anybody from Boston? (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Richmond: 2015, house, elementary school)

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

OP- Just as a basis, this is the type of "friendliness" you find in HR. Say one negative thing and you're told "GO AWAY!!!!" You can see other "friendly" folks above, too.

The OP won't fall for that one. Haven't you worn out your welcome here? You of all people talking about what others say?

[07 Stang]

Originally Posted by Hokie

I grew up in Dedham. It is a tough adjustment to go from Boston to Virginia Beach. What did you dislike about Charleston? We actually talked about visiting Charleston to consider if we would rather be there! We have never really liked Virginia Beach very much, but we strongly dislike Chesapeake.

Just curious, why do you "strongly dislike Chesapeake?" I know everyone has an opinion about each city and I am very surprised to hear someone say that they strongly dislike Chesapeake. Perhaps you had a bad experience but I assure you, it's not a bad place to live.

[Pyroninja42]

TBH, Chesapeake's boring. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is for some people.

[07 Stang]

Originally Posted by Pyroninja42

TBH, Chesapeake's boring. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is for some people.

I suppose it is boring if you expect to walk out your front door for some live entertainment. There are plenty of "happening places" if you know the area. I like biking, canoeing, fishing, camping, so I'm content.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by 07 Stang

I suppose it is boring if you expect to walk out your front door for some live entertainment. There are plenty of "happening places" if you know the area. I like biking, canoeing, fishing, camping, so I'm content.

Good. I'm looking for a nice, "boring" retirement in Chesapeake, this year, I hope.

I have no use for big city expensive Boston style entertainment. And to any other Massachusetts people, I'm on the North Shore, not too far from Gloucester MA and hate to leave but it's become way too expensive--you want to see expensive, check out Boston area prices. I'm not thrilled with VA Beach and maybe not Chesapeake either but there are worse places, MUCH worse.

Most of VA Beach is cookie cutter and strip malls with traffic everywhere but there are good schools and I think the library system is really good. You have a good airport and you can drive to Florida in a day or so. You can take Amtrak to DC. Barely any snow and all in all, it's not such a bad location.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Good. I'm looking for a nice, "boring" retirement in Chesapeake, this year, I hope.

I have no use for big city expensive Boston style entertainment. And to any other Massachusetts people, I'm on the North Shore, not too far from Gloucester MA and hate to leave but it's become way too expensive--you want to see expensive, check out Boston area prices. I'm not thrilled with VA Beach and maybe not Chesapeake either but there are worse places, MUCH worse.

Most of VA Beach is cookie cutter and strip malls with traffic everywhere but there are good schools and I think the library system is really good. You have a good airport and you can drive to Florida in a day or so. You can take Amtrak to DC. Barely any snow and all in all, it's not such a bad location.

INE, I really feel for you because I think once you're here you're going to sincerely regret moving.

The airport is trash and has lost daily departures for the past few years. Amtrak is 3 departures daily (2 from Newport News, 1 from Norfolk.)

Barely snow, yes, but it happens and everything shuts down for days (or in the case of this past year, weeks) when it does.

Regardless of what happens, please do keep the forum updated.

[Poquoson7]

Originally Posted by Hokie

I grew up in Dedham. It is a tough adjustment to go from Boston to Virginia Beach. What did you dislike about Charleston? We actually talked about visiting Charleston to consider if we would rather be there! We have never really liked Virginia Beach very much, but we strongly dislike Chesapeake.

Why did you take the time and spend the money to move here if you don't like it?!

[Poquoson7]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

OP- Just as a basis, this is the type of "friendliness" you find in HR. Say one negative thing and you're told "GO AWAY!!!!" You can see other "friendly" folks above, too.

No one said anything about friendliness. Why do you bring it up on a continual basis by implying the people here aren't friendly? I'm assuming people used to be mean to you on the playground quite a bit which is so odd because you're such a charming, good natured person who brings a lot of light and warmth to these discussions with nary a whisp of bitterness or spite.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by fmac

As usual, UHgrad gives a great summary, but I always remind clients who are interested in the area of Virginia Beach where Redmill and other very nice communities are located are going to be subjected to the periodic jet noise from the Naval Air Station, Oceana. Please remember to ask the Realtor that you chose to work with to show you the noise zone areas in the Beach. Does not always bother folks but it is the law to disclose the noise zone and crash zone for any given property.

That's a great point, I always forget about that because I don't live on that side... Here is the city map so you can get a feel for where the areas of concern are.

http://www.vbgov.com/government/depa...lanningMap.pdf

The place I linked on Farmers Ct is actually in the <65DNL zone (which is the best you can get in VB) but lots of places in that part of the city do deal with jet noise from Oceana. Salem and Kempsville are also out of the noisy areas.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

The airport is trash and has lost daily departures for the past few years. Amtrak is 3 departures daily (2 from Newport News, 1 from Norfolk.)

Out of curiosity, what makes an airport trash in your opinion? ORF is clean, easy to access from multiple routes (Interstate or Military HWY), baggage is fast and a short walk from the terminal, street pickup/dropoff is easy and efficient, and you can get away with arriving an hour before your departure time and still make your flight... those are all good things. Long term covered parking that is attached to the terminal for $9 a day is a good thing. Who cares if traffic is up or down?

You have non-stop flights to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philly, Tampa, and DC. If you want to fly to any of those cities then great! If you need to fly elsewhere, you can connect at many of those since they are hubs. I really don't see the problem unless you are flying all over the world on a regular basis (which 99% of people aren't).

The one thing that does suck at ORF is the rental car facilities, but you don't care about that if you live here.

Trash airports are the ones like Newark and LaGuardia... they are dated, overcrowded, a pain in the ass to get to, and just plain dirty. I hate flying through those places, it is a miserable experience. Sure, you get direct flights to a lot of places but that is really the only positive thing to say about them... I'd rather use ORF and transfer in Charlotte or Atlanta than fly through those. I avoid them like the plague when I'm flying out west for work.