Where would you like to live and fly, in an ideal world?

Simple – exactly where I am now, Southern California. Unbeatable in pretty much any way, but especially so when it comes to aviation.

Btw, I say this as someone who has lived in several countries around the globe.

Money no objection ? Vancouver probably.

Exactly where I am now and I too have lived and worked in several other countries and continents.

I did enjoy Tucson, AZ. But if I was just to pick a place, it’d probably be somewhere in the Bay area of CA. So yes, looks like the US.
Guess I should spend some time in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria…

South of France. Food. Weather. Sea. Mountains. Style. Lifestyle.

Depends hugely on life circumstances.

Aviation wise and because I like the area very much I did daydream a lot about moving to Florida, Naples area. They have air parks, very affordable (at least when we were there) properties and apart from the occasional hurricane lovely weather. Last time we were there, we were integrated into a community there of a few friends within days and are still in touch with most of them.

Up to the time we got a child 5 years ago, our plan was to move to Bulgaria after my retirement. Why? Cost of living is about 30-40% less, we have family and a family home there and the weather is generally better at the sea side. Also good food for a fraction of the price here.
Aviation wise, a quite good network of GA airfields, a CAA which is very supportive of GA and actually tries to help where they can and again everything much cheaper than here.

We were also considering sharing the time between BG (May to October) and Florida or Switzerland (November to April). GA wise, the latter variant would have been possible, the other not as I don’t own an Ovation which could cross the NATL regularly.

Occasionally I also considered getting a place in the Canaries. We used to go there once a year after Lea was born, as it’s a short flight in comparison and the weather is great year round. Some friends we have do their retirement there. Even GA wise it is not the worst place, there is a nice GA field on Gran Canaria and locals tell me that they have arrangements with most island airports. With a reasonably fast airplane also the Continent is not off limits, but for that kind of thing I’d like a twin.

Now that we have a lively 5 year old, we could not live in a better place then where we are. School in 5min walking distance, highly desirable school district, college and universities within 15 minutes of public transport and in the top ten of low tax places in Switzerland. Infrastructure, banking, health care is excellent if expensive, but managable.

Also we have had to learn the hard way that some countries we considered are not what you experience on short term stays if you have to stay a long time. BG has dropped from our list due to their recent non-handling of the Covid crisis, because of political instability which prevents legal and financial security, health care options and never ending bureaucracy. Not what you need when rising a child.

The grass is always greener somewhere. But unless one is a cow, one can’t really live off grass. You won’t know the places you dream of moving to until you have done it and are totally immersed there. No vaccation can prep you for that, even owning holiday properties really does not.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

I like the area very much I did daydream a lot about moving to Florida, Naples area.

In the mid nineties I did quite a lot of flying out of Naples. Took the school 172 down to Key West. Instructor told me in the event of an engine failure, left of the freeway the alligators will get you, right of the freeway its the sharks. Take your pick…..

Good area and you have lots of exciting approaches, Tampa International being one…

172driver wrote:

Unbeatable in pretty much any way, but especially so when it comes to aviation.

Depends on what you want to get out of aviation. Both fighter pilots and helicopter pilots use one year to get accustomed to weather and geography when being trained in Texas. One has to wonder what kind of pilot you become after staying there too long But, I guess when it comes to getting up in the morning, jumping in the cockpit and just fly somewhere, then this is a good place.

It depends on the circumstance. Right now I wouldn’t hesitate that long to just go to the Canary Island and stay there. Best climate in the world, all year long, easy life. A super nice restaurant at the GA airfield at Grand Canaria (been there a few times ) But, I guess I would get bored of the place after a while. A home there, and a home in Norway, then travel back and forth at will would be nice I guess (I feel I’m getting more and more archetypical the older I get )

I’ve never lived anywhere other than Ireland, and while I’ve visited a lot of other places, they have only been holidays where I’ve stayed for a few weeks. So not really got a good impression of what it would be like to live and work there long term.

If I have to choose, I think I’d choose France. It’s a very nice country, with lovely cities and countryside. It’s got wonderfully preserved history and great food is easy to find. Despite the archetypical grumpy French person, I’ve found them to be wonderfully friendly (but I was just a tourist which might help).

I’d need to improve me French by a very long way though, to make liking there comfortable.

But all in all, I’m very happy in Ireland. It would take a lot to make me move.