10 things I hate about Northern Delaware!!! (Dover, Milton: townhouse, buying, vacation)

[elizamary]

All negative and positive threads are usefull as long as we do not attack or harrass each other.

One may not like how one expresses their view but another may.

To each his own.

Smile

[mznatalie]

Lived in FL and NYC... Delaware isn't that bad but i like the brandywine area. Its just a 12 minute drive to the philly airport about a 25 minute drive to center city philadelphia if you want to have some fun. So yeah people say there is nothing to do but heck if you lived in brooklyn if you drove to manhattan from some parts of brooklyn itll take you longer than the ride from brandywine to philly. The no sales tax thing is a plus. just adding my 2 cents

[doctorjef]

If it just takes you 12 mins from the Brandywine Hundred to the Philly airport you must already be flying!

[RehobothBeachDela_where]

10 things I hate about SOUTHERN Delaware:

1. Tourists
2. Tourists
3. Tourists
4. Tourists
5. Tourists
6. Tourists
7. Tourists
8. Tourists
9. Tourists
10. Tourists

But if we didn't have them, there would be nothing here so I'll suffer!

[marye711]

I have vacationed in Deleware and I actually loved it.

[marye711]

sorry typo..Delaware.

[TiredOfSFL]

I know things have changed from the time I lived in Wilmington (7/87 - 7/94) but most of my memories are good so I have no 10 negatives to offer, maybe one or two, i.e., I would not live in Newark, New Castle or Hockessin. Wilmington to me was more charming and offered more.

If people's attitude have changed, I'm sorry to hear that, maybe it has to do with those that have moved there?? I was the only Latin in my neighborhood (around Trolley Square), church and place of work and thought the people were very friendly and accepting. The very first day I got there I went for a walk and people greeted very courteously, just like when I lived in a small town in AR.

Wilmington was very safe back then and that was a plus for a single mother of two small kids like me. I'm again sorry to hear things have changed., but then again, where haven't they???

Like someone said, what's bad for someone can be precisely what is good for another, it's all about "right fit" so a place should not be put down because a few people (who probably ended up there because of a transfer or didn't think things through) disliked it due to things like "lack of night life". Man, what exactly are they looking for? Even when I lived there I thought there were plenty of good restaurants, theaters and night clubs, do some people hop from one to another every night of the week and then "run out"? I was the total opposite, as a single Mom I didn't have much ocassion or desire to go out at night, my preferred activities included the kids and if they cost little or nothing better still. So I loved Brandywine Park and its little zoo, the Italian and Greek Festivals (the food, yum!), the library, the malls, etc. And our church had plenty of activities so I rarely got bored, now Dover... big yawn!

I didn't have a car the first 4 years I lived there but I was in a centric place so I had no trouble going where I wanted. And if I needed to go to a mall did it on Saturdays, don't see what's so hard about planning it that way.

Wilmington was a great discovery for me as I'd never visited before I moved there. Few places can boast of the advantage of being in a Tri-state area with such easy access to several major cities and so many different places to explore, so those who find it boring are either not adventurous enough or to lazy to go anywhere. For someone like me who on ocassion needed access to an Int'l. airport it was a great advantage to have several within reach. I got to see the Liberty Bell in Philly, go to NJ and MD several times and even to Washington once, besides to NYC a couple of times. But of course, if you already live in NYC or NJ that won't mean anything to you. Also, if you live there, for Heaven's sake, DON'T move to a smaller city and then have the bad taste to complain there is "nothing to do", that is only your perception and not even a polite thing to say.

I see that in EVERY board I go, people want to move out of the big cities to try to get away from the snow and high cost of living and choose an entirely different place and then find after they move that they miss so-and-so's pizza or what-not. They can't adapt and then they whine and with their attitudes they end up changing a place that many others loved the way it was and many more would too. Dude! If you made a poor choice that's no one's fault but your own, if you find you made a mistake just start making plans to get out of there. I'm glad someone shut me off when I first moved here and complained about something being "different" than in DE, I learned my lesson: no place is perfect, moving involves a "trade-off", you win some you lose some. It's all about what you're willing to give up in order to get something that means A LOT more to you.

So, to the seekers, keep it all in perspective. My advice to those who have children is to research the schools because I do know that even when I left the state in '97 some had gotten pretty bad. For the rest, remember DE is one of the smallest states and Wilmington is NOT a big city so keep your expectations realistic, with that said, for its size I think it has A LOT to offer, even today. As you all may have noticed, cold, heat & humidity are a matter of perception, if 50 is cold to you then you won't like it. If putting up with 90+ during July (usually the nighst are cooler) as you get in and out of your car, place of work, shopping and home is "brutal", ditto but then you'll have the rest of the year to rejoice.

The way I see it the decision cannot be made on superficial terms ("This place is so pretty!") but not all should be practical either (economy, cost of living) as some of that could change. But you should at least really like the place as you're more likely to try want to stay there if, for instance, the economy changes than if you were feelings were lukewarm.

[TiredOfSFL]

Double posting...

[doctorjef]

That's a great post! I'd point out, too, that Wilmington is in very easy reach of an international airport, Philly International just up the road on I-95, which is can be an important point for some people (is for us). I don't think crime is so bad here, though undoubtedly it's worse than in the 1980's and early 90's. There are plenty of safe places to live in the greater Wilmington area. As anywhere else, you should take reasonable precautions and be aware of your surroundings. People here are very friendly IMO, though I'm sure if you come from the deep South, you might not feel that to be the case. I agree completely with the point about the right fit between the person and place. It's also important to emphasise that the rightness of fit can change over time. Wilmington isn't a perfect fit for my partner and me, but it's a good enough fit at present. Maybe we'll move at some point in the future, but it wouldn't be a matter of fleeing DE because we couldn't stand it any longer. Living here has advantages and disadvantages. Did I make a mistake by not moving to Baltimore when we returned to the States. Dunno and no real way of knowing. MD has rather high property taxes and higher taxes in general than DE. Baltimore would offer a lot more to do, but the crime is worse and would we take advantage of what's there? I think you should rarely be sorry about having moved to a particular place, because it all gives you more life experience and enables you to know people you wouldn't have known otherwise. Pointless to muse over the road not taken. The important thing is not to get stuck when something no longer fits or has proved to be a poor fit.

[TiredOfSFL]

Thank you! I had the Philly airport in mind, closest one of course, but the JFK in NY and the Newark, NJ airports had direct flights to where we needed to go.

I totally agree with you about the "fit" changing. That is exactly what happened to me where I am now. Well, it's never been easy for me here but at least during the first few years I loved the place enough to want to make it work. Now, after 3 hurricanes and all the changes to the local economy the minuses have outnumbered the pluses. Even my health has been affected so it's gotten to be too much for me and I really need a change BUT I don't regret the time I've lived here. I believe everything has a purpose and not only I was able to enjoy the beauty of this area for several years but up to last year it served an even more important purpose in my life, being here allowed me to travel more often to visit my now deceased parents who lived in a Caribbean island.

I wish you a pleasant stay for as long as it lasts so you may take mostly good memories from Wilmington like I did, and I hope that when/if it's time to move on you'll find an even better and longer lasting fit (that's what I'm hoping for myself! ).