Has anyone made the move from London to Connecticut with DC’s??

[cloudydaze]

Hello,
Looks like we are moving to the States for DH’s work.
We have 3 children; two would be going into Elementary School, oldest Middle School.
DH’s job would be based in Manhattan but we are thinking because of the children we would be best off looking to live out of the city, main focus at the moment being Connecticut.
Has anyone made this move and has any advice to share??
Thank you very much

Lots to consider. The first thing I would ask is where will your DH be working because it might not make sense to be in CT.

I made the move a decade ago as a single woman in my 20s. I work in midtown and live in North Jersey. I've done the burbs in Jersey because DH's office is in North Jersey, he needs good access to airports and Newark for the port.

CT is a nice place to live but the commute might be very tough for your DH. People here tend to work more hours.

I’m biased as CT is my absolute least favourite state in the US, but I agree with W2B. It depends where in the city his work is as the CT commute can be brutal. If by CT, you mean Greenwich, definitely check out Westchester County too.

My kids were similar ages when we came over. Happy to DM you if you want more info on that score.

By the way, the reason I’m not a fan is because it is a car park from start to finish. The traffic is a nightmare.

Firstly thank you for replying, much appreciated! I think DH office would be near Grand Central, though obviously I need to check that 😬 I’m not a huge fan of driving, avoid it when I can & have never driven on the other side of the road so the prospect of being stuck in the car a great deal is not enticing! By CT meaning Greenwich to Stamford and the suburbs inbetween.
Thank you MISN for the Westchester County suggestion, have been thinking to also look there. And thank you too for your offer to DM you, I might take you up on that, thank you!

If you are not into driving suburban living will be very tough for you. There is lots of driving.

Find out if his office is midtown east or west. It makes a huge difference.

For westchester there are a lot of excellent towns. It will be a better commute for your DH and towns like Scarsdale are slightly more urban (although very much still suburban).

Be wary in parts of Connecticut that the schools aren't great, especially around Stamford. Lots of people pay for private instead. However, the upside of that (if you're looking to buy a place) is that property taxes aren't that insane.

If your DH will be working around GC, anywhere down that rail line would work. We live in Southern Westchester on the coast so if you want any info just shout.

From us, if you get the fast train, its 36 minutes to GC, from Stamford you're looking more like 1 hour. The other thing to consider is rail costs - the Connecticut part of the ticket is more expensive and they've hiked the prices the last 3 years

And similar to pp, you'll have to get used to driving out here. Everything seems to be a 15 minute drive - you can do the backroads to most places tho which is preferable to taking the frankly insane I95 (its like a motorway on steroids) You'll definitely need 1 car, maybe 2 depending on how far you end up living from the station

Hi,
Thanks for the further posts, so greatly appreciated!!
LM77, I was looking more Greenwich/Old Greenwich/Riverside where the schools looked pretty good from what I can see, do you know, is that not the case? Haven’t heard anything that encourages us to look at Stamford. We would prefer to send them to the local school rather than private, I had a look at some of the private school websites & was a little 😳 TBH! And mine are currently in the private system here in London so I have a vague idea what the private system could be like though the US ones looked even more ramped up, though perhaps I’m wrong.
Yes, I did suspect I would need to get used to driving in a huge 4WD type thing, sure you get used to it after a while.
We are not looking to buy a house, just rent at this stage.
Honestly, I don’t know where to begin, I hop around the internet looking at schools, rentals, areas etc etc
Thank you for all the replies!!

My father still keeps a home in greenwich. The schools aren't fabulous to be honest. Good yes, def on par with most private schools in the UK, but as a parent if I wanted good schools I'd be looking at places like Scarsdale and Rye.

I think greenwich is better than Stamford but I know more about Stamford ones being worse (well, its all relative) I had a friend who bought a steal of a house there as schools weren't considered great.

The school ratings site thats usually quoted on the rental / for sale sites is usually pretty reliable (altho a lot of it is based on test scores so schools will usually score lower if they have a higher % of kids with English as a second language)

As you come down the line towards NYC, Rye is a good school district (confusingly its split into two tho - one is better than the other iirc) , Larchmont / Mamaroneck is excellent, Scarsdale and Eastchester are also sound, Harrison is ok. Worth noting that elementary schools can be great, high school not so much but I view it as a long game - i.e. you may have a few years before you need to think about it. All of these places are (imo anyway) expensive to live -we quite often see 3-4 bed houses in a good school district renting for ~$6000+ a month atm

The car thing is not so bad once you get here - everyone drives like they've never taken a driving lesson in their life so its a pretty low bar a 4WD or AWD is key tho for two reasons 1) the roads here are AWFUL - patched with massive craters all over them, not to mention raised manholes / stupid metal covers on roadworks 2) winter - it can snow a lot. This last winter went on for ages, unlike the Uk where it all grinds to a halt with 1-2 inches, you're expected to just get on with it and drive places. A decent car is key!

Might be worth you contacting an estate agent who deals with international ppl a lot - this side of Westchester they are used to it (have a TON of French people, lots of ppl who work for the UN etc) so can help narrow down with you what you want and your criteria and start honing in on areas that might suit.

My other piece of advice to anyone who comes (apologies if you've already been told this!) is to get your international bank account and credit card sorted out asap from the UK once you know you're definitely coming.

HSBC now do international accounts that are recognized here and AMEX do the same. Flagging it as otherwise you have no credit history once you're here, so rental, car leases etc will all be a pain in the arse

LM77 thank you! No, haven’t been told about the banking though was just thinking about it last night, thank you for mentioning. Did laugh at your comment re the driving.
Thank you for all the suggestions, now going to start searching the various towns
Thank you!

We moved with 3 DC approx same age as yours. We looked at all the commuting towns etc but in the end decided to live in a very quiet corner of Manhattan. Very good public schools, easier on dh and better for me with the city at my fingers tips. It was interesting, scary at first but then marvellous and surprisingly family friendly. Am glad we did it.

Hi, we moved from London to Harrison in Westchester last April. We were looking at areas from Larchmont up to Rye, Harrison not the prettiest town but you get more space for your money. 2 sons aged 7 and 5 were in an independent school in the U.K. and are now in the state system, considered a good school district. Husband commutes to Grand Central and a slow train can take 50 minutes so I don't think I'd like to be further up the line.
We chose to buy a house rather than rent as the rents seemed very high for what you get but do bear in mind that the cost includes a huge local tax. The schools have great funding - facilities and class sizes are comparable to our independent school in the U.K. I worry sometimes about the different approach to education - kindergarten starts at 5 so a year older than in the U.K. and there is very little pressure on my 2nd grader. When I hear what his school friends are doing back home I panic a little but they're probably pushed too hard at their old school and happier here. The cost of extra curricular activities is considerably more.
It was quite stressful for the first few months - getting a social security number, mobile phone contract, buying a car, retaking driving test, buying a house! But enjoying our new life now.

I do enjoy driving but can reassure you that there seem to be far fewer idiots on the road, speed limits are lower and I'm finding people stick to them and are generally more courteous. I opened an international bank account with HSBC before we left.

There are so many expats! I was persuaded to join a local group - I didn't come here to meet more brits so was sceptical but it's a good way to meet people.