auyatyat

Richmond....
1. most of the stuff I need is close to me, like 5-10 mins drive (food, grocery, etc)
2. Ikea is not too far away
3. going to USA is easy, less than 1 hr drive reach Bellis Fairs if no traffic
4. most friends live here (personal)

I lived in Vancouver, close to Burnaby before. I don't really like to shop at Metrotown, it's too huge, and most of the stuff I need can be found in Lansdowne or Richmond Centre. I also don't like crystal mall, especially the parkade and the food court, always no parking spaces, and I haven seen mainland kid peeing in the food court.
A lot of restaurants are along Kingsway, again, not easy to find parking (e.g. Honolulu)
However, some area in Burnaby is nice, such as Capitol Hill or Government Road, quiet residential location, nice views...

in terms of driving to downtown, I guess Burnaby and Richmond are similar distance.
Rush hours from Richmond to downtown is about 40 mins, Burnaby, depends on which part of Burnaby, will be like 30-40 mins too during traffic