Sometimes I think NYC is the worst of both worlds. Urbanist density, with surrounding sprawl and decaying transit with congested streets. It has large areas w

Sometimes I think NYC is the worst of both worlds. Urbanist density, with surrounding sprawl and decaying transit with congested streets. It has large areas without good greenspace, while also being a good 60min by car / 90min by train from escaping the city to get to some nature. The best parks you get are Central Park in Manhattan, or Prospect Park in Brooklyn, but they get pretty busy in the summer.. SNL had a pretty on-the-nose skit about it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZhjIyGmrRQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZhjIyGmrRQ By contrast, European cities seem to have farms/parks/countryside much more in reach. Further, in terms of "living near friends", spending almost 2 decades in NYC.. it's no more true than in the suburbs I grew up or the countryside I escape to on weekends. NYC is so sprawling, expensive, and transit so commute-oriented.. that outside a few years in your 20s.. your friends end up 30-90min away in all directions. My wife's best friend lives in the same borough, and is a 40min drive from us. Worse by train, as we have to go back into Manhattan and transfer trains to get to her. The closest any of our friends lived was 10 years ago when we were a 20min walk in UWS from my wife's other best friend. Even for friends we made in the city at say the gym, we'd all live 20 blocks apart. And of course work friends were commuting from all directions within and without the city.