Should we move to Boston from Seattle?

[in_newengland]

Yes, try Melrose for more reasonable rents.

For symphony, you buy your tickets in advance so you do have reserved seats but they are expensive. Not too bad if you sit in the center balcony though.

There are lots of beautiful beaches if you appreciate that and lots of natural hiking and biking areas once you get away from the city.

For a/c all you do is buy an air conditioner. You can get one fairly cheap on CL and you will need it. I've made do with one a/c in the bedroom and fans in the LR but it's not totally comfortable on the hottest days. You'll need an a/c in the bedroom if you expect to sleep most of the nights during the summer. If you live on anything but the first floor, you'll need one even more because it's suffocatingly hot.

[donewithpretty]

Based on everything you've said, sticking with Seattle sounds like the best plan for you guys. Seattle is ranked #5 for biotech jobs, it has plenty of quirky culture and access to the arts, and you have an existing social network (I assume, since you've been there your whole life). If you're basically a homebody, why uproot yourself for experiences you could have just by traveling a few weeks out of the year?

I did the cross-country move in my 20s as well (Boston to California), and it didn't last. Basically there are two outcomes: (1) you don't like the move so you move back and/or eke it out miserably, or (2) you love the move but effectively divide yourself from your existing friends and family. As the saying goes, you can make new friends, but you can't make new old friends, and you definitely can't replace family.

Especially if you're considering having kids, I'd recommend staying put. I have several friends without family in the area, and they suffer because of it. A friend may happily pick you up from the airport but much less happily watch your screaming infant who has the flu so you can get your Christmas shopping done.

The way I deal with my wanderlust is travel. My husband and I take extended trips to different parts of the country and the rest of the world a few times a year. (Your honeymoon is a great time to do this.) I've also driven cross-country with friends and done the Eurail pass thing for a few months around Europe. Overall, those trips have ended up being much more satisfying and interesting than the time I spent all of my money on a move to San Francisco, made a few tepid friendships, did the tourist things I could've done in less than a week, then hauled everything back to the east coast several months later. YMMV.

[Artistic Avi]

I have family out here but I have no friends. My fiance has one friend in Seattle. Our only friends we made in college moved to LA because they have family there and were not finding the particular work they wanted in Seattle. Both our immediate families live in the Seattle area. My aunt and my favorite cousin live in Portland which is 2 - 3 hours away. My uncle is living in Washington so I see him sometimes. My best and almost only friend is my fiance. We love to play video games together, watch anime and other tv shows, stargaze, and talk together. His brother is going to be going to college either here, in CA, or some place on the East Coast. He and his mother still partially think of themselves as New Yorkers, especially his mother. His family would move back to the East Coast but the main reason they moved and stayed on the West Coast is that his father has bad asthma and the weather here is better for him. My fiance loves New England but has a hard time with the idea of leaving his family. He both wants to move and doesn't want to. We'll see what will happen. Hopefully he'll get into the grad school of his choice this year and we'll move to the Santa Monica / LA area. Then we will be fairly close to our only friends. Really I do feel like I need a change. My mother is a suffocating person and as much as I love my family I'm tired of visiting them because they constantly fight and bicker. I'm tired of seeing my sister getting no where. My parents are nice enough to be willing to pay for her to get an apartment even though she doesn't have a job and she just sits in bed most days and complains how much she hates living there. The truth is before we start having kids which will be 4 - 6 years away I would like to live some place other than here. If my partner doesn't get into grad school I'm just trying to figure out where.

Thank you for your responses. I'm not angry at any one on here I just wanted to fully explain the situation. We have very few things keeping us here. I love this city but I just need a break from this area. Like a few years worth of a break, more than the occasional vacation. And if I found some place that I loved even more than Seattle maybe I'd never move back.

Boston does seem a little more hectic that I'd want to live in or stay in but the areas just outside of Boston might be more to my liking. Living about half an hour to an hour away by train seems like a good fit for us, especially if we live close to the mainstreet of a small burb town. I think that Vermont or Maine are the places that would suit us best but it almost certainly would be impossible for us to find work in our areas of choice. Maybe Providence RI, or some place in CT could be another option. Philadelphia, DC, and Bethesda are a little far away from Maine and VT but maybe those would be other good places to look into.

[donewithpretty]

Oh, I've been there. It's hard when all of your college friends move away and your family drives you crazy. I hope Santa Monica works out for you. It is beautiful there.

If you do decide on Boston, you might want to check out Central Square in Cambridge and Davis Square in Somerville. Both are filled with geeky gamer tech types and just a few minutes on the T from Boston proper.

[foo cities]

They're both comparable, but Seattle has a milder climate. Dt. Seattle is more dynamic. I think Seattle has it pretty good. If you have a job in Boston, go for it! They're both very good cities.