Relocating from UK to Chicago
Oct 28th 2013, 4:27 am
#31
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 583
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
Not really that similar.
In fact, the chances are you will need two cars to survive. One for your husband to drive to work and the other for you to run errands and deal with the children. If you are living in the suburbs, even more so. You don't take public transport to get the kids to a playdate, or soccer practice, or a slumber party.
I would agree with this. I can't drive and have lived in London all my life (hubby drives though and we have a car both in the UK and US). Our town has everything we need for day to day (3 supermarkets, 2 pharmacies, restaurants, cinema, gyms, parks and even another BE member in the next street!). But, and here's the key - my daughter is 12 and is at school all day so I only have myself to amuse. If I'm honest, I would not want be here with two children under the age of two without at car. The nearest toddler group, or friends you make may well live in the next couple of towns over - people here are quite happy to travel around. As an example, I go to the local YMCA and all of the women I have spoken to so far do not live in my town. Also (and I can only speak for my area) women tend to return to work a lot earlier due to the poor maternity leave in the US, unlike the UK where you tend to have other mums to hang out with for quite a few years. However, there are people on the forums with young children who can probably shed more light on this issue.
Public transit in the US is more focused on moving workers from the suburbs to the city core, in a hub and spoke sort of system. It can make transiting between two suburbs in a city very difficult, with a commute in and then out again just to go to the suburb a few miles away.
In fact, the chances are you will need two cars to survive. One for your husband to drive to work and the other for you to run errands and deal with the children. If you are living in the suburbs, even more so. You don't take public transport to get the kids to a playdate, or soccer practice, or a slumber party.
I would agree with this. I can't drive and have lived in London all my life (hubby drives though and we have a car both in the UK and US). Our town has everything we need for day to day (3 supermarkets, 2 pharmacies, restaurants, cinema, gyms, parks and even another BE member in the next street!). But, and here's the key - my daughter is 12 and is at school all day so I only have myself to amuse. If I'm honest, I would not want be here with two children under the age of two without at car. The nearest toddler group, or friends you make may well live in the next couple of towns over - people here are quite happy to travel around. As an example, I go to the local YMCA and all of the women I have spoken to so far do not live in my town. Also (and I can only speak for my area) women tend to return to work a lot earlier due to the poor maternity leave in the US, unlike the UK where you tend to have other mums to hang out with for quite a few years. However, there are people on the forums with young children who can probably shed more light on this issue.
Public transit in the US is more focused on moving workers from the suburbs to the city core, in a hub and spoke sort of system. It can make transiting between two suburbs in a city very difficult, with a commute in and then out again just to go to the suburb a few miles away.
Another thing to consider (especially with small children) is where the nearest ER or urgent care centre is and how you would get to it. This is a fairly recent thread involving the child of a BE member just to give you the gist! http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=806786
The best advice I can give is to go and visit the places that you interested in. Park the car and walk around the neighbourhood. Note where all the facilities are and try to work out where you would have to live to get to them all. I did tons of online research - looked at train and bus timetables, nearest mall, snowfall and how well the town dealt with it in terms of road clearance. We managed to narrow it 4 towns (we also had schools to factor in too) that would work for us.
With any luck there is a town out there that will meet your needs. Good luck with you research and potential move.
Oct 28th 2013, 4:35 am
#32
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 583
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
Not sure what I've done, but I have managed to stick my comments into Penquinsix's post! My comment (within the quote) is the paragraph that begins "I would agree with this....".
Best just get back to doing the housework then........
Best just get back to doing the housework then........
Oct 28th 2013, 4:43 am
#33
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,591
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
Oct 28th 2013, 4:56 am
#34
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 583
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
" then restart the quote with "
Thanks - am pretty useless at this stuff, especially on the IPad. My 12 year old is more savvy than I am. On Saturday we went clothes shopping and she told me just to buy her "whatever" because she wanted to hang around the Apple store with her dad!
" when you have finished your inserted comment. I find it easiest to hit the "Quote button" above, then just add and remove the "/".
Oct 28th 2013, 4:59 am
#35
Heading for Poppyland
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,719
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
" then restart the quote with "
Thanks - am pretty useless at this stuff, especially on the IPad. My 12 year old is more savvy than I am. On Saturday we went clothes shopping and she told me just to buy her "whatever" because she wanted to hang around the Apple store with her dad!
Thanks - am pretty useless at this stuff, especially on the IPad. My 12 year old is more savvy than I am. On Saturday we went clothes shopping and she told me just to buy her "whatever" because she wanted to hang around the Apple store with her dad!
Oct 28th 2013, 5:08 am
#36
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 583
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
Quoting a post that has "[/QUOTE]" and "[QUOTE]" in it can have some unintended consequences!
Oct 28th 2013, 6:19 am
#38
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 583
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
The quotes are getting out of hand!
Oct 28th 2013, 6:26 am
#39
Just Joined
Joined: Mar 2011
Location: Chicago's Northern Suburbs
Posts: 5
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
Hi
I work in Arlington Heights and live in Buffalo Grove. As others have said there is not really a culture of walking anywhere here and the concept of walking to to a downtown area as opposed to yet another mini strip mall with a handful of shops in.
If you were to look at a place such as the old part of Lake Zurich you could walk into a town centre but you would trade that off against the commute to Schaumburg.
If your husband is going to work in Schaumburg I would start off by looking in the immediate vicinity - it is much like the rest of suburbia.
We only moved in May so preparing for winter, but summer very nice year - it may have helped that we were moving from Dubai so it was neither humid nor hot by comparison!
I work in Arlington Heights and live in Buffalo Grove. As others have said there is not really a culture of walking anywhere here and the concept of walking to to a downtown area as opposed to yet another mini strip mall with a handful of shops in.
If you were to look at a place such as the old part of Lake Zurich you could walk into a town centre but you would trade that off against the commute to Schaumburg.
If your husband is going to work in Schaumburg I would start off by looking in the immediate vicinity - it is much like the rest of suburbia.
We only moved in May so preparing for winter, but summer very nice year - it may have helped that we were moving from Dubai so it was neither humid nor hot by comparison!
Oct 28th 2013, 6:28 am
#40
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 214
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
Bus service in suburban Chicago is limited to a few buses that serve commuter train stations and offices during rush hour, and the occasional bus that will serve several areas, a couple of times a day (www.pacebus.com).
Oct 29th 2013, 11:37 am
#45
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
Re: Relocating from UK to Chicago
I lived in Lincoln Park in Chicago. Very family friendly if you don't mind city living. Fairly short walking distance into the center of Chicago and buses are everywhere.
Fairly short walking distance into the center of Chicago and buses are everywhere.
