Thanks for this very interesting article, Steve - for Europeans like myself it's an eye-opener to the American way of life as much as an insider's spotlight on a place everybody thinks they know.
Having lived in Hamburg and London, and then in Johannesburg and Cape Town for almost 23 years, I can say that your final comments about locations all having their different energies is very true - you don't always pick them up as a visitor, but as soon as you get involved in local issues you can't miss it.
We have just moved back from South Africa to Europe and I have documented the 5 main stages of this process in my
HORIZONS JOURNAL - have a look if you are interested. We have consciously used the tool of relocating for personal growth several times because we know that some places just do not mirror who we are anymore after a while.
We pick up German TV here in Austria : they have several programs dealing with the trials and tribulations of families relocating within Europe, but also to different continents - the main problems most of them have is with 1. language and 2. culture. Moving within the USA/Canada this hardly applies much but believe me, in Europe this is radical because you never have to drive far to be in another country.
On all my travels, I play that little game of looking at the real estate market, asking myself "Would I want to live here?" There is so much beauty and other attraction almost everywhere if you look at places from that perspective, but in Asia for example the answer was always "No".
Why? Culture and language are too alien for me. Here in Austria they speak my German mother tongue and the culture is similar, but still different - we are very close to Italy, Slowenia and even Hungary here. All this resonates with me at the moment.
I wasn't planning to go to Las Vegas next year when I visit my sister in San Francisco - but now I will.