight with a one or two day stopover. It normally doesn’t add anything to the cost of the flight. I stopped in Kuala Lumpur on the way over for two days (arriving early on the morning of day one, did a half-day tour that afternoon and a full-day tour to Malacca on day two, leaving very early on day three) and had a great time. Didn’t do it on the way back and only had a three-hour stopover in the airport. I really found the flight back to be difficult. Not sure I’ll ever get the chance to travel long-haul again but if I do I will definitely plan at least a 24-hour stopover both ways.
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