Five Places I Hope to Live in the Future

Happy Friday!

This week I’m going to talk about the five places I hope to live in the future (including one I’ve already lived in because it was always on the list). I’m not talking long-term, but places I hope to stay for a short stint, and who knows, if I get there and like it enough I may stay for a while.

I’ve recently been going out of my head thinking about what I want to do after I graduate from university next July. I hate not having a plan in place and I just wish I could settle on what it is I want to do and where I want to go. I know that I don’t want to stay in the UK because if I do, I think I’ll find it harder to leave as the time goes on. I’m hoping for somewhere on this list where I can work in PR and live in a new environment, but I’ll even take on bar work if it means I can experience somewhere new.

There are so many more places that I hope to live that don’t make it into my top five. I’ve recently thought about the possibilities of moving to Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Amsterdam, Thailand, even Bahrain. The world is my oyster and I hope to experience as much of it as I can.

The list below is in order of most desirable, not in order of which I hope to live in first, second, third etc.

1. New York

Ah, New York. Where dreams are made. For me, New York is the end goal, the cream of the crop. Living in New York would be an actual dream come true. All of those skyscrapers, Times Square, Ellis Island… I feel like my whole life has been leading up to me living in New York.

After watching Gossip Girl, Suits, Friends, any show set in New York, it makes me want to move there even more. Calling New York ‘home’ is something I’ve envisioned but who knows if it will ever happen. I know it’s extremely expensive, and would be quite like London when it comes to tourists and anonymity. But I’d love to experience it, if only once.

I don’t know if you believe in signs, but I do and something tells me I will be living in New York in the future. Whether that’s in the next year, next five years of maybe ten years, who knows – but I have a feeling it will happen.

2. Paris

There’s something about the Parisian lifestyle that seems very relaxed and carefree. I could imagine living in a terrace apartment above a busy street, sitting on my balcony on a sunny morning with a strong cup of coffee and a croissant, hair slicked back and no makeup on. Plain, minimal, serene. Can you tell I’ve thought about it quite a bit?

I would love to be able to learn the French language and spend six months or more living in the city. I really want to experience living in Europe, somewhere that the native language isn’t English, just to challenge myself and throw myself out of my comfort zone. Perhaps Paris wouldn’t be the best place for this and I should head somewhere more rural, but the city life always calls me.

Maybe when I retire I can move to the South of France and open my own vineyard. Hopefully by then I will have acquired a taste for red wine.

3. London

I know I’ve already lived in London, but it was always on my Bucket List when I was younger and I never actually expected to tick it off this early. Living in London was everything I thought it would be; tubes, celebrities, Britishness, young professionals and tourists.

I experienced all seasons in London which was amazing. London in the Summer is great. It’s hot, everyone drinks Pimms and constantly moans about the humidity. There’s just no pleasing us, is there? It’s either too hot or it’s too cold. My only downside to the hot weather I experienced in London was pollen levels were extreme and my hayfever came back after six years!

In Winter, it’s baltic. I hated the weather but Winter Wonderland, the ice rink at Somerset House and the lights on Regent Street are a few things you need to experience during the cold season in London. I even jetted off to the Canary Islands last November to reunite with the sun and this November I’m off to Las Vegas. I really hope in the future that I get to constantly chase the sun or just live somewhere that never gets below 10 degrees. With climate change, who knows where that will be.

I kept a London Bucket List while I lived there and ticked most things off, especially all of the touristy things and it was the best year of my life so far. If I end up living in any of the other places on this list, that could be set to change.

4. Dublin

My favourite city to visit, Dublin is almost a second home to me. I know the place like the back of my hand. Over the past few years I’ve ended up visiting Dublin more times than I have visited my hometown in Armagh. There’s just something about the atmosphere. It’s the people, the culture, the accent, the Irishness – it’s everything.

There are a lot of things that would attract me to living in Dublin, most of which I just listed. However there are quite a few things that would deter me from living there also. Top ones being; the weather – it rains just about 90% of the time, but there’s really nothing better than Dublin in the sunshine; the cost of living – a little like London, it’s hella expensive to live in Dublin City and I’d want to be right in the middle of it; it’s also a little too close to home – it’s only a 90 minute train from Dublin to Portadown, which for me is too close for comfort. I want to challenge myself by being away from home, not so close that I could decide at any time of the day to just pop on the train and be home in less than two hours.

If I was to live in Dublin, I think it would only be for a short period of time. As it is my favourite city to visit, I would hate to sicken myself with it or put myself off by seeing too much of it. The people in Dublin are amazing, but so are the people all over the south of Ireland. It’s just there’s a lot more happening in Dublin than the likes of Cork or Limerick. And I always like to be where there’s something happening.

I think working in PR in Dublin would be a dream. If I could work for the GAA or RTE or Croke Park, I would definitely feel right at home and have such a passion for my job. I think a stint in Dublin could happen in the future, but permanently? Probably not.

5. Nashville, Tennessee

You might think this an absolute random one, but this has been on my Bucket List from the first time I watched Walk The Line and learnt about the music history of Nashville.

As a music geek, and still with the dream of working in the music industry, there would be nowhere better to work in music than in Nashville. To visit the studios where Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and so many more great musicians recorded, watch a gig in The Bluebird, attend a performance in the Grand Ole Opry, the list goes on. There’s heaps of music history and nostalgia in Nashville which is often referred to as the music capital of the world.

I’ve always wanted to experience true America, not just the cities. I want to see the rural side, the long roads between states, the old-style houses with the porches, the real American diners, saloons (do these still exist?) – basically the Deep South. If you’ve ever watched Last Chance U on Netflix (I strongly recommend) then you’ll know what I’m referring to. Think Scooba, Mississippi or Independence, Kansas. Scooba has a population of 732 and Independence, a population of 342. Those are the kind of places I want to see. Yeehaw.

I could imagine myself living and working in Nashville for a few years and coming home with a Lurgan/Tennessee drawl – now wouldn’t that be a delight on the ears?

Are all of these really achievable?

With one city already ticked off the list, I can really see myself living in the other four. New York may be wayyyyy further down the line and potentially may never happen but a girl can dream and it would be the ultimate goal for me. I would love to live in Europe, whether that will be Paris, who knows? I’d be open to any city in Europe, as long as it challenged me culturally. Dublin is an iffy one, but I could potentially spend a short amount of time there. I would at least like to experience living in the city instead of visiting for a few days at a time. Nashville has always been a dream of mine, but I don’t know if I’ll ever actually end up there. London? I’ll be back.

If I do end up in any of the remaining four cities, you’ll be sure to hear about it on here!