I was very lucky because when I got out of college I became a travel agent (parents were not happy - not what my degree was in
) but I got to travel the world for about 12 years. Then I joined a major corporation who have moved me 12 times in the US. As children our family took month long vacations every year and travel the whole US. I can say without a doubt I could live in hundreds of places...the world is beautiful and area's of the US are fabulous. One of the things I have learned is that it doesn't matter where you live if you have friends...
but having said this my suggeston is:
Set a time frame (maybe couple of years) and then start taking vacations to all these places you might be interested in. You have to be adventuresome and you have to like people but if these are things you want to visit/maybe move to then go for it by yourself so you really get the lay of the land before you make a committment.