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City Recommendations & Tips

snowbeach

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hi, well I'm not too sure anyone would be thinking of moving to my city but thought I'd join in the conversation anyway with a snapshot of Sydney Australia.

Where do you live?
I live in Mona Vale on the Northern Beaches, in the city of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, in Australia. Mona Vale is about a 45 mins drive fron the city of Sydney.

Where have you lived?
I lived for 12 years in Newtown, in the Inner West, a 10-15 minute drive from the heart of the City of Sydney. Newtown is a vibrant, eclectic, creative, tolerant student town.

Where are you originally from?
I've always lived in Sydney. Born and bred on the Northern Beaches.

Name a a few things that makes your city great
Northern Beaches - beautiful beaches from Palm Beach to Manly, lovely green leafy environment, relaxed surf lifestyle, surf on one side and stillwater on the other, lovely coastal walks, lovely cafes with water views, pretty friendly bunch of people (most of the time!)
Sydney - Sydney harbour and its ferries, great culinary delights, economically stable, pleasant climate, diverse multicultural population, huge range of activities sporting and cultural.

......and not so great?
Traffic and crazy drivers, expensive housing prices to buy and rent, terrible public transport, not enough forward thinking/planning from the state government, overdevelopment and the worst bit........a six hour drive to the snow!

Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc.)?
Not really.......I think Sydney is just going to plod along for a while!

Name cities/regions you are interested in living.
The Northern beaches is not a bad place to live and most of my friends live in Sydney so have no real plans or needs to live elsewhere.
That said I wouldn't mind living for a time in Bali for the surf/ Japan for the snow / Morocco for the culture.
 
So beautiful. DH is supposed to travel to Australia at some point as his company has its home office there. I am hoping to go with him.
 

alicie

Angel Diva
• Where do you live?
10 ish miles outside of Aberdeen in Aberdeenshire
• Name a a few things that makes your city great.
Town where I live: not overly big (about 10,000 people), It's close to town, beaches and mountain. Aberdeenshires tag line is from mountain to sea the very best of Scotland. Pretty friendly, very residential, though lots of offices being build at the bottom. We're the global centre for subsea excellence, they make a lot of the equipment here.
Aberdeen: beaches, shops, harbour (can dolphin watch here, there's tonnes of them), it's very pretty (a lot of granite buildings) marischal college is one the prettiest buildings you will ever see, footdee (said fittie) is absolutely adorable.
The majority of people are utterly spectacular or hilarious (in both good and bad ways, there are certain things you will only see in Aberdeen)
•.....and not so great?
A lot of you mentioned diversity, so I thought I'd look up diversity stats Aberdeenshire has 1.5% not white(white includes British Irish polish and other white). Aberdeen is a bit better at 8% (Scottish average is 5%) Most people who aren't white are here because of oil (mainly Nigerians and people from Arab countries)
Oil means lots of people in big cars (Audi, bmw, range rovers) who think they can drive however they want, it's a nightmare there is some shocking driving.
Quite rainy, quite windy, often very dreich, haar every so often. Very short winter days.
• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...) ?
Unlikely iN diversity
The rest is pretty much down to oil prices.
They're building a byPass which will be good as it should take a lot of traffic out of town.
• Name cities/regions you are interested in living.
Id like to move to Skye at some in the future.
 
Vermont, Colorado, Utah and Washington are all on my list of places I'd love to live with Idaho, New Hampshire and Maine being close seconds.

I'd love to go back to California but I don't think I could get DH to do it because of the high taxes, traffic and overall cost of living. He likes it there and loves visiting but I don't think its his first choice. I have very fond memories of Oceanside, California and usually try to visit when we are there. I used to surf on the south side of the pier all the time, buy mexican hot chocolate from the vendor on the sand and just hanging out down there with my surf friends. I also had a surfing friend who's wife was a school teacher and taught on the base at Camp Pendleton so he had a special sticker on his car that gained us access to the base so we got to surf there on the weekends at times. Oktoberfest in Big Bear is also one of my favorite things. I try to bring DH to Cali when fun things are going on, he liked Big Bear and Oktoberfest a lot. Although I had to take the back way down from big bear as the front/super windy way didn't make him very happy lol.

DH will be retiring in 10 years and he mentioned northern Arizona as a possibility. I could probably get into this, I love northern arizona, there's skiing there and I have pretty access via air/car to Utah and Colorado to ski. I can get to Vegas and California with ease to see my friends so this could work.
 

VickiK

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Over on my side of the world, I'd say exactly the same thing: big fancy cars and shockingly arrogant driving.
 

gardenmary

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
DH will be retiring in 10 years and he mentioned northern Arizona as a possibility. I could probably get into this, I love northern arizona, there's skiing there and I have pretty access via air/car to Utah and Colorado to ski. I can get to Vegas and California with ease to see my friends so this could work.

My son's been at Northern AZ University in Flagstaff the last 3 years - he's finishing online and going active duty Army. He LOVES Flagstaff and so do I. It's so not Phoenix. It's at 7000 feet, great historic railway & lumber town, mix of housing types, fairly reasonable prices, breweries, Sedona is about 40 minutes away, close to the Grand Canyon.....

The weather is gorgeous most of the year. Winters can get cold and snowy - this past New Year's they got a ton of snow and we skied champagne powder at Snowbowl on New Year's Day. It's a fun resort - gets REALLY crowded on weekends so if you're retired you can ski weekdays and avoid the insanity.

I understand it's not far from the Durango ski areas too.
 

gardenmary

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This IS a fun summer thread! It's keeping me from getting work done, but that's my own fault, hehe.

• Where do you live? Fallbrook, CA. Small-ish agricultural, unincorporated town in North San Diego County.
Where have you lived? Have lived in the county & city of San Diego and in the historic West Adams district of Los Angeles when I ran a B&B.
Where are you originally from? Born and raised in Encinitas, CA. - beach town in North San Diego County.
• Name a a few things that makes your city great. Beautiful rolling hills, avocado groves, citrus groves, low density - rural feel. Farm stands. Ocean influenced climate without the persistent, days-on-end fog (it burns off by about 11 AM). Delightful small-town Christmas parade. Camp Pendleton MCB is a great neighbor that gives back to the community.
•.....and not so great? Extreme-conservative politics - not to my liking. Even though it is about 50% white, 40% Hispanic and 10% other races, it's not a particularly tolerant town. Long history of clashes between Hispanic gangs and Native Americans (we have several reservations within 10 miles), and sometimes overtly racist letters-to-the-editor. There's a startling amount of DUI arrests and deaths on our roads. Wildfire is a constant threat - we almost lost everything in the 2007 fire. You have to drive to EVERYTHING.
• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...) ? Like most areas in CA, change will be determined by the availability of water. Developers have tried to push their way in, but with water restrictions nothing's happening now. Economy is agriculturally-driven, so continuing drought will have a significant effect. The main change that's happened is lots and lots of luxury homes built over the last 20 years on large lots.
• Name cities/regions you are interested in living. Ogden Valley, UT; Tahoe area; Bend, OR.; Washington state; Vermont; Montana. I will be selling & moving after I finish grad school (seminary) but it depends where I end up serving.
 
My son's been at Northern AZ University in Flagstaff the last 3 years - he's finishing online and going active duty Army. He LOVES Flagstaff and so do I. It's so not Phoenix. It's at 7000 feet, great historic railway & lumber town, mix of housing types, fairly reasonable prices, breweries, Sedona is about 40 minutes away, close to the Grand Canyon.....

The weather is gorgeous most of the year. Winters can get cold and snowy - this past New Year's they got a ton of snow and we skied champagne powder at Snowbowl on New Year's Day. It's a fun resort - gets REALLY crowded on weekends so if you're retired you can ski weekdays and avoid the insanity.

I understand it's not far from the Durango ski areas too.

Thank you for this. I read it to DH. Phoenix is too hot for me. We have both been to northern arizona a number of years ago, remember loving it and glad to see our memory is serving us correctly. I love the history, the elevation, the breweries, basically everything you described. I think we'll take a trip out there in the next couple of years and spend a few days there but I think this will be the spot. It sounds perfect for us.
 

VickiK

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Agreed, Flagstaff area's alpine climate suits me too. Maybe I need to re-visit my list too!
 

gardenmary

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
How does this work? Do you apply for jobs or are you placed?
Basically, every person who is open for call in my church (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - ELCA) can be considered for an opening, but we aren't out there looking for a job in the classic sense. The bishops and their staffs do the advance work of talking with the congregation about their needs, and trying to match those with the candidate who best fits. Our "application" is almost always within the guidance of the bishops' staff - it really is a massive form of networking. For example, one of my good friends is a bishop's assistant for candidacy, she works in this all the time. If she hears about an opening in Denver and we have a candidate in California who would be ideal, she'll get in touch with her colleague in the Denver area and let them know they should check this person out.

Since I am becoming a diaconal minister (working at the intersection of the church and the world) I'm a little more limited in what might be open to me. We've been encouraged to make our own call if that is possible - if we see a situation where our calling could be lived out, we need to pursue it and see if we can make it happen. We are still something of an experimental group - we are not ordained, but rather consecrated.

We do get included in the yearly "draft" where all the names of people ready to be in a first call are considered by all 65 bishops of our church and their staff. So it's always possible I could serve somewhere else. My fervent hope is that it is NOT somewhere hot and humid. I have made jokes about wanting to restrict to states with good skiing. :smile:
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've moved a LOT in my adult life thanks to some factors, the biggest being I married a young Air Force lieutenant in 1998! So I'll play:
• Where do you live? Where have you lived? Where are you originally from? We live in Mountain Green, UT, which is about 15 minutes east of Ogden and just at the base of Snowbasin ski area. I am originally from the Seattle area, which I do miss dearly. I have lived in the CA desert, Los Angeles area (twice, hate it there!) Sacramento, CA; Dayton, OH, and Northern Virginia.
• Name a a few things that makes your city great. Outdoors outdoors outdoors! Literally right out our door we have access to world-class skiing and mountain biking and hiking. There are also beautiful lakes for water sports and rivers for those kinds of water sports. Rock climbing. 5 national parks within about a 5 hour radius, low population density, very little traffic, decent cost of living. I love the climate here, too. A bit hot but not too much so in the summer, some thunderstorms but nothing terrifying like back east, and cold winters that (usually) bring abundant fun in the snow. Fall and spring are glorious. I like 4 seasons, and the lack of them in SoCal were very boring to me!
•.....and not so great? What Altagirl said about the local politics and dominant religion. It.just.gets.OLD. It's shoved down your throat. And it IS extremely homogenous here. We live outside of the inversion, but yes, the pollution is an issue and the good ol' boys politics here make it difficult to fix.
• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...) ? Ogden itself is bustling and growing. A lot of outdoor companies are moving their HQ here, including Salomon/Arc'teryx, Goode Skis, and a mountain bike company that I can't recall the name of! There are many others.
• Name cities/regions you are interested in living. I'd go to Spokane if there were jobs there in my husband's career field.
 

DeweySki

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
• Where do you live? Where have you lived? Where are you originally from?
San Francisco Bay Area (live in Mountain View, work in San Francisco). Born in Chicago, raised in Northern Indiana. Virginia for college then Southern Indiana for grad school and first big girl job.

• Name a few things that makes your city great.
Everything and anything you could ever want within a few hours drive. Mountains, beaches, wineries, breweries, nightlife, shopping...anything. Well-funded public programs. A culture of progressiveness and acceptance. Smart people with “Anything is possible” attitude. Focus on health and well-being a priority over work and job. Amazing weather. Decent public transit. Diversity!!! Including but not limited to: race, ethnicity, national origin, religion or lack thereof, income, political views, diet, gender, sexuality, etc.

•.....and not so great?
There is a flip side to every coin. There is a lot to do, but you have to plan way in advance or expect it to take forever, or both. Driving is horrendous and drivers are terrifyingly bad. CA will hand out a license to anyone. Public transit is not keeping up with population growth and there weird gaps in service areas.

Cost of living/insane real estate/income inequality. When I leave for work I see Porsches and Maseratis and Ferraris and when I get to work there are homeless people sleeping outside of our building. This is really hard to see every single day. I can’t imagine how people buy a house & raise kids out here. There is no rent control in Santa Clara county (there is in SF), and our landlord just legally raised our rent $775. So we are moving. Current drive to South Lake Tahoe is 5-7 hours. Moving to Oakland should shave off about an hour. Skiing in North Lake (Squaw/Alpine) would also help, but we'll see.

Diversity. Little agreement across the populations. Lots of blaming and finger pointing. The anti-tech movement is both annoying and understandable. I see both sides. My partner works in tech and I'm in civil service so we hear it all.

• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...)?
Historically, the Bay Area is that it has always been in flux, and I think it will continue. Different populations and industries are always moving in and out. Most of my coworkers think we’re in the middle of another tech bubble and it will burst within the next few years. They say it won’t be as bad a the dot.com bust of 1999, but there will probably be an exodus of jobs and people. People in tech are split. They just keep saying, “Don’t call it a bubble.”

• Name cities/regions you are interested in living.
Any mountain town in the Western US where I don’t have to live under such a crush of people. Flew in the Bozeman, MT a few years ago and it was love at first sight. Have never been to PNW but I think I would like it, esp after what I’ve read from other Divas! Denver/Boulder has always been on the table. SO wants to move to Jackson, partially because “Your vote matters the most in WY!” SF has never been a long-term plan. 10 years max (hopefully).
 

DeweySki

Ski Diva Extraordinaire


• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...) ?
With Google building a huge megaplex for 1500 employees in Boulder, and a number of bay area companies establishing offices here, I think there will be more high paying software jobs, but I'm concerned about what it will do to housing prices etc.


• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...) ?
The economy here is on overdrive and there is no slowing down. Silicon Valley companies keep moving here because the cost of living is lower; Amazon (which needs to die) is expanding like crazy, people keep pouring in. Someone did a study and found that in the Bay Area, real estate in Seattle was searched more by Bay Area residents than any other place. They are all sick of the cost of living there and they are coming here. At least we just fell from fastest growing city to third fastest growing...I guess that's something. But we are all afraid of losing the qualities that make Seattle special--how in the world do we keep our artists, actors, musicians, thriving small businesses, young people, etc with what is going on?

Boulder/Denver is mentioned by a lot by Bay Area people as the next place to go. There's definitely a romanticization of it right now. I wonder if people will start putting in for transfers once the offices open up. Google's transfer policy is pretty lenient--you just pick any of their offices across the globe and you get to work there for a year or two. I think people no longer see Seattle as a cost-saving avenue since it's getting expensive too and Portland is a tough job market. Austin also comes up frequently but the conversation usually ends with, "Yeah, but it's still Texas." I want to say that tech won't ruin these areas, but... at the very least they will bring in some $$ to the area and things will change. When we finally leave I am hoping not to get lumped into a big wave of tech people.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
our landlord just legally raised our rent $775

UGH. I'm hearing about that kind of thing a lot here.

I think people no longer see Seattle as a cost-saving avenue since it's getting expensive too and Portland is a tough job market.

Let's hope! I'm waiting for the backlash in Portland against Seattle people. Portland is kind of like Seattle was 20 years ago, and I've known 5 people just in the past year that have moved down looking for that vibe, and they are so amazed at what their money can buy there.

Whatever happened to the promise of telecommuting? Weren't we all supposed to be able to live wherever we wanted without being tied to rush hour commuting or proximity to a job by now? Not that I want to leave Seattle I just want everyone else to. :smile: Then again, we were also promised the metric system and robots doing our housework back in the 70s, and we haven't made much progress there.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Austin also comes up frequently but the conversation usually ends with, "Yeah, but it's still Texas."

I just met a new colleague who lived there, and he had an interesting take on Austin (I've never been). He said that it's full of people from the south, the rest of Texas, and the midwest, and that it's so much better than the places that those people came from, that they've promoted this very inflated view of it. In his view the only thing going for it was the way they mitigate their heat, with all of the swimming holes and such, but there there was nothing else special or interesting about it at all.
 
I have been told that if you are from Austin you say you are from Austin. Texas is the rest of the state. Similar to New Orleans, if you are from NOLA you say you are from New Orleans, not Louisiana.

One of my friends lives in Austin and while she loves it she HATES the extreme growth its seeing. People are coming there in droves and its just insane. Her once "little" city is now bursting with people and so over crowded.

I would like to visit sometime for the BBQ and the music scene.
 

lynseyf

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
• Where do you live? Where have you lived? Where are you originally from?
I'm living in Aberdeen in the UK at the moment, was in Munich, Germany for 3 years before that, Edinburgh UK for 10 years before that and grew up in a small town in central Scotland.
• Name a few things that makes your city great.
I don't like it at all, sorry @alicie! Ok you can see Dolphins anytime you want in the harbour, the coastline near here is beautiful and there are loads of lovely mountains very close by. I actually think Aberdeen is reasonably diverse for such a small city (c.200,000?), we're in Europe so I don't expect to have a large African or Asian population but I hear a lot of different languages when I walk about.


•.....and not so great?

The oil. Everything is crazy expensive, I feel Aberdeen city has all the drawbacks of a city with none of the benefits. I've heard it described as a big village before and I kind of agree. I would rather live in a big city with all the benefits and drawbacks of that or a small village, Aberdeen is just in between.
The climate, Scotland isn't know for it's great climate but it is sooooo cold here.
I think the city centre is kind of crappy, again no stand out city centre bit.
It's near 2 of Scotland's 5 ski resorts, unfortunately all the more exciting skiing is on the other coast which is a long drive away.

• Do you foresee a lot of change coming (economics/diversity/development, etc...) ?

There are massive lay offs in the Oil industry just no but I have no idea what this will mean long term.

• Name cities/regions you are interested in living.
I just got a job in central Scotland so am moving back to Edinburgh for the short term then probably more out into the countryside/nearer west (for the better skiing :smile: ) Long term I would love to end up back in Bavaria or Austria.
 

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