Anecdotally, I moved to Asia when I was 18, and have since always found lower-density urban environments of western countries boring. An SF-area friend visiting me here in China yesterday from his now home in Brooklyn, New York also commented that he needs density. Personally, returning to visit, I often happily observe that immigration is slowly changing these places (eg. Sydney, Auckland) to have greater 24 hour life.

Also, I have a 2.5 year old. She can get a lot more situational cues for linguistic development from sporadic exposure to decent TV than we could offer her in two or more languages. Sometimes we just show her film in a third language neither of us speak. Decent TV for kids ... now there's a thread waiting to happen.