Vacation homes?

[fenchurch]

This week on "House Hunters" over on HGTV, they've been doing a series on shopping for vacation homes. It's really been interesting to watch, because the lifestyles of the people involved are just so different from what I'm used to... There've been the predictable retired couples, who are well established in a primary residence and just want a place (generally something a little funky and different) in an area they visit often. There have also been a few who have been renting apartments and now want to buy a home, but can't afford one in the cities of their choice... so they're buying what anyone else would consider to be a primary residence, a few hours from where they work -- living in the same old apartment during the week, and driving out to their large, elaborate "vacation homes" on the weekends.

Not that it's likely to ever be an option, but it's gotten me thinking, just for fun... where would I want to have a vacation home? So far, there's nothing just leaping out at me as being incredibly obvious. The area where I've always wanted to live and I used to go visit every chance I got? I'm living there now.

Hmmm... maybe someplace like Blaine, Washington... right up on the border, so I could be closer to Canada without having to go through the hassle of buying property in another country. But that would just be for making grocery shopping in Canada more convenient.

I could see maybe getting something in Florida, simply because there's a lot to do there, it would be a good staging ground for exploring the eastern US, and it's pretty much as far away from where we live as we can get without leaving the continental US. But it would definitely not be the sort of place we'd go on weekends... more like for a few weeks here and there, assuming work didn't get in the way.

I suppose, if we're talking about retirement age when we could easily be away from home for months at a time, I could see going for someplace abroad... in which case, definitely Australia, and definitely some place in Victoria (though, to be fair, it's the only part of the country we've been in so far... but I absolutely fell in love with the area). Geelong was lovely... a nice small town near the ocean, right on the bay, and yet not too far from Melbourne.

Anyone else ever think of this sort of thing? Like I said, just for fun... figuring out where you'd go if you could.

Comments

[fenwic.livejournal.com]

Oh, girl, I think about it all the time. In fact, I lived in Seattle for a year and often tell people that, were I rich, I would have a summer house there. Capitol Hill, or Fremont. Or maybe on the lake, since money is no object, heh. I'd also love a place in New Orleans, in the French Quarter. Or Paris, on Montmartre. Or London, near the West End. Those four towns are among my Top 5 cities actually, so I guess that makes sense. Of course, San Francisco tops the list. How convenient :)

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

So you're sort of in the same position... there are a few other places you wouldn't mind having as a vacation spot, but you're pretty much living in the place you want to be.

I think I need to visit more places, really. We mostly go to the same areas, over and over again... though I think we've done a little better in the past few years (Australia, Northeastern US, Vancouver Island) but that's because we've made a conscious effort to try visiting places we've never been.

We're really hoping to make it to England either later this year or early next year, since neither of us have ever been and we've both always wanted to go. I want to go to Fenchurch Street Station, for obvious reasons, and I also need to have my picture taken while sitting on my own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth (for reasons that are equally obvious, if you read Douglas Adams).