wolfchild

I can see Lake Ontario from my apartment balcony. It's about 10 min bike ride.

plustax

I live next to work. That's a university for the past half decade so food stores are also close by. The train is a mile away and busses run every were every 15 minutes. I live in LA. It's super easy to be car free here. I want to start a food not bombs chapter and need to look into bike trailers.

Roody

I live about 85 miles from either Huron or Michigan. Fortunately, there are thousands of inland lakes in Michigan. I live about 3 miles from a couple nice little lakes that have a beach, boat rental, picnic grounds, wooded bike trails and MTB trails, and beautiful scenery. For me, having a nearby scenic natural area is a major consideration in deciding where to live.

plustax

La has a multitude of parks. Really a great city.

Saving Hawaii

I live in Chico, CA; a smaller city of about 100k. Flat terrain, mild weather, good cycling infrastructure, a fairly high population density, and a strong cycling culture all make it easier to live car free. I think one thing that really helps here is that civilization ends. You could live on the edge of town and commute to work at the opposite corner and it still wouldn't be a 10-mile commute. Most people here are only commuting 2-4 miles. That's pretty easy over just about any terrain and especially in the flat as a pancake Central Valley.

Machka 

Sounds nice.

Machka 

These photos were taken from a viewpoint maybe about 500 metres up the hill from our place ... looking down on the nearby shopping mall.







And this one was taken about 1 km up the hill from our place ... nice view of the area where we live.

Machka 

I'll just bump this because it applies to another thread going on just now ...

Machka 

Also ... we're about to embark on our second year in our house. We still like the house and like the area ... it ticks lots of boxes. The only thing I wish is that we were both closer to where we work, but when we work so far apart, that's an impossibility.

MikeRides

As much as I love living out in the country, I'm being reassigned to a new job at a different facility and I've entertained the thought of relocating to be in a situation where I can use the bike for 90% of my transportation needs. I would prefer a small town not far from my job with a grocery / drug / hardware store within walking distance and still have a bit of the "rural charm" I've become accustomed to. I don't care about public transportation so long as I have two legs, and a bike.

Rsmith11

Hey Machka, what do you and your husband do? I've always been fascinated with Australia. I'd love to come for a trip sometime. I'm from North Dakota, very flat and pretty boring here. How's the economy over there? Are there many jobs available? Asking as a soon-to-be accounting/finance graduate.

Machka 

Rowan is an orchard supervisor and I work in state government.

The economy is OK here ... reasonable number of jobs available if you're willing to work. Different areas are better or worse than others.

Different areas are also more/less expensive than others. Sydney, for example, is one of the most expensive places in the world to live, with Melbourne close behind. But there are other places to live which are quite comparable with places in Canada and the US. I just used this site: Cost of Living (grabbed at random) to compare some costs of living, and it turns out the cost of living in Hobart is relatively comparable with Edmonton, and sort of ball-park with Minneapolis.

There are, however, quite strict immigration rules. You need to meet a long list of criteria.

But if you're under 30, now is the time to travel. Many countries have a "working holiday" program for those who are under 30 so they can go to the country of their choice, pick up work, travel, etc. for 1-2 years.

Machka 

Have you made a move yet? How's it going?

Roody

I'm far from rich, and I have lived happily as a carfree person in many different places. I think attitude has more to do with it than geography or finances.

Ekdog

Where do you live? That certainly hasn't been my experience, and I've lived in quite a few cities in the United States abroad.

MikeRides

No. I can't be bothered to sell or worry about renting out my house so I really don't have any plans to relocate anytime soon. Unfortunately my new commute is a bit over 40 miles one way so I've become highly dependent on the car.

mtnroads

I'm currently living on an island in the Philippines that's perfect for cycling. It's popular with expats and divers but still mostly rural and laid back. My 2 bedroom western-style home here is about $400/mo and another $100-150 for utilities, on a quiet side street, not far from the ocean. One could easily live here for $1000/mo although I do spend more. I rented my paid off home in the Pacific Northwest and the income more than covers my expenses here.

It's easy and enjoyable to get around by bicycle but I have a small motorbike for going into the main (small) city or exploring the larger islands nearby. It gets about 100 mpg. No need for a car here. The only drawback for some is the heat and high humidity although I found it completely eliminated my asthma and I use the AC at night in my bedroom for sleeping comfort.

Lil Bear

This is an interesting topic.. I feel many people don't consider enough about location when they move. I did skip from page 3 to 5... wanted to respond to so many posts, but they were 2 years old. My wife and I moved about 5 years ago. Same town, but we're actually just outside the city limits now, in a small subdivision with community water. There's 13 restuarants (5 with full bars), 3 grocery stores (one organic), 2 hardware stores, 2 banks, a movie theatre, 2 sporting goods stores, and several other shopping options, as well as my wife's work, within two miles of our front door. Yet, our neighborhood is somewhat segregated from the hustle and bustle... if we see 3 cars drive by in 10 minutes, well, that's rush hour! There's a bike path 3 blocks from our front door. That's all location, and it's excellent for our needs. The house itself... no complaints. Large lot on a hill (great views), mature apple tree and room for a garden in the back, attached garage, lots o' room... we have one room we just use for gear... backpacking stuff, skis, rollerblades.. a couple Queen Anne chairs we got at a yard sale that we drape our sleeping bags over... My wife LOVES her job, and it's 25 minutes on foot. I think we'll be here awhile. Yes, I know.. 5 years and still "room for a garden." This summer will be my last without one - there's a few big projects that take precedent... new roof and stone patio along with some landscaping in the back.

Last year we went to New Orleans... I spent about 5 days in the French Quarter. If we could afford a place there, I don't think I'd ever have a need to go more than 12 blocks from home.

Renting can be a challenge. When buying, I feel location comes first, then features you want, or the potential to have them, and of course cost. We didn't need, and really weren't looking for a new home. That gave us an opportunity to be selective, and we ended up with a house with what we wanted in a location where we wanted for a price we could afford. I know it's not a competition, but I still feel like we won.

noglider 

My wife and I lived in New Jersey, a vast expanse of suburbia. We were about 20 miles west of New York City. We raised my two daughters from my first marriage. (I got custody of my kids.) A couple of years after the second kid left for college, we decided to move back to NYC. I had grown up there but hadn't lived there in a long time. My wife didn't grow up there but lived there for about 30 years. She still works mostly in New Jersey and still has to driver her car a lot. I was between jobs and figured I could get a job in the city. Getting that job took over a year, but that's life. I figured that since our apartment is near midtown (where everything in NYC happens), I would have a nice easy cycling commute. It didn't work out that way. I work in the Bronx, almost 14 miles from home. It's a bit of a long ride, so I only do it about twice a week. I take the subway the other times. I sold my car, as a car is more of a liability than an asset in this city. Traffic and parking are horrendous.

Being able to ride my bike to various places was one reason we chose to move back here but it wasn't the only one. It is a very good place for living without a car. My family didn't have a car when I was growing up. We took public transit and taxis. When we needed to drive out of the city, we rented cars, and this wasn't often.

One of my daughters lives in Brooklyn (part of NYC) and works in Manhattan. She commutes by subway. She has no plans to buy a car, and if she starts talking about it, I'll tell her she's crazy.

My other daughter recently moved to Denver. She hopes to get by without a car, but she knows that may not work out. So far, she walks three miles or takes a bus to work.

Machka 

As our second year comes to an end ...

One fairly significant thing that has changed is that the public transportation is better. They are running a couple extra buses in the mornings which provides me with greater flexibility.

My fitness level has also improved so we've been able to cycle from home more frequently.

oddjob2

Despite being called Motor City, through bike flipping I have met more than a few millennials who have taken up residence in Detroit and are loving the car free lifestyle. This includes young people from California, Seattle, New Jersey, and Michigan of course.

The work they do varies; artists, food service, entrepreneurs, graphic design, web developers, not-for-profit, construction, education.

Rent is cheap, home buying is cheap, insurance for vehicles and houses are high (not compared to the hurricane belt). You can find a move in ready 3 bedroom home for under $75,000. The architecture is amazing, from Beaux Arts to Mies van der Rohe. Quicken loans founder Dan Gilbert has bet over $2.0 billion in rebuilding Detroit and bringing jobs downtown.

The streets are wide, the bikeways are proliferating, and the Detroit River or Lake St. Clair are minutes away. I used to commute an hour by car to go yacht racing, now it is under 15 minutes by bike.

Winters are tough, but bus service is improving as RTA hired the former director of the AATA, the Cadillac of bus systems.

So, if you can do your work anywhere, or want to try your chops in a rapidly improving urban city, or own a house free and clear within 10-15 years, put Detroit on your radar.

Jim from Boston

Hi @Oddjob,

Thanks for that nice tribute to Detroit. I grew up there from the 1950s to the 1970s on the East Side near the City Airport and I learned of the bicycling lifestyle there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

… Back inthe 60’s in the Motor City, I had an “English Racer,’ and longed to tour atabout age 14, but then joined the car culture. In Ann Arbor MI in the 70’s I really realized the utility of bicycles for commuting, and began touring on afive-speed Schwinn Suburban, but soon bought a Mercier as did my girlfriend,later my wife. We toured in Michigan and Ontario.

In 1977 we moved to Boston on our bikes, as a bicycling honeymoon from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and then took the train up to Boston….

A favorite long ride used to be on weekends riding from Ann Arbor across the length of Metro Detroit from West to East, and I used to consider the Grosse Pointes as a “Cycling Park.”

Since then, the entire family, indeed the entire neighborhood has since moved up to Northern Macomb and Oakland counties, near the Hall Road corridor. Whenever I visit, about twice a year, I always bring a bike, though the major roads out there are not as bike friendly as are the long,wide thoroughfares of the City proper. I have also read, enjoyed and posted to the current thread on the Great Lakes Regional Discussion Forum, "New Detroit Rider!/Group Rides in Detroit."