Hammy

Anyone living in boston recently relocated from UK or born and bread Bostonians looking to clear a clogged Scottish loons heed?!

How easy do you think it would be to integrate a small family moving from sunny Scotland to Boston, USA

Anyone got any feel good stories or nightmare scenarios....

thanks people

RoB1833

It feels a lot more like 'home' than many places in the US. I was in NC for a year and ready to go home, since being here I've been a lot more settled.

daisy

We moved to Newton (just outside Boston) in October 2004 and it already feels like home The winter was pants, but other than that Boston is a cools city: fairly liberal, green and leafy, great architecture and history and amazing ice cream. I ask you - what else do you need? We love it here.

We lived in Arizona for 18 months and, whilst I loved the sunshine, I was happy to leave!

smeg

I didn't move a family, only myself two years ago. I went from growing up in North Wales to working for a company in Oxford then getting a transfer to Boston.

Best damned thing I ever did for myself. I'm getting married to an American in October this year

Boston is *very* similar to the UK in a lot of ways. Weather is the same but more so (By that I mean, more rain, more snow, more sun, but less fog!). People are very different to most of the rest of America (Most Americans think Bostonians are rude, I think their just like everyone else in the world).

House prices are high, drivers are *insane*, drinking laws are even more restrictive than the UK. Beer is expensive (About $4.50 for a bottle) All that is negated by the fact that you can buy Stella, Grolsch, Sam Adams, Tetleys (yum!) along with all the local crappy beer, if you look hard enough. The Sam Adams research and development plant is in Jamaica Plain, and well worth a visit ($2 entry fee to local charity, FREE BEER!)

The city is great, tons to do, tons to see, easy access to anywhere you want to go (Skiiing in winter, beaches in summer). Museums are all over the place, as are great restaurants and bars.

My best memories of my first few months here was going on a late night "booze cruise" of Boston harbour with my workmates, and hopping on the T to go home at 11pm. I can't imagine ever doing anything like it back in England. The next day we drove to Maine and went to Ogunquit, which is a beautiful coastal town, and my girlfriend and I sat on the rocks with our feet in the Atlantic

I love living in, or now near Boston. From where I live I can hop on my mountain bike and cycle along the coast to witchy Salem, which is a really wierd place everyone has to go to once (especially around halloween!)

I don't think you'd have a problem getting a family to like the place, there is so much to do. The museum of science is great for kids!

Not that I'm loving it here, or anything ...

Hammy

thanks Daisy, think I'm pretty positive about going for it at the moment, just concerned about financial implications and need to have a clearer Edinburgh V Boston cost of living comparison before diving in and take my wife and 4 mth old daughter all the way.

If my salary was $70k and I wanted to rent before buying, how much disposable income do you think I would have after all expenses.... this would be worse case scenario because my wife would probably need to work also.

thanks again.

smeg

mmmm ... I lived walking distance from the JP branch of http://jplicks.com/ ... *the best* thing in the world to do on a summer day!

bxpuser7543

i dont have a vast experience of equivilent prices,but i would say that on the whole,in a yearly cycle,it works out closely balanced,Therefore your quality of life will depend on your wages and how they compare to where you're living now

Bob

where abouts in Oxford?

Anyway, Boston, driving around is pants and expensive, winter cold is pants...but it does have a lot of bars, and really good public transport...
plus relatively cheap flights to the UK