Hotscot

Dana Point
Mission Viejo
Laguna Niguel
Lake Forest

Alan17

I wouldn't recommend either as well, but if you head to the part of Anaheim called Anaheim Hills it's very nice and nothing at all like the rest of the city. Also consider Yorba Linda and maybe Fullerton in north OC. Tustin and Irvine are also areas with good school districts.

FatFrank

New school and new culture, that's it really. It's all good - the locals will love the English accents and new friends will be made very quickly. Didn't mean to worry you, sorry.

Nicky2303

I`m in Irvine with 3 kids aged 10 8 and 4 and the school district is fantastic here. The city is also incredibly safe, relatively speaking. BUT - the costs are commensurate with that - housing, etc. Tustin is a cheaper option but still with a good school district. Aim for somewhere like Myford elementary, on the border with Irvine. Check out Greatschools.org - that gives great school info.

We rented a 3 bed 1500 sq ft place for $2,800 in Irvine as a starter,to give you an idea. But that place will probably have gone up to $3,000 by now.

Food is surprisingly expensive if you eat well - about $1400 a month.
Gas - $30
Electric - $60 - we don`t use air con or heating much
Water - $40 a month. But we have a sprinkler system
HoA - in our case $80 but it can go up into the hundreds of dollars in a condo. Check that it is included in your rent
Petrol - we spent about $350 a month but bear in mind my husband does a 50 mile round trip to work every day.

Some other things to consider: you will need two cars. Public transport sucks here. Buying the car will be difficult. The dealers won`t take more than a few thousand in cash, you can`t put the whole amount on a foreign credit card and they will want you to do a bank transfer - but you need a bank account here to do that, and to get a bank account you (generally speaking) need a social security number - which takes a month to come through! So my advice is get the company to set a bank account up for you (you`ll need it to be paid anyway!) or get a citibank account before you come here.
Second - you are going to find renting a place hard with no credit history. Again - get the company to agree to guarantee your rent.
Don`t bother with an international driving license. It`s not recognised in CA anyway. Come on your UK license, drive for 10 days, then drive illegally and just DON`T get pulled over until you can get your SSN, get to a DMV center, and get an appointment to do your test. It`s a loophole everyone here falls through because of timings, nothing you can do about it, just don`t get pulled over.

Just because a toll road doesn`t have a little man collecting your money, doesn`t mean you don`t have to pay

These are just a few of the pitfalls I remember from first coming here. If you need more help, feel free to PM me.

As for the issue of screwing up the kids education - yes, possibly, to an extent. But you know what - your kids will have lived in California for a while. You can`t put a price on that for their future. So they repeat a year. Or go to nightschool to get their GCSE Maths and English. No biggie. Really.

Hotscot

International Autosource for cars...(Although there used to be a limit of one only.)
Highly recommended.

http://www.intlauto.com/

Bob

No, you don't. Just need to speak to a supervisor and a passport for a non-interest account.

They just need to verify who you are and use 000-00-0004 for johnny foreigner who doesn't have a SSN.

Nicky2303

Just realised I didn`t actually answer your questions 2 & 3!

Will the kids be fine? Yes, almost certainly, IF you pick the right area. My kids had absolutely no problem at all settling in Irvine. Irvine can be a little "sterile" - it`s a bit like living in Disneyland! But it`s clean, safe, pretty, and a great place to start SoCal life. For other options check out Greatschools and pay particular attention to the ethnic mix of the school, the API scores (look for anything over 900 ideally) and the rating out of 10, plus read parent reviews but bear in mind there`s always 1 or 2 whingers.

Nice areas have been pretty much covered by everyone else, but bear in mind your salary will not get you far in any of the beach communities, so come inland, or look at Huntington if you really want to be on the coast but choose carefully - there are good and bad areas. Greatschools will give you a definite feel for that. Make sure if you have your heart set on a school that you check with the school district that there is space in that school. You don`t want to get here, sig a lease, and find they can`t go in there when you based your location decision on it!

Will you regret it if you don`t come? Honestly, there have been times in the past year we have looked at each other and gone "WTF have we done??!" There have been amazing highs and really crappy lows. I don`t think I regret coming for a second, but this is not the Utopia I imagined it to be for many reasons I can go into with you over a beer when you get here and we meet in person ! But the best advice I can give on that one is have an exit strategy in mind all the time, because even if you never need to use it, knowing it is there and you can will get you through the tough times.

Something else: do you have a longer term intention to apply for green cards? If so, confirm with the company what help they will be willing to give you with that. Don`t just assume they will. We did and lived to regret it when they told us they will sponsor us but the costs are ours - we are looking at up to $20,000!

Vixsta

No worries although you did have me worried there for a minute

Vixsta

I'll have a look at there website - saw them mentioned on another thread. We'll only need to buy one car as my husband will be provided with a car by his employer

Nicky2303

That`s good. We got a company cellphone... <rolls eyes> !

Vixsta

Wow thanks for all this info Nicky. It's really good to hear everyone's experiences and to get some good advice! Irvine is an area we've looked at and but I didn't know if the commute from Garden Grove was too far - mileage wise it's not far but didn't know how bad the traffic will be!

I keep thinking what an opportunity and experience this will be for us all but having lived in the same city all my life I'm secretly crapping myself An exit plan - better book the flights now (just in case)

Hotscot

15 years ago I moved to Dana Point, intending to stay only @ 6 months and then go back home to Scotland.

Fast forward 6 months, lying on the beach, under the palm trees, the Pacific crashing at my feet, thinking why the hell should I go back

Nowadays though I am very homesick but it's certainly been an experience and my life, and bank account, is much richer for coming here.

Nicky2303

I can answer this for you - my husbands office is in Cypress - a little bit further on from Garden Grove. He leaves at 7.30am and the traffic is fine, takes 30 minutes door to door. you are going against the traffic as most are coming south to Irvine. But you have to time it right - leave at 7.45, and it`ll take 45 minutes.
Coming home - well, he`s Japanese so he always comes home late, but again, 30 minutes door to door after rush hour. For Garden Grove from Irvine that will be the max, depending on what part of GG it is.

Hope that helps!

Nicky2303

Oh - and dont take the I5 under any circumstances! Bloody nightmare road! Take the 405 - much better.

Don`t crap yourself. I know how you feel. I upped sticks and moved to Tokyo 13 years ago and shit a very large very messy brick!

You will have a lot of ups and downs and wonder sometimes why you ever came here. But I have known hundreds of people make the move to Japan or here in my years living overseas and I don`t know a single one who regretted it, even the ones for whom it went really badly belly-up. Nobody ever regrets doing something like this. Just know you have a reset button if you need it. It is what will get you through. Not necessarily booking escape flights before you`ve even got here. But maybe just having the flight booker on speed dial.... !

Nicky2303

Just think about blighty when you hit the beach to watch the sunset at Crystal Cove, Mai Tai in hand, some time in late November. heh heh heh. Then you`ll know you made the right move
We spent Christmas Eve at the pool last year
You`re gonna love it. Even when you hate it. Trust me