The age factor certainly played a role, but I do not think the media influenced in my decision a lot. Judging from European mainstream media the southern red states are full of retards, which I cannot confirm from our visit. Quite the opposite, Huntsville seems to be packed with bright engineers, Savannah is full of "weird" (in a very positive way) people, and Nashville is not just the capital of corny country music, but a concentration of musical talent that you will not find anywhere else in the world. I think the main influence was anecdotes from friends. One friend said that New York has lost a lot of its appeal while still being outrageously expensive, another claimed that you cannot stay in lower priced hotels in California anymore unless you are fine with seeing drug addicts in the lobby and bulled proof glass in front of the reception desk. Not sure if all this is true, but I did not feel like finding out.