But after graduating, I accepted a job in Philadelphia and moved in the fall of 2025, drawn to its walkability, big-city energy, and the chance for a change of pace and scenery.<\/p>\n
I knew there would be differences between<\/a> life in Eugene and Philadelphia, but I struggled with not having a car, the harsher-than-expected winter weather, and the extra planning it took to get outdoors.<\/p>\n I ultimately moved back to Oregon less than a year later because it was a better match for my lifestyle.<\/p>\n The cold weather wasn’t just uncomfortable \u2014 it was painful. The snow was comforting to watch fall while indoors. Walking around in snowy conditions, however, was both uncomfortable and exhausting.Tristin Hoffman\/Business Insider<\/p>\n After treading through the rain in Oregon for four years, I thought that adjusting to the Philadelphia winter would be a breeze.<\/p>\n But I found the city’s combination of wind, snow, rain, and humidity hard to adjust to.<\/p>\n On my walk<\/a> to work, the city’s frigid wind tunnels would leave my face red and numb by the time I reached my desk. Without a car, there was no quick dash from a parking lot.<\/p>\n The swings in Philadelphia’s weather<\/a> \u2014 from snowstorms to thunderstorms \u2014 made it difficult to plan my week and even harder to imagine enduring it for years.<\/p>\n I missed the convenience and freedom of having a car. When I first arrived, I was most excited about how walkable Philadelphia is. Running errands without a car, however, proved to be quite a hassle.Tristin Hoffman\/Business Insider<\/p>\n Philadelphia is a city known for its walkability.<\/a> It was a huge selling point for me as I decided where I wanted to move to after college. I was tired of driving and wanted to experience the charm of getting lost walking through the big city.<\/p>\n In Philadelphia, I lived in Old City, within walking distance of work and much of downtown.<\/p>\n When walking became necessary, however, that “charm” was a different story. I found my personal bus route was quite unreliable, and I ended up walking more than I expected, which was a pain when I had to haul groceries back home for a mile, twice a week.<\/p>\n When temperatures dropped below freezing, walking around became something I dreaded: I had to pull on four to five layers of clothing just to stay relatively warm, and constantly being surrounded by people on the street became exhausting.<\/p>\n I missed the solitude of my car.<\/p>\n Nature takes more planning when living in a city. Philadelphia’s streets were straight out of a storybook. But I found myself craving open expanses more than the city itself.Tristin Hoffman\/Business Insider<\/p>\n I am an avid runner \u2014 I run at least four times a week and have enjoyed scenic trails by beaches and rivers my whole life.<\/p>\n During my first weeks living in Philadelphia, I realized I no longer had the easy, everyday access to shorelines, trailheads, and open space that I’d taken for granted.<\/p>\n Instead, my running routes during the workweek would have to weave through the city<\/a> itself, full of traffic and pedestrians, or along a loud highway next to the Delaware River.<\/p>\n Philadelphia has parks and trails, but getting to the kind of mountain nature I craved often required setting aside time for a weekend trip and arranging transportation<\/a>.<\/p>\n I once took about an hour to reach Philadelphia’s Wissahickon Valley Park by bus from Center City, where I ran past waterfalls and beneath tree canopies brimming with fall foliage, but the headache of planning transport made it a tough sell to do again.<\/p>\n It was a big eye-opener about how much I value the easy, convenient access to Oregon’s dense forests and mountain trails.<\/p>\n My social life was more centered on indoor hobbies. I found that people often did indoor hobbies, such as chess, knitting, and reading.Tristin Hoffman\/Business Insider<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/business_insider_consolidated_articles_886\/d1f3f22a11bbeeccac9efd4d187a9c.jpeg\"\/)
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