>So I have a question for you and others on
>this list:  Of the places you know and have been, which would be your
>favorite places to live, if not contrained by friends, family, jobs?  And
>for what reasons?

(at the risk of appearing as fanatical as I am...) At various times (but
roughly in order) I have wanted to call the following places home:

South Florida
Ecuador (coastal, then upland)
Chile (Ancud)
Guadalahara (or however you spell the retirement mecca of Mexico)
Sequim, Washington
Puerto Vallerta (north of there actually)
Sri Lanka
Ko Samui (an island of Thailand)
Bali
Northern Sumatra
San Diego (north county)
New Zealand (northland)
Hawaii (the Big Island of Hawaii, heretofor known as Hawaii, not to be
confused with Maui, Oahu, etc.))

Some were busts (Sequim, Gaudalahara, South Florida, Sumatra,and San Diego
to a degree).

Some I still think about (Ecuador, Bali, and Ko Samui kinda).

And one I never got to (Sri Lanka) but heard enough to turn me off.

Some are too cold/rainy in the winter (NZ, Chile, and I'll let you know
about San Diego in a couple months :))

Currently, we are considering buying some high risk volcanic land in
Hawaii. Ideally (dream on), we would split our time between Hawaii and New
Zealand, but hey, we're in the burbs now :/

Good access to seafood/meat (NZ, Chile, both subtropical in parts) and walk
around naked privacy/warmth (coastal Hawaii, SA, southeast Asia) compete
and complicate the picture for us. It's easy to find raw food (fruit at
least) in the tropics, but (wo)man does not live on fruit alone (leave me
alone, Rene). Immigration is a big pain in the arse in most of SA (Costa
Rica is probably easiest, legally, that is); s-e Asia is almost impossible
w/o marrying in; NZ is easy if you are young, with advanced eduacation,
long years of work experience, and educated spouse, a job offer, and money
to burn).

In all,for our buck two eighty, Hawaii has the best blend of attractions to
us right now. On the big island, land is quite cheap, seafood and fruits
plentiful, and homesteading a real possibility (indeed almost a necessity
since Milwaukee has a better/cheaper (organic) food supply than the grocers
in Hawaii). There are no immigration hurdles, good inet access, cheap
communication (10 cent/minute) with  mainland, funky areas, etc. If there
was cellular inet connections worth the trouble, I bet we'd be living off
the grid within a year instead of whenever. :)

It's insteresting to note that our favorites (Hawaii and northern NZ) are
both considered to have very high cost of living, but are very reasonable
in terms of homesteading (cheap land, frost-free climate, etc). Of course,
NZ is remote and Hawaii is the most active volcano on the planet.

Australia is next to impossible to immigrate to these days (though after
getting citizenship in NZ, one can then immigrate easily as a kiwi). In
many ways Australia is ideal, but you can't live there very long legally.

In the end, Milwaukee looks pretty good (really!), but after years in the
tropics it takes a real manly man to go back to shoveling snow, breathing
fired air, and sleeping with the windows closed because it's thirty below
outside.

Come to think of it, if you can ignore the traffic noise, there's a couple
campgrounds on the cliffs above the beach here in San Diego county where
one could live cheaply enough out of a tent and walk to fine
produce/seafood markets, work at a fast food joint and smoke dope--but I
suspect you'd end up spending all your money on surfboards and end up on
welfare in whatever form it takes in the coming years.

Hopefully Ric will have this topic covered more coherently than I :)

Cheers,
Kirt