Open Mike: How Many Places Have You Ever Lived?

["Open Mike" is the often off-topic, anything-goes Editorial page of TOP,
in which Yr. Hmbl. Ed. settles down about being all over the place.]

I started writing a piece about "things you don't want to forget" being a motivation for taking pictures; and that led to wondering how well I've done documenting my own life; and that led to wondering how many of the places I've lived I have pictures of; and that led to...well, counting all the places I've ever lived.

It was interesting, to me anyway. Any idea how many places you've lived, all told?

D.C. is not a State
I had to come up with some standards for counting. Different dorms at the same college counted as one place, but living off campus gets counted separately, because Shoestring Farm (we lived on a shoestring, you see) was across the river and way up into the hills of Vermont, very different from the stately Georgian halls of Dartmouth. Short stays only counted if I had no other place to live at the time. Would longer times away from home count? That's a judgement call, I guess—"sometimes" is the best answer I could come up with. I went on a Foreign Study League tour of Europe when I was 14, and was gone for six weeks, but I would never say "I lived in Europe once." On the other hand, my stepfather lived in Kenya for two years for his job, and it certainly seems legitimate to say he lived in Kenya, even if he still owned his house in the States throughout that time.

Anyway, here's my total. I've lived in:

• 22 different places
• 14 different cities or towns
• 10 different States
• 1 country

Is that a lot? A little? I have no idea. The longest I ever lived anywhere was 14 years, which I did deliberately because I wanted my son to have a stable place to call home while he was growing up.

By the way, I counted anywhere in a greater metropolitan area as being the same city, which was part of a curious counting anomaly. We lived in Bethesda just over the D.C. border, and I also lived in downtown D.C., so I counted all that as one city—Washington—but of course I had to count it as two different "States," D.C. and Maryland. Even though D.C. isn't technically a State. What I'm saying is that there are probably going to be some gray areas and/or judgement calls as you're counting.

I always had it vaguely in mind that I would live in England one day (and here I mean England, not Great Britain or the U.K.), but it looks now like that will never happen. Still, I have to say I would have liked to be a person who lived in more than one country. I would have liked to visit other continents, too—my total is two, North America and Europe. I had a chance to visit Asia when my mother and stepfather were in Singapore—both my brothers did—but I couldn't afford the plane ticket.

Neither better nor worse, just different
I have two relatives on different sides of the family, both women, both about my age, who seem to embody the extremes. One grew up in a Midwestern city in her parents' house, went to a local college, then bought a house a mile or two from the campus, and has lived there ever since. She's not agoraphobic—she travels—but she has a strong attachment to home. She's even thought she wanted to move a couple of times but couldn't bring herself to do it.

The other seems to switch houses every few years, will undertake epic drives at the drop of a proverbial hat, and just doesn't seem comfortable staying in one place very long. She finally bought a camper van! And from what she tells me I gather she doesn't even like staying at one campground for too long. Right now she's moseying along somewhere between Georgia and Michigan, dreading having to return to her house that's permanently attached to its foundation.

The first relative can't bring herself to move even within her home town; the second keeps going back to the same town in Michigan largely because it's a convenient epicenter between her three sons and growing brood of grandchildren, but she's lived in eight different houses in that same town. Not to mention all the other places she's lived.

I love them both, and I'm not criticizing either one of them in the slightest...I have no problem with people doing what they want to do or need to do. There's no "better" or "worse" in this, moving around a lot or staying put in one place. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both. The interesting thing is just that the two of them are such opposite extremes in this regard.

Domiciles
But getting back to the memories aspect of photographs: I didn't deliberately collect pictures of all the places I lived as I moved through life, so my archives make a poor job of documenting where I've lived. And anyway, my archives are such a hodgepodge, such a jumble, that I'm forced to come to a conclusion that seems somewhat sad somehow: I'm actually no better at hanging on to photographs than I am at hanging on to memories.

I have to say that looking back from the end of middle age, there are two things* I wish I had done differently: one is that I wish I'd been more careful and conscientious about documenting my own life and the people in it.

Mike

*The other is that old joke: If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of my teeth. But that's a little gross.

Book o' the Week

Ara Güler's Istanbul, one of the more amazing books in my collection. I'm also amazed it's still in print. Not only does it culminate a longtime habit and a vast body of work for the Turkish photographer of Armenian descent, one of the few world-famous photographers from Turkey—a labor of love—but it's a unique and wonderful example of bookmaking. If you don't buy this, at least see one sometime.

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

Today at B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Richard U (partial comment): "One of the things I only learned with age was the importance of documenting everyday life. In the early days of my photography I was always chasing the interesting and 'different.' My father who was clearly a wiser man than I, always took a photo during birthdays and of the family Christmas gathering. As much as I hated them at the time, these are the most valuable photos I have."

Eric Brody (partial comment): "I am fascinated by the contrast between those who move and those who do not. When I lived in Chicago, on the lakefront, I had a friend, a native Chicagoan of Eastern European descent, who had family on the north side who had never been to the lake, despite living but a mile from its shores. Some Eastern Europeans have a shtetl mentality, born 'here,' grew up 'here,' married and raised a family 'here,' and will likely die 'here.'"

Mike replies: I keep meeting people here in Penn Yan who have never been to New York City. It's a six-hour drive. Then again, Aaron Rodgers could probably throw a football from the Corcoran School to the grounds of the White House, and I never went on a tour of the White House, so....

Sean: "Poverty might act as a slingshot for some, but for many its gravitational pull proves too hard to escape. People who spend their whole life in the same town are often viewed as parochial—largely by people who fail to see how the constraints of poverty play out in a person's life. To not see or understand those constraints is parochialism of another kind. It’s a view from a bubble clouded by class, social capital and expectation. It’s no wonder that so many people spend their whole life in such a comfortable place."

Henning: "Twenty-four places; 14 cities, towns, rural settings; 2 provinces, 3 states; 3 countries. I came over from Germany with my parents 70 years ago, grew up mostly in northern Alberta, studied some in California, spent my working life in southwestern British Columbia, and have traveled a lot and visited all continents. The longest I've spent in one home is 25 years in Vancouver, BC.

"The only regret I have concerning this topic is that I didn't travel more especially to places that are now realistically inaccessible, but I have been extremely fortunate."

Bryan Pollock (partial comment): "I may have kept up with your numbers but for the fact that we moved onto a sailboat in 1989 and have been on it ever since. In 2011 we buggered off for good and began traveling by boat full time. Since then, and thanks to how painfully slow we travel, means we’ve lived in five countries. Canada (both coasts) USA (both coasts) Mexico (west coast) Costa Rica (west Coast) Panama (Caribbean coast). We tend to travel based on dodging bad seasonal weather so we often hunker down wherever we find ourselves. That sometimes means we’re living locally somewhere for four to six months. Boat repairs will mean we stay longer. Panama was the record at two years. It was an unplanned way of traveling, but, as time wore on, I came to love it, because it meant really getting to know the region and people in a meaningful way—not to mention that the photo opps have been spectacular. Here’s the wife’s photo travel blog feed."

jh: "Won't bother to count, however, I built a house in the spot where my grandparents' house used to be. It is also just a few minutes from the house I grew up in and that I might end up back in as well at some point. The reason is absolutely not because I never wanted or had a chance to go or move anywhere else but because the city and country are arguably in the best possible location. I have traveled far and wide, still do (in a van most commonly), and have yet to find a better place to live in. Yes, there are many locations around the world that far exceed it in certain categories that are important in various stages of life, but none come very close as a whole package. This will always be my base camp as there's just no particular, convincing reason to leave."

Simon Griffee: "I started traveling with my mom and and dad at two years old and the count so far is: 36 different places; 20 different cities or towns; 10 countries; 5 continents. My best memories are of the friends made after meeting so many people and seeing that they are mostly the same, kind and generous, with only a very few bad apples here and there. After a while I learned the value of traveling light, of good, simple food, of appreciating and respecting nature, and of making do with what is at hand without becoming too attached to material things."

But if you would know, I am turning aside soon. I am going to have a long talk with Bombadil: such a talk as I have not had in all my time. He is a moss-gatherer, and I have been a stone doomed to rolling. But my rolling days are ending, and now we shall have much to say to one another.

—Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

Jim Buttel: "I'm old (73) and peripatetic I guess: 30 addresses; 20 towns or cities; 7 states, all in the U.S., but I spend some time every summer in Canada at a house we have there.... Longest in any one place: nine years in Newry, Maine."

Phil: "Thirteen addresses; 7 villages/towns/cities; 4 counties; 1 country (unless England/Scotland counts as two). On the other hand in 2021 my parents celebrated 50 years of living in the same house (which is also where I spent the first 18 years of my life)."

Olivier: "Change in one's life can take so many forms. This is well exemplified by my own family history.

"My grandfather was born and died in the same house in Alsace (now a French region), a house from which he never moved. And yet he changed nationality three times. He was born German in 1906, became French at the end of WWI, then German again when WWII started, and French again when it ended. After that, my grandmother used to ask him, "What exactly are we right now?"

"My father was the family's adventurer as he has lived in several villages in the region. He finally settled 15 km away with my mother, who was a person of such a different culture (Catholic vs. Protestant!) that both families opposed the wedding. My grandfather did not attend when it took place. In some way, I am the child of a happy version of Romeo and Juliet.

"And here I am at 52, having lived in four countries on three continents, and I consider my life much simpler than the lives of my ancestors.

"I guess the family's exponential trend regarding mobility has to come to an end...or I should grow concerned for my own children!"

Comments

[Alex G.]

17 places, 7 states, 2 countries, 2 Italian provinces. I moved around a lot in my 20s and that felt very normal to me at the time. I’m a little nostalgic about that, but there’s a lot to be said for staying in one place. I’ve been in my house now for 18 years.

[SteveW]

I think you might enjoy this book. Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors:

https://smile.amazon.com/Flights-Olga-Tokarczuk-ebook/dp/B077LT1GS8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PJEU96A08U93&keywords=flights&qid=1645401222&s=digital-text&sprefix=flights%2Cdigital-text%2C146&sr=1-1

I've lived:

16 different places
8 different cities or towns
3 different states
1 country

(I also had dreams of living abroad, and now that is unlikely for me as well. I would have chosen Scotland, but also would not have been picky about just about anyplace in Europe)

[Albert Smith]

I was born in New Jersey, moved to Florida at 10. Joined military, stayed 22.5 years.

In states: Texas, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida (different part) and Alaska... all long term stays for multiple years each.

Overseas: Japan, Korea, Philippines, Okinawa, Saudi Arabia... all moderate term over a year.

Overseas: England, Spain, Germany, Australia... all at or just below a year.

So, about 18 places, but I'm sure I missed some.

[Martin D]

Two countries, six locations, not too many different accommodations. I am at home and a stranger in my native Germany, and equally I am at home and a stranger in my adopted England. Generally I love to remember the earlier places, life in the present always is difficult, memory makes it right.

[Keith Cartmell]

For the past 37 years it's easy. One house, unless I get to count 3.5 months living in New Zealand, and I'm not going to count work time spent in camps and hotel rooms. Before that was a whirlwind. 4 places in 4 years in Calgary. 7 places over 15 years in Ontario, with a 6 month break in BC when a house burned down. Before that (I'm back to grade one at this point) things get hazy. I'm told we lived in Delaware for a while, but I have no memory of it, so does that count? I remember a place on Cultus Lake in BC, but don't remember several places Winnipeg. So I'm not sure how all that adds up.

[Bear.]

My life splits fairly neatly into two halves. First 30 years: 3 countries / continents, several cities, dozens of schools, so many residences I can't remember. Second 30 years: 1 x home residence. Like most Aussies, I love travelling (and have greatly missed domestic and international travel during the pandemic) but my earlier peripatetic life also left me with a love for my stable base, which been the same house in an inner-city Melbourne suburb on a street where I was the only professional-class resident when I arrived (and probably the first in the prior 130 odd years the street existed) to the recent and much-lamented death of our last, long-retired working-class neighbour - a gentleman who purchased his house long before WWII. I wish I had systematically documented changes my street in photographs over the decades - I have some decent images of property and landscape from my street and surrounds which took my eye over the years, but I didn't treat it as a project. And I never even tried to record the people. Oh well. It's never too late to start, I suppose.

[Craig]

I've had seven different addresses in my life, in five different cities, in two different regions of one state. I've never been away from California for more than a few weeks at a time.

[Mark]

12 addresses
Seven cities
Three states
One country

I'm about the same age as you, Mike, so I guess that makes you substantially more mobile. There are shoe boxes full of snapshots of my three childhood homes, but relatively fewer of my more recent addresses. Almost none of my many short-term college and grad school domiciles.

[Rob White]

Been around a lot more than I realized, especially the last 12 years. Here's the totals:

57 places
31 cities/towns
29 states
1 other country

Whew! And I'll be back on the road in 6 weeks to continue the journey.

[MikeR]

Interesting exercise that you've come up with, Mike. Courtesy of time in the US Air Force, I can include Canada in my list. So:
2 countries, USA and Canada
7 States or Provinces
12 Towns
18 addresses

My wife and I keep a large wall map of the United States, where we use individually-colored push pins to indicate where each of us has been, even briefly. On a two-week road trip last Summer, we decided to drive into Michigan for a few miles, so that both of us could stick our pins in that state.

[John Holland]

20 different domiciles in 12 different cities, 2 different countries. Most of that in childhood, due to a father who moved us to a different city almost every year in search of a better job until I finished high school. This constant movement was a major factor in torching my parents' marriage. At some point my mother had had enough, and made just one more move: out.

I've lived in my current domicile for 25 years, for the same reason as you: I wanted our daughter to have stability I never knew.

Wife and I are now preparing to move again in about a year as I approach retirement. After that home, there may be one or two more moves: to an "old age home" hopefully, then to a very small room with no view, under a granite slab on a hilltop, in a different town (the family plot is in a town I've never lived in). That'll bring my lifetime total up to yours...by which time you'll have added a place or two.

[Sal Santamaura]

• Five places. The first when an infant so I have no memory of it other than pictures my parents took. The current one for 29 years.
• Four different cities or towns
• Two different states
• One country.

My wife's answers would be three places, two cities, two states and one country. She attended elementary and high school, then earned undergraduate and graduate degrees all in her first place. :-)

[Rod S.]

I'm in Australia:

- 16 different places

- 8 different cities or towns

- 6 different states.

- 1/2 countries

Most states in Australia are much larger than those in the USA.

My career as a geologist included several big moves that felt like I was ricocheting back and forth across the continent. East to west and north to south. NSW to the Northern Territory, to Tasmania, to northern Queensland, to Western Australia, to NSW.

For two and a half years I lived two weeks out of three in a remote mining camp consisting of portable sleeping quarters encircling a kitchen and mess. Satellite connection for TV and internet. That's where I first made contact with you, Mike.

For another two and half years, I lived part-time in Seville, in southern Spain, on a six-week rotation, for a total of 18 months there. So, despite being only part-time, it came to feel like a second home.

[Robert Roaldi]

11 places, 4 cities, 2 provinces, 1 country

[John Krumm]

Kerman, CA; Great Falls, MT; Helena, MT; Missoula, MT; Anchorage, AK; Eugene, OR; Duluth, MN; Saint Paul, MN; Minneapolis, MN; Juneau, AK; Duluth, MN (again, here now). In that order, starting in 1965. 10 years in CA, 12 in MT, 14 in AK, 3 in OR, and 16 in MN.

[Richard Nugent]

Two observations on people moving around:

1. Throughout human history there seem to have been two types of individuals. Those who remained close to their place of birth throughout their lives and kept the home fires burning, and those few who left “home” out of necessity or out of curiosity. Both groups are well represented today.

2. It’s been my experience that New Englanders as a group are particularly prone to live out their lives within the region. (At least until they retire to Florida). I would guess that there are other areas of the country with similar patterns. My brother and sister still live there, as do most of my childhood friends. While I, in the 56 years since graduating college, have lived in five states and two other countries. Go figure….

[Stephen Cowdery]

I've lived in two cities, at three locations in one and one location in the other (where I currently live. All of my previous domiciles have been taken by eminent domain! The place where I lived from 21-35 was the most photographed (and most photogenic) but perhaps that was because that was my coming of age and my growing interest in photography. That was a special neighborhood, all 19th century houses. “Halcyon days” is what a friend recently called that time, and the photos are the proof.

[Keith S]

I had a similar feeling while looking through my old photos recently. I rarely took pictures until I got into photography in 2000. From that point I was only interested in trying to make art with a camera and anything else was wasted film. Even after buying my first digital camera in 2007, I continued to shoot with the same attitude. Now when I look back through my photos, many of which were taken while traveling, it's sometimes difficult to see/remember the places I visited and I wish I had taken more documentation type of pictures no matter how mundane it might've seemed at the time.

I have a habit of making lists and I actually write down some of them. I made a list of every place I had slept (a list of mostly motels) and more recently I listed all the bars I have visited in San Francisco. The total of that was over 350, however I don't have very many photos to accompany that list. Many of those bars are no longer there and I really wish I had documented them no matter how mundane it seemed or how drunk I was at the time.

[Sroyon Mukherjee]

Five countries so far:
India (Kolkata)
UK (London and Cambridge)
USA (Berkeley, CA)
Japan (Tokyo)
Denmark (Copenhagen)
I will probably move to a new country this Spring, let's see.

Re what you wrote about archiving, I came across this poem recently, and it's making me reevaluate some of my habits: Maintenance by U.A. Fanthorpe

[Richard Tugwell]

I've lived and worked in a lot of places around Europe. I have very few photographs, but I did spend some time amusing myself on Google Street View trying to revisit them all. Amazingly they all still exist more or less in their original state, and that's going back to my childhood in the 1950's

[RichardT]

Really nice exercise! I'm in Europe and counted the following:
- 12 places
- 10 cities/towns
- 8 states/provinces
- 7 countries

The 7 countries actually sounds a bit overinflated to my ears, since three of these were relatively short work or study related stays of about 6-8 months each. Then, excluding the country where I grew up (the Netherlands) that leaves 3 countries abroad where I lived for a multi-year period. "Three" would also have been my immediate answer to the question in how many foreign countries I've lived (meaning the answer I'd give had I not done the exercise).

[Tom Burke]

For many people in Europe and around the world, this question raises all sorts of terminological issues. For example, the words 'countries' and 'states'. The US usage of these is perhaps different from the usage in many other places. In the UK, for example, it is the UK that is the state - that is, the entity that is sovereign, which is a member of the United Nations and which has a 'Head of State'. These days, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England are generally known, and referred-to, as the different countries of the UK; but they are not sovereign. (Although one day they may become so, Scotland especially.)

A second issue is those people who have lived for many years in the same location, which has itself become part of a different state, nation or country. To take a very current example, 35 years ago the inhabitants of both Russia and Ukraine all lived in the USSR, which was the sovereign entity; it is only in recent decades that Ukraine (and Russia!) became (separately) sovereign (along with many other new nations). The Balkan states (Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia, etc) would be other examples. And finally, there are those people whose place of residence was transferred from one existing country to another - Hong Kong, for example (from the UK to China). In the aftermath of WWII, parts of eastern Poland were transferred from Poland to the Soviet Union, while parts of eastern Germany were transferred to Poland and even to the Soviet Union - the Kaliningrad Oblast.

It's a tricky subject...

[Jim Arthur]

This post prompted me to consider my own numbers (9,8,3,1) and it seems I’m more of a home body than you. Although I did make one epic move as a young man which covered more than 2100 miles in a 1965 Ford Galaxie that I pieced together from spare parts. I’ve always considered that my Grapes of Wrath move. I only broke down twice on that trip with the first being in North Texas where one of my old, overloaded tires gave up the ghost. I remember sitting there behind the wheel contemplating how much stuff I’d need to unpack just to access the spare tire. That Galaxie had a trunk as big as a galaxy.

I still remember the honks and friendly waves of the passersby as I hunched over that rickety bumper jack (remember those?) next to giant pile of my belongings. I guess I can’t blame them. It was obvious that I had what I needed to resolve the problem and my predicament was rather funny…to them. I can’t help but wonder if those folks were fellow travelers like myself or if all the residents of Amarillo are wise guys. :-)

[Steven Ralser]

Let’s see - 3 countries, grew up in Australia (Canberra, then graduate work in Melbourne - so 4 different addresses). Then a postdoc in Canada (Fredericton, NB, with 2 summers in a tent in the Canadian Arctic, I’m also a geologist by training; 3 addresses). Then moved to the US, first New Mexico (3 addresses), then Wisconsin (2 addresses). Lived at the 2nd address in Canberra for about 17 years, and the final address in Madison now for about 18 years.

[Andrew Lamb]

15 different places.

6 different cities, towns and villages.

2 countries: UK and Spain.

Most of my adult life has been spent in London, which I love.

[Steve]

I have lived for more than a year in
Wales, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Spain. Three months in Norway. I have also visited
Germany (east and west and combined) France, Andorra, Holland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia old, Czech Republic new.

By far the most amazing location was Bergen in Norway, Incredible. Only problem is the rain, they have a saying, Bergen is so beautiful God has to wash it every day. Two hundred and fifty days of it a year. Very expensive city though.

Krakow, Poland. Great city.

Most friendly country Slovakia, people were nice.

I seem to have a photographic jinx, whenever I go somewhere to photograph something, it is usually covered with scaffolding and signs saying the repairs will take the next six months.

Just my luck,

Steve

[Frank]

Another data point...

14 different addresses in 4 different states of the US.

Growing up (through my college days) my family moved roughly every four years, all within a relatively small area of Long Island (NY) including two houses in the same town. This accounts for five addresses in about twenty years

While in graduate school, I lived at three addresses over five years in the Hanover, NH area.

In the forty years since then we have lived in MA (two addresses), PA, MA again (two addresses) and finally NH again (in retirement).

Next stop assisted living or the local burying ground, I guess!

[Richard U]

My pattern appears to be different to most, and I have moved a lot more times than the houses count would suggest, in part from moving in/out from my parents multiple times (which I counted as 1 house). So:

5 continents
6 countries
8 states / provinces
11 towns
25 houses

I would have photos of less than half of the houses. One of the things I only learned with age was the importance of documenting everyday life. In the early days of my photography I was always chasing the interesting and "different". My father who was clearly a wiser man than I, always took a photo during birthdays and of the family Christmas gathering. As much as I hated them at the time, these are the most valuable photos I have.

[JimK]

This was a great mental exercise:

17 different places
7 different cities
5 different states (NY, PA, WI, MA, IL)

I have photos of some, but not all... To me it's interesting that I went from a 10 acre place in WI (beautiful land) to a Chicago Western burb (1912 four square in a neighborhood)--and while I loved having all that space, I love being in a fantastic neighborhood with kids, dogs, cyclists...

[Tex Andrews]

2 countries, 2 states, 2 cities, 7 apts./houses, not including boarding school or college.

Lived in one house for 20 years, and our current one for 40. So some of those domiciles were quick stops, obviously.

[Roger Kob]

I've lived in
21 places
10 cities
6 states
3 countries
After graduating from college, I lived in 19 different places. I have lived in the same house (which is 8 miles from my birthplace) for the past 36 years.
So, my lifestyle was been a combination of both.

[Cab]

11 addresses, 4 metro areas, 3 states, 1 country

2 of the states, 2 of the metros, and 3 of the addresses were not of my doing (still lived with parents). Been at current address for 17+ years.

On my "have visited" list are 47 states but only 3 additional countries.

I would like to add Scotland to the "have lived in" list, perhaps as holiday property leading into retirement. We shall see...

[Lynn]

In the U.S.:
25 places, 10 cities/towns, 6 states

Overseas:
11 places in 7 countries over 25 years

I'm retired.. never owned a house.. maybe coming around full circle.
I am looking to buy a place in the state where I was born (left at age 5).

[Chappy Achen]

I have lived in 2 countries 9 states, 10 cities and 24 different homes. The interesting ( at least to me) is that I have one piece of furniture, well sort of, an ironing board, that has all the moving van stickers on it 17 in all, while I was in the service and after that to my current home in Minnesota.

[MarkB]

Following "Mike's Rules" on housing:

- 24 Places/ Addresses (9 in Ontario alone)
- 10 Cities or Towns
- 5 States, Provinces, Departments
- 3 Countries (US, Canada, France)

Longest was 10+ years growing up in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. Shortest was 9 months in an old Victorian in Leslieville, Toronto, Canada. 3 years in France, first in an Alpine town of 400 souls, then in the "big city" of Grenoble. Luckily, I took lots of photos back then. Now I'm just north of Bethesda, so I know your old haunts well...

[Speed]

Mike wrote, " ... that led to wondering how well I've done documenting my own life;"

I'm part of a picture-taking family -- there have been cameras around since the earliest days almost 100 years ago -- which was preceded by a generation or two of regular professional family, wedding, and baby portraits because that was what they did back then. Fortunately and perhaps amazingly most are still around though not organized or annotated.

Our son has taken on the herculean task of scanning prints, negatives and documents, distributing them (thank you internet) and having many on-line get togethers to identify people, places and locations. It's been a lot of fun and has allowed us to document for posterity much of what has been fading slowly away to be lost forever.

12 Places
6 States
1 Country

[Eric Brody]

I started on the east coast, through high school, then 15 years in Chicago, for school, and the last 43 years on the west coast. I am fascinated by the contrast between those who move and those who do not. When I lived in Chicago, on the lakefront, I had a friend, a native Chicagoan of Eastern European descent, who had family on the north side who had never been to the lake, despite living but a mile from its shores. Some Eastern Europeans have a shtetl mentality, born "here," grew up "here," married and raised a family "here," and will likely die "here."

[Patrick D Perez]

19 homes. 4 of those within the same ZIP code (just barely, I was born the year Zip codes were introduced). Only 2 of those zip code instances were consecutive. I just keep ending up in the same area. Longest stretch in one home was 12 years. When I moved into my current home I said I hope to die in this house (so averse to the process of moving). I'm sure I will eventually overcome inertia, but I suspect I'll stay in my hometown.

4 cities (5 if you count my college town of Pomona as separate from Los Angeles, it's a judgement call).

3 states, all on the Pacific coast. I doubt I'll ever not live in one of those three contiguous states.

Only lived in the U.S., have visited 8 countries, and want to travel overseas more.

Patrick

[John]

I’ve always just counted the countries, not the places:

Holland: four cities, seven places (I think)
USA: three cities or towns, one state, six places
Switzerland: one city, two places
Cyprus: one city, four places
Austria: one city, two places

We’re expecting to add two more countries and a few more places to that list…

[Steve Rosenblum]

A different paradigm: I have lived in 5 different cities in 3 states plus I owned a vacation home in a 4th state for 15 years that I lived in part time. However, I have visited 49 of the 50 US states (still working on Mississippi) as well as multiple countries on 5 continents, some places multiple times.

[David Raboin]

Mike, I think you've moved around more than most. I work in a profession that's notoriously nomadic and your moving stats are higher than most of my airline pilot friends'.

I'm 47. My stats are:

- 21 places
- 14 cities
- 9 states
- 1 country

[Michael Korak]

18 Places
14 Cities
10 States plus D.C.
1 Country

At 75plus years old, or as I like to confuse people, 900months plus, I have a bit of a different take on Mike's "old joke"

If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have had even more fun when I was young and had no responsibilities.

[Robert]

19 places
10 cities or towns (5 in the UK, 2 in Europe, 3 in Asia)
6 countries

Longest place, Greenwich, London 21 years, until I was 21 (plus two years, many years later).

Now I'm in Frankfurt, Germany.

[William Schneider]

7 places
3 cities
1 state
1 country

[Roger Bradbury]

I've lived in three places and ten houses so far, all in Buckinghamshire, England. At the link are a few photos, taken in the narrow street where the second house I lived in stood. I lived there aged between a few months old and about five years:

https://www.northbuckswanderer.com/2019/08/boy-on-a-tricycle.html#gsc.tab=0

[Ahh, so nice, loved the story. --Mike]

[GKFroehlich]

9 different places

3 different cities or towns

2 different states

1 country

[CR]

Reminds me of this:

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

(from 'One Art', Elizabeth Bishop)

[RayC]

So 14 addresses, 10 cities, 9 states, 1 country

But I see a seasonality effect; I had 5 residences before 3rd grade as my Parents were settling into their adult lives. 3 residences in college, 5 residences in my early career/family life and now 1 for 25 years as I settled my career and wanted my kids to be settled through the school years.

Probably 1 or 2 more once I retire but who knows?

[David Elesh]

I've lived in six places in four states: two in Illinois (Chicago and Evanston)for a total of 17 years, one in Oregon (Portland) for four, one in New York (NYC) for five, one in Wisconsin (Madison) for six and a half, and two in Pennslyvania (Merion Station and Philadelphia) for 45. That said, I have visited all 50 states and 40+ countries.

[darlene]

14 towns/cities
7 states
1 country

I was married to an airline pilot for 25 years. Even though I worked out of NYC and we had an apartment there, we also lived in Atlanta during those years. I was able to commute by jet for free to NYC whenever I needed to. Those were the days! But, I do not miss them. I sometimes miss NYC, but not since the pandemic.

[Rob L.]

I love to travel, but hate moving - I'm almost to single digit years into paying off our mortgage, and with two kids, racking up more debt seems silly, so here we stay. That's not a bad thing - somehow we've woven ourselves into a community; so now we travel and bring back the best shiny ribbons to the nest.

Perhaps once it's safe to do so, a TOP Photo cruise could be a small answer!:) Or a spot as Guest Lecturer on a Cunard transatlantic voyage, with quiet chats in the amazing ship's library...

I was mostly joking but now realize that a New England to Canada voyage with the TOP community would be a real treat - you have the best 'room' of folks around, here.

[Moose]

Since the age of seven, I've lived in one city and four buildings

1. The house my grandfather bought in 1935, when my mother was starting high school.

2. My first, and only apartment.

3. A small house.

4. Since 1981, a slightly larger house with a better yard/lot - all of two doors up and across the street from the first.

So, I've lived on the same block of the same street since 1969.

Stuck in the mud? I've never thought so. Wherever I go, I think about what it might be like to live there. As yet, I've not found a place I think would be better than where I am.

We just spent a lot of money on deferred maintenance and upgrades that make our house much more delightful. Hard to imagine what would be more attractive.

But if it shows up, I'm game. \;`)>

[Scott]

One country (USA), two states (NY, NJ), 10 places. One place was college, where I lived in three dorms for 10 months each.

Soon to add another state and place (CT) later this year.

Our current residence is the longest either of us have stayed put at 22 years. We’ve also had one vacation home for 32 years in another state (VT).

[John C Longenecker]

I was born in Texas, after that I go by schools. Kindergarten, Germany, first grade Denver Co., 2nd grade Pa., 3rd grade different school Pa., 4th grade Aspen Co., 5th grade North Hatley Que. Canada , 6th grade Sherbrooke Que., 7th and 8th grade AGRHS Lennoxville Que., 9th, 10th, 11th grade Lachute Que. At this point I should of graduated but could not write an essay in French, or English for that matter. Moved back to Pa. to graduate. Bought a 69 mobile home on 3/4 acre in the country and have lived there ever since. My address and my mobile home have changed but I'm still in the same location. Worked for the same company 43 years. Just bought a Nikon D780 to replace D750.

[Mike Ferron]

Let’s see I came up with …
15 different houses or apartments.
9 towns or cities.
4 states.
One country.

[Dave]

Mike,

That story by Roger Bradbury brought back some memories.

There were dirt trails behind the neighbor's house that lead through the woods and opened up into two lanes and then a deep (20 foot?) dip where we would spend hours riding back and forth through the dip.

We caught up with the kids during their Mom's calling hours a few years ago. One said they could hear car alarms go off in the woods, thanks to the encroachment of yet more "new places to live". My brother said he was glad he didn't have to hear that.

Only once did we run into some rough girls on the bike trails. Only the oldest neighbor girl was bullied, for whatever reason. I don't remember if our parents told us to avoid that area for a week, but it wouldn't have been longer than that, I'd guess.

Our front yard was pretty big and there were a few times that motorists didn't make the curve in the road during wintertime and ended up in the yard. One guy was drunk, so my parents got him to drink some coffee to help "sober up" before they called his wife to get him.

One continent, one state, one general area for me. I've got photos of each place I've lived, but more from the home of my formative years.

[Nick]

13 places (counting two different dorm complexes in one university across 4 years as one "place")
10 municipalities (8 cities/towns/villages, 2 unincorporated areas in counties)
6 states
5 metro areas (lived in both the VA and MD sides of the DC burbs)
1 country

One sibling has lived in only one metro area his whole life (though now he is truly on the extreme exurban edge of it), while the other took only a brief 6 months in another state before returning to the same metro area. One parent has lived in two metro areas, while the other has lived in several (5? Can't remember exactly.)

My wife has probably two dozen places in nearly as many municipalities in her past, but only one metro area.

I am, clearly, what passes for a wanderer in my family.

[Peter Conway]

Since we’re only a few weeks apart in age, I was curious to see how I compared:

18 places
5 cities
4 states
1 country

I was going strong until my mid-thirties, but my wife and I have lived in the same house for 30 years now. She’d like to live in another country; me, not so much. But, I’m eligible to become an Irish citizen (my sister got her citizenship a few years back), which pretty much opens up the EU, so who knows. With retirement right around the corner, there’ll be a lot more flexibility in where we are and what we do.

[Dave Stewart]

In my 61 years:
- 13 different places
- 10 different cities or towns
- 7 different "local authorities"
- 1 country (there only is one for me - Scotland)

Was diverted by a comment above to also count:
- 6 schools; and
- 17 jobs, working for 14 different companies.

Will avoid attempting to count how many cameras, lens and motorbikes there have been...

Finding old photos and documenting life - my main blipfoto.com journal now has 4365 days of entries, and I largely use my space on that site as a sort of photo-diary rather than a fancy show case of my (non-existent) art. I do find it very useful for searching back for photos of places, events, happenings and items recorded of educational benefit for my work with Students. Even just finding when things happened, so that I can more easily find other photos taken and filed at that time. The first few years seemed to pass slowly, but it's the opposite now. Failed to record who it was on your good website that first mentioned Blipfoto... that was a long time ago!

[Grant]

If D.C. is not a state and you live in D.C., are you considered a stateless person?

[Dillan]

I've lived in:

4 homes in BC Canada, most of it in Chilliwack, which is where my family is from. It's home.

1 home in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, for the coldest year of my life.

5 homes in the Calgary area of Alberta. I've lived here the longest.

[Alex G.]

DreamCameTrue: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/24-photographic-equipment-sale/438471-sale-monochrome-pentax-k-5-modified-sensor.html

[Egils Zarins]

25+ addresses (including one year in an American displaced persons camp in Germany)
3 states
4 countries
Since getting married, I have been in the same house for the last 38 years.

[mike r in colorado]

Lifetime

19 places
16 cities
5 states
2 countries

I was an Air Force Brat.

Post university it's

9 places
7 cities
2 states
1 country

[Ken]

Off the top of my head: 2 continents, 3 countries, 7 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, 17 metro areas/cities, too many residences to count.

[Larry Angier]

We're about a year apart, Michael, and I've had but two addresses I call my permanent home and after a fire, rebuilt the old family home where I grew up. Both towns are but a dozen miles apart and today I live within a mile of the place of my birth.

I've traveled throughout the USA and into eastern and southern Europe for many decades and I haven't found any place better. It's a good place to live and return to after weeks on the road that sometimes drone into months. As I tell people it is here in my own back yard is where I discovered the gateway to the world beyond and today in my travels, I bring back that world to my friends and neighbors who can't/won't travel.

[Stelios]

14 addresses
3 countries
6 cities

[Phil]

13 addresses
7 villages/towns/cities
4 counties
1 country (unless England/Scotland counts as 2)

On the other hand in 2021 my parents celebrated 50 years of living in the same house (which is also where I spent the first 18 years of my life).

[Herman Krieger]

The houses in Detroit, in which I lived, are all gone. They have either been razed or covered over by a highway.
"Razed in Detroit"
members.efn.org/~hkrieger/detroit.htm

[longviewer]

I've never lived in St.Helens Oregon - but I've lived within 30 air miles of it my whole life. Maybe 6-8 locations within Portland 1957-2014, then an hour north in the Longview WA zip code. Nearly all my family fits within that circle as well: 3 of 4 siblings + most of the nieces & nephews.

I do get around on vacation though! :^)

[scott kirkpatrick]

Reading the above, my totals seem pretty average. I grew up in just one city, Wilmington DE, lived in three houses by the end of high school, one only briefly as an infant. My parents went on overseas assignments and had two houses in Wilmington after that, which I only visited. College in NJ. Grad school in Cambridge, my wife's postdoc there, summer stays, and a house we just set up there make it a second city, suburban NY for 25 years (two houses) and Israel (2 apts and a house over 20 years). I almost forgot two years on a post doc in Chicago, arriving just in time to attend the trial of the Seven. Lecturing in Physics and being involved in projects scattered across IBM from Europe to Japan (India and China opened up after I had moved on) add ten more countries. And places you can't get to any more -- I got invited to lecture in the north of Pakistan (Nafthiagali) and went on an Academy to Academy workshop at a Third Circle vacation center on Lake Sevan, in Armenia, back in the former Soviet Union. Our long stays each correspond to building something. First a career, then seeing two kids grow up in the Israeli schools, then the army, and now they are getting educated to face the world. So I'm also working on getting my pilot's currency and privileges back up to scratch, with new worlds to conquer, well at least visit.

[Simon]

Further to Eric Brody's comment, I grew up in a small mid-Wales town/village (pop. ~2,500). Many locals had no desire to live anywhere else or even travel very far.

For some people - usually English incomers - this was a frustrating and blinkered perspective but the locals were usually contented or at least comfortable with their lives; there was no restlessness and and FOMO exhibited by some of my contemporaries, including my young sister, who got away to a city university as at 18 and then straight onto the bright lights of London. Only in her late 40s, with 2 children, did she admit that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. To me cities are noisy, smelly, unfriendly places, with nothing of importance except the live music scene and the museums and art galleries.

I love the countryside, the peace and solitude that was readily available and I valued the deep sense of community that my sister found so stifling. Although I moved house several times out of necessity it was always within 2 miles. I miss the lovely people in that small place, though not the very limited employment opportunities. In 2000 moved 50 miles to Shrewsbury (pop 70,000), which I find unpleasantly busy but my wife is a Salopian so it is here that I will continue to live. But it will never be 'home'.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I definitely regret not taking more pictures of places I lived. But pictures cost money back then, used up resources. I also regret not having more pictures of places I worked, and the computers I worked on (many of the early ones are pretty historic at this point, even if they're not from the first generation). The most strictly-protected computer room I worked regularly in is actually the one I have the most pictures from—with official permission even.

Not going to count different dorms on campus as the same place. They were so different! I also have the question of whether living in the same apartment two different summers counts as 2 places or 1 (I'll say 1 ).

Not counting a several-month stay in a hotel in a foreign country I can't otherwise count on a continent I can't otherwise count.

So, I guess that's 1 solar system, 1 planet, 2 continents, 2 countries, 4 states or foreign equivalent regions, 5 metro areas, 19 actual domiciles.

I see someone above living on a boat for decades; that's great for this, as it runs up every statistic except actual domiciles, and it's one of the only ways of doing that.

[Scott]

Pretty pedestrian for 70 years, compared to many of the other posters:

Ten “places” (12 if you count the three dorms, one for each of three of the years at college). Three were my parents’ homes, including a short term residence after our house burned and was being rebuilt.

Four Counties: Queens, Suffolk, Rockland, Bergen

Two States: NY & NJ

One Country: USA

If things go to plan, I’ll add another state (CT), county (Fairfield) and place by the end of this year.

Never more than about 55 miles from Times Square in NYC.

[JimH]

I've lived in 7 states, 19 places plus one stint living out of a suitcase for 6 months

When I attended my 50th High School reunion, I found fewer than 10 people of the 100+ attendees who had ever lived out of the state (Tennessee) and most had never moved more than 10 miles from where they grew up.

I've traveled a bit too, 48 of the US states, 6 Canadian provinces and 26 countries