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| *Travel Tips>>>Boston Travel Tips |
Boston vs. DC? |
Travel Info Here's the deal: I currently live in NYC, but am looking at moving at the end of this year. I'm originally from the Midwest, and as much as I like NYC, it's starting to wear on me. I've been to both Boston and DC a few times and love them both. I'm in my mid-20s and work in higher education, and both cities have many colleges that I could work for. I also graduated from college with a double major in American History and Political Science--another reason why I like both cities--so much history and politics. For people that have lived in one or another (or both!), what's you take on your city? Which is better? Travel Tips I've lived in both cities (currently live in Boston) and I have to say that life is much easier in Boston than DC for a young adult. In some basic terms, living conditions and expenses are much more reasonable in Boston than DC. Physically, the District of Columbia is a very small location, so you're more than likely to end up living on the fringe suburbs. The layout of the two cities happened in very different manners - Boston's sprawl was very controlled and gradual - DC was a free-for-all. George Clinton used to nickname DC - CC - chocolate city and the vanilla suburbs - due to the obvious demographic layout of the city. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/chocolate_c... Boston has the "T" and DC has its Metro, but the two are not comparable by any means. A "T" pass is a little under $60 per month and will include unlimited usage throughout a 20-mile radius of the town. DC's metro is a single-use sliding scale which begins from $3.00 and up depending on the distance that you travel. The goal of the Metro is to get federal workers from the fringe suburbs to the Downtown district - that's it - any other travel is considered coincidental. Thus, if you're not a government worker, there's a small chance you may be able to commute to work with the Metro in DC. Whereas in Boston, it's commonplace for Bostonians to go about town with the "T" for work and play. As for living quarters, the DC area is highly varied on where and how much. I lived in four different sections of the DC area (Rockville, Germantown, Alexandria, Silver Spring). In all of these areas, it was necessary to have a vehicle otherwise I would not be able to go to the supermarket or to my work. I have to admit the rent was steep and roommates were a must for a good portion of the time I was there. I have to admit I was jaded during the housing boom then - the average rent increase from year to year in Montgomery Country was 26% - I have heard the housing isn't as steep now. As for people, living in Boston, there is a very obvious Bostonian culture here - people who have born, live and will eventually die here and are happy for it. Conversely, DC is about as generic as you can get. Pretty much every company in the country (maybe the world) has a "DC office". Anybody who wants to do well in their company has to spend about two to four years in the DC office - thus that's everyone story that you'll meet. Expect to go to many farewell parties in DC, it's pretty normal. I am fairly socially active and I would say I ended up going through 30 friends or so throughout the time I was there - again, one of the most transient places on Earth. Again, the generic nature of DC, it's the home of the Big Box type restaurants and stores. There are very few home-grown or Mom & Pop type restaurants about the city - probably because of the generic mix of people - people seem to trust the corporate non-offensive American fare. Except for Asian and Hispanic cuisine, it seemed most 20-somethings knew the TGIF menu by heart. As for crime, I'm a bit jaded again since I was living in the final years of the Marion Barry scandals - I have to admit that crime is much higher in DC than in Boston hands down. I've been to DC and they've tried to clean up some of the bad sections - however Southeast will always be Southeast. However negative about DC I was, I have to mention a couple of positive things - pretty much any "first" came out in DC - so being on the up and up and trendy was very possible there. DC was called the LA of the east - in place of movie stars, you saw politicians and the myriads of interns behind them. The free Smithsonian museums were a nice treat - I have to admit I rarely visited them because of the difficulty in getting to them - but being able to see new top art exhibits at the National Gallery every quarter was very nice. My pick is Boston from the above comments from Boston and DC. Source(s): DC area: June 1998 - May 2004 Boston area: October 2005 - Current Other Travel Tips I would say D.C for you because of the history and politics aspect since they have the white house there and also they have a lot goverment jobs and interships you can do. So D.C. So, do you like, move whenever you want? What a life! If I were you I would go to California and stay there for the end of my life... You can work at Berkley if you want or get a house in Orange County, LA or San Diego (Malibu if you can afford)! WAY less crime in Boston. Boston is the way to go. |
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