>I normally go to the grocery store a few times a week and generally buy for a day or two at a time.

wtf?

This Little Pup is attached to a cool little hotel too - Surfside - and there's another neat little place next door called Riley's by the Seawall. Fair warning, that's all there is for nightlife in the vicinity. A cool dive bar called the Windsock nearby the small airport.

The guy with all the down-votes is a rude, a lot of people seem to hate on our state without realizing what is here, often(but not always) the hate is inseparable from politics sadly. Ct is an interesting blend of small town America main-streets lodged right next to urbanisim, nature, history, and industry. We have lots of amazing restaurants around the state and it never takes more than an hour to get anywhere.

Depending on how far you want to go and what time of year you come, we have hiking and trails, lots of nature parks, a couple quality theme parks, all sorts of awesome fairs like the Big e and smaller more local ones/ we have still beaches and beaches with waves if you want to go next door to rhode island or cape-cod, we also have multiple casino's, museums, etc.

We have lots of bars and lots of local brews, amazing restaurants on every corner, some notable ones are parkville market in hartford(a food court with amazing restaurants and bars, also live entertainment listed on it's website) mystic pizza, pepe's pizza, and probably an easy thousand quality international restaurants.

I recommend coming somewhere around late summer for the warm weather/beaches, or early/mid September for the fairs.

All that said, ct is probably as real America as it gets, and we're a pretty safe and quiet choice, as well as a safer choice compared to most states. Though we're not exactly a hot tourist spot, there are more vacation-y spots to do if that's what your looking for. you will need a rental if you really want to experience everything properly, as ubers will get expensive and bus service isn't ubiquitous, but be warned, our state problem is our insane and reckless drivers, though i hear Massachusetts manages to have it worse, if your coming for two weeks or more, a rental is a must, as it will expand your range to Boston and new York(dont forget the state exists), and further if your willing to take a 4-6 hour drive.

After ten years of saving for a 20% down payment plus 15K for emergencies, I bought my first home for 235k in early 2019—no kid, no wife, and currently making 85k+ a year. I don't see how anyone with kids making less than 60K can afford a house, cars, etc., these days, given the current inflation.

And it’s gone!

For the first time ever, I splurged on really good winter tires back in January, and haven’t gotten to use them :( I’m hoping we get some good snow tonight.

It’s also a San Francisco treat.

I normally go to the grocery store a few times a week and generally buy for a day or two at a time. Today when I went it was as bad as early pandemic days. People are insane. IF we get snow things will be back to normal by Wednesday...

I think /u/coolduckingcool has the right idea based on your goals.

• Fly into Boston
• > Amtrak train to Mystic
• > MetroNorth train to New Haven and/or Stamford (I’m partial to Stamford but either or both would be worth checking out)
• > MetroNorth train to NYC
• Fly out of JFK

You’ll hit 4-5 solid towns/cities, each a bit different.

MetroNorth is significantly cheaper than Amtrak, doesn’t require you to pre-book tickets, and runs more frequently. So that would be your best bet for getting along the coast and into NYC, though technically you could take Amtrak if you really wanted to.

Personally I would skip New Haven and just go from Mystic to Stamford, mainly due to its proximity to NYC. One less separate lodging expense. And you can easily get to JFK from Stamford (if you didn’t want to spend the night in the city), though for that I would use an Uber instead of the trains as there’s no direct route to JFK and it just takes longer by public transport.

this is a great answer depending on how much time you have and what time if year you're traveling. eg, Two nights in Boston, then take the train to Westerly, RI. If it's summer(ish), enjoy the RI coastline. It's better than Connecticut's. Hop back on the train (or Uber) to Mystic or Stonington for a night or two, continue on to New Haven and then final stop NYC.

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Since you’re in that area with these tips, I’d add walking around Old Lyme (Lyme Street) and going to the Florence Griswold Museum. Also it’s just a super cute, quiet, historic Main Street with some businesses. Definitely very few to no tourists.

That’s a good call. I’d also google how expensive an Uber to Watch Hill would be from there. The best beach in the region hands down. It’s probably a fairly reasonable price and OP wouldn’t have to deal with parking which is the only drawback to Watch Hill.

Ben & Jerry, fries, and Smartfood.

Mystic in Connecticut and it is close enough to downtown Westerly in Rhode island to give yourself a lot more to do.

Your travel agent probably wants you to room at one of the casinos on the coast (prob Fox Woods).

However, if you get a hotel/motel in one of the towns around Hartford (the capitol), you'll be able to use the CTTransit line (it's our bus system). For specific towns, Newington's kinda nice. New Britain is okay, a lot of stuff is really close together in New Britain, too. Multiple options for supermarkets, dine-in or take-out restaurants, there might be a museum or two in NB but you'll have to google it. Plenty of movie theatres, but there's also The Bushnell in downtown Hartford if you'd prefer live-action plays.

Personally I'd avoid the coast right now. It's winter, you're most likely not trying to swim at the beach. Better to check out as many eateries as you can. We have a LOT of options!.

Mystic for 3 days, for sure. Lots of great food and things to do! Easy to get an uber to the casinos if that’s your thing. On day 4 you can uber to new LOndon easily and take the train to New Haven. Eat some pizza, see Yale, go to the Peabody, stay a few days. Then can go to NYC or Boston from there. These places are touristy from CT standards but not in general. Other nice places along the train lines are Old Saybrook, Kingston RI, and Madison I believe. It’s very hard without a car, each city has something to offer but Ubers can be unreliable here (most won’t drive more than 30min away) and most of the best spots require driving. If you do Mystic also check out Bluff Point in Groton for a nice hike on the water near a tiny regional airport

We tried golden palace today and it’s the best Chinese we’ve had yet around here. Thank you!

I think it's great your travel agent said CT. Yes!

New Haven is a great town if you stay around Yale, which is the reason New Haven thrives. Wooster St. for real Italian- American food. Sally's Apizza is the best around right now. Plenty of restaurants in New Haven. Tell me what you like. Lots of night clubs packed in around BAR on Crown St which is probably second best pizza. Also, if you decide you want to go to Boston or NYC it's a two hour trip either way by train.

Heading east from New Haven, the Guilford Green is very New England quaint and some very good restaurants bordering and also on Water St.

Madison has Cafe Allegra which is fantastic. Funky art theater next door and some shops and lighter fare. Hammonassett State Park is the flagship park in the state park system and worth visiting.

Clinton has Aqua and Shanks down by Cedar Island Marina. Summertime is best for that. Chow has very good bbq.

Westbrook has Bills Seafood which is more of a local hangout but very quirky and the food is distinctive New England seafood. If you don't get a hot buttered lobster roll there get one somewhere it's kind of a CT thing. The Rhode Island clam chowder is my favorite.

Definitely want to hit Old Saybrook. Main St has Livs Oyster Bar and a few other nice joints you can't go wrong. Also some lower-key spots. If you have the chance get up to Essex for another super-quaint New England town at the mouth of the Connecticut r.

East of CT River it gets spotty. I wouldn't go west of New Haven it gets crowded on Interstate 95 and not worth the travel time.

New Haven is good for pizza and pints. Otherwise I'd prolly skip CT if it's your first time coming to the states.

If you come in late June check out the Elizabeth Rose Garden. No bars though.

4 kids, 2 not in school yet and therefore requiring full time childcare.

We bought our house in Hartford County for $425K in 2021. Mortgage is about $2500/month.

Combined income last year of about $170-180, this year it should be closing in on $200K. We aren’t living lavishly by any stretch of the imagination, but we have enough for the things we need so we consider ourselves lucky.

Find a rock climbing gym! For some reason they seem to attract friendly and outgoing people. Great place to make friends.

Sounds like my kind of Friday night 🤤

Well my experience was spending over 250K to move to a place with municipal electric. YMMV.