I moved from Putnam county NY (also lived in White Plains and Manhattan) down to F'burg a couple years ago. We did the drive around and recon work then sold my place and moved down to an apartment and started looking for work.
Whisper's right about the food. We were up at my girlfriend's parent's place last Thanksgiving and I got to have good pizza for a change. I nearly passed out it was so good.
Driving sucks. If you've lived up North for a while you know how to drive in rain/snow etc... Down here when there is the
prediction of snow, schools are closed and people stay home.
Few people how to merge, use their turn signals or stop at red lights. ALWAYS look before proceeding after a stop when you get the green because some dipshit will always be going through the intersection at that point since they were too important to slowdown and stop 100yds ago when the damn light went yellow.
Oh and I don't remember who here said it when I came down but it's true, you really have not seen VA driving until you've seen your first dry land wreck. There will be a single car, flipped over in the road on a bright sunny day, no rain, no snow, and no other cars involved. Just a lone car in the middle of the road decided I'll have an accident riiiight about....HERE! It boggles the f'ing mind.
Our VA crew is a top notch, great bunch. Housing is pricy but F'burg isn't as bad. I'm now in Stafford which is about 20 minutes North of there. Isn't much to do as far as night life unless again you're in the NoVA (Northern VA)/DC area. I've got TV and cable internet so I'm good to go.
Oh, if you go for an apartment, be aware in VA there's a fire code that says no fires on any deck structure where you've got someone living under you...or something like that. Basically it means no grilling unless you've got the bottom, ground level apartment. Also realize there is a personal property tax. The great state of VA is one of the few that taxes you on your continued ownership of a vehicle each year. If the car is worth under 20k you get a huge break as they tried to eliminate the tax by slowly phasing it out...then realized they were too used to the extra cash so they put the process on hold. Other than having no real good place to go eat without an hour drive, that's my biggest gripe.
OH! When you come down with your guns? You don't need to do a DAMN thing.
If you want to carry concealed you'll need to get the license, but ownership or purchase of long or hand guns does not require any type of permit. Just 2 forms of VA ID.
Any other questions or if you need help with something just let us know.