Well, the summer I was in the UK and met my EX while I was hitchhiking certainly changed my life.

^^Oh yeah.

Hawaii 1993 !

Yes.

It depends on what you mean by vacation.

I did my college junior-year-abroad in Israel. Everything about me changed – but figure that I was 18 and was maturing anyway. So was it the culture that changed me or simply me becoming older?

Maybe not changed my life, but renewed my life. 8 years ago my sister flew me out to be with her in NYC. While there I saw two Broadway shows and went to the Tony Awards. Best week of my entire life. The next year I was back doing theater after a ten year hiatus.

@mazingerz88 Where are you?

Vacationing in Florida didn’t have an instant effect that I would move here, but it definitely prepped me for coming to that decision. It changed my life.

Moving to Florida after college instantly felt like a relief and like I was on a daily vacation even though I started working full time within two months of arriving. You walk outside and you’re in Florida! Palm trees, sun, warm. Most of the time anyway.

I know a lot of people who live where I live who bought a house here during a long weekend visit to see what the place is like. A lot of them had no plans to do such a thing on their first visit.

The summer I did a 165 mile two week backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada.

@JLeslie Florida didn’t have an instant effect on you but you ended up there eventually. I think Sta. Barbara CA may have had an instant effect on me that I’m seriously considering finding work there.

Not a vacation but a short term job in National Park turned out that I lived her for over 28 years now! Yes it changed my life for the better!
Love the outdoors in nature here, quieter , clean fresh air, no more car alarms going off like in the city every day.
Peaceful, yet tourist season I don’t have to travel the world, as the World traveler comes here.
I have met so many people from various cultures, countries just working over the years here.
Some wrote me , send post cards of home towns and some long term friends, others not so.
Some people are happy in a major city lifestyle while others like it somewhat country life.

^^Awesome.

@mazingerz88
Yes it is!
I am happy that despite the downturn in the economy and thus no jobs to be had at that time that it forced me to venture out of my comfort zone and I took that chance.

It was supposed to be for only five months but I liked it so much that I worked at three jobs until I obtained a full time job to live here.

I guess I was ready for that change to happen in my life.

@mazingerz88 I think part of the reason Florida didn’t have an instant effect on me was I first went as a child to visit friends of my parents and Disney World. It’s not the same as visiting a place as an adult.

I wonder if it might be a good time for you to make the move! A lot of people are leaving CA right now and I think it’s creating opportunities for people to move in.

You’re in an expensive market so you should be able to live there without suffering too much in lifestyle expense change. I would try to sell you on FL (no state income tax, closer to where you are now if you have family there, friends more likely to visit you in FL, there’s more) but if you are head over heals with Santa Barbara then maybe that is truly the right fit.

Thanks jellies. I knew Fluther was the perfect place to ask this ( life changing ) question. :)

Exciting! Give us updates.

^^MontCo has been my home for 20 years now. I’m thinking I can always go back if things somewhere else didn’t work out.

A friend in LA strongly suggested I move back there. Maybe not. But Sta. Barbara…wow. Really nice.

When I was nervous about moving to Florida the first time my mom said, “you can always come back.” All of a sudden I was able to do it. I’ll never forget that she said that to me. My dad kept telling me I should’ve leave I was too much of mess with no plan. Thank goodness my parents consistently didn’t consult with each other to be a united front. I have more than one example in my life where they told me different advice or had different expectations. Completely goes against child rearing advice. Lol.

^^Imo actually it’s perfect, parents presenting their kids with opposing ideas. It accomplishes two things at the same time. You are driven to agressiveness enough not to fail and the comforting notion someone has your back in case you did.

Note also that a vacation is much different than actually living day to day .
Example: When I moved here for thre – five month job of course it was in Summeretime.
But I stayed a little longer ( contract until Oct anyways) and then discovered what it was like “after” the tourists were gone and most of the attractions closed.
But , I found that ‘it was pleasing’ then and had freed om to hike without tons of tourists on the trails etc.
My point is this…..go off season to see what it is like first.