If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 11.

10.  TRAVEL

Both Los Angeles and New York are in vibrant areas of the country where a lot of amazing stuff is only a few hours away.

While living in NYC I have traveled to:  Maine (on of my favorite places ever!), New Hampshire, Shelter Island, Philadelphia, and Cold Spring.

While living in LA I traveled to:  Las Vegas, San Francisco (another favorite place ever), San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach, Ojai, Santa Barbara, Oakland, Sedona, and Salt Lake City.

The reason for so much more travel?  It’s simple…I owned a car.

While there are many places very close to NYC, the fact that I don’t have free and easy access to a car really limits how much I can travel.  The first expense you must consider before going anywhere is how you’re going to get there…and while some public transit is relatively cheap (the Chinatown bus springs to mind) a lot of it isn’t…especially if it’s travel by “rent a car” which, within the city limits can be outrageously expensive.  Additionally, in many cases depending on where you’re going (for example Adam and I were trying to go to Vermont for a few days) even if you take a train you’re likely to need a car rental as well once you get there.

There’s nothing wrong with travel that is not a car, in fact having done the train ride to Philly many times I find it quite painless and enjoyable…but I’m just personally a car girl.  I don’t like worrying about how I’ll get around once I arrive in my vacation location, and I like the freedom of traveling by car, being able to control when I stop and where, and how long my trip takes. It’s really convenient and relaxing to me…Running late?  No problem…there is not exact departure time for MY CAR.

NYC does have the advantage in the sense that Europe (and many other places I’m interested in traveling to) are much much closer by plane than flying from LA, however, one of the few places MUCH easier to get to from LA, and a place my parents love to go (and bring family with them when they can), is Hawaii.  Hawaii, a place that will likely always be a destination for my parents (and hopefully a place they’ll keep wanting to invite me to) is an utter bitch to get to from NYC…I think 11+ hours or something crazy for a flight (not to mention hella expensive)…and just hope you don’t have to connect through Chicago…cause then you’re totally fucked and will (as happened to Adam and I once) have to DRIVE HOME TO NYC FROM CHICAGO.  Yeah, so I’m going to let Hawaii proximity edge out Europe proximity, and then let the car aspect take LA the rest of the way to the win.  Advantage:  LA