Lots of driving in SD? (San Diego, Chula Vista: apartment, amusement park, Home Depot)

[LVKim8]

I'm on this board a lot because I am certain I won't be spending the rest of my life in LV and think SD might be a good place to live. I'm taking my time and doing my homework so I'm not exactly sure when this might happen. I also have some pro's I do have to weigh. One thing I'd like to ask everyone here is, and I know this is a very broad question given the variety of neighborhoods in SD, but are things in your neighborhood far from your home? In my 'burb, I can say pretty much every place I need to go is in a five mile radius, most of it is less than two if you include school, grocery (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Cosco, Vons), banks, church, restaurants, etc.

I spent 2 years in Texas, and there was a LOT of driving, 2 miles to grocery store, 5-10+ miles to other places so I don't want that again.

So for most people in SD, is it a long drive to get to the grocery store, your kids' school, and anywhere else you would frequently go?

[SEAandATL]

As for the grocery store, there is usually a Vons, Albertsons, or Ralphs within minutes. For your kids school, it should also be very close as long as you live within that school's district. As for everywhere else, you may spend a lot of time driving. San Diego has a decent public transit system, but if you have a car you will probably never feel like using PT. It has light rail trains that run slow, and if you live far from a trolley stop than you'll have to catch a bus to get there. A trip with buses and trolleys might take an hour and a half instead of what would be a 20 minute drive.

[esmith143]

I live in a fairly rural part of the county (I have an acre of land). I'm 2.5 miles from the nearest grocery store, 2 miles from the nearest high school, 3 miles from Home Depot, around 7 miles from Costco/Wal-Mart. There's a B&N roughly 5 miles from me, but I don't like it too much, so I usually drive down to Borders @ Carmel Mountain Rd. (10 miles) or B&N @ Mira Mesa (15 miles). I'm not sure about Christian churches, but I do know that there's a Buddhist monastery roughly 8 miles from my house.

During the apartment phase of my life, though, I lived within walking distance from the nearest department store most of the time.

[REGGieSD]

it's gonna depend on where you live just like other places...my in-laws in san diego live almost less than 5 min. away from everything. that's awesome compared to where we're at in texas...and that's just the amenities such as supermarkets, etc. when you want to go to the beach, go fishing, the park, etc....it's still fairly close for most neighborhoods in san diego. here in dfw everything's feels like 2 hrs away (at minimum)..

[Sassberto]

You will do lots of driving but the distances are usually not far. San Diego is not really that big of a metro area, so barring traffic, you are usually a 15-20 minute drive from everything in the central areas of the city.

[sav858]

Of course it will depend on where you live but for me at least, most stores I need on a daily or weekly basis are within less than a mile, most with a 1/4 to 1/2 mile. If I need to go to Target or the mall that is usually no more than a 15 minute drive. I've found the farthest I need to go for something is 15-20 minutes, like on the occasional trip to Fry's Electronics or something like that. SD has a pretty good freeway system to that gets you there quick in non-rush hour traffic.

[sdlife619]

Very true, SD doesn't fell that big at all compared to Dallas Fort-Worth where everything is so spread out.

Personally it doesn't take me long at all to get around SD County.

Living in the middle part of the city would be perfect, because your travel time will be cut in half.

Even though San Diego covers a ton of ground, it's pretty easy to get to where you need to go in a short amount of time.

Unless you live way down in Chula Vista by San Ysidro and you worked in Escondido, that's like a 50 min to an hour drive

[oddstray]

San Diego is a bit spread out.

*Not* like Texas! I traveled a bit on business and drove miles and miles and miles from the airport to the place that I was working.

*Not* like Florida! I visited a sister who lived there. She thought nothing of driving 200 miles to an amusement park.

When our daughter visits, and wonders how far things are, our stock answer is "max 15 minutes driving". (Unless it's out in the boonies ... then it's "around 30 minutes driving".) Those are the general driving-time-dimensions of greater San Diego.