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Old 05-29-2011, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, New York
467 posts, read 1,862,697 times
Reputation: 172

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I'm a 23-year-old freelance web designer in Brooklyn, NY. This year I decided I ought to get out of town for the winter months because I can't really stand the cold and I get a slight case of SAD. So I'm thinking of subletting my apartment and going somewhere from roughly mid-December through the end of March, give or take. I'd love suggestions based on my criteria below.

Weather: 60s-80s, not incredibly hot or cold. I don't mind putting on a sweatshirt or a jacket. I'd take a colder, partly cloudy or sunny day over a hot, rainy one. So lots of sunshine and lack of rain are important.

Safety: Somewhere where it's safe for a young woman like me to be alone.

Social: The most important thing to me is that I want to be able to strike up conversations with people and make friends, be they expats, tourists or locals. So a place where there are foreigners and/or a substantial English-speaking population is important. Also, where there are cafes and I need WiFi for sure.

Cost of Living: At first I will couch surf, but I'd love to either strike a deal with a hostel, find someone renting a house or a room, and/or barter web design services for a place to stay. At any rate, I don't want to spend more than $400/month on somewhere to live.

Transportation: Somewhere where I could rent a bicycle or a scooter would be great, and where there is stuff within walking distance, not rural and not really spread out.

I've thought of places like Seville or Granada in Spain, Sicily, Cyprus or Crete, but I was thinking that even these places might be too cold for what I'm looking for? I don't want to go swimming at the beach, but I'd love to walk on one. Other options include Bali or Ho Chi Minh City (I spent 2 weeks in Hanoi this past February, loved it, but it's too cold and grey there in winter). I've also thought of Thailand, but I would need recommendations for a suitable town/city for me. Also thought of New Zealand, but don't know if the cost of living is higher than I'd like. And of course there are probably loads of other places I haven't even thought of!

Hopefully you guys have a good idea of what I'm looking for! Thanks for the help.
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Old 05-31-2011, 05:45 PM
 
Location: U.S.A.
92 posts, read 248,866 times
Reputation: 59
The only advice I can give you is that i've been to Ho Chi Minh City and it gets hot as **** there. At first I thought you were trying to just move some where warmer compared to Brooklyn in like the U.S. I've also been to San Diego and the weather is perfeect there year round.
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Old 05-31-2011, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
10,629 posts, read 15,949,840 times
Reputation: 5280
Asia:
Hong Kong
Taipei
Singapore

Oceania:
Sydney
Melbourne
Auckland

USA:
Florida
Southern California

European winters suck!
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Old 05-31-2011, 08:18 PM
 
Location: City of Angels
2,923 posts, read 5,592,987 times
Reputation: 2267
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ez Mode Pls View Post
The only advice I can give you is that i've been to Ho Chi Minh City and it gets hot as **** there. At first I thought you were trying to just move some where warmer compared to Brooklyn in like the U.S. I've also been to San Diego and the weather is perfeect there year round.
VN isn't very popular for snowbirds in my experience. cambodia and thailand are more popular for this. winter is the cool season in those countries, so it's not so hot. in fact i usually just stay in fan rooms during that time of year and never have a problem. sihanoukville in cambodia is becoming popular w westerners (incl single western women) during the winters. chiang mai in thailand is also popular obs. if you go further norht to chiang rai the weather can actually be chilly that time of year.
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Old 05-31-2011, 09:05 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,702,293 times
Reputation: 36642
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davy-040 View Post
Asia:
Hong Kong
Taipei
Singapore

Oceania:
Sydney
Melbourne
Auckland

USA:
Florida
Southern California

European winters suck!

I think he'd have a hard time finding a place for $400 a month in any of those places. And he won't want to be getting around on a bicycle or scooter.
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Old 06-02-2011, 06:37 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, New York
467 posts, read 1,862,697 times
Reputation: 172
Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'm going to do Phuket. Sihanoukville sounds interesting, too, but a) getting there (and going to other cities/countries from there) is tricky and b) the fact that the facilities there are a lot less up to par than even Thailand is a little bit of a turn off.

Also, the $400/month thing is somewhat of a random figure because including utilities I pay about $850/month at home, but I guess when you factor in the plane tickets and other transportation and things I'll buy, drastically reducing how much I spend on living costs seems like the right thing to do.
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