MMR: Vacation Destinations vs. Places to Live

So this has been on my mind quite a bit over the years. And even moreso recently, after my amazing trip to Cozumel. For some reason, there seems to be this need in society to separate out "places to live" from "vacation destinations," and I have been trying to figure out why.

First off, for vacation destinations, I'm mostly referring to tropical locations, beach locations...places commonly associated with a summer vacation (Hawaii, Caribbean, etc.). I know people go vacationing in the Bay Area, and NYC, and DC, and such, but those are big cities and are meant for living and working in.

So, I guess the reasoning I hear most as to why I wouldn't want to live permanently on a tropical island is because I would either get island fever, or it would ruin vacations for me. I can see the point, but it seems pretty ridiculous. If I love being on a tropical island, why would living in an awesome place 330 days a year (saving the other, what 35 days for travel and such) be a bad thing? Yeah, vacationing to another tropical place will lose some of it's luster, but that's only because you've increased the quality of your every day life's living situation (at least in my eyes, thats what I would be doing). Then I could vacation to places like the Bay, and San Diego, and NYC, and Austin, and New Orleans for a change of scenery and a change of pace.

I guess I mentioned this already, but I guess the biggest reason separating "places to live" from "vacation destinations" is a job market. Usually places to live are places with lots of jobs. And I can get that. But, I'm also of the opinion that you should love what you do in life, and that location helps with that. And if I really wanted to live in a "vacation destination," I could make it work with a job.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Bay Area. It's a really nice place to live. But, for me, I'm happiest in the tropics. Always have been. I like beaches, humidity, warm rain showers and thunder, palm trees, etc. It's where I feel the most "me." And who knows, maybe I'd move to a tropical island, work and live there for a few years, and get sick of it. But I highly doubt it...and I'm definately willing to take that chance.