If this post had a theme song, I’d choose “A Whole New World” just ’cause I like that song. Yep.
I rarely remember my dreams when I wake up the next morning, but this morning was different. Last night, I dreamed that I was living in London and constantly going back and forth between here and there. I wore beautiful wellies while I was in London and I had, if you want to know the honest truth, incredibly good hair while I was in Tennessee. It was a lovely dream, especially since my British accent made it all the way back to Tennessee with me and has been, I’m afraid to admit, making a live reappearance while I go about my tasks this morning.
“Snuggles, Cuddles? Would you like a spot of tea with your dog food this morning?”
SEE. I AM A NATURAL.
In all seriousness, ever since visiting London my sophomore year of high school, I’ve wanted to live there for a short (VERY SHORT!) stint. Just long enough to pick up the accent, really. And to say I shopped at Boots, their answer to our Walgreens and CVS.
However, when I went to Italy for three weeks in college (shout out to Jill, Lindsey and the hot professor who was a fantastic chaperone), I realized that Venice was a creating a tie in the game of Where I’d Like To Live If Anything Is Possible. We only spent a few days there, but I’m convinced that I’ll go back to stay for a bit one day. Maybe with a husband, maybe just alone. I could see myself walking by those streets of water in the morning and writing beside them in the evenings.
The real point of me telling you about my dream living arrangements is to bore you out of your mind ask you a question: think back to when you were young and single and tell me where you would have moved and lived for six months if nothing held you back? Don’t worry about finances, jobs, etc. Just where would you have gone and why?
Of course, for some of us, thinking back to the time when we were young and single will be quite easy seeing as that was JUST FIVE MINUTES AGO FOR A FEW OF US.
Not that I’m naming any names here. No, ma’am. No names at all.
Stockholm. Absolutely amazing.
Its funny that you ask us to think back to when we were young and single to answer this question. I just want you to know that being old (33) and married doesn’t negate these types of dreams. I still dream/wish/hope to someday either live in London (I’m sure it has something to do with it is the primary setting of all the novels I read) or New Zealand (and here, I give credit to the Lord of the Rings movies). I just haven’t figured out how to get my husband to give up his job so we can move our children across a pond or two and live on love. Surely it CAN be done.
I would’ve lived in a ridiculously cool apartment in the heart of Manhattan. My brother lives there now, so I can live vicariously through him.
I would have traveled through Europe, working odd jobs and living simply.
Hubs and I still dream of a stint in England, doing missionary work. If the Lord works that out, don’t think I won’t throw a backpack on and galavant through Europe for a few weeks.
mmm…sweet youth. GO, Amy Beth! Get your travel on!!!
I agree with Robyn above… right smack dab in the middle of NYC. Though now, it is just a fun place to visit, b/c I must be able to let my kids out in the yard by themselves to play and it’s way too cold up there for me.
London was pretty good, too, but their food is just so different than good ole southern cooking.
Lets see…I am young and totally single….lol! I would love to go to New Zealand and do the Lord of the Rings Trail. It is a beautiful country!
I would also love to go to Egypt. I love anything with the ancient Egyptian culture – especially the pyramids and mummies and other things along those lines.
I’m one of those “five-minutes-ago” folks. But how on earth can I narrow it down to ONE place?! I think, perhaps, I would choose Albania though. I’d like to spend 6 months being a friend and encourager to the daughter of missionaries I know there.
I’m not a traveler – AT ALL… Never had any dreams to live anywhere exotic… just wanted a beautiful house with horses… (the southern girl in me)
And dont want to get rid of a Tennessee accent for a Britsh – TN accents are my favorite!!!
I always thought if I hadn’t married my DH right out of college I would have gone to Thailand for six months or a year, to do missions probably. I had never been then–I went for two weeks a couple years ago and I am still in love with the country.
Hawaii. I’ve never been there. But oh. Oh. And that young and married. Because I’ve been married since I was 18.
I would love to settle in the eastern Mediterranian for a little while. …… hmmm…I wonder if it is possible to retire by age 40.
Nah-that isnt going to happen-lol
Anywhere with a beach so that I could go for great morning runs on the beach. Of course, I’d have to take up running. Right now, I only run when chased, and some days that’s iffy.
Girl! I TRIPLE LOVE BOOTS (you know you can now get their line of lotions and stuff at Target, right?). When my friends from England come over to visit I make it a point to have them bring me specific products from Boots as well as Galaxy chocolate. It’s a must!
If I could live anywhere when I was young it was Norway. Still want to visit there someday!
Ireland, Argentina, Italy and Greece. I think I was more infatuated with the boys of those countries…
England, definitely. But not necessarily in the city. More like living in the country working as an au pair… much more romantic, you know, what with the countryside picnics, flowy cream colored dresses and large straw hats. It wasn’t till after I’d married and had my own chilldren that the dreams of living in a tiny NYC apartment, scribbling away, going to late dinners with a crowd started to creep in.
Still young….STILL single….and now re-contemplating a quick jaunt to Tuscany. I kind of want Diane Lane’s life in Under the Tuscan Sun….without the awful divorce and “Gay and Away” tour. So basically just the move to Tuscany and renovating a beautiful villa
Well, I didn’t realize it until my honeymoon (obviously taking the single factor away), but I love, love, love Jamaica. Its beautiful. Gorgeous waterfalls, unbelievable views, and the people there are so joyful. Now, there is some crime and some things the people like to smoke that I don’t approve of, but hows that any different from here?
Ummm… I don’t even have to tell you my answer to this question because you already know!
Sydney, Australia… hands down. don’t even have to think twice about it!
I love EVERYTHING about Sydney… I would go back in a heart beat and stay as long as they would let me… currently 3 months since that’s as long as a visa is go for!
I’m another one of those “5 minutes ago” people. Mine was NYC, and I’m here now! I love the way longing for something more, something grand is ingrained in us as humans.
I wouldn’t say I’m young in a carefree early 20′s way, more in the late twenties pushing 30 way, but I did spend a lot of time in France, which I love more than any place on earth. So ditto to those NYC dreams, but pick a tiny studio in the 18th in Paris, make friends with your local pastry ladies, learn a little French, and daily swoon at the beautiful sites that pop up just as you’re walking around.
1. In the mountains, in Colorado.
2. In the mountains, in Tennessee.
3. In Ireland.
And you know, you are young and single. And you have had some upheaval in your living arrangements. And maybe, just maybe, those British girls need some pink Starlite love! Our former youth pastor once said, “God told me to get a passport, so I did. I didn’t know my new mission field was going to be in Mansfield (Dallas area). But I knew He wanted me to be prepared for anything.”
I am gonna tell you straight away that my answers will prove that my “young” days were a little further back that yours …
just sayin’
I wanted to live in Nashville (so I could be friends with Barbara Mandrell and Reba McEntire) or England so I could stalk Princess Diana!
So, yeah, I had issues
AB! I love this post, because I’ve always seemed to have left pieces of my heart all over the world. And even now, living in Guam I still have this desire in me to live in and experience different parts of the world. I think that’s a part of you that you never really lose, regardless of age.
Anyway- I wanted to let you know that I’m in town, and I would love to see you! All of my close friends here are teachers who work during the day, so I wanted to know if you’d like to grab lunch someday or if you need any help at the Starlite office (which I just drove by this morning- I love the pink Christmas decorations btw)! I realize you may be busy, but let me know if you have any free time!
Manhattan. *smiles*
ROME, ITALY!!!!!!! There is truly no other place in the world like it:)
Well, being young and single
, I’d say Germany. Though England ranks up there pretty high (except I’ve never actually been). I have a hypothetical 8 week itinerary for a trip to Europe. It has everything on it. Not sure that I will ever have the time or money, but it’d be nice… I’ve always thought Great Britain would be a fabulous place to honeymoon….
I completely agree about Venice. I’ve only visited once, but I’m trying to figure out any way to get back there! I lived in Madrid one summer, and I loved that as well. I remember being in your shoes and seriously looking at the Peace Corps. A lot longer than 6 months, but completely giving it to God and allowing yourself to do His work in a place that really really needs it.
I had this dream of living in New York City and getting a job on Broadway. I would NEVER have had the guts to attempt it though.
Siberia.
Ireland.
i think i would have picked a BIG city a few years ago. new york or boston or san francisco. and lived right in the heart of it. and i would have peed my pants from fear, but i also would have loved it.
now that life is a lot busier? i’d pick colorado, in a smallish city, right by the mountains and a lake. just calm and nature and God’s miracles right in front of your eyes every day. heck, i’d take that for an hour right now!
Can I change my answer?
My University had a program in Austria and I always wished I would’ve gone. But alas I let a relationship (that didn’t work out) keep me here. I never thought I’d get the chance to live outside the country, but during the adoption of my first cutie I got to live in Guatemala for a month….I fell in love with the country. So during our second adoption I made sure to make my visits count.
As a second, Ive always wanted to live in New England for the fall and winter and spend a summer in the south on a porch with a swing.
Since I’m still decently young and have only been married 2.5 years, I’ll go back to when I was REALLY young and REALLY single…say, elementary school. Back then, I would have picked Australia so I could have a bunch of animal friends and scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef.
When I was young and single I didn’t really want to live anywhere else. But I did! How weird is that! I lived in Costa Rica for 4 months and it was awesome!
Hmm… when I was young and single, I wanted to live in Scotland or Ireland. Today, if I were young and single again, I would want to live in India.
Hands down Kodiak, Alaska. I spent a summer there in college and almost (as if I hadn’t met my husband!) moved there!
Everyone is so dagum nice! 
south america… peru maybe, or italy
i live in australia, i’d really like to go ‘up north’ for a long while
Hubby and I would like to visit Alaska, he lost his job here in MI and I told him to apply for ones in Alaska or Hawaii, But have totally wanted to visit Austria, and Spain, Austria for hubby’s heritage and Spain for the spanish in me.. Someday when we have no kids left at home and he has a good paying job again, we will travel.. BTW, I love Tn accents, he also applied to jobs in Tn, so maybe I can have a TN accent,oldest daughter thinks that would rock!
I wanted to live in CO during the winter and Italy during the summer. Now, I’m just a suburban soccer mom driving a mini-van.
Well right now I’m living in Bangkok, Thailand for a year – which is fantastic! I would also love to live in Prague and Scotland:).
I’m still young (25) and single, so that just might become a reality:).
Since I was married at 20, I really can’t look back on a time when I was young and single. BUT when I was young and married we wanted to live in Argentina.
We finally made it this year. We’re 50. Took a while but we’re living our dream
We moved to the beautiful city of Carlos Paz in the center of the country. Our cute little house is a block from the lake.
But in my dreams I picked up the language quickly and naturally. The reality is MUCH DIFFERENT. At the rate I’m going I’ll maybe be semi-fluent about the time we retire. *sigh*
I’d spend three months in Ocean City, Maryland…from November to January…then pack it all up and head to Austria or Italy for spring…
and DANG IT, QUIT NAMING NAMES!
I would like to live in a little cottage somewhere really green, next to a lake. And it needs to be sunny. I want it to be quiet so i can have lots of good quiet times
)
When I was young and single I really wanted to go to Africa and do literacy and relief work. Particularly Chad.
But then I got married young (as in I was celebrating anniversary #4 at your age) and never got the chance.
Oh my what a great post! I always wanted to do one of those around the world cruises where you lived on the boat for six months and make stops every from South America to Greece.
Now that I young and married, I am just dreaming about that as our 50th Wedding Anniversary trip…only 47 more years to go.
Andy, I accidentally deleted your comment! Sorry!
Did you just call me old?!
I was never young. Or single. But from here, if I were young & single, I’d go tropical…hawaii maybe.
Hehe, I haven’t commented on here before, but you guys are welcome to visit me here in New Zealand!!!
I’d like to visit America one day but I must be the only person on here to say that as I guess… you’re all in the US?
still single (and i sure hope 33 is still young!), but if there were no obstacles, i’d love to live in any/all of these places for 6 months/1 year or more:
1. london. *sigh* i’m such an anglophile.
2. washington, dc. such a cool international vibe. so many languages and people!
3. kenya/rwanda/uganda doing mission work. there’s so much to do and what a blessing it would be to do it.
Amy Beth,
I was sent “Your blog is fabulous” award and I have to send it to five people after posting my five addictions. I love you blog and your honesty so I am passing the award to you!
http://essentialandinconsequential.blogspot.com/
God bless!
well since i am single this is a no brainer for me. i’d move back to durban, south africa. i was there for 4 months in college and loved every second of it.