Getting to Know New Cities

[MrsK]

How did you get to know new cities? With so many medspouses frequently relocating to new cities, I thought it might be nice to start a tip thread.

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[MrsK]

One thing I've done is to purchase an Entertainment Book of coupons and check out Groupon. It kind of gave me an idea of different entertainment options in the new city. On weekends, we'd open the book to a random page and check out something new. Some of it was lame, some was awesome, others led us to things we wouldn't have found otherwise.

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[SoonerTexan]

City data forums


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[ides]

Wiki travel, Reddit, typing questions into google (you stumble into conversations on other sites), Yelp for restaurants, Zillow to plot schools housing etc, Wikipedia for general info and neighborhood lists, Googling neighborhoods for pics and other info, Google maps and earth for what the area looks like.

[Bittersweet]

Ooo, I hadn't thought of Reddit. Good one. Lately I've been using Instagram to look at pics of our new city. I've found a couple neat businesses that way.


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[gcuthbe1]

The same way I'd research visiting for a vacation, honestly. Plus then looking for housing as opposed to hotels. With that piece I think it's definitely useful to visit ahead of time, or secure temporary housing so you can see it all first hand! Also on fb or LinkedIn you can quickly find if there's anyone in your network connected to that area, and most people are more than willing to give advice from their experiences there!

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[MAPPLEBUM]

I made my first friend in this city by going to a couchsurfing.org meet up. Nothing crazy, just a group of locals having dinner together. One girl had just moved to the area to the area to start a graduate program and coincidentally lived just a few blocks from us! Once she started school we instituted a weekly ladies night -- me and a bunch of speech pathology girls -- but it was nice. We still hang out every couple of months 4 years later!

DH and I aren't involved with the couchsurfing community anymore but we definitely met some cool people when we were broke and wanting to travel inexpensively.

[OrionGrad]

It depends what I was/am looking for. Yelp has been good for restaurant ideas, salons, and gyms. I usually Google around to find local "mom blogs" or family blogs for kid-friendly activity ideas. Zillow is always fun. Reddit is good. I always use Facebook to find friends I know who live or lived in the new city to get their ideas, too. That's probably what's been most useful, tbh.

[Thirteen]

Getting to Know New Cities

Yelp is a great resource. I also like to open google maps and learn the major interstates/freeways to help orient me should I get turned around.




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[houseelf]

If it's a large enough city, sign up for a day tour of the city. We have done it in two different cities within our first year of living in a place and loved it. It connects so many dots, provides a frame of reference, and gets you out and about. I highly recommend it.

[reciprocity]

I'm lucky to be part of a niche subculture (tabletop gaming) so I was able to meet a lot of friends of friends before we even moved to NY! Now 1.5 years later I have weekly hangouts with the folks I met through that hobby!

I also find places through Instagram and then will plan a day around visiting some random milkshake spot or whatever.

[oceanchild]

I use actual guidebooks and newspapers. Apparently I'm old.