If Finding A Wonderful Place
Is The First Thing On Your Mind
When you haven't a clue as to where to move, you just want it to be wonderful, there are, this time, three ways you can go.

First of all, you can interview all your friends and acquaintances, to ask them what places they have loved the most, in the U.S. or in whatever country you live. And why. This task can be a lot of fun. And then, out of all the candidate cities or towns they propose, choose two or three places that really interest you, for further investigation.

Alternatively, you can turn to books. In the U.S., there are quite a number of them that rate various cities and towns according to factors that may be important to you, such as weather, crime, educational system, recreational opportunities, etc. The best of these, by a long shot, is Richard Boyer's and David Savageau's aforementioned Places Rated Almanac, listed at the end of this section on Moving.

If you live in another country, you may find similar resources for your own country; visit a large bookstore, and ask. One word of caution: do remember, in all these books, that a computer was usually used to sum up, and rate, all the factors. You may find that the whole is less than the sum of its parts – i.e., it has the factors you want, but you're less than enchanted with how it all came together in the case of this particular place you're thinking about.
Thirdly, you can do the geographical exercises in The Quick Job-Hunting Map, at the beginning of this Resource Guide, which tells you how to do a thorough-going analysis of all the places you have ever lived, in terms of factors – and then how you come up with names of places that combine all the factors that were ever important to you in any town or city from your past.

In the end, you want to try to come up with three names, because if your first choice doesn't pan out for some reason, you will have a backup, and also a backup to your backup.

When You Want To 'Go Rural'
It may be you will discover, as you go about this task, that your idea of paradise is to 'go rural' – to move, at last, to 'the country'. Sometimes it's the desire for a simpler life; sometimes, it's the desire for a less expensive cost of living. Whatever the reasons, if this is your vision, take this vision seriously. You only have one life to live, on this earth.

Just be sure to investigate it thoroughly, even as I was just cautioning you, in the case of urban places. "Look before you leap" is always a splendid caution, and it means – in this particular case – that if there's a place that sounds good to you, be sure to go visit it as a tourist before you up and move there.
Go there, and talk to everyone.
Get the good side, and the bad. Interview anyone you know, who has moved from urban to rural, and ask them what they like most about the move, and what they miss the most about their former locale.
Then weigh what you learn.
Fortunately, there are a number of resources, books and such, that you can use to explore rural life, if it interests you. They are listed at the end of this section.

Exploring The Faraway Place Of Your Choice
Well, let us suppose that one way or another, you've picked a place.
It is crucial to go visit there, if you possibly can, rather than just letting your choice rest on the fact that the place looks good in a book. You may hate this place, on sight. How nice to learn that, early on. So, figure out how to get there.

Do you have a vacation coming to you, that would fall within the time period between now and when you must finally have a job there? Could you visit it on that vacation?
Could you take a summer job there?
Go there on leave?
Get sent to a convention there? 

Get appointed to a group or association that meets there? Think it through.
And finally, when you're ready to go visit that town or city in person, try to line up contacts and interviews ahead of time, before you go there. See the next section, below, to learn how you uncover possible job-leads.

If you have trouble lining up contacts, see if that town or city has any church, synagogue, or national organization that you belong to here. Write, tell them of your local affiliation, and ask for their help in finding the kind of people you're trying to connect with.

If you have a spouse or partner, who will be going with you, they should be doing the same kind of research, and setting up their own interviews. In addition to interviewing about jobs, you will want to explore (of course) the issues of apartment vs. house, of rental vs. buying, and the like.

Back home again, you will want to weigh what you have learned, and weigh whether or not the place still interests you; and whether any of the jobs you looked at, interest you.