Oddjob

Having just returned from honeymoon travelling around California, both my wife and I were captivated by the place and are wondering about living and working out there for a year or so. I am fully aware of the 'holiday dream' vs reality and so I wanted to gauge opinions regarding if the reality of living in LA or near SF was all it seemed.

What is the reality of living in LA (more to the Pacific ocean side of the city) or SF for more than a year as a Brit?

- Does the good weather/lack of seasons lose its appeal?
- Does the culture go that deep or is annoyingly superficial?
- Are the wages vs cost of living a good balance? Especially better than the UK?
- Positives/negatives of the cities.

We are both professionals and so may be able to find work should we wish to consider the move, though I am aware it is not easy per se.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Just checking, but unless one of you is a USC, you're aware that the job offer has to come first, and that you need to find an employer prepared to sponsor you and spend thousands on getting you over? You can't move and then find a job, it's the other way around.

Finding an employer prepared to go to all the hassle and cost of hiring you won't be easy if you're only planning on staying a year, so you might need to look at as a longer term move.

Good luck.

Oddjob

Thank you. Yes I've had a look at the jobs side of things. I just wanted to see if the reality was what I think/hope it was before getting on the job band wagon. I'd not want to take the time/money/effort to get a job/move only find out that there was a huge gulf between expectation and reality.

Pulaski

Some people find reality even better than the dream, others quickly come to loath the place, many are in-between and find it just "different", and of those who says it is different, virtually none will agree on the things they find better and worse, ..... except everyone hates the DMV! So sit back and see what everyone says, because you're about to get a load of highly subjective opinions about life in CA.

While you're waiting, go take a look at the Pulaski wikis, in the US section of the Wikis tab above, because in all honesty the overwhelming majority of British citizens have close to a zero chance of getting a visa to work in the US within two years, and barely any greater chance in 5-10 years. Even with long term planning and strategizing I doubt that more than about 5% of British citizens could ever get a visa to work in the US, and many that do take large financial risks to do so. This route is known as the E-2 visa, aka "the visa from hell". Others choose to flush $500k down the toilet for an EB-5, .... most of these people are Chineses!

Sally Redux

You are assuming that it would be easy to find jobs that would lead to a visa. Perhaps you should firm up that side of it before getting too carried away with the idea.

Don't forget you were on your honeymoon so presumably in a particular frame of mind.

I lived in LA for 9 years and personally I would suggest going on holidays there rather than trying to live, unless you can get a truly amazing job offer.

SF area seems to have more going for it, but is very expensive.

My own entirely subjective answers to your questions:

- Does the good weather/lack of seasons lose its appeal? Yes
- Does the culture go that deep or is annoyingly superficial? Annoyingly superficial
- Are the wages vs cost of living a good balance? Especially better than the UK? You will need to tell us more about your line of work on order to attempt an answer to that.

Positives/ negatives are not worth worrying about unless you find a path to move there.

Bob

For a year, it's probably not worth the effort, unless you want to go study, or able to do a internship.

As for LA, there's a recent thread that you could read up and there are quite a few on SF as well that are worth a look.

Oddjob

Thank you for the replies, they are useful in exploring the idea.

I am a teacher (I am aware I would need to go private rather that at a normal high school due to protection for US teachers) and my wife is a solicitor thus requiring the Bar.

I am aware of the difficulties in getting a visa, I just wanted to see if it was worth entertaining the idea before the difficult work begins, or not. I'll have a look around at the various different threads regarding the two cities.

Any more information on what it is like to live in both places would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

Then realistically, unless you want this to be a long term thing, it's not going to be worth the effort. Private schools are still unlikely to bother for a couple years and passing the Bar won't be easy and not on the ground experience...but if the OH works for a large place with a presence there, might be able to work the company transfer route.

Sally Redux

Someone who had been there a long time told me, "The sun seduces us."

Keep your wonderful memories and return for visits.

Hotscot

Too many lawyers, not enough jobs.
Teaching..can be very stressful and relatively low paid. Especially in many private schools.

I'm one of those, been here 15 years, think it's ok...not too different apart from geography. In my opinion UK/Europe is far superior, culturally richer.

You can work very hard and be successful.
You can work very hard and be turfed out on your ear with no notice.

I'm currently very satisfied professionally but can't wait to get back home.

(There are always exceptions to anything you hear.)

Oddjob

So you are teaching out there? You say it's very stressful; what are the biggest stresses? It is continual here, goalposts are perpetually changing so you work for something that is then obsolete.

Where abouts are you in LA? What is it like to live in? Why are you returning home?

Hotscot

Nope but wife is a teacher. No respect, overloaded classrooms, administrators with little teaching experience and too much power, politics, inept board members, heavy workloads, long hours, little thanks. New teacher salary @ 40k USD in CA and that's considered high, climbs slowly.

I've lived by the beach but for work reasons currently North of Los Angeles about 1.15 from Downtown. Too sunny, too hot, horrendous traffic, population density. CA is suffering severe drought, some towns have run out of drinking/any water. I like LA for some specific reasons..events/concerts/restaurants but in general can't stand the place.

Want to return home as I don't consider the quality of life here particularly better and yet I miss things back home, the people, the culture, the ability to jump on an Easyjet and have dinner in Paris, driving around Europe. The food, pubs, hiking, sense of wry humour...a bunch of things.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not bitter, I am a dual cit., I have a successful business and I thoroughly enjoy life. I just want to live it somewhere I personally consider to be superior/more appropriate to my requirements.

(And very few prospective immigrants think that they'll end up living in Fresno, Bakersfield, the Inland Empire or other undesirable locations but not everyone can find work or can afford to live in the nicer parts of LA, San Diego or San Francisco.)

(My typical day: Up at 6.00, coffee and croissant, take a walk in the garden, see all the birds etc, feed my cats.
Read the online news sites, tech sites, these forums, drink tea, do paperwork, make phone calls, write emails, drink tea, have late breakfast go to gym, do more work in the office, finish up, do household stuff, read, listen to music, wife comes home, back and forth, prep dinner, watch some telly, bedtime. Fairly routine whatever country you're in.

Yes, I could go to Malibu, Vegas, Grand Canyon etc...may do that occasionally but hardly regularly.
I travel to other States a lot on business and that allows me to experience them, but I also did that when I lived back home.)

What protection?

Sally Redux

I've spent a while trawling through old threads because I thought I remembered something about international schools in LA, turned out to be a comment saying there aren't any

Anyway there may be some points of interest in the thread.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...chools-814814/

Sally Redux

Yes I wondered about that. He may mean reduced need to be certified.

sherbert

7 months into life in SoCal (San Diego) and here are my 'newbie' views:

- I want to see some rain. Although the weather has cooled now, and it's bearable again, I am craving some rain (it's rained about 5 times since April).

- Unless you're coming from high cost areas in UK, the cost of living in CA is pretty high here. Up in SF, it's INSANE and practically impossible to survive unless you're being paid really well. Fresh/non processed food in the supermarket is really expensive, as is booze. That said, where I live the farmers markets and organic markets are booming as not much more expensive than supermarkets.

- I was quite shocked by the standard of living vs price...I had imagined myself in a lovely huge modern condo...instead I ended up in a small semi-modernised 1930s cottage with no heating/AC for not very cheap. OK I do live in a hipster part of town but I assumed everyone lived in modern flats. The good news is that landlords generally pay your water bill and gas is reallllllly cheap.

- I just really want to be able to sit on the beach/park/outdoor festival/street market and drink a beer: VERBOTEN!!!!!

- Traffic is totally nuts all the time.That said, I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of bike paths and ease/cost of public transport.

- Read the thread on 'life in a no vacation nation'.

- Read the many threads on credit ratings: it's a very real hurdle that everyone faces when they move here and it only adds to stress and expense.

- People are out to rip you off/ensnare you into payments/sell you something AT EVERY turn. I get so tired of saying 'No i don't want a XYZ credit card...' and then resisting the temptation to smash in the salesperson's teeth when they say 'if you are worried about credit rating, they generally have a pretty low threshold'.

So why am I still here? The climate is good for the OH who has a chronic health condition. We are still enjoying being able to get in our car and drive off into the desert, to LA, down to Mexico etc. I've been surprised at the amount of 'alternative' movements and cultures I can find down here. I like the fact that every 2nd person is an immigrant and has a story to tell.

But yeah, as others have said, if you want it, you need to be in it for the long haul unless your OH can manage a company transfer. The stress, time and expense it will cost you to get over here otherwise is really not worth it.