weltfrieden

Is moving to Bloomington(Indiana) the same as moving to Siberia for frequent flyers? (as in the city has no airport with scheduled airline service and is located an hour away from the nearest one)

Being offered an excellent position there(unsolicited), but can't picture myself living there.

knope2001

LOL...I guess it depends on what you're used to. But I suspect if you asked people who have lived in Bloomington access to air transportation is nowhere on their list of reasons to live in or leave Bloomington.

Indy is a nice airport with decent service, and an hour isn't bad. If you're used to quick access to an airport like ORD, LGA, DEN, MCO, etc. of course air service at Indy won't compare.

cheltzel

I think the issue of "can't picture myself living there" might be more of an issue than the access to a major airport.

Bloomington is a nice Midwestern town and has the university. But if you are used to a major city it might be too much of a small town for you and might be a Siberia for you as it may have too limited access for things to do, places to eat, etc.

manda99

I lived in Bloomington and loved it. It's a wonderful university town. The last year I lived there, I flew Indianapolis to Chicago every other week or so. The drive from Bloomington to IND isn't bad - a lot of major city airports take an hour to get from downtown to the airport anyway. I usually made it in about 45 minutes. Flights, of course, are more limited there than at bigger airports though. My family still flies out of there and half the time, they have to connect through ORD or ATL anyway.

MissJ

It's not a bad drive in Indy at all. I'd say there are a whoooole lot of places in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, etc. that would be so much worse. Bloomington is a cute little town with a lot of good restaurants. I probably would get bored there now and I'm above college age, but it's worth a look.

A good bit of Atlanta is an hour or more from the airport...

satman40

It is great, and in IND airport is on your side of town,, in fact it take a half hour to drive to the airport from the other side of INDY,

Living in Chicago often took an hour to drive to ORD,

Enjoy it, like God Country, with IU...

weltfrieden

"God Country"?

Being a college town, are there thousands of drunk or stoned IU students on the weekends, or any day of the week?

My current co-worker and boss, as well my family, think I'm crazy for not accepting the position in a heartbeat.... almost double my current salary... but I have never lived in a little town with no airports before. My last home was a condo that was under the flight path where dozens of A380s, 777s, 747s fly over every single day. My bedroom window had a clear view of all 3 runways(couldn't hear the noise thanks to triple-pane windows) and I could walk from my front door to the terminal in about 20 minutes.(no sidewalk, but walkable)

I don't know why I'm always facing decisions like this. 5 year ago, I turned down an offer because I did not want to re-locate to Honolulu.(shocking, no?) I still don't regret that decision. I guess I'm the kind of guy who likes to live in a real big city where one can order Chinese food delivery at 2:50AM and a Nordic escort at 3:00AM, if necessary.

goodeats21

Just curious. Are you travelling so much that proximity to an airport is more important than other, everyday living type of things?

I don't see where you have identified where you currently live, so there may be other things that are much more impactful then having to drive an hour just to get to a non-hub airport. Hard to offer advice on differences living in Bloomington when no one knows where you currently reside.

On the plus side, the cost of living may be much (MUCH) lower when compared to a big city on one of the coasts. Just for fun, do some internet searches for house / condo prices in Bloomington...might be quite an eye-opener.

I live in the Mid West and the airport service does not bother me at all. I quite like having more disposable income to allow great trips as compared to what I would be spending to live in LA/San Fran/NYC/Boston/etc.

weltfrieden

I read your reply the other day and did some math today. I had not
considered the much lower cost of living in Bloomington. (why does
Google think "Bloomington" is a typo?) Based on my rough estimate,
the doubling of salary and lower cost of living, even taking into account
the difference in federal and state income taxes, it will mean I'm going
to be making almost 275% of what I'm making now.... I'll probably just
have to trade in my car for a much faster sports car so I can get to
IND airport much faster.(say.. in 25 minutes?) And also forget about
ordering Chinese food delivery at 3AM and/or ordering hookers at 4AM,
as well quitting my planespotting hobby(which is what I was doing this
morning... saw at least 6 A380s, 37 777s and 11 747s flew over my
head at a little over 300-ft)

goodeats21

Yea, the 3AM Chinese food is going to be tough in Bloomington, I think. I have no comment on the 4AM activity

But yes, those are the types of things I was talking about for the differences in living in a less metro area. To me, the financial benefits outweigh the logistic ones. Hell, you can grab a flight to China on the weekends to get your food fix with all the money you will have on hand...right?

But just be prepared for some of the differences in population. Being wildly generalized here, but more conservative and religious than you likely find on the Coasts, and a much more leisurely pace.

One last thing...if you absolutely hate living there, what is the fallback option? Can you easily move back ?

cawhite

If you can't picture yourself living in Btown but are truly interested in the job, there are other living options not too far away. As an example, there are plenty of people who live south of Indy and make the commute to Bloomington for work daily.
That's not happening as long as SR37 is under construction. Nor advisable (even the 45 minutes estimate) to even try if you plan on driving SR37 through Johnson County.

For your 3a.m. Chinese food cravings - Btown is a college town and you might be surprised at what you'll find.

As someone who flies out of IND and/or ORD weekly, it can be a hassle if you don't like connections and aren't typically ending your trip at a hub, but otherwise the airport itself is very nice. If you are a UA flyer, the pmUA ground staff at IND are some of the very best you'll find.



Only to IU fans.

You might check Google for IU's rep with respect to whether it's a big party campus. But it's not as if the campus occupies the entire town.

satman40

Referring to the hills, the lake., State Park..

Chicago was cement and pavement...

Chinese is never a problem, we have Chinese food every day, wife is Chinese..