I lived in Airdrie for a long time and a lot of my friends still live there - so does my mom.
Some things I will say:
Commute: Most days it's fine, especially if you like spending a bit of time in your car, which I do. It gives me a chance to listen to the Fan960 morning show, have a coffee, and get into work mode (and out of work mode at the end of the day). The days it sucks though are those -30 days where traffic is at a standstill because everyone forgets how to drive when there's a little bit of snow on the ground. Those days are absolute torture and there were plenty of days I sat in my vehicle for two hours each way wanting to end it all. You also put a LOT of km on your vehicle, especially if you come into Calgary for non-work purposes too.
Social life: None of your friends are going to want to come out to Cochrane to see you, and you're going to be less inclined to drive into town to go places. A lot of people say this won't bother them and they don't mind the drive but when you're sitting at home and your buddy texts you to come out to the pub, your 10 minute drive from Chinook just turned into a 35-minute drive and you're more inclined to sit at home and watch TV and drink scotch instead. Also no more slipping home after work to change or whatever and then go out, once you're home (especially in the winter), you're usually not going anywhere.
Restaurants: if you like eating out a lot (I do!), your options are all of a sudden very limited.
Those are the biggest cons I found about living outside of the city.
|