There are advantages trading on Pacific time, one of them is the market ends at 1:00 pm, so you have plenty of time for other activities.
Just a thought, but why would you rule out a whole half of the country over a time zone or two. Your weather requirements rule out any culture in CST other than Chicago. One time zone over, you've got Denver which fits the bill for everything you listed, and is about the cheapest place to fly from to anywhere else in the nation. Never mind a whole coast of great places like San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle... I'll take 100 in Phoenix or Las Vegas any day over 78 in Orlando. Humidity sucks.
Anyone trading from a sailboat while in various ports when blue water cruising? That has always appealed to me but have done very little of it myself, only as a crew member on a friends boat. Cruise the world from one exotic destination to the next, sounds like an epic adventure - with swing trading it could work out.
It’s just my clock, I guess. When I lived in LA, I found that getting up at 3:30a so that i’m prepped and ready for the 6:30a open was not my cup of tea. Invariably, it started cutting into my sleep time and I need my eight full hours. Now if I were 24 and working full time, that might be ideal. But I’m not. Besides, I need to set some parameters, otherwise I’m looking at the whole planet. For me, sleep is important. That’s why I’m looking at the band between -5 GMT and, say, +2 GMT.
Lake Atitlan - Guatemala. Alpine lake with fruit trees, fantastic views and weather, tons of Americans & Canadians, close to USA.
You generally get what you pay for; I wouldn't want to live, or advise anyone to live, in Central or South America. -- it's filled with Mexicans, Live in the USA only. because White...is right.
There's a certain irony that freed from the constraints of living where you must because of kids, you now must live where you must of your job (that one of the key benefits of is not having to live where you must for the job). What preparation do you have to do before the market opens? (just asking rhetorically). And is there a reason you couldn't hit your morning session in pajamas, and then get ready for your day during "lunch", then back for the last two hours with a whole day left from 1pm? And why not just travel around aimlessly and without an itinerary? Take flights / buses / whatever on Saturdays so you have a whole Sunday to settle down and figure out internet and familiarize yourself with the place. Repeat as necessary when you get bored of a place, until you don't. You can still trade while you're basically vacationing for a living. I've considered renting out my place, quitting my day job, and doing exactly this. (Also, ignore the people telling you not to go places they're too scared of). Actually don't go to the places you're too scared to go.
Well your'e a lot more likely to find the inked up gangsta's right here in the U.S.A., in Mexico you will typically meet nothing but friendly & humble people. I find multi-ethnic places are a lot more interesting places to live. I can think of nothing more depressing than living in all white place - all that inbreeding makes for droopy eyed, slow thinking, boring people.