I stumbled onto DCUM doing a Google search on something. I find the board to be very interesting, in a car accident way where you can't stop looking. I've never lived here.

I will read DCUM after we move. It's a great, interesting site with plenty of info that's not location-specific.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hell no. never looked back!!! get out while you can ......

Really? Then why are you still on this forum?!?

NP. The area I'm moving to in a few months does not have a similar website to this, so I will be haunting the boards of DCUM for years to come, even though I don't much care for the area.

This makes no sense.

OP, what are the options? There are some places I'd go and others I'd say no way. What kind of environment do you like? Do you know people in the other location? Is the pace appreciably different?

Me, I originally came from NY. I'd go back to NY, would probably do Chicago, Boston, and maybe Philly. Is to live in the UK again in a heartbeat. I'm intrigued by places like Seattle. I could never go to something small, Midwestern, or isolated. So it just depends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hell no. never looked back!!! get out while you can ......

Really? Then why are you still on this forum?!?

NP. The area I'm moving to in a few months does not have a similar website to this, so I will be haunting the boards of DCUM for years to come, even though I don't much care for the area.

Anonymous wrote:hell no. never looked back!!! get out while you can ......

Really? Then why are you still on this forum?!?

Anonymous wrote:Having moved a lot and lived a lot of different places, I would keep in mind that it takes time, wherever you go, to adjust. The first year is all adjustment and you won't be sure if you made a good choice. By the end of the second year, chances are overwhelmingly good you'll be happy wherever you are.

Second this. I left DC a little over a year ago and don't regret it at all. There are things I miss occasionally, like being able to strike up conversations with strangers about politics and world events, metro (really appreciate it in retrospect now that I'm living in a city without a very good train option), my friends there, and my old favorite restaurants. But really, I'm so much happier away from the DC-is-the-center-of-the-universe hustle and bustle. I've found my new favorite restaurants, hang outs, and parks, and am slowly building a little social network where I am now. Plus, a lot of my friends have been leaving DC for greener (and cheaper) pastures so that social network I loved so much up there has been slowly eroding.

What part of the country would you be moving to?

It really depends on your story. Are you moving back to your hometown or somewhere new? Closer to family or further away? Move to middle of nowhere or another large city with DC's amenities?

Having moved a lot and lived a lot of different places, I would keep in mind that it takes time, wherever you go, to adjust. The first year is all adjustment and you won't be sure if you made a good choice. By the end of the second year, chances are overwhelmingly good you'll be happy wherever you are.

Anonymous wrote:We lived in one of DC's nicest neighborhoods, sent our children to one of the three schools so highly coveted in this area, had excellent jobs, and moved away for an opportunity that came up. I personally spent the first year wistful for DC, lamenting that we were now out of the sphere of importance and power and status, missing old friends and routines; and then, one day, I woke up to realize and appreciate what a truly lovely and wonderful life we enjoy in our new home. My job wants us back in DC and at this point I am not sure that anyone in the family wants to return. So we might not.

NP here. This is what I would be afraid of, but you have to admit, DH is outvoted Happy for you and your children!

This are aid not the be all and end all that some narrow minded people think it is, OP? Where is the other opportunity? If you say NYC (no comparison, the overreaction to NYC from DC people is hilarious!) - I would say do not think twice.

We lived in one of DC's nicest neighborhoods, sent our children to one of the three schools so highly coveted in this area, had excellent jobs, and moved away for an opportunity that came up. I personally spent the first year wistful for DC, lamenting that we were now out of the sphere of importance and power and status, missing old friends and routines; and then, one day, I woke up to realize and appreciate what a truly lovely and wonderful life we enjoy in our new home. My job wants us back in DC and at this point I am not sure that anyone in the family wants to return. So we might not.

I am native NoVa. Moved to Richmond for 5 years and could not wait to get back here. I can't pinpoint just one thing I missed, it was the whole package. Diversity, education, restaurants, museums, theatre, food trucks. The traffic does not cancel it out for me.

where are you going to? do you have kids? this all factors in.. I left when single after HS- my parents lived here so I kept coming back. I like the DC area- have friends etc. so wanted to come back. Now have family (my own)- jobs are better here, we live in Vienna and know a lot of people/made friends plus old friends- it's very good.

hell no. never looked back!!! get out while you can ......

DH wants to move out of the area but I'm not 100% sure what to do. Anyone move from the area, regret it and move back?