Somewhere, There's a Place for Us...

A Time and a Place for Us.

Who wants to read about a spreadsheet? Gah! Not me. They are the worst.

But sometimes one is necessary. I put together the start of a Google Sheet the other day with fifteen European towns and cities listed in the left column and a series of qualities a location might have across the top. I expect this little document to drive where my wife and I are going to live for a good chunk of the rest of our lives.

We came up with the list of places over a sushi dinner on a recent hot summer evening. I wrote it on the back of the receipt.

An Act of Hope

Europe has always been a dream for me. It’s pervasive and visceral—the pull has been a constant for as long as I can remember. Italy. England. France. Germany. Spain. They all sound like places I want to live. None of my trips over the Atlantic have changed my mind. It’s a big continent, of course, but there’s not a specific place that draws me. Or to be honest, they all do.

Why can’t I live here?

So we worked through the list over dinner and drinks. My wife is German and has a love of German culture, so most locations on the list are in Germany. For me, Germany’s centrality makes it a good choice. One of the draws of living in any place in Europe is easier access to the rest of Europe. The ability to get on my bike and cycle over to the next medieval town over or to hop a train and be in Amsterdam or Zurich or Munich in a few hours without all the misery of airline travel feels like a fantasy.

Life-changing decisions require a tad more critical thinking than putting together a list on a dreamy summer evening. That’s what the column headers are for. We spent a good deal more time thinking about what would make a great place to live. That involves cataloging the things we take for granted here in Atlanta along with the things we love elsewhere.

Our considerations include big practical things like cost of living, access to healthcare, public transportation, and a mild climate. A decent-sized English-speaking community, too. I know I need to speak the language to some degree, but I could use some help.

As they say every day in corporate conference rooms all across America, these are table stakes.

Then there are the softer priorities: access to hiking, wine country, good biking, and an international airport are all important to us. No place is going to score 10 on all categories, but it’s good to keep track of all of them.

Here’s what we’ve come up with so far:

• Housing affordabililty

• Cost of living

• Healthcare access

• Weather

• International airport

• English-speaking community

• Fresh food access

• Mountains

• Vineyards

• Trains

• Public transport

• Bike-friendly

• Thriving old town

• Welcoming environment

• Politics

• Bureaucracy

Thorn-colored Glasses

These headers are the real buggers. This is where the needs of daily life bulldoze the dreamlike vision that starts this conversation.

But even something like access to fresh food can get romanticized. I’ve been spoiled by Atlanta’s proliferation of vast, international food outlets with their spectacular selection of inexpensive and exotic produce and meats. I don’t expect to find the same in a small German town, but it’s easy to get lost in the daydream of that morning stroll through the old town, popping into the bakery for a fresh loaf, then stopping at the open-air market to select the vegetables and fruit that were in the field hours earlier. I’d select a crisp head of fennel that would inspire a whole menu—the fronds to go into a sauté pan with some trout, the stalks diced and roasted with some oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I stop for a wedge of local cheese from the monger and then maybe a quick stop for a bottle of Chasselas at the wine shop.

Peter Gugerell, via Wikimedia Commons, showing how I think Europeans shop for dinner.

Surely people don’t actually live that way. Isn’t this a ridiculously expensive way to go about doing things? What does it look like in winter? I understand that I’ll likely shop at the closest Aldi or Lidl, but maybe I’ll still get my cheese in the cheese shop?

Keeping the romantic illusion at bay as we consider the practical reality is the primary challenge.

To be honest, I could use some help. We came up with a list of things that we think we need to consider. Hell, we even asked ChatGPT what it thought we should consider. (It insisted that we needed Skynet access wherever we went.)

What have we missed? If you’re considering a move to Europe, what’s important to you in your new home?

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This week’s song: You can find a magnificent recording of this song with José Carreras, one of the Three Tenors, singing it under the direction of Leonard Bernstein himself. Carreras sounds like the opera star he was—Tom Waits, on the other hand, sounds like the kind of guy who can only dream of somewhere.