Evaluating Travel Results: The Long Game

We’re not just traveling to travel. Oh, no. We’re trying to find a place that makes us both happy that could be a forever home. And while it’s been a bit of a struggle to define that that means, I think we’ve made some progress over the past seven months.

Let’s take a look at where we’re at.

Enter the Spreadsheet

So, the first step is to measure what you want to see in a city, right? Way back in the beginning, I started a spreadsheet with some reasonable-sounding criteria, made a baseline of Chicago and Knoxville (Jan’s home), and started throwing data at the problem. Categories slowly started emerging, goals gained focus, and some of our “gut feelings” started to have quantifiable traits.

I found sites that measured walkability, temperature ranges, housing costs, taxes, and overall cost of living. Not all the data is available for international locations, so there’s some anecdotal information to make comparisons interesting. Jan thought that ride sharing services would be a good indicator of if we could get by in an area without a car, so he threw that into the mix.

We added a few measures for activities that we like such as biking, breweries, and hockey teams. I added a line for restaurants, though that will be a more idiosyncratic measure. It’s a work in progress, and I think it will help us focus.

Micro Criteria

We’ve now stayed in eight different rentals in four different locations, so we’ve had a chance to evaluate what we did and did not like about the specifics. Decor and amenities like mattresses have been all over the board, but those are easily changed so we’ve concentrated on kitchen layouts and other household and neighborhood minutiae.

I think we’ve settled on gas stove tops over electric, convection, or burner plates. We also want to garden and have outdoor space for future pets, so it’s nice we’re on the same page there. I now have opinions on the depth of kitchen sinks and the amount of counter space. Long term, I think a single story place would work best.

I’m trying to define how neighborhood differs from our city evaluations, but I think it comes down to a decent density of services that don’t require us to drive everywhere. If we end up on the West Coast, we’ll probably get a car but it’s not something I’d want to depend on 100%. We like to walk and bike.

I don’t think we’ve disagreed on anything so far, but we still have places to stay so there’s time.

Out of the Running

After both recent and previous travel, we’ve reached a few conclusions about where we don’t want to live. I found Harstine Island too rural and isolating, Jan doesn’t like the desert environment of Albuquerque, and we both tired of the food in Lima. We liked Victoria, but don’t think the cost of living or entry requirements will keep it in the running. I’ve wisely decided to take Jan’s word that we don’t want to live in West Virginia.

And for those wondering, we haven’t ruled out a return to Chicago. Though if we did move back it would probably be a different part of town. Sorry, Albany Park!

The decision is still a work in progress and we haven’t drawn any conclusions yet! If you’re curious, take a peak at the spreadsheet and let us know if there’s anything we’ve overlooked. Gracias!