Am I going to feel isolated in Barrington?. (Chicago, Naperville: transplants, sale)

[Finp06]

We did the kenilworth commute to Itasca in an hour when we trialled it ( leaving at 6.40 a.m which is later than hubby does at the moment. Friends in Northfield who do the Itasca commute say it is generally never more than 40 mins. We would happily do the extra 20 to live near the lake! So are we missing something with the commute? Is it that Chicagoans don't tend to commute whereas us British City workers are used to it? Or is it because of the snow? My husband has already been told to keep a spare set of clothes in the office so he can stay the night in the hotel next to his office should there be a really bad dump.
Chet you'll be pleased to hear I'm hoping to meet up with a friend of a friend who is Hinsdale area next week! It's going to be a busy 3 days...

[Finp06]

Originally Posted by GoCUBS1

The North Shore to Itasca commute is not easy. It is very hard getting southwest in the morning and back again for kids' school, sport events, etc. This is the only reason I'm not living in the North Shore, on the lake.. I tried several times to find an acceptable rush hour commute from North Shore towns to Itasca area (near my office), and it was just brutal. Hence, I chose to live in the NW burbs with easy access to 53/290 S. I am not as familiar with the more southern burbs, but I have friends that do love some of the towns mentioned (Glen Elyn, La Grange, Hinsdale)... some beautiful historic houses and quaint downtowns in those areas.

OP, you may also want to look at Arlington Heights as it is off 53/290 which will help with the commute and not at the price level of some of the North Shore towns... City access, community, schools, town are also pretty nice IMO.

I hadn't thought too much about school events - I'd better chat with the husband - he manages to get to lots of things here if I can book them in his diary in advance but this is a dad who leaves the house at 6.30am and gets home after 7.30pm when my kids are already in bed. He wants to see more of them when we move and your post has certainly made me think...Thankyou!

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by Finp06

I hadn't thought too much about school events - I'd better chat with the husband - he manages to get to lots of things here if I can book them in his diary in advance but this is a dad who leaves the house at 6.30am and gets home after 7.30pm when my kids are already in bed. He wants to see more of them when we move and your post has certainly made me think...Thankyou!

Yes, quicker access to my kids' school/extracurricular events was important to me, as well as getting easily/quickly to my office. I also detest winter driving which will add many more minutes to the commute. Plus I detest wasting away hours in a car. But some people have no problem with a commute like this. If there is a public transportation option, or work-from-home option, than I wouldn't mind being 40+min from the office.

But Kenilworth is a beautiful area. Have you also looked at Winnetka, Wilmette, Evanston?

[Doglover5]

To the OP: Have you ever done a long commute before? While some might not mind it, there are others who feel that if they had the chance to pick a location again, they'd be closer to work -- not because work is the end all be all, but because the rest of life outside of work really matters as GoCubs1 points out -- and I so agree with him/her on not wanting to deal with a long commute and certainly not in a Chicago snowstorm. I actually think you have a lot of good options that would still be half the commute time of a Kenilworth-Itasca drive. Even as I write that, it sends chills down my spine. Not fun.

Also, if you are out this way again and wondering what it might be like, you could do a dry run of the commute just to test it out....

I think that if you were willing to consider Kenilworth-Itasca, then Hinsdale-Itasca (though still a bit long, in my book) or better yet, Glen Ellyn-Itasca or Elmhurst-Itasca could work well. Kenilworth and Hinsdale aren't exactly the same, but if you are looking for a "tony" suburb but not one on the North Shore, then Hinsdale might fit the bill.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Stick to the North Shore.

And suffer a miserable commute to Itasca.

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by Doglover5

I actually think you have a lot of good options that would still be half the commute time of a Kenilworth-Itasca drive. Even as I write that, it sends chills down my spine. Not fun.

Me too.... I think about doing that commute in the winter and get stressed out just thinking about it! But I have driven through a few Chicago snowstorms where a 1 hour commute turned into 4 hours! Ughh...

Is public transportation/Metra a viable option for Kenilworth-Itasca via downtown?

[Finp06]

[quote=Doglover5;31933897]To the OP: Have you ever done a long commute before? While some might not mind it, there are others who feel that if they had the chance to pick a location again, they'd be closer to work --

OH has driven over an hour every day for years and now goes by train - 1 hour 20 mins each way including the walk to and from home, station and office.
Personally when I worked in recruitment, I had a regional role with 5 offices one of which was a 100 mile drive each way and I drove it each way daily when I was setting it up to get it opened. My others were in London in various places, so yes I have done excessive commutes because of the role I was doing.

In the UK the higher wage earners will commute (generally to the City) and then live at least an hour away as that is where the nicer places to live are. Plus to live in the City in the right places you needs £millions. Generally for UK middle class / upper middle class the zip code is paramount followed by what the house looks and feels like and what facilities the town or village offers and how good the school is. We also generally like to have a small shop and a pub in walking distance. An hour commute it not seen as excessive.

We have worked and lived in different places in the UK in roles that involved driving so I guess we are just used to it now and aren't phased but I can understand if that sounds odd to people who look at a commute of above 30 mins as being long.

[Finp06]

Originally Posted by Drover

And suffer a miserable commute to Itasca.

OH says he doesn't mind and that apparently a load of work needs dong in another state first!

[Finp06]

Originally Posted by GoCUBS1

Yes, quicker access to my kids' school/extracurricular events was important to me, as well as getting easily/quickly to my office. I also detest winter driving which will add many more minutes to the commute. Plus I detest wasting away hours in a car. But some people have no problem with a commute like this. If there is a public transportation option, or work-from-home option, than I wouldn't mind being 40+min from the office.

But Kenilworth is a beautiful area. Have you also looked at Winnetka, Wilmette, Evanston?

OH spends his car time speaking to his teams and clients and on the train goes through his emails. He sees commuting as extra office time! Big school events always gets put into his schedule so he attends the Christmas plays, parents evenings, special days as a matter of course. I wouldn't expect him to turn up at sports events unless it was a special one off - I wonder if there are lot of special one offs there? You guys certainly get more involved in Sport at a younger age than we do I reckon.

My original goal was Wilmette. But out of Winnetka, Wilmette, Northbrook, Northfield, Glencoe and Kenilworth there were only 5 houses to see that were rentals that accepted animals up to our budget of $8,000 dollars a month. Of those we dismissed 3 instantly leaving Kenilworth and Wilmette by the golf club. Both lovely places but the golf course one meant getting in the car for everything and the Kenilworth house meant my kids could scoot / bike to school together and I could walk to get a coffee in Starbucks! No brainer for us really!

Renting a property as animal lovers / owners is hard. Hence our search has now moved on to Barrington and further up the North Shore. We are also looking at Hinsdale but there was nothing suitable available 2 weeks ago when we last flew over. We are going to check out Hinsdale this Sunday then Barrington on Monday. After that I can then trust my realtor to get a house that she thinks we will love in an area she knows will suit all of our needs. Gonna be a busy 3 days - my poor children are going to be bored silly...

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Finp06

OH says he doesn't mind and that apparently a load of work needs dong in another state first!

Fair enough, but bear in mind the commute from the North Shore to Itasca will necessarily need to be done entirely by car, so he won't have a chance to get caught up on work/e-mail/reading the news/etc. during a leisurely train ride. And it's also not a nice free-flow of traffic, not during standard commute hours anyway. A good chunk of the commute will be a stop-and-go grind.

I don't know if you're in greater London or not so I don't know what basis of comparison you might have. I'm sure greater Chicago traffic is not as unbearable as greater London traffic, but it's still a right drag during standard commute hours. The big difference is that unlike London (and probably most other major urban areas in the UK), you often won't have efficient and comprehensive public transportation alternatives to sitting in your car all day unless you live and work in or very near Chicago Proper. This is particularly true if your work place is out in the suburbs. Our public transportation infrastructure is geared toward moving as many people as possible into (morning) and out of (evening) the city proper's central business district. Cross-region public transportation around here is exceptionally inadequate. Obviously, Itasca is well beyond the CBD, so commuting by car and fighting sh*t-ass traffic is the only practical option if you decide to live in the North Shore.

I am not necessarily trying to discourage you from moving to the North Shore. There are many reasons to recommend it. I'm just trying to help you understand what your husband is up against so that you can set your expectations accordingly.

Finally, your previous posts suggest that postal codes carry particular importance in the professional and social circles you and your husband circulate in over there in the UK. I'm not sure if you mean that literally, as in people ask about each others' postal codes, or as a figure of speech to mean that people with your social standing are expected to live in very specific areas. If it's the former, I'll say this: nobody will ever ask you what your postal code is. If it's the latter... yes, people will often ask you what municipality you live in, and yes, there is a certain expectation that people of certain means will live in certain areas.

But, those expectations are not particularly rigid. Nobody will judge you and your husband if you're making a very comfortable six-figure salary and choose to live in a safe, comfortable middle- to upper-middle-class town like Wheaton or Naperville where your neighbor just might be a mid-level accountant or a rather successful plumber. But they might think you're nuts if you live in even the most exquisite home in a run-down place like Maywood or Northlake. Only the very upper-crust -- as in, people with incomes into the seven digits -- will expect you to live in an upper-crust town or subdivision before they deem you worthy to associate with.