Where to next? (Seeking your advice.)

My current situation:  Looking to plant some roots (in the near future) or at least discover a fun new city to move to for a few years.

I was thinking about all of my friends who have ventured outside of FL and am wondering – how life is going for you outside of the Sunshine State? Where are you now and do you love it? Are you glad you left? What about my friends from other states – do you recommend living in your state?

In about a year or so I’d like to say goodbye to DC. I think living here for 4 years is quite enough.  It’s incredibly expensive, the traffic is among the worst in the entire country, and it’s a little too woodsy for me even in the city.  (Please don’t take that to mean that I’m not having a great time living here.)  Although my first instinct is to run back to Florida somewhere, I’d hate to think that I’m overlooking the awesomeness that some other state would have to offer.  So I’m asking for your advice.

I’m torn between (1) moving to another big city for a few years and (2) finding a nice neighborhood to settle down in.  My thoughts on each option are as follows:

1. Young Couple in the Big City:

I’m still young enough to move around to another place that I’d like to try just for fun.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be the soccer mom suburbia that I plan on living in when I start a family in a few years.  I don’t PLAN on having children for probably another 4 or 5 years.  There’s lots of traveling to do and fun to be had still and so “Stepford neighborhood” doesn’t HAVE to be one of the criteria for where I choose to live next.  My beau and I can still live in some big city as a young couple for a few more years.

2. Suburban Paradise: 

On the flip side – renting an apartment is getting old and I would love to move some place that I plan on staying and raising a family in so I can buy a darn house already.  This would mean that I need to pick a place where I will be happy living for a long time and is very family friendly.  I’m talking school districts, little league sports, and strip malls.  Close to a big city but still suburbia.

I’m not sure how my job would feel about me requesting an office transfer more than once so I’d also have to take that into consideration… If I decide to try another big city for 3 or 4 years and request an office transfer for that, but THEN want to move somewhere else to settle down and have to request yet another office transfer- will they frown upon my office-hopping even though I am still with the overall agency?  Anyhow my criteria are few: It’s gotta be a city where my job has an office that I can transfer to.  (Luckily for me, my job has an office in just about every single state. So no matter what you suggest, it’s probably do-able.)  I’ve also gotta have access to a major airport for trips home and abroad.  Access to some sort of beach/body of water would also be a major plus.  I’ve gotta swim and Beau’s gotta fish. – I guess that’s about it!

I’m looking forward to hearing about what you love (and hate) about where you live.  And thanks for helping me make big life decisions. 🙂