The wild bird asked:

What is your dream city? Why?

Assuming that you have not struck the jackpot and your inheritance, if any, would barely last you beyond a few months. In other words, ways of amassing money to survive should be taken into account.

And: where would you never live?

My dream home is a townhouse on the Upper East side of Manhattan. Or a penthouse with a panoramic view of Central Park and Midtown, within walking range of a subway station where the express trains stop. Throw in a weekend villa in the Hamptons, and I’m all set.

Other top locales: San Francisco, Santa Monica, London, Paris, Tokyo, Boston, Providence, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg, Santorini, Medina. I don’t have any data on South America.

Alternatively, I would purchase my own private island and declare myself a micronation (not to be confused with a microstate, in either sense).

OK, that wasn’t quite to the point was it. I wasn’t supposed to assume an unlimited budget…

So here’s the list of top locales, factoring in budget: San Diego, Chicago, Seoul, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Shanghai (not for long, I’m sure), Taipei, Dublin, Miami, Tampa, Zurich (surprisingly underpriced for a Swiss city). Maybe Moscow too.

I personally learn toward Seoul and Toronto for growth potential. Seoul because it’s in the only one of the Five Dragons that isn’t hopelessly and utterly screwed up, and has proven on several occasions to be mature enough to admit to its mistakes and work on them; Toronto because the north ‘burbs where the Seven Chinatowns are is just about the only place in North America you can get authentic nasi lemak, pulot hitam and teh tarik. Seattle is cool, but I’d like Vancouver better, simply because it’s Canada.