Every year or so, I’ve compiled a list of “places I’d like to live before I die.” It isn’t a particularly realistic bucket list… if you have to know a place in order to have lived there, I’ve lived in both Flint and Chicago for more than a decade, and I still make unexpected discoveries about both of these places. Each list got longer than the last, and yet they never seemed to change much otherwise.
Last year I decided to try a different strategy: since the list is idealized to begin with, I might as well make it “ideal” (and in that sense, finish it “for good”). Then instead of rewriting the list in the future, I could learn more about the locations on it. So I really dug in, reading a bit about every country, and locations within each country, and at last the list started to change, as my misconceptions and the popular attention each selection had been given melted away. It’s been very educational. I built the list up to a total of 575 entries, and then ruthlessly slashed it down to 100.
Here are the rules I’ve followed in my final selection:
1. “Living” in a place requires enough time to settle into a routine and to make some cultural discoveries hidden or obscured during shorter visits. I felt like I was apporoaching, if not achieving, this goal, when I spent 1 month in Iasi, Romania in 2001. I’ve settled on the more-or-less arbitrary duration of 3 months.
2. The list is subjective… it isn’t meant to be objective. Therefore, the list prefers my own country (the U.S.A.) in some instances, while also being biased towards places where friends have lived, of which I already have some knowledge and experience, or which have simply excited my curiosity for a long time.
3. Every place I have already lived is automatically included on the list.
4. Safety is not an issue. In real life, if I was going to live in Baghdad or the McMurdo Station, my safety and sanity would be pressing concerns. Since this is an idealized list, I’m not worrying about them here.
4. Ditto expense. Money is not an issue.
5. Ditto language. Communication is perhaps an issue, but it is one to be embraced.
6. I did make invoke one pragmatic consideration… in some countries, I prefer cities or capitals that are centrally located with access to numerous points of interest. So, for example, Medan, Indonesia is not only chosen because it is an interesting city in its own right (it is) but also because it provides amenities and access to a larger area of Sumatra.
7. Since I’ve got 100 entries, all entries do not have to be all things. I’ve got room for urban entries and rural entries, developed entries and undeveloped entries, hot entries and cold entries, and Christian/Muslim/Jewish/Hindu/Buddist/Etc. entries. And so on. In other words, 100 choices allows me build a list of broad diversity, and I have tried to do so.
Here’s my bucket list of 100 Places to Live Before I Die:
PLACES I’VE ALREADY LIVED
1. FLINT, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
2. FLUSHING, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
3. FLUSHING TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
4. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
5. NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
PLACES I’D LIKE TO LIVE
6. ADAMSTOWN, PITCAIRN ISLANDS
7. ANSE LA RAYE, SAINT LUCIA
8. ARUSHA, TANZANIA
9. ATHENS, GREECE
10. BAGHDAD, IRAQ
11. BALYCHY, KYRGYZSTAN
12. BEIJING, CHINA
13. BEIRUT, LEBANON
14. BERLIN, GERMANY
15. BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
16. BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
17. CAIRO, EGYPT
18. CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
19. CLUJ, ROMANIA
20. COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
21. CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
22. CUZCO, PERU
23. DENVER, COLORADO, U.S.A.
24. DETROIT, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
25. DHAKA, BANGLADESH
26. DUBLIN, IRELAND
27. GUILIN, CHINA
28. HAVANA, CUBA
29. HILO, HAWAII, U.S.A.
30. HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM
31. HONG KONG, CHINA
32. IRKUTSK, RUSSIA
33. ISFARA, TAJIKISTAN
34. ISTANBUL, TURKEY
35. JACKSON, WYOMING, U.S.A.
36. JAKARTA, INDONESIA
37. JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
38. JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
39. KOLKATA, INDIA
40. KOROR, PALAU
41. KYOTO, JAPAN
42. LAE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
43. LAGOS, NIGERIA
44. LAHORE, PAKISTAN
45. LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
46. LHASA, TIBET (CHINA)
47. LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
48. LONDON, ENGLAND (U.K.)
49. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.
50. LUANG PRABANG, LAOS
51. LUSAKA, ZAMBIA
52. MAHEBOURG, MAURITIUS
53. MANAUS, BRAZIL
54. MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
55. MARRAKECH, MOROCCO
56. MATAGALPA, NICARAGUA
57. MC MURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA
58. MEDAN, INDONESIA
59. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
60. MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, U.S.A.
61. MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
62. MIAMI, FLORIDA, U.S.A.
63. MONROVIA, LIBERIA
64. MONTPELLIER, FRANCE
65. MOPTI, MALI
66. MOSCOW, RUSSIA
67. MUMBAI, INDIA
68. NAMPULA, MOZAMBIQUE
69. NAPLES, ITALY
70. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.A.
71. OSH, KYRGYZSTAN
72. PARIS, FRANCE
73. PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
74. PLACENCIA, BELIZE
75. PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA
76. PORTO, PORTUGAL
77. REYKJAVIK, ICELAND
78. RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
79. ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
80. SAMARA, RUSSIA
81. SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN
82. SANA’A YEMEN
83. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.
84. SAPANTA, ROMANIA
85. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A.
86. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
87. SHANGHAI, CHINA
88. SIENA, ITALY
89. SRINAGAR, INDIA
90. STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
91. SUVA, FIJI
92. TOKYO, JAPAN
93. VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
94. TIMBUNKE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
95. VUKTYL, RUSSIA
96. WARSAW, POLAND
97. WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.
98. YAKUTSK, RUSSIA
99. YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA
100. ZACATECAS, MEXICO
Why don’t you leave your own list as a comment? It doesn’t have to fit the length or criteria of mine… the idea is just to imagine where in the world is so fascinating that you would love an opportunity to inhabit and explore.