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kallend

Top travel cities

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I've been to many of these. With a few exceptions, the saying "It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there" applies.

But if you're searching for validation of your choices... maybe that's something you need. Perhaps you've found it in that article.
--
Rob

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kallend


There is a huge difference between a great place to visit and a great place to live. I have been to very many places that were a hoot to pass through, but I would not dream of trying to live and work there.

In addition, there are quite a few places in which it is wonderful to live if you are a 'have,' and suck out loud if you are a 'have not.' Bombay (Mumbai) and Chicago are on that list.

Since you pull down almost as much as the manager of a McDonalds does with overtime, your perception of the Windy City is somewhat more favorable than would be the case for folks on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.

Money may not buy happiness, but poverty and misery are rather closely coupled.


BSBD,

Winsor

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I turned down an amazing offer to live and work in Chicago a few years back.
Base offer started at $125k.
Oh hell no!!!
Thanks for paying for my vacation to Chicago though, I do love to visit there!

I keep telling Andrea we need to go for a long weekend.
Baseball, pizza, museums, hot dogs, Buddy Guy, Mag Mile, ride the loop....all come to mind instantly.

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As an adult I have lived in Montreal, Vancouver, Denver and Calgary (plus traveled to many other major cities such as Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and yes I have been to Chicago though my stay in the Windy City was rather brief and in no way thorough). In all my years living and traveling to all these cities there has been one common occurrence. Every city has claimed that "They are the best city in the world". It is interesting how everyone claims they are better than all the others. There is no doubt that many of these cities have a lot to offer people who visit these cities. But visiting and living are two different cans of worms. I realize your link references "Top Travel Cities", so you can claim you are only referencing places to visit. But if this is the focus, places to visit. How a city like Chicago ranks above New York is a mystery (plus some of those other cities in this list are also mysteries). From a distance Vancouver is an incredibly pretty picturesque city with the ocean and the mountain views. But ignoring the Hastings and Main part of Vancouver for a second (where real world drug zombies live). It is a rather dirty city with plenty of trash littering the streets. Vancouver has a lot of good things going for them, but there is also no shortage of bad things happening there.

In summary this is just an opinion people have. Some people prefer the big cosmopolitan cities, some prefer the medium sized cities and some prefer to stay out of cities. I just find it amusing that in every place I have ever lived and visited, the locals continue to claim they are the best place on earth.


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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CanuckInUSA

I just find it amusing that in every place I have ever lived and visited, the locals continue to claim they are the best place on earth.



If you have a choice in the matter but opt to stay where you are, odds are you believe this. I can't see living away from San Francisco, or at least not as an improvement. If I didn't have to work for a living, then San Diego might bubble up, though if I didn't have to work, I'd probably rotate around the globe.

As I said, these sort of lists are done every few months by travel magazines, so they have to stray outside the top 10 (as measured by actual visitors). But the case they laid out for Chicago looks like a 3 day weekend at best...

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It'd be easy to plan a 3-day weekend in any US city, even including Dallas (coming from someone who's lived in Houston the last 40+ years :o, that's saying something).

I'll be in Chicago next week :D

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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kallend

*** But the case they laid out for Chicago looks like a 3 day weekend at best...



Well, that's one day more than San Diego and three days more than Dallas or Houston.

I didn't see them list San Diego there, or Dallas/Houston. But I could write you two weeks worth of fun for San Diego. I was born in Chicago and I can't think of much more than they already showed. In SD, I could start with the 3 days of skydiving you can't (or not happily) do in Chicago in winter.

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Quote

Well, that's one day more than San Diego and three days more than Dallas or Houston.



Have you lived in Dallas? Having lived in both Chicago and Dallas.... I'd live in Dallas again any day. I'd NEVER live in Chicago again.

So, have you actually lived in Dallas, or are you talking out of your ass?

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What's pretty cool is when they do these things that point out subtly why not to go there.

>>>The Windy City’s cloud-scraping architecture and world-class museums take centre stage

Okay. This sounds good. I like architecture. I dig museums.

>>>but the real fun begins after you check off the masterpieces.

Sweet!

>>>Head to Wrigley Field, America’s favourite baseball park, and sit in the bleachers, Old Style beer in hand, watching the woefully cursed Cubs.

A tribute to mediocrity!

>>>The ivy-walled venue celebrates its 100th birthday in 2014 with season-long festivities.

Google "Lee Elia rant" and listen to what the Chicago Cubs' own manager had to say about the place and the fans.

>>>Or yuck it up at The Second City, which blows out 55 candles on its cake this year. The club launched the improv comedy genre, along with the careers of Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and many more.

Why they list people who get the hell out of town once successful is always a funny one.

>>>Come summer

Because there's nothing interesting in the other three seasons

>>>frets still bend at Blues Fest

As they do in a thousand cities, towns and middles of nowhere. (Mind you, I'd go to the blues museum in Chicago. But, goddammit, St. Louis took that, too.)

>>>and guitars thrash at Lollapalooza

A touring show makes a stop in Chi-town?

>>> and Pitchfork.

The only festival with enough ironic wit to have R. Kelly and Pissed Jeans on the same bill.

>>> But a couple of newcomers have cranked up the volume: Wavefront Music Festival in July and September’s Riot Fest.

Again, festivals that bring a lot of out-of-town talent to headline.

These are the funny things that litter these "come here" statements. By pointing out stuff that can either be done everywhere or by pointing out well-known people who left.

Tiger Woods grew up in my hometown. Yay! No. He's fucking gone. Chris Dorner went to my high school, too.


My wife is hotter than your wife.

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champu

***It'd be easy to plan a 3-day weekend in any US city-



In L.A. you'd probably want to make it four days to account for traffic.

As much as people complain about LA traffic, LA is unique in one respect - there are alternate routes. When I was living in OC and going to downtown every day, I could take the 605 to the 5 to the 10 to the 110. Or 605 to the 5 to the 710 to the 60 to the 5 or the 101 or the 10. Or take the 605 to the 105 to the 710 to the 5. Or 710 to the 60 to the 5. Or the 405 to the 710 to the 91 to the 110 all the way up. Or the 91 to the 710 to the 105 to the 110. Or just take Wardlow to Figueroa (awesome when the bus drivers went on strike. Clear surface streets). Or any combination thereof.

Versus a place like SF, where if the Bay Bridge was out you're screwed.


My wife is hotter than your wife.

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last time I flew into Chicago it was through MDW. That place always smells like raw sewage. Is it in a septic tank area of town or something??

Security line is a bitch at that place too. Glad I have "fancy status" on the airline I flew.

I didn't get much chance to be touristy. Ate some good pizza, got upgraded to the presidential suite at the hotel, went to a meeting, flew home. Was an overnight with an early meeting.
--
Rob

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lawrocket


Versus a place like SF, where if the Bay Bridge was out you're screwed.



On a per mile basis, particularly for cross bay, it's definitely harder here. But the distance you have to travel tends to be significantly less - it's just not as big across or top to bottom as LA, and there it seems like all the interest attractions are on the edges of the giant basin of traffic.

The 605 isn't nearly as good an alternate as I remember it. And even then, the 5 was almost never the right answer.

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I said that more as a joke than anything. I'm tucked away in the beach cities, I have a 10 minute commute to work by bicycle, and I rarely use the freeways. Most of the time I'm going somewhere a distance away it's at off hours or on the weekend when traffic is... there... but everyone is moving pretty much as fast as they care to. If you live in a major city and you invite a 45 minute or an hour commute into your life, that's your choice.

Miami, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Chicago, DC, Phoenix, Tampa, Houstin, San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver... I've seen a lot of traffic in this country, and it can get pretty bad everywhere. If I had to pick the worst place for traffic I've ever seen it would be a toss up between Atlanta, and the I-15 between Vegas and L.A. if you catch it at the wrong time.

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