During the past three months, I've traveled to Manhattan, San Francisco, San Jose, Portland, Chicago, and Miami for biz/personal trips.
I've stayed in mid-priced hotels. (Actually, non were cheap as in staying at a Best Western in the 'burbs. :-) )
Observations:
Manhatten: Used to love to go here. Now I find it crowded, dirty, and people are rude on the streets, but normal once inside. Least value per sq ft of hotel space of all the cities.
San Fran: Love the Wharf. Expensive, a homeless problem, past its prime?
Portland: Beautiful, had to fight off the homeless on every block as I walked. No sun the entire trip.
San Jose: Energy! Wonderful weather, expensive as hell. Traffic sucked.
Chicago: More I go, the more I fall in love. Clean, not crowded, people are friendly. Saw two panhandlers the entire weekend. Good hotel value.
Miami: Great food, the babes on South Beach were amazing eye candy. It would be too hot in summer. Condos expensive.
So if I had to move from middle of no-where Wisconsin where there are more cows that cars, I would pick downtown Chicago and try to find a condo overseeing a river or Lake Michigan.
Have lived in Manhattan for 15yrs. There are so many varied experiences you can have here depending on the neighborhood - e.g., I'm in the West Village which isn't crowded or dirty at all - that it's really difficult to treat it as one thing.
That said, I've been to all the places on your list, and right now I'm transitioning to SD which is just an amazing place. That gets my vote over and over again. [Reply]
Originally Posted by FD:
The correct answer is Los Angeles. No better city on earth to be wealthy in. Terrible place to be poor, though.
LA is a dump! Clique's all over, pompous shallow assholes in Bev Hill and Hollywood, smog, gang bangers everywhere, ocean is cold and some of the worst traffic anywhere.
