Where should I move?

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cardsfantx
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Re: Where should I move?

Post by cardsfantx »

Should make this a poll, and the winning place you have to move to

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Big Amoco Sign
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Re: Where should I move?

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Indu WangZi wrote:1. San Diego, CA - the weather is perfect. Cost of living is much more reasonable than LA and SF. It still isnt cheap but it isnt exorbitant either. Lots of Asians - Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese...so good food. Checks all your boxes save good public transport

2. Columbia, SC - beautiful The entire state is beautiful. Weather is awesome...people are nice...cost of living is good value for money. Great food...easy to navigate...not far from the ocean. Public transport is ok, but not great.

3. Santa Rosa, CA - love the city. Its nothing like you want but its paradise

If you want SF living but want it a bit cheaper...think Oakland. I lived there (Berkeley actually) for a number of years. Easily accessible to the Bay...great perks...great food...cheaper cost of living (but not too much). Castro Valley could be an option too (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_Valley,_California)
Santa Rosa is cool. Better before half of it burned down though.

Berkeley is probably more expensive than SF in some parts. Not sure when you visited last but a studio in Berkeley can run around $2300 now.

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33anda3rd
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Re: Where should I move?

Post by 33anda3rd »

CardsofSTL wrote:
Big Amoco Sign wrote:Popping in to say Seattle isn't that gray. Definitely not 6 months a year. Highly exaggerated. I'm on year 1 and there was so much sun now in global warming era Seattle. Plus after spring it's light out until like 10 due to how far north it is.

It's cloudy here but the sun comes out a lot. And summers here are second to none. It snowed yesterday, and clear all day today with Mt.Rainier booming on my drive to work. Now it's snowing again. Fun stuff.

Kayaking, mountains, every body of water, great food. This city is the best in the US that I've seen. And I have lived in 6 states and 8 major cities. Love Portland too but job market isn't as good as here. I suggest here over San Fran or Portland. Lived 5 years in CA and the sun gets old. Not kidding. Plus fires won't burn you up in the PNW.

My $0.02
FWIW I also love Seattle... It does stay light in the summer but it also gets dark early in the winter. So pro with con. The only drawback for me is the city has felt a lot more congested the last few times I've been there.
The couple years we were there it was so dark in the winter. I'd turn on a 49ers game at 4:15 in the afternoon, it would be dark in Seattle and the Niners game would look like midday in July on TV. Yes, summer is great, it's mid to upper 70s and sunny every day, blue skies. The summers make it worth it, you just have to get by the winter.

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Indu WangZi
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Re: Where should I move?

Post by Indu WangZi »

Big Amoco Sign wrote:
Indu WangZi wrote:1. San Diego, CA - the weather is perfect. Cost of living is much more reasonable than LA and SF. It still isnt cheap but it isnt exorbitant either. Lots of Asians - Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese...so good food. Checks all your boxes save good public transport

2. Columbia, SC - beautiful The entire state is beautiful. Weather is awesome...people are nice...cost of living is good value for money. Great food...easy to navigate...not far from the ocean. Public transport is ok, but not great.

3. Santa Rosa, CA - love the city. Its nothing like you want but its paradise

If you want SF living but want it a bit cheaper...think Oakland. I lived there (Berkeley actually) for a number of years. Easily accessible to the Bay...great perks...great food...cheaper cost of living (but not too much). Castro Valley could be an option too (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_Valley,_California)
Santa Rosa is cool. Better before half of it burned down though.

Berkeley is probably more expensive than SF in some parts. Not sure when you visited last but a studio in Berkeley can run around $2300 now.
True about Santa Rosa...havent been there in a few years and that saddens me.

Berkeley...no kidding. Last time I spent any meaningful time there was 1991...so, yeah. Had no idea...that's crazy.

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heyzeus
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Re: Where should I move?

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cardsfantx wrote:Should make this a poll, and the winning place you have to move to
This is absolutely correct, and it constitutes a binding legal agreement. Let's allow nominations for another day, then determine Smith's future.

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Smith Corks One
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Re: Where should I move?

Post by Smith Corks One »

I knew I brought this to the right place. Thanks for all of the awesome suggestions.

Regarding Seattle - I have to admit, I've been there a couple time and I loved it. The weather was also amazing both times I was there, but I figured I just got lucky. I mentioned something about it to an Uber driver, and he said the "it's always raining" thing is just what they tell people to keep them away. I figured he was joking, but wondered if there was some truth to it.

It certainly seems to check almost all of the boxes. My wife knows very little about any U.S. cities, but she has talked about Seattle since she moved here (she knows a couple of Vietnamese people there), and she knows its right on the water and near the mountains. I just mention Seattle and she gets excited. Plus, I like the proximity to a lot of cool places; Vancouver, Portland, not far from California, lots of national parks, etc.

Here's the main problem - I'm a teacher, so we typically spend much of the summer travelling. In any given year, we might be in Asia for half the summer. Therefore, awesome (or at least decent) winters are more important to us than awesome summers. The idea of still being sunny after 9 p.m. is fantastic, but not if we're not there to enjoy it - and I'm horrified of the idea of darkness at 4 p.m. (as a borderline SAD sufferer at times).

Still it checks so damn many of those boxes...I think it's still worthy of consideration.

Middle - very interested in your input. Great suggestion of ranking these seven items in order of importance. This may not be exact, but I think it would roughly go like this: (***upon further review, I realized that I had them pretty much in order of preference to begin with. A couple of things were pretty equal, so I turned them into ties, and I eliminated the public transportation from number 1 because, while desirable, it's not essential. We do love to walk, though, so a walkable city or downtown area is still a priority.)

1) A big, or pretty big, city. Something that's walkable. My wife's from a big city in Vietnam, and misses that big city vibe; I've always been fascinated with the idea.

t-2) Somewhere with good air quality. It's awful here in our factory town, and we both have been having all kinds of sinus issues; can't help but think it's related to the bad air.

t-2) Great restaurants, with plenty of Asian and vegetarian options, where it's extremely easy to get food late at night. Wife misses getting hungry at 10 p.m. and being able to walk a few hundred yards to get something to eat. She's not a big fan of most American food, and I'm not able to quickly whip up a bowl of pho or a banh mi at a moment's notice.

t-4) Mild winters and lots of sun. This is a tough one, because I'm afraid it eliminates a lot of options that meet the other criteria. So I will say the sunshine is more important than the mild winters - she's gotten used to dealing with the cold, so I think we could handle it if the city was awesome enough. Can't compromise on the sunshine, though - we hate dreary, overcast days.

t-4) Nearby the ocean, or at least a giant (i.e., Great) lake. She grew up right by the sea/ocean, and is convinced it also helped keep her sinuses clear.

6) Cool things to do, even if it's just walking around, people watching, etc.

7) Insulation from climate change. Obviously, climate change can manifest in a lot of different ways, so not too concerned with this one. But it probably eliminates extreme places like Miami and Phoenix.

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Big Amoco Sign
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Re: Where should I move?

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If winters are important then Seattle could scare you off. Especially December and January. Gets better if you work through those months.

Bay Area might be your best bet. Warm, plenty of big city life. Can go out to Santa Cruz for the best beach/boardwalk experience there is each weekend to escape. That's what I used to do anyways. San Jose's Little Saigon area is huge and the Banh Mi was practically invented there. It might have the biggest Vietnamese population in US. Consider Portland too if you can find work. Slightly warmer and less gray than Seattle but winters also bring short days there too.

Full disclosure: I moved from California because I hated how expensive it was and the fires. Climate change is real and California burns more and more each summer and fall. It's so dry and hot there and sun gets very old and tiring when it's out every single day. If you're a lizard you might like it. Not me. I prefer the clouds and full rivers and lakes in PNW. Just me though.

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33anda3rd
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Re: Where should I move?

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You didn't mention cost of living being a big deal, so let's talk NorCal. SF winters are not all that great. We lived there 4 years and my wife hated it. It's always in the 50s, it's chilly, it's foggy. She was always cold and just flat-out hated living there. Which sucked for me because jeans-and-a-sweatshirt weather is my sweet spot. Go across the bridge to wine country and that changes significantly, so maybe take a vacation to Marin this month or next for a long weekend and see how it fits.

I know it's not near the ocean but I kind of like San Antonio, which is a 2 hour drive to the Gulf. I haven't spent nearly enough time there, I go once a year for a cocktail conference (headed there tomorrow), but it's growing, they're getting a lot more international which might suit your wife, there are Vietnamese markets in town and like 4% of the population is now Asaian (which IIRC is 2X 15 years ago and still growing fast), there's great dining, there's an NBA team, there's Hill Country, there's the riverwalk, the people in SA seem very friendly, and I think they get over 300 days per year of sun. Also: tacos.The three best taco cities in the US are Chicago, LA, San Antonio. I know tacos were not in your 7, but they'd be like 1-4 in my 7.

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heyzeus
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Re: Where should I move?

Post by heyzeus »

33anda3rd wrote:
I know it's not near the ocean but I kind of like San Antonio, which is a 2 hour drive to the Gulf. I haven't spent nearly enough time there, I go once a year for a cocktail conference (headed there tomorrow), but it's growing, they're getting a lot more international which might suit your wife, there are Vietnamese markets in town and like 4% of the population is now Asaian (which IIRC is 2X 15 years ago and still growing fast), there's great dining, there's an NBA team, there's Hill Country, there's the riverwalk, the people in SA seem very friendly, and I think they get over 300 days per year of sun. Also: tacos.The three best taco cities in the US are Chicago, LA, San Antonio. I know tacos were not in your 7, but they'd be like 1-4 in my 7.
San Antonio is very nice! But no mass transit, and the feel is pretty touristy. Yes, there are plenty of places where the locals go. But downtown is very oriented to the convention/hotel/pound some margs with your coworkers at a conference and make bad decisions crowd. My family lived in San Antonio for a few years and I liked it, and loved the old Spanish architecture and Mexican culture (the food, man, the food). But sometimes the heart of the city feels like it's an extended convention center.

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Leroy
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Re: Where should I move?

Post by Leroy »

I recently moved to Bismarck, North Dakota. I love it, but it probably isn't for you.

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