The Urban Family's Guide to Living Car-Free

If your family leaves the suburbs for the city, there are certain changes that you might expect: You’ll need to master subway transfers, teach your kids how to swipe a transit card, acclimate to a constant din, figure out a place to have packages sent when no one’s home to buzz the postal guy inside. But there are also a bunch of unexpected adjustments that can throw you for a loop, especially if you decide to leave your car behind.

“It turned out that navigating a walkable city wasn't as simple as just tossing on my bag over the shoulder and going out the door,” says Tamara Griffin, who recently moved from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. "It involved things that would be second nature to people who have lived in cities all their lives: How am I going to get my groceries home? How am I lost again? Why did I think heels were a good idea?"