JenABZ

I am a supportive spouse relocating to Houston on July 1st. We have two kids who'll be 8 and 6 when we arrive. I'm keen to get any advice....broadband/tv/phone (to stay in touch with the grandparents), schooling, areas to live (hubby will work downtown), furniture stores (as we're renting home out furnished) etc. we have looked at the woodlands, legends in spring and Katy. Hubby is a cyclist and wants to cycle part or all of the way to work on days when houston is not as hot as the face of the sun!
I'm giving up my job as a doc over here, would be interested in any other expat medics advice for retraining in the US.
So excited about our new opportunity to meet new friends and experience a different way if life. 2013 can't come quick enough!!!
Best wishes to all for the festive season,
J

Speedwell

Hi, Jen. Many of us here on the site are Houstonians (or close by) here! Is your husband in the oil industry? I am... just spent two months in Aberdeen training some engineers. My husband and I got married there in fact... neither of us are actually from there (he's from Northern Ireland) but we wanted so badly to stay, lol.

I know it is difficult for a foreign doctor to get the respect or position due their credentials here. It doesn't stop them from coming or ultimately thriving.

Times when Houston is not as hot as the face of the sun... oh gee... I had my air conditioning on today and have not yet turned on the heat this year But you'll get used to it I promise. Don't let the bike issue unduly affect where you live in the end.

Weeze

Lots of us here who did the move from Aberdeen to Houston. The big thing about Houston is how long you want the commute to be. We live out in Katy and Mr Weeze does the commute to the Galleria. It's going to be a pretty long commute to downtown, but as long as you are aware of that, then Katy is a great place to live.
Goodschools.com is useful to give you an idea of schools. Generally, schools outside of Houston ISD are better, but there are some good schools within the Hoiston boundaries. If you haven't been to Houston before, I'd recommend staying in a serviced apartment for a while if at all possible. We did this for the first few months and it gave us a chance to look around neighborhoods and settle on an area we wanted to focus on.
Cycling to work would be, erm, unusual. No idea how that would work. Maybe if you lived in the museum district and could use the rail line?
Furniture stores wise, a lot of American furniture is pretty old fashioned by European standards. We used Ikea for the essentials, took a trip to the dump (a massive discount furniture store) and went to rooms to go.
Medical wise, look out for Ozzidoc, she should be able to help.

ChocolateBabz

Hi, we are from Aberdeen too, well just south, Stonehaven and have lived in Houston for 4 1/2 years, well just south, Pearland

Most of us over here try to find a community based on closeness to work and schools (if we have kids). Traffic is a major headache and seems to be getting busier all the time. My hubby works mainly on the West at his offices but has frequent trips to the East to his workshop so we chose to stay in the middle of the two so he averages 30-40 mins either direction with the occasional 1 1/2 hours if there has been an accident or the weather is playing up.

I have seen cyclists over here out in the summer heat but it must be some form of extreme cycling , and cycling part of the way to work would involve finding somewhere suitable to park and then do the rest of the journey. Not too sure about that, when we take the bikes out it's normally a weekend event, drive to somewhere with nice bike paths and go out for a while.

Phone and Internet major players are AT&T and Comcast. TV can be those two or satellite, Direct TV or Dish being the most popular. We use Skype all the time for calling home as its free and you get video. We have an hour every Sunday with the in-laws and now that they have their ipad I guess we could use FaceTime but we try not to confuse them old dears too much .

Furniture Stores: Ikea, Gallery Furniture, The Dump, Rooms to Go, High Fashion Home, Bassett Furniture, Star Furniture, Bel Furniture, Exclusive Furniture, Ashley Furniture, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, there are tons of them but you do have to rake around to find nice things. There are a whole load of them off Fondren that I haven't even been in. You can find more modern or contemporary stuff here but mixed in with a lot of traditional (read frou frou LOL)

Good luck with the move x

JenABZ

Thanks for that! Stonehaven was flooded this week thanks to bizarrely high tides! The other question I have is how do we get our whisky collection over?

JenABZ

Thanks Weeze also! Hubby works for chevron and he cycles over there when over. as don't he MS150 a few times and is a competitive cyclist...personally I don't think he will be able to commute on the velo but hey! We get to live in the company flat for six weeks. Think we are getting to come for a rekkie n feb/march time, plan to get in touch with a realtor and see some places too. Super excited.com!!!!!

Speedwell

Jen, you've already found this thread for the whisky question: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=780390 I'm just posting it as a redirect.

Weeze

We were put up in a serviced apartment in the Galleria and it was fab. It gave me chance to get used to driving, the new supermarkets and areas to live.
I got to come over for a look see before we moved too. I left the kiddo with my folks and had a lovely time exploring.

Mr Weeze

How good is your whisky collection? I stuck a couple of the really special ones in baggage (especially on a business trip beforehand) and then I have been restocking from Specs since. Specs is quite possibly cheaper than the UK, and has an excellent selection. It's like toys'r'us for adults. Well, this adult anyway...

I know someone who cycled in everyday for 2 years - 7 miles each way. That was pretty much along Memorial to the Galleria area.

As Chevron is downtown, so it would be possible to do if you lived in West U or the Heights I guess. As long as you are inside the loop I don't think it would be too bad for a serious cyclist.

If you were in West U and tempted by work, you'd be near the Med Center (sic) so that could be handy for work, I guess.

Regarding furniture, home source is an unusual furniture shop for Houston, and may be worth a look - http://www.homesourcetx.com.

Ikea is good for just about anything, and other than that be prepared to be shocked at furniture prices.

As you're doing oil company relocation, do you get an advance trip?

JenABZ

Yes, should get out around Easter time � ����

Bink

Welcome! Most everything's already been covered so I'll just say hello!

I'll throw a couple more furniture shops into the equation too; Danish Inspirations and High Fashion Home.

We have a mixture of both of these as well as Ikea and Rooms to Go in our house. As previously mentioned, furniture here is expensive.

Cycling to work is possible inside the loop (610) but I wouldn't recommend it outwith. The roads are terrible and there's too many really big intersections.

Ailidh

For furniture, there's also Restoration Hardware (aka "where color goes to die"). It's expensive but they do great sales.

Mr Weeze

Use the advance visit to bring some whisky with you to stash at a colleagues house - you can bring a couple of bottles you can't bear to be without at least!

ChocolateBabz

Ooh I love Restoration Hardware, it's way above my paygrade but after the Zombie Apocalypse that's where I will be hiding out x

Suexpat

Have you thought about schools, UK or local schools? You really need to make the school choice before you decide on housing.