How to make the most of a place you'll only live for a year

[Anonymous]

It seems every time we move from a location, we're left with a list of things we wish we'd done - and that's for 3-5 years at a time! Now we're headed somewhere else for just a year, and I'd like to make the most of it (where isn't really important). Any tips for me?

[Anonymous]

My family and I used to move frequently with my husband’s job. We would be in a location for no more than two years at a time.

Before we moved, I would buy a typical tourist guidebook for the city or area we were moving to. Once we got there, we would prioritize the top five or 10 things we wanted to see, while our clock was ticking down from 24 months.

This way, we could also understand that some things/events/places/activities were inside things or outside things, or dependent on a specific time of year or weather. This method helped us knock out the major and most popular sites and events and locations in our new place. I would also make notes and plans about “Local only” things that were off the beaten track that I learned about once we had moved there.

[Anonymous]

Decide on a few things that are really important to your happiness, and do those and only those. For me it would be natural sunlight, so I'd use cheap mirrors to bounce light around. Maybe Home Goods or Ross or Marshalls.

[Anonymous]

Go on one of those hop on/hop off busses if your city has them and just ride it for the day and make notes! I love those things. Then go back and spend time at them.

PS lived in AZ for two years and still haven’t seen the Grand Canyon. **face palm**

[Anonymous]

I think that knowing you'll only be there for one year helps! It's long enough that you can do a lot of things, and short enough that you know you have a deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go on one of those hop on/hop off busses if your city has them and just ride it for the day and make notes! I love those things. Then go back and spend time at them.

PS lived in AZ for two years and still haven’t seen the Grand Canyon. **face palm**

FWIW, I went on a hop-on hop-off bus tour in my city and all their facts were inaccurate as hell. And I'm right there with you - grew up for 20 years in NY and never saw the Statue of Liberty. Guess I was absent for that field trip or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family and I used to move frequently with my husband’s job. We would be in a location for no more than two years at a time.

Before we moved, I would buy a typical tourist guidebook for the city or area we were moving to. Once we got there, we would prioritize the top five or 10 things we wanted to see, while our clock was ticking down from 24 months.

This way, we could also understand that some things/events/places/activities were inside things or outside things, or dependent on a specific time of year or weather. This method helped us knock out the major and most popular sites and events and locations in our new place. I would also make notes and plans about “Local only” things that were off the beaten track that I learned about once we had moved there.

This. We lived someplace just six months, but this is how we initially handled weekends. We were tourists. We quickly fell into a groove and found our favorite places though, and laughed at the actual tourists doing touristy things and wondered why we ever thought that would be a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Buy the state flower of each place, flowers bring joy.

[Anonymous]

Make a list of things you want to and do them. Don’t waste free time sitting on the sofa watching tv.

[Anonymous]

Do you have kids? See if the locale has things similar to Certifikid or DC Kids or a less snarky version of DCUM. That will help you get ideas of things you'd otherwise be searching for like the best nearby festivals or pumpkin patches or outdoor movie nights.
Depending on where you've lived before and where you are for that year, what is uniquely different that you should maximize experience? PPs had good ideas with travel guides, so start to make your own bucket list of big things plus local things.

Are you fairly introverted or do you want to make friends? Don't waste time, find the local FB group for your college alumni association, hobby, school PTA and your preferred house of worship. Reach out and introduce yourself as a family moving to the area and hoping to meet people and get tips on fun stuff, places to go, etc.

In addition to the place you're living, what is interesting in a 3-5hr drive that you should plan at least a weekend since otherwise you might never visit? Random example, I would never choose to make a vacation out of traveling to Graceland or Dollywood, but if I had to live in Nashville for a year I'd definitely take time to go visit each for a weekend since each is only a few hours' drive.