relocatio

Do you have any friends or relatives here? If you do, I would choose to be near them. As you said, the USA is big -- and traveling from one end to other takes a great deal of time (and sometimes, money). You will want to live close to where your friends/relatives are.

If you have no friends or relatives here and you truly can choose "anywhere" to start, I would recommend you consider the following criteria:

1. Medium-sized city. A very large city can be overwhelming and expensive. However, a very small town might not have good transportation links or as much social/cultural stimulation for you. I would therefore pick one of the medium-sized.

2. Temperate climate. Either extreme (cold or hot) in climate is something you are probably not used to -- and you might find that difficult to deal with at first. I would therefore recommend an area "in the middle" again. For example, if you never lived where the temperature frequently goes above 100 degrees Farenheit, you might find the deep south to hot and humid in the summer and you might not like the southwestern deserts. If you are not used to temperatures below 0 degrees and lots of snow, you might not like the northern mid-western plains or New England.

3. I would choose a city in which there are lots of people from other areas of the country and the world -- one with businesses etc. that hire people from all over the place. That way, you won't be the only one at work living apart from your family and might find it easier to find friends with whom you socialize outside of work.

4. You also might want to consider the eastern half of the US -- so that you would have a reasonable selection of direct flights between your new home and your old one. While there is nothing wrong with the western part of the US, it would be a much longer flight and you might not have as many flights to choose from.

That leaves states like Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, etc.

I have lived in 10 different states in the US -- all over the place, including some of the ones I mentioned above -- and I have found that there are big differences in the culture and the living conditions (e.g. weather) in different sections of the country. Unless you are really interested in one particular area or set of conditions more than the others, I would go for a more "middle of road" area as a first choice. That way, you won't have to deal with any of the extremes right off the bat.

llg

Sorry ... duplicate posting.

llg