BayAreaNewbie

Hi

Owen was the same, one of the youngest in his class in scotland so same as you I didn't want to try and get him in the year above as I felt emotionally and socially he wasn't ready.

Our shipping container only took 5 weeks so it worked in perfectly with us moving into our house. We were on corporate housing for a month and hadnt found a house yet so we extended by a week and found a house exactly when the shipping container arrived so it all worked out perfectly.

We just found a house ourselves it was quite a tedious task to be honest and it was slim picking when we were looking with loads of families all after the same houses but we got there in the end and got a lovely house which we are delighted with. Apparently summer is the best time to be looking as people with kids want to move before the kids start school.

All I will say about shipping the stuff so that it arrives when you do, is that if you haven't found a house yet you will have to put the stuff in storage so it depends on whether your husbands work will pay for the storage..

I have looked into volunteering aswell and will hopefully do something once the kids start school.

Definitely get in touch once you are all settled and we can meet for a chat. Hope your trip over next month is helpful.

Take care

Pauline

BayAreaNewbie

Hi

Owen was the same, one of the youngest in his class in scotland so same as you I didn't want to try and get him in the year above as I felt emotionally and socially he wasn't ready.

Our shipping container only took 5 weeks so it worked in perfectly with us moving into our house. We were on corporate housing for a month and hadnt found a house yet so we extended by a week and found a house exactly when the shipping container arrived so it all worked out perfectly.

We just found a house ourselves it was quite a tedious task to be honest and it was slim picking when we were looking with loads of families all after the same houses but we got there in the end and got a lovely house which we are delighted with. Apparently summer is the best time to be looking as people with kids want to move before the kids start school.

All I will say about shipping the stuff so that it arrives when you do, is that if you haven't found a house yet you will have to put the stuff in storage so it depends on whether your husbands work will pay for the storage..

I have looked into volunteering aswell and will hopefully do something once the kids start school.

Definitely get in touch once you are all settled and we can meet for a chat. Hope your trip over next month is helpful.

Take care

Pauline

BayAreaNewbie

Hi off_again

We have a stupid dog too!

We are up in West Dublin in the Briarhill Area. Its really nice and we are settling in well. I didn't realise there are a number of expats locally to be honest. We have only just found out about Redcoats recently so we haven't ventured there yet due to lack of babysitter but my mother-in-law is coming next week for a few weeks so we will definitely be using her babysitting services so a night in Redcoats may be on the cards (hopefully).

Yes it would be great to meet up some time that suits you. Feel free to get in touch if you fancy it.

BayAreaNewbie

Hi ukarrival

I have just found out I gave you a bit of wrong information. There isn't a BART train line that goes to Silicon Valley from Dublin/Pleasanton. The person my husband knows gets the Apple Shuttle every day not the BART.

Thought I would let you know incase this might influence your decision on where you decide to settle.

Pauline

BayAreaNewbie

Hi ukarrival

I have just found out I gave you a bit of wrong information. There isn't a BART train line that goes to Silicon Valley from Dublin/Pleasanton. The person my husband knows gets the Apple Shuttle every day not the BART.

Thought I would let you know incase this might influence your decision on where you decide to settle.

Pauline

ukarrival

Hi Pauline,
Thanks so much for that info, I'm very grateful. It's brilliant to hear of other people already doing that commute! Do you know approx how long the commute takes him on the apple shuttle? Ps. I didn't get an alert from the website so I'm sorry for the delayed reply! I will keep checking back!

Lucybell33

Hi there, I don't normally browse the meet-ups forum as we haven't actually moved yet, but just stumbled across this thread randomly and thought I'd wade in as we're going to be in a very similar situation!

We're moving to the bay area in August and my husband will also be working in Cupertino. We have friends in Pleasanton, also working for Apple and he takes the shuttle in to work most days. It takes around an hour or so most days - more like 1.5 hours if the traffic is particularly bad. We stayed with our Pleasanton friends when we did our reccie in April, and my husband took the bus in when he visited the office - he said the commute was pretty easy, and with wifi on the bus, the time went pretty quickly.

We are currently torn between Pleasanton and Los Gatos. Pleasanton is lovely - there's a great family community, which is particularly useful if you're not going to work. Downtown is gorgeous, with great little shops and restaurants and a weekly farmers market. There's a great mall, gym, outlets etc. It would be perfect if it wasn't quite so far from silicon valley! Los Gatos similar, but more expensive, BUT only 15 minutes drive from Cupertino, which would mean I could meet hubby for lunch if I'm feeling lonely and/or take the kids to Caffe Maccs for tea if he's working late. We'd also consider Almaden valley, which is just another 5-10 minutes further than Los Gatos and slightly cheaper. We know some other Apple Brits who moved there in October and like it.

Going back to Pleasanton, I've narrowed down the schools (both our children will be in elementary, being 5 and 8) to Walnut Grove, Phoebe Hurst and Vintage Hills, in descending order of preference. However, schools are oversubscribed, so even if we got into catchment, places aren't guaranteed initially.

I'm trying not to stress about the precise location too much now - going to leave it until we get there to make the final decision, as its all going to depend on getting a suitable/affordable rental at the time. Lots of other things to stress about - hence why I'm on here at 3am!!

Good luck with the move - it's all very exciting! Feel free to ask any questions - I've done a load of research!!

BayAreaNewbie

Hi ukarrival/lucybell33

Looks like lucybell33 has lots of advice for you as in the same boat and is much more equipped to advise on areas closer to Apple etc. Unfortunately I dont really know too much about the commute to Apple as my husband works in the city but he did say much the same as lucybell33 that it's apparently just over an hour but longer if the traffic is heavy. If there is anything else you need to know about Dublin/Pleasanton or the relocation from Uk to here just give me a shout, I'd be happy to help any way I can.

Hope your both looking forward to your move stateside, weather is great and no rain, always a bonus!

ukarrival

Hi everyone! Lucy thanks very much for that info. It's enormously helpful! We've just got back from our recce trip. Funnily enough we loved Los Gatos too and we really, really liked Los Altos but I just don't think I can justify the cost of living down in the valley. We didn't actually look inside any houses but from what I can gather on Craigs List etc, the starting point for a fairly small house is about $7k a month. Eeek. I think we'd get something really nice for that money in Pleasanton! We spent two days in Pleasanton and really liked it. It's much bigger than I expected and I just found it so incredibly quiet! We didn't see many children around which seemed strange as it's supposedly summer holidays. The relocation agent we met with said that's because most kids go to camp during the summer? Who knows. I suppose it's just different to what we're used to.
My husband is a bit concerned about the commute so it's reassuring that others do it. Does the Apple bus pick up many people in Pleasanton? I'm just trying to gauge whether its a common place for Apple employees (at least those with families!) to live? x

Lucybell33

Hi there, yes it is very pricing in the valley, although there are places for closer to $5k available, which is just about within our price range! But, like you say, you can get much more for your money in Pleasanton. It is a very family-orientated town, and there were loads of children around when we went to the Saturday morning Farmers' Market, so I guess what your relocation agent said must be true. There are several Apple buses going from Pleasanton a day - the one my husband caught had around 20 people get on in Pleasanton, so indicating there are a fair few living in the area.

We just got our visa approved yesterday, so it's all systems go for us now! Will let you know if we end up in Pleasanton!!

BayAreaNewbie

Hi

Glad your trip went well. Your right the prices for housing are unreal. We originally looked much closer to the city to reduce my husbands commute. the prices were really high and the areas that were more affordable just didn't seem to have such good schools so we compromised and settled in dublin. This way we get a really spacious house with a big back garden and great schools so we are happy here. Some days I think the commute can feel like a bit of a pain for my husband but generally he doesn't mind, although at the moment he is only about 50 mins door to door.

We also found the same about not many kids floating about but the realtor is right a lot of kids go to summer camps, and there are different ones on all holidays. My two kids went to a couple of camps and loved them and they lasted all week, some of the camps last all day.

Parks at the weekend are always full of kids playing and I agree that Pleasanton is really family orientated. We love the Saturday morning farmers market.

There is so much to do when the weather is nice everyday. We are heading up to the waterpark next weekend and last weekend we took road trip to LA and went to Disney, universal studios and Legoland. The kids had a ball and it was only a drive away. I am sure you will love the San Francisco lifestyle when you get here.

If I can be of help with anything else don't hesitate to let me know.

P

ukarrival

Hi Pauline. I hope you're well! It has all kicked off for us. My husband's visa has been approved so we're all set to move on September 14th. Very exciting but so much to organise - agh! I was wondering whether you could very kindly give me the lowdown on Dublin as a place to live? We've seen a couple of lovely places to the west of the freeway but we don't know much about the town/city as a whole. How are you finding it with the kids? It looks lovely but are you finding it walkable? I live in a little town here in England so used to walking everywhere - eg, school, shops, park. That's why Pleasanton appealed really, it felt familiar with its little downtown but not much is coming on the rental market! Thanks in advance. Louise

BayAreaNewbie

Hi Louise

We are good thanks. Thats great news about your husbands visa and september 14th will be here before you know it! We were the same, we originally looked at Pleasanton but there were no decent/suitable rentals when we were looking for we decided to start looking at Dublin.

Its west Dublin we live in, in an area called Briarhill. Its lovely. We have 2 parks we can walk to with the dog and a little 7-eleven shop for necessities and our community pool is also nearby. The school is also walkable from our house which is a big bonus for me. Dublin is quite sprawling so a lot of the time you need the car however I think we lucked out having 2 parks so close and the school. I am sure a lot of people aren't so lucky.

I too come from a small town so it was a bit of a culture shock but the area we live feels very homely.

There are loads of shops very nearby (Safeway, Target, Barkin Robbins, subway etc) but we use the car for those.

Hope you are getting organised and aren't too stressed (i remember what it was like). If you can think of anything else just let me know.

Hopefully once your here and settled we can meet up for a chat.

Pauline

Hawkini

Anybody going?

Pleasanton Scottish Gathering and Games

BayAreaNewbie

Yep I am going. My firiends are over for a visit from Scotland so we thought we would head down for a wee while.