Living in the City-Centre or close to work?

ciaran12

Hey guys,

I'm moving to Galway soon to work out in Parkmore, and it seems I have the option of living in city centre or anywhere along the 409 route (I won't be driving, as I figure it's probably a waste of money in Galway).

Other threads have already named the areas to look at if working out there. So I know what estates to look for on daft and in the advertiser etc. I know this overlaps but I think this question is probably different enough to warrant a thread:

Is it worth the bit of extra money and commute in the morning to live in the city centre?

Pros

• Wouldn't mind being walking distance to ALDI (most of my cooking revolves around loads of veg from there generally) and would save money that way.
• I also hope to get involved with the hackerspace, 091 labs, on flood street (have done bits of arduino, android programming and more with my college course. And it's a programming job I'm going to, so I hope joining the hackerspace will keep me motivated to continue working on interesting things in the evening/weekends)
• Close to the Kingfisher (though of course there's one in renmore too, and probably more about the place)
• The usual, going out on weekends, would be much easier
• Close to all other shops / any other random things going on in town etc

Cons

• Living further from work
• Pricier rent

Only 2 cons in that list, but I reckon they're kind of big ones. And I'd say you guys will be able to add more to it.

Oh, and I'm just out of college, but not party-mad or anything like that.



So, city-centre or as close to work as possible?

snubbleste

Live in town.

I have taken the executive decision for you. You owe me 2.26 bitcoin + vat for the service.

Redhairedguy

As long as you don't mind the commute to work, town is a much nicer option. Closer to everything, and if you want to go for a single pint or something in the evening, you don't have to worry about taxis or any of that shenanigans.

Fairly small reasons admittedly, but it's why I like living fairly close to town when I work miles away.

Mrs OBumble

Only other con is the street sweepers waking you up at 5:30/6am ish. But you get used to it.

Unless you live very close to Parkmore, you end up paying bus fares to work anyway, so the cheaper rent ain't really a saving. And if you live in town, you save on fares to activities etc.

Aldi on the Headford is easy walking from the city centre.

cp6_ie

@ciaran12

I moved to Galway few months ago, and my workplace is also out of the city. The thing is that there is no city service to my workplace so I use regional services to get there. However, my choice was to rent an apartment in city center.

You listed pros and cons. Although you think that your cons are big ones, in my opinion it is not a case.
When it comes to rent, you can find decent apartments for a good price. There is also another option: if you're single, you can also share an apartment with other professionals in city center. Some of my colleagues share apartments, and as far as I could tell, they are satisfied.

Distance to work is not a big deal. As you travel to/from work usually at the same time every day, it becomes a sort of routine. Routine makes it easier for you to plan and arrange your time. In addition, you have a regular city service which makes things easier for you than what was in my case. There is another option that you may want to consider - to cycle to work if there is a safe road/route for cyclists. On the other hand, your other activities, socializing, events etc. are not something that comes as a part of your everyday fixed schedule. For that reason, you will find living in city center more convenient: places are either in the walking distance from you apartment or you can catch a bus to any destination.

Being close to many different shops is a huge advantage when you move to another town. In first months you will not buy only food and other stuff that you buy on regular basis for your lifetime. There are many small things that you need, from trivial ones, like ironing board.

So, for the first time, I would suggest you chose city center. Later on, when you learn about the city and figure out what might suit you better, you can move somewhere else. Being in city center gives you more options, and you will need those options during your first months in Galway.

ciaran12

Cheers guys, I think I see a consensus forming
I was already leaning towards living in the city-centre but figured it worth hearing more opinions.

snubbleste wrote: »

Live in town.

I have taken the executive decision for you. You owe me 2.26 bitcoin + vat for the service.

Can I wait til bitcoin is worthless again? :P

cp6_ie wrote: »

As you travel to/from work usually at the same time every day, it becomes a sort of routine. Routine makes it easier for you to plan and arrange your time...

...On the other hand, your other activities, socializing, events etc. are not something that comes as a part of your everyday fixed schedule.

That's probably a really good point. I might just not bother doing things in the evening if it feels like an effort to get somewhere, whereas I'll make the trip to work regardless

Would headford road and dock road would be okay places to find an apartment, or would they be very noisy during the night due to still being rather close to shop street / eyre square and all the drunken people wandering in and out of town? I suppose you get used to the noise anyway?

Maybe if I'm really lucky I can get an apartment over Supermacs... :P

TadghsMuffins

Living in town is the way to go, quality of life over any of the other points bro. I live in town and I have to say it's a pleasure like not much else.