alexgwoodruff

Hello all,

My wife and I are thinking about relocating from Phoenix.
We are both nurses, so our jobs are easily transferable. We want to be a little closer to our families (UK and Ireland), we want to be closer to the shore, we would love to be in a city with a well respected children's hospital.

As a starting point I have chosen some cities to begin the research:
Philadelphia
Boston
Seattle
Baltimore

Each of these has a world class pediatric hospital and has numerous direct flights home (as opposed to the 1 daily flight from Phoenix).

I would love some honest insight into these cities; the good, the bad, the ugly.

Thank you.

cluedweasel

If being closer to the UK is the driving force, I'd really rule out Seattle. It's still an 11 hour flight and it's usually more expensive than flying from the east coast too.

Bob

What's your budget and what's an acceptable commute?

Boston, the hospitals are great there, but it's going to be way bloody more expensive as a cost of living, which generally leaves a horrid/long commute and a expensive cost of living.

kins

Move to Portland ME - we have the Barbara Bush children's hospital which is part of Maine Med, a fabulous quality of life and relatively low cost of living.

You can fly to the UK via Boston, Philly, Newark.

We have thousands of miles of coast, and you can ski within an hour or two's drive.

It does help if you like snow...

Pulaski

If the cost of living in Boston, Philly and Baltimore puts you off try further south. I'm not sure about specific "children's" hospitals, but there are several fine hospitals in Raleigh, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte, NC, as well as Atlanta. Raleigh, Charlotte and Atlanta all have daily direct flights to the UK, or take a short hop and change at DC, Philly or NYC.

penguinsix

Baltimore has Johns Hopkins, but it's a very 'rough' city. There are parts that are straight out of 'the Wire', and then there are leafy parts in the city that rival some high-end suburbs. JH Hospital is in a bit of a war zone however.

Baltimore is now second fiddle to the DC-Metro area which has more people, money and jobs. DC is also a bit more 'international' in that you have the diplomatic presence, international media, and international organizations (World Bank, IMF, etc) based there. Both Dulles and BWI service the UK and Ireland with direct flights.

Are you looking for a major city, or somewhere nearby, like a suburb of DC/Philly, etc?

alexgwoodruff

We will probably need to rent in a major city, until we get to know the suburbs... the would look to buy.

Scouse Express

Chicago, IL. Has Lake Michigan on its Doorstep.

or within easy reach of Chicago you have University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa or, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.


Both these Cities have a relatively low cost of living, and low crime rates. Excellent education propspects, too, as well as having Children's Hospitals.

Chicago has AA, BA, UAL and Virgin all flying non-stop to Blighty. Aer Lingus has daily Non-Stop to Dublin, and AA has a Summer/Autumn service there, too.


Jim.

Bob

Well depending on your budget and if you want a house or a small apartment, you might be looking for a suburb straight away as Boston isn't cheap for rentals.

Just look for anything near the commuter rail, Red/Orange or Green line...then rentals get cheaper about 40 mins further out from the last stop. Riverside is the last greenline stop and that's about 45-55 mins to downtown Boston, but Alewife on the redline is 2 stops to Davis/Porter for Tuffs and then 10 mins out for MIT/Kendal area.

bevinva

We have a childrens' hospital here in Norfolk VA. I'm mentioning it because you wanted east coast. You can buy an average 3-4 bedroom house here for an average of $250. Very large military population. Close to the hospital is Ghent, an area that I would love to live in but hubby would hate. It has lots of shopping and dining places you can walk to and lots of older houses and apartments with real character.
http://www.chkd.org/

bevinva

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent_(Norfolk)

JAJ

Unless you are planning on travel back to the U.K./Ireland on a frequent basis, is this so important? There should be a good choice of flights if you're willing to make one stop.

MsElui

Columbus has a good children's hospital, and is a nice place to live. It's a reasonable cost of living too. Not coastal ( unless you count the Erie coast at the top) and you would need to go to Cleveland or Cincinnati for direct international flights.

Mummified su

We are in Boston ( and I'm a nurse but can't work here ) but are moving to Michigan next week. The flight home is 6-7 hours but really expensive from Boston. I love the coast and will really miss it, it was almost the deal breaker but Boston is just so expensive, more than NYC apparently for cost of living. The public transport is a joke, the drivers are mental ( words used by a copper and my driving test bloke ) and the whole attitude of the people are quite abrupt and aggressive in manner ( they will frequently admit to this ).

Good luck with you adventure

Su

Bob

Is a good summary