Best places to live?

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I'm trying to decide whether to stay in Italy next year or to go somewhere else, and it's somewhat dependent on when this all ends, but all the same...

Where have you loved living? Where would you really like to live if you had the opportunity? Where did you not enjoy, or where do you think you wouldn't like?

My choices at the minute would be...

Edinburgh
Bristol
London - the expense scares me but I would like to try it for a while at least.
Dublin - Similar to London in expense but way harder to find a teaching job.

Internationally I wouldn't mind trying New Zealand. Otherwise, Berlin or somewhere in Spain.
 
Edinburgh is not cheap either. And apart from festival season, it isn't THAT exciting a city. It is a very pretty city though.
 
If you are thinking abroad, Berlin is a good shout - it's probably one of the cheapest capitals in western Europe, and has a great vibe.
 
If you can make London work and would like to, I'd say do it while you're younger. I had the opportunity to when I was in my mid twenties but bottled out. I can't say I regret it exactly, but i do wonder what if occasionally.
 
lolly said:
If you can make London work and would like to, I'd say do it while you're younger. I had the opportunity to when I was in my mid twenties but bottled out. I can't say I regret it exactly, but i do wonder what if occasionally.
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Part of me thinks it would be amazing for hobbies. And teaching jobs are easy to come by, it's just finding the right school. And it helps that I know people there.

The other part of me thinks I'd hate it after a month and run screaming.
 
Chlammy said:
I know it's expensive. But it's beautiful and creative and has festivals constantly.
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Festival season in Edinburgh is fun if you do not live there. Otherwise, it's absolutely crazy. Though it's looking like it won't be happening this year anyway. Compared to Glasgow, Edinburgh is about ten times prettier, but, there's much more going on in Glasgow, it just has a reputation which at times is true, but at times is quite unfair.
 
Pretty sure Bristol is at least as expensive as Edinburgh as well. You haven't picked any cheap options!
 
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Chlammy said:
Part of me thinks it would be amazing for hobbies. And teaching jobs are easy to come by, it's just finding the right school. And it helps that I know people there.

The other part of me thinks I'd hate it after a month and run screaming.
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I'd say you're still young enough to live in London, it really depends what you want to do. With teaching, I am not sure there really is any advantage of living in London career-wise as you can get a job anywhere. It's not an industry centred on London. Also, it's going to be tough going to live on a teacher's salary in London, not impossible by any means but you'd get much more bang for your buck elsewhere.
 
All the nice ones are expensive!

I do love Liverpool I guess. And as drab as Manchester is to walk in perhaps it would be nice to live in.
 
Kalabaliken said:
I'd say you're still young enough to live in London, it really depends what you want to do. With teaching, I am not sure there really is any advantage of living in London career-wise as you can get a job anywhere. It's not an industry centred on London. Also, it's going to be tough going to live on a teacher's salary in London, not impossible by any means but you'd get much more bang for your buck elsewhere.
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I wouldn't be moving there to save a lot of money though, or to find the absolute perfect job. I'd move to London for the chance to live in London and experience it.
 
Chlammy said:
All the nice ones are expensive!

I do love Liverpool I guess. And as drab as Manchester is to walk in perhaps it would be nice to live in.
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I'd live in Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds over London any day of the week. Cheaper and still huge cities with a lot of opportunities in their own right.
 
The cities I’ve enjoyed spending elongated periods of time in are those which offer city life with relatively close proximity of beach life too and enable you to be sporty all year around. I’ve always felt happiest in Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona.
 
Seriously, I genuinely love where I live. It’s a fucking great place, in the summer particularly.
 
I would love to try Barcelona. I keep getting interviews for Madrid though and haven't heard from the Bercelona schools.

I've never been to Portsmouth but have family there. I did quite like teaching in Southampton last summer. Loads of parks and open space. But that might have been due to the 20+ temperatures.
 
Kalabaliken said:
If you are thinking abroad, Berlin is a good shout - it's probably one of the cheapest capitals in western Europe, and has a great vibe.
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Berlin is great and not too expensive. But a ballache to find a flat to live in due to the demand.
 
BoysForSeles said:
The cities I’ve enjoyed spending elongated periods of time in are those which offer city life with relatively close proximity of beach life too and enable you to be sporty all year around. I’ve always felt happiest in Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona.
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I love coastal cities. I don't even like being on beaches, but there's definitely something about the proximity of water.
 
Kalabaliken said:
Festival season in Edinburgh is fun if you do not live there. Otherwise, it's absolutely crazy. Though it's looking like it won't be happening this year anyway. Compared to Glasgow, Edinburgh is about ten times prettier, but, there's much more going on in Glasgow, it just has a reputation which at times is true, but at times is quite unfair.
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Indeed the Edinburgh festivals are horrendous if you actually have to live, work and travel in the city. The price of everything goes through the roof and you cannot physically move for people. There's been a growing backlash in recent years. Last year there was a genuine relief once the festival season was over.

The old/new towns, Morningside etc are gorgeous but there are large swathes of the city that are complete dives. It's a city of museums, galleries and coffee shops. The nightlife has been on the skids for years.
 
Chlammy said:
Internationally I wouldn't mind trying New Zealand
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Incredibly expense. And somewhat boring. It's also very isolated, which means airfares that aren't Australian bound are long and expensive.
 
Win_the_game said:
Indeed the Edinburgh festivals are horrendous if you actually have to live, work and travel in the city. The price of everything goes through the roof and you cannot physically move for people. There's been a growing backlash in recent years. Last year there was a genuine relief once the festival season was over.

The old/new towns, Morningside etc are gorgeous but there are large swathes of the city that are complete dives. It's a city of museums, galleries and coffee shops. The nightlife has been on the skids for years.
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I've never actually been for the Fringe, but I was there for the storytelling festival into Samhain and it was lovely.

I guess it's different to visit somewhere than to live there - I mean of course it is. But there must be a lot said to live somewhere so beautiful. And again, mountains and hills and water.
 
Chlammy said:
But mountains and the sea.
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Yeah they're top notch. You're only staying there temporarily so you'd be fine. But after living there for 22 years, mountains and sea get very old very fast.
 
Chlammy said:
I would love to try Barcelona. I keep getting interviews for Madrid though and haven't heard from the Bercelona schools.

I've never been to Portsmouth but have family there. I did quite like teaching in Southampton last summer. Loads of parks and open space. But that might have been due to the 20+ temperatures.
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Madrid is great too to be fair, you just have to go for a day trip if you want some coast.
 
Chlammy said:
I've never actually been for the Fringe, but I was there for the storytelling festival into Samhain and it was lovely.

I guess it's different to visit somewhere than to live there - I mean of course it is. But there must be a lot said to live somewhere so beautiful. And again, mountains and hills and water.
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I think those of us that live in Edinburgh can sometimes be blinded by how gorgeous the place actually is, between the natural beauty and architecture.
 
Win_the_game said:
I think those of us that live in Edinburgh can sometimes be blinded by how gorgeous the place actually is, between the natural beauty and architecture.
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It IS a lovely city, well the city centre is. I don't know much of the other areas like Muirhouse, Niddrie, Craigmillar, but they can't be any better than some of the shitholes in Glasgow! The other thing about Edinburgh is that the sheer number of tourists that visit all the time can be a good AND a bad thing. Salaries are not really any more than in Glasgow, which is a much cheaper city to live.
 
Chlammy said:
Get me a little job and I'd love to.

I was actually going to apply for an independent school near Plymouth in January, come to think.
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Plymouth College? Lovely. Will be highly competitive though.

I’ve moved out of the independent sector and am now Deputy Head of a secondary special school. Very different but I LOVE it.

Plymouth is nice if you pick the right parts and very cheap. Exeter is nicer if you want the city vibe.
 
To be fair being back in Belfast for a while makes me appreciate what it has. Again, we're surrounded by mountains and the sea, it's easy access to beautiful countryside and the city itself has come a long way. And running on the road doesn't hurt your lungs like it does in parts of Milan.

The grass is always greener and all that.
 
Whatevar said:
Plymouth College? Lovely. Will be highly competitive though.

I’ve moved out of the independent sector and am now Deputy Head of a secondary special school. Very different but I LOVE it.

Plymouth is nice if you pick the right parts and very cheap. Exeter is nicer if you want the city vibe.
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I think it was actually. Probably down by now.

I love the idea of Exeter! I'm just concerned about moving somewhere quite small without having any contacts to begin with.
 
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