There's a land that I heard of

My plan this year is to take the money I would normally spend on rent and instead translate it into airplane tickets. It's cheaper to fly around and crash with people than to pay rent to some money sucking entity right? My goal is to spend every season in a different place. I figure winter in San Diego, spring in San Francisco, summer in New York for damn sure, and then autumn somewhere else -- let's preliminarily say Hawaii. I need action this year, and things happening. Here's the problem: I'm suburbs at heart. I love convenience. I love not having to worry about parking, public transportation, or how other people will affect my daily routine. I like my little bubble.

During our scout run in San Francisco this past week, I discovered some problems with it. First, it's not really an urban place at all. Without a car, it's damn hard to get around. Sure, the buses and the BART are there and superficially link the city together but a seven by seven mile city is still pretty damn big. San Francisco is very much little neighborhoods all strung out away from each other. Going to the Mission to eat, Haight-Ashbury to shop, the Marina to sleep, the Tenderloin to be scared. It all takes so much effort.

At least in New York you have subways and tons of cabs. It seems like in SF you can't get anything done without a car. Who has the patience to sit around waiting for a bus in the freezing cold? I sure as hell don't. However, this is no time for New York so San Francisco it'll have to be. Part of me says to just stay in San Diego until warm weather hits the East Coast, but really, I need to get out of San Diego; there's nothing for me here.

How come it's so hard to find a city that is both bustling with culture, activity, and newness, without having to sacrifice convenience? I hear Austin is kinda cool. But that's in Texas. Ugh. Perhaps the answer lies overseas...