5 homes anywhere in the world

I like the theme of cocktail banter, so I've decided that the next few "Musings" posts will all be on that topic. Here's a game my buddy Jeremy brought up at a dinner a few weeks ago. It's fun to play in groups, particularly with younger people that don't have tons of responsibilities.

Here's the rules:

• You can have 5 residences anywhere in the world
• They can be of unlimited value
• They can be pre-existing or yet to be built
• We'll assume that, if you want the land, you can get it (If you decide you want to live in Fenway Park, that's fine within this game)
• Once you have these five homes, you can never buy another one (so you have to plan for a future a bit)
• You have to continue your career, although perhaps half-heartedly (change this rule around if it makes the conversation more interesting)

Things I feel compelled to consider:

• Language barriers - Don't want to be fumbling through a Fijian to English dictionary if I need to make an emergency run to the hospital [and, yes, I know that Fiji's national language is English]
• Modern technology - don't want to be on an island in the middle of no where without high speed internet
• Access - I don't want to be far away from good food, golf, skiing, night life, Boston sports teams, my good friends, or my other houses
• Changing interests over time - While night life & restaurants are high priorities now, down the road I figure that I'll care about decent schools and communities

Boston - This is the best city in the world, so you start here and build around it as far as I'm concerned. If you want to make a case for San Francisco or Sydney, or a small handful of others, you're welcome to, but I'll be a tough sell. I'm not picking your five houses, just my own. In Boston, I get world class schools, hospitals, baseball and football, so it's an obvious place to anchor a family.

Cape Cod - This is where I would do my entertaining. While the Cape is not exactly "easily accessible", it's close enough to Boston to make weekend jaunts an option, as well as entire weeks of vacation when time permits. It's littered with great golfing options, there's stunning ocean views all over the place.

Deer Valley - When I was about 7 years old, my Dad got the silly idea to buy a moutainside condo on a moutain that had just been opened for skiing. The area was called "Deer Valley", and it was a bit of an experiment. The idea was to cap the number of lift tickets sold on a given day, cater to novice skiiers, and focus on the entire skiing experience (i.e. the dining hall, the instructors, etc.) not just the amount of snow. They were very successfuly in this endeavor ( #1 rankings in grooming, services, on-mountain cuisine and #2 rankings for access and dining), and it became probably the best place in the world to learn how to ski. I hear this place is breathtakingly beautiful in the summer time as well, although I can't vouch for that. Deer Valley also has the added perk over other ski resorts in that it hosts the Sundance Film Festival every year, so you can either attend and hobnob, or rent your place out and make a fortune.

Small private island - I'd like to stop stealing ideas from my family and instead borrow one from Sir Richard Branson. He bought Necker Island when he was only 31 for 200K British Pounds (in 1981). The nice thing about having your own island would be that you wouldn't have to spend any time with anyone you didn't expressly permit to set foot on your island. I suppose I'd buy a Hinkley and get good at sailing. You'd get good at wasting time in a hurry, so you'd have to bring lots of books and read them from a hammock or from an infiniti hot tub. You could throw some truly epic rippers in this setting, too. Imagine a pirate themed party, only you're attending it in the middle of the ocean!

San Francisco - Though I've never found SF to be terribly family friendly, it's central to all sorts of fun outdoor activities and scenery (e.g. wine tasting, hiking, long walks on the beach, etc.). I also find this city's brief history exceedingly interesting (e.g. duels, earthquakes, Red Sox farm teams, etc.). I've got friends and family out here, too, so it'd be nice and convenient to have a place to crash when I come visit.

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