Anyone from Philly? (apartment, neighborhoods, movie theater)

[mastif2]

We are relocating to the DC area for work. Anyone familiar with Swarthmore/Media, PA? If so, are there any areas like this in the DC/NOVA area? Our work will be in DC and public transportation is not an option. We have to drive company car.

[juniperbleu]

I'm from Philly, but unfortunately haven't been to Media/Swarthmore in years. Is it more development-suburb, or small town feel, etc.? If you haven't done so already, try posting in the Northern Virginia forum, they might have more info on NoVa areas.

One thing to keep in mind with driving, traffic here is bad. For me, it was worse than anything I dealt with in PA, but then again I grew up in East Oaklane so I never dealt with I-95, the Blue Route, or with the Expressway past Conshohocken. Best advice I can give is to see if there's more than one or two ways to get from A to B, and just try them out. Traffic near my apartment isn't nearly as bad as other areas, mainly because people can cut around it, dividing up the traffic volume. From what I can tell, I-66 outside the Beltway and the western side of the Beltway are generally some of the worst areas. Closer to 395 and Alexandria a lot of people take public transportation so the traffic isn't quite so bad.

[DC Veggie Mom]

I'm from your area!

There is, unfortunately, nothing like the Philly area burbs in DC. It really is a shame. The DC burbs are more urban sprawl kind of places. Not as beautiful as Swarthmore, though I suppose you could compare some places in Bethesda to the area around the Rt 1 bypass shopping center (you know, the big one with the movie theater and old navy, near the blue route). Very developed with pockets of neighborhoods.

I'd suggest Bethesda area - or Glen Echo, Bannockburn, etc...the closest to leafy burbs around DC.

The thing I miss most about Philly are the nice burbs. We live in the city in DC and don't even want to think about moving to the burbs - I'm so used to the main line and all its beauty!