Could you move??

A loaded question, and probably one that most people can never ask themselves. That is because the answer is dependent on so many different factors, such as your job, your kid's school, your money situation, your linguistic abilities. But can you imagine that these factors weren't factors at all, or that you could tell yourself..."it doesn't matter. Screw it!! Let's up and move to our dream location!!" Could you do that? And where would you go?

I suppose that even after throwing all the reasons you shouldn't move up in the air, you could still be sensible about where to move to. You could look at the different tax and welfare benefits in different countries (can you tell I work for the civil service now??), consider their job market, consider whether you would have to learn a new language to get by. You might be influenced by where your family and friends live, and of course the people moving with you would have their own opinions on this topic. There's a helluva lot of things you would need to consider (I would probably create some sort of database with all the options available, their pros and cons and weightings based on my preferences. That's something called multi-criterion data analysis. I know...I'm a massive geek. Whatever).

Paradise in Phuket

Can you imagine that none of these things mattered though? Imagine that you just had complete flexibility to choose anywhere you wanted, based on something as arbitrary as the weather, or the environment. Where would you choose? I don't even know what I would do. There are so many places that I've visited and thought - I could live here. San Francisco, for it's liveliness, beauty, excitement and brilliant food? Vancouver island, for the sheer bliss of it all? Phuket, for it's beaches and the sea and my favourite Thai cuisine? Cairns, for the Great Barrier Reef and public pools and humid rainforests? Back home to Malta, for the Blue Lagoon and Paceville, Mellieha bay and my own beloved pool? Or any of those other places that I've visited and fallen in love with - there are so many?

My own home sweet home

Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand

Riding over the rainforest in Cairns

Or would I be super risky, and move somewhere I've never so much as thought about visiting? Maybe a hut in Mauritius, or a cabin in the Rockies, or a tiny village in Indonesia (ok...probably not the last one). I probably wouldn't go for this option cos I so don't want to spend all that time, effort and money making the move, and then realise I hate the place. That would totes suck. Actually, how would I ever meet anyone to hang out with and share my gossip if I lived in a cabin in the Rockies?

A little piece of heaven??
Maybe for some people...

So there are a few thoughts. Realistically though, I can't imagine ever just picking up and changing my life in this way without a good reason for it. Most of the places I've listed above are so far away from Malta that I certainly can't imagine moving there, unless the majority of my family move with me.