caleyjag

Live in Seattle now but used to be a San Francisco resident.


If you want to meet ex-pats, a great way to do it is to head to pubs for UK football (soccer) and rugby matches.

In particular, 'Kezar' on Stanyan St and 'Mad Dog in the Fog' at Haight and Fillmore are popular with ex-pats.

Kezar in particular opens up early (ie 6am) for the big matches, such as the six nations.

Even if you don't like sports, turnout is usually good and its a great way to meet fellow Brits.

There's also something delightfully hedonistic about getting a good old British-style drink session going on at 6am in the morning, when all the yanks are jogging about and being healthy!

HoosierDaddy

Along the same lines as CaleyJag - try the Fiddler's Green in Burlingame. On the main drag (El Camino Real?) it is full of mostly Celtic fans of a Saturday morning. They do a great breakfast.

caleyjag

Don't scare her away!

rwoodfine

Its great to hear of so many in the area, we are hoping to be there this year(subject to h1b), would you experts have advice for any areas commutable from Brisbane south of SF? Is commuting accross the bridges that bad? as I was considering Oakland etc

Chrissywissy100

Hi rwoodfine! Welcome to BE!
I've been here a year now, so feel fairly able to advise you!
I presume you will be working in Brisbane? Is there a particular reason you want to be in Oakland?
Driving to work from the East Bay, and having to navigate the bridges really is not quick (esp in commuting times - double google estimates), and would strongly advise against it if avoidable. Also the East Bay Bridge will cost you $5 a day, not sure about the San Mateo bridge costs. You might like to look at living in the south Bay, or if East Bay is where you want to be - commuting by BART or Caltrain/ Amtrak for alternatives.

Fell free to ask more questions as you think of them!

rwoodfine

Chrissy,

thanks for the rapid response, I have worked for the company for some five years now and visited lots of times with rose tinted sunglasses on and they have eventually got the hint that i want some of that sunshine.
I have no preferences actually but as i have one wife two kids i wanted a nice house and thought i would have to look away from the city for better priced property. I wanted reasonable schools etc (11 and 4) so I have no preferences just requirements We could rent before settling but i hate dead money and with the market as it is i thought now is a good time to buy. I commute into london no with about three hrs of travel a day so less than that would be preferable.
Can you recommend any good areas/realtors ?

Chrissywissy100

To be honest, I don't know Brisbane area very well, or how close Amtrak/ Bart stations are to your place of work, or how that will impact where you would like to live.

Hubby works in financial dsitrict of SF, so he drives to our local BART and takes that in, and walks the other end. He used to have a similar commute into London to you, and loves the fact he can now get door to door in an hour each way. We chose where we live based on commute times, proximity to BART (http://www.bart.gov/stations/closest.aspx) /Freeways, rental prices, community feel and housing. We live in the Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill / Lafayette area in the eastbay, which is definitely a nice suburb type area (compared to SF anyway), but a large business and residential setting and soemthing I think similar to what you are looking for!

I would recommend you rent for at least the first 6 months here until you decide you like the area you live in. I really wouldnt recommend buying straight off - rose tinted glasses and all that. Plus unless you are going to be able to come up with a hefty deposit (and I mean more than 30%), I wouldnt rate your chances of getting a mortgage with no credit history! We used http://sfbay.craigslist.org/apa/ to check out rental prices in different areas, and cross referenced those with BART lines to give us an idea of where to start looking.

To give you an idea of driving times, with a clear run in off peak traffic from walnut creek, it takes me around 45 mins to drive to sf airport. In traffic, that is more commonly 1hr30mins. I have never done it in a proper commute period, but a friend of mine drives from Walnut creek to SOMA in San Francisco at leaving at 7am and it takes her 45 mins to an hour!

I guess, really its just worth doing some research, on the web. Most "Cities" (read Town's) will have their own website where you can check demographics on their population, and you can see if you think it is the kind of area you would be comfortable in. Others on this site will probably be along to advise you about south Bay areas, which I don't know so well. East Bay is more my bag!

Might be worth posting a new thread in the trailer park / general part of the USA section to get more repsonses.