Big cities are incredible places; they offer a great variety of food, people, events, venues and activities for everyone and yet, there are so many drawbacks to actually living in one. We all know some of these, like the fact that rent is expensive and parking is hard to find, but let’s talk about some of the worst things about living in a great city that newcomers may not be aware of. Here are some things you’ll want to prepare for.
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8 Travel time
Walking, riding, driving, it doesn’t matter; unless you live in a part of town that has everything you need, get ready for some lengthy, multi-leg, expensive (or all three) trips. Experiment by planning out different trips until you find the fastest, cheapest and easiest one.
Photo credit: Dave Sizer, Flickr
7 Tourists
Tourists will be showing up in droves to take pictures, ask for directions, crowd the streets and generally detract from what actually makes a city great. Get to know the worst, most touristy areas, and avoid them at all costs.
Photo credit: Dave Sizer, Flickr
6 Elitists
Cities are known to produce elitists like nowhere else. Everyone thinks their city is the best, their sports team is the best, they’ve got the best food, cultural establishment, restaurants, bands and bar scenes. Residents often feel like they are at the center of the universe and therefore unable to comprehend normal life outside of their bubble (let alone actually conceding to a trip outside of it). Don’t forget who you are, where you came from and all the great things that reside outside of cities, such as natural beauty. And no, a square block-sized park is not natural beauty.
Photo credit: Niklas Hellerstedt, Flickr
5 Greater effects of bad weather
If you think snow storms, rainy days and shit weather in general suck, just see what it’s like when you’re sharing the experience amongst millions of other denizens, dodging enormous umbrellas, seeing snow-skid car crashes happen before your eyes and feeling the effects of a slight breeze turned into a powerful gust by your very own tall building-created wind tunnel.
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4 Public transportation
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a train, ferry, subway or bus: expensive, crowded, loud, dirty, confusing, broken and slow, public trans is loved by no one.
Photo credit: Dave Sizer, Flickr
3 Overrated, overpriced, pretentious restaurants
The hot new brunch spot can’t seem to charge under $14 for a completely unspectacular omelet and that great sandwich place you keep hearing about was really only great considering the neighborhood it’s in. And then there’s the trendy hot spot that charges twice as much because their mediocre food and weak cocktails are served in a chic atmosphere. No thank you.
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2 Grocery shopping
I hope you like grocery shopping, because if you want or can only afford to cook and eat in regularly without the use of a delivery service, then you’ll be doing it all the time. How else will you carry two manageable arm-loads of grocery items down block after block and then up to your apartment?
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1 Bad smells, garbage, never ending noise
It won’t be often that you aren’t assaulted by at least one of them no matter whether it’s night or day, or whether you’re inside or outside, so let’s go ahead and lump these all together.
Photo credit: Josh Angehr, Flickr