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I am incredibly lucky. I was born in New Jersey, but I have lived in Georgia since I was very young. My dad was offered a promotion and a slight raise twice to move back up north when I was a kid, and he turned it down twice. He told me it was the best thing for our family, and now I understand why. I travel to the Northeast for business once or twice a year, and every time I go to the Northeast, I am reminded of how lucky I am to not live there.
The Northeast certainly has its good qualities. Some of the best food and beer I’ve had is up here, from New England to Pennsylvania. Reubens, authentic New York-style pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, lobstah rolls, and Connecticut rolls are absolutely delicious. The borough of Manhattan, an urban jungle of tons of skyscrapers anchored on an island of bedrock, is one of the most impressive manmade wonders of the world. The heavy industry that built modern America spanned across the Northeast. Wall Street is up here. Finally, and most importantly, I was born up here. But, because of the following reasons, I could never live here.
1. It’s Dirty
The first thing I always notice as soon as I leave the airport up north is how dirty everything is. The air reeks (New York City is a major offender here) especially in the summer. The streets, overpasses, parks, and buildings are dirty. Sometimes the insides of the buildings, including restaurants, are dirty. There are so many old, dilapidated, beaten up buildings existing solely as eyesores, and it looks like little to no effort has been made to properly restore them to at least a presentable status. Sidewalks are covered in dirt, urine, poop, garbage…it’s just a dirty place, especially in the cities and towns.
2. The Roads And Road System Are Horrible
Maybe I’m spoiled for living in one of the few states that is near anal retentive about maintaining its roads, but Northeastern roads are in absolutely horrible shape. On my current business trip, I have driven from New York City through Connecticut to Rhode Island, then back down through New Jersey into Pennsylvania and then Delaware. It’s been a miserable, rickety trek over pothole after pothole. I don’t think I’ve driven on a smooth, well-paved road since I’ve been up here. Then you drive by several lane closures and hope that they are working on the road with all that tax money they collect, right? Nope, just a closed lane and no workers.
As if the roads weren’t bad enough, the traffic is horrible. Atlanta has bad traffic, but it’s never taken me almost an hour to drive seven miles. There are confusing interchanges, a lack of road signs at crucial intersections, and shitty drivers. Driving in the Northeast is just an overall horribly unpleasant experience.
3. It’s Insanely Expensive
My business colleagues up here always mention, off the record, that the cost of living is absolutely ridiculous. Food is expensive. Utilities are expensive. Transportation is expensive. Housing is expensive, especially if you want to live in a good area. And, of course, taxes are high. Personally, I like having a disposable income and being able to set aside money every time I get paid. And even when you visit from out of town, you notice things are expensive. I’ve stayed in hotels in smaller cities in the tri-state area with charge rates that you’d expect to see for a major sporting event anywhere else in the country. You can’t eat out for less than $15 per person. I’d rather live somewhere where I can get more bang for my buck.
4. The People Suck
Northerners are generally assholes. I don’t get it. Where I grew up, people always wave, say hi just to say hi, have relatively good manners, and make you feel welcome in their presence. Men offer their seats to women. People say thank you. Most northerners, aside from the fantastic individuals I do business with, of course, walk around with a fuck you attitude. No one acknowledges your existence unless they want something from you. It’s a culture shock if you come from a place where people are hospitable.
5. It Gets Fucking Cold
Call me a pansy, but I love warm weather and hate cold weather. Is global warming still a thing? Bring it on! Currently, it is 10 degrees colder outside my hotel than it is in Atlanta. That’s just unacceptable, and it gets worse as the winter goes on. Down South, 20 degrees Fahrenheit is considered apocalyptically cold. In the Northeast, that’s standard winter weather. There’s no way I could live in a place like that.
6. No Sweet Tea
What the fuck is iced tea and why does it taste horrible?
Thankfully, in about two more days, I’ll be back in Georgia where my standard of living is just right, and I can sit back, drink a sweet tea, and think about how lucky I am..
7. No Publix
Harris Teeter > Publix
Moral of the story: if you want to live in the Northeast, toughen up.
-Proud Bostonian
Not to state the obvious here chief, but the moral of the story was that she doesn’t want to live there.
To add: it’s cold and people don’t have manners? You pussy and manners are for chicks. Guess you don’t like football and hockey cuz they’re cold weather sports.
-another proud Bostonian
But the best football is played in the southeast. A little oxymoronic, no?
Um we don’t watch college sports in the northeast so i couldn’t really answer you.
The Southeast better have good college football to make up for the fact of their abysmal professional teams (or complete lack thereof in some of the Southern States). If they didn’t people would care less about the South than they already do.
The best hockey is played in the upper midwest, not in the northeast.
Oh look, another article on a Grandex site about how great the South is. I’ll agree though with many of these points though. My family is southern, I grew up in the Midwest and I live in the Northeast now. The south has better roads because of the lack of snow. Better air and sanitation because of the lack of people, and is cheaper because more people want to live in NYC/Boston/Philly because of greater job opportunity and perceived excitement of living in a metropolis. The South has nicer people because when you have so many tourists walking slow when you’re running late, so many different cultures with different concepts of what constitutes manners, and with such high prices everyone is in a “only the fittest shall survive” mindset, it’s easy to see how people have a fuck you attitude. So while you’re article is true, it’s misleading on the reasons why.
Nobody WANTS to live in Philly.
Texas Forever.
Atlanta has tons of job opportunities and is bigger than Philly and Boston so you’re kind of wrong about the less people thing and rent in downtown Atlanta is expensive but we still don’t have to pay $12 for cigarettes and owning a car here won’t make you go broke like in New York
I included Boston and Philly because my Midwest roots wanted to be fair to the other cities in the Northeast (even though I live in NY now).
I’m sure you Southerners with your manners and hospitality can understand that, even though your modesty and humility is just as bad, if not worse than Manhattanites, as “y’all” have demonstrated time and again on this and other Grandex sites.
I was with you until #4; “Northerners” implies everyone from the North, not just the Northeast. Try the upper Midwest or Northwest if you want manners.
Yeah, having lived all over the country, the nicest people are in the Inland Empire (Idaho, Montana region) and the second nicest tend to be from the Midwest. Those people will just start talking and laughing with you like you’re family. The South tends to be the most polite, but it tends to feel more like an expectation rather than genuine warmth.
“The King of the North!” Oh, shit, wrong thread…
Flyover states don’t count
That’s ignorant. Minus a few large bodies of water, the Midwest is no different than your beloved South.
Except Minnesota, fuck those Liberals.
Well fuck you too buddy
Enlightening to know the South’s superiority complex is still alive and well
Northern by birth, Southern by the grace of God.
Southerners are the only people with bigger egos than Manhattanites.
Fuck You
Now, that’s very un-southernly of you.
No matter how bad their education systems, obesity, literacy or average income rates get, a southerner will never admit their home is anything but the best place on earth.
I have a real fear that people will realize just how good life is down South, move here in droves, and completely screw it up. I’ve lived in both places, and there is no amount of money you could pay me to leave the Southern U.S. for the Northeast again.
Well, that’s literally what’s happening, so get ready.
Its already happening, but we wont let them fuck it up.
Just don’t let them vote in local elections.
Yep… its time to find a new suburb of Atlanta just cause they do vote here. Good Ole Boy system worked just fine.
So when can we expect the Jaytas response article about how the northeast is the greatest place on the planet?
Eh. I’m over the Northeast. Pizza’s great, Bagels rock, everything else blows.
Here goes the Jew, talking about bagels again. Go figure.
Life’s too short for unsweet tea
PREACH!