well-traveled: Dispatches from the front lines of travel.

Should I Move to Amsterdam?

from: Seth Stevenson

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Lately, for lots of reasons, I've been thinking I might leave the country.

I daydream about moving to Canada. Or maybe New Zealand. In my most crazed and misanthropic moments, I envision myself on some sort of self-contained barge, drifting aimlessly through international waters.

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In the end, though, most of my fantasies settle on Amsterdam. It's a modern, First World metropolis, and as such it's a realistic destination for me. It's not too close, but it's not on the far side of the world. It's not too cold but also not tropically hot.

In my limited visits to Amsterdam, I've always felt at home. The progressive social policy, the slicing-edge architecture, the relaxed yet refined mood ... it all speaks to me. It says: Move here.

So, to give the place a more thorough assessment, I holed up in a hotel, and I tried to imagine that Amsterdam is my home. I asked myself things like: Do I really want to move here? How would my life change? Are psychedelic mushrooms legal?

Because this is mostly just a comforting fantasy, I didn't bother with the nitty-gritty details—things any serious emigrant would take into account (the job market, housing prices, visas, etc.). Instead, I just soaked up the lifestyle. I tried to decide, in the abstract: Should I move to Amsterdam?