Sky's the limit

One question that's come up a couple of times while talking to recruiters and such is about relocating. "To where would you be willing to relocate?" the question usually goes.

The answer is both simple and complex. I'm a city boy; I like big towns. And, by "big towns", I should point out that I live in the second highest populated metropolitan area in the nation and have lived here all my life. I mean, Los Angeles metro has more people than most states. I've travelled to smaller towns for business, obviously, and even vacation in such places, but I tend to end up feeling cramped or restricted in places even up to 500k or so. So, I'd prefer a larger city somewhere.

Ironically, I'm probably more willing to move to someplace like New York City than to, say San Francisco - I'd rather make a bigger jump than a smaller one, if we're talking about changing cities. I mean, I'm all for moving actually *into* LA Metro (I'm a half-hour north of the city), but if I'm Leaving Los Angeles (to steal from Sharyl), I'd rather it be a major departure. I'm also open to leaving the country, depending on the circumstances.

(Random note: it's November and over 90 degrees today. We've had some really freaky weather this year.)

A position where I'd be a kind of travelling consultant would work as well. I had such an opportunity in the late 90's that I would have taken had the first position not been to South Africa - one where I would have been restricted to the bank where I'd have worked and the hotel I would have stayed at, with a multi-man armed escort between the two buildings. Not exactly a "safe" environment. In general, though, I love travelling and seeing new locations, so a roving consultant position would be great.

I know a lot of people are terrified of the idea of travelling or moving. This is probably one situation where my peculiar biology comes into play: I honestly think I have some kind of neural discrepancy where I don't feel "at home" anywhere, probably related to always feeling like an outsider. The advantage is that, if nowhere is specifically "home", then you're equally comfortable in any environment. That's pretty much the case: I can check into a hotel and instantly be comfortable. I can also fall asleep anywhere if I want to - planes, trains, cars, any bed, etc. - and don't usually suffer from jet lag. Even airports don't piss me off the way they seem to annoy most folks.

If anyone's still actually reading this blog - how do you guys feel about work travel, either permament or transient?