Expat_Wannabe

Well after searching for an internship for nearly a year & just recently completely giving up on the idea, I have been offered a position in San Diego in the operations department of a travel company! I'm so excited, but as you can imagine also a tad bit worried!
Are there any other Brits in the area? Any good ideas about renting somewhere in the downtown district? My friends live in LA. which is a bit too far to commute on a daily basis I think!!! I'm not planning on getting a car to start with, after all the scare stories about the cost of insurance and also b/c I guess i just want to give it 3 months to settle before making any big purchases!
Should (fingers crossed) be moving out there in May on a J1 visa, so just in time for the summer sun Now just have to contain my excitement at work for the next few weeks before I hand in my notice!

Manc

congrats!
San Diego is apparently a top town.
not too far from Tijuana either.

Expat_Wannabe

Ta very much! I've only ever passed through twice, but remember it being quite different to L.A., more laid back and cleaner. Would have thought there'd be a few Brits there but maybe not?!? I'll have to do a search of the forum!

Expat_Wannabe

Oh my! Just saw San Diego was where that 'onefoxyman' was from, you remember the guy touting for lovely English birds!!!

Expat_Wannabe

Hum, well that's filled me with confidence! Having lived in London for 4 years, I'm not naieve enough to think that there won't be crime in any major city and don't expect it to be all sunshine and friendly faces. But I figure as long as I'm aware of my surroundings and don't walk around with my head in the clouds, I'll survive the summer!
Thanks for the warning though, sure it wasn't intended to scare the shit out of me!

NC Penguin

Have you looked at the cost of living in San Diego? CA is an expensive state to live in so I hope the figure you've come up with for your monthly disposable income cover housing, travel/gas, food and utilities.

Expat_Wannabe

Hum, not too many positive things to say about San Diego then!?! I know that I'm taking a risk going out there - with regards to cost of living, crime, leaving a good job in London to take an internship which is completely unrelated to my field of work! But I'm sure quite a few people reading this have been in the same position wherby you meet someone from a different country (in this case a Californian) and just get to that stage where you have to see if it would work if you were in the same country/state and I would like to give things a go in as normal conditions as possible (i.e. me having a 9-5 job and properaly dating him rather than eloping with someone who realisticaly might not be 'the one' and I don't mean to belittle anyone that has done this, its just not for me) I've been 'seeing' this guy for more than two years now and figure sacrificing 3 months of my career and savings to either make a go of things or get it out of my system is worth it. Plus at the grand old age of 24, I think I'm still young enough to make some mistakes...and enjoy a Californian summer!
By all means post warnings, but I've heard all this from my family and friends, I was hoping more of you guys would understand the predicament and have at least a few encouraging words!

crazi_daizi

We have been living here just outside LA for 2 months now and havent found it expensive - perhaps compared to some other States, yes, but cheaper than home and much cheaper than London!! So far we have found food, cars, furniture, petrol and utilities a lot cheaper bearing in mind also only my husband is working here as my visa does not allow me to. Our rent is about the same as home - but that's about right for where we live, and car insurance initially is horrendous!!

Go for it, take a chance rather than wondering all your life "what if?" or "I wish I'd done that" .

Expat_Wannabe

Exactly! So you're a lady that lunches hey?!? If you fancy a trip down to San Diego in the summer, you'll have to look me up!
Thanks for the encouragement!

crazi_daizi

Not sure 'bout the lady bit, but yup!! Cool, I may well do that! Good luck!

artgirl

I hope you are aware of how difficult it is to rent a place to live in San Diego. I wanted to move out there Aug. 2002. I had lived there with military husband in 1974. Things were quite different in 1974. In 8/02, it was almost impossible to rent. So many people want to move there, that the rental companies and even individual landlords have their pick of lessees. Many companies require that you have a job already upon arrival or that you have 12 months rent in the bank to be proven by bank statements. It was a wild situation -- never encountered anything like it and I have lived all over the country. I wish you the best ! There is much to do in the area ..... and go eat at Nick's -- a few blocks north of the Mission Beach area. Great seafood and salads and such. The zoo is outstanding. The wild animal park is wonderful. Also, get up to Legoland in Carlsbad ! I would go there just to spend a day at the zoo. The traffic is mind bogglingly horendous. I truly wish you the best !

Vicky88

We just moved out of San Diego back to Australia so have a good idea of recent things.

Rental properties are easy to find in San Diego, though prices are quite high. We moved there in August 2002 and had absolutely no problems getting a rental property. Not sure what kind of salary package you are on, but it would probably cost you at least $1,000 per month. We never had the riot police drop by or had any issue at all with security. There are dodgy parts of town, but remember you get what you pay for. If you can't afford to rent on your own, look in the Union-Tribune for a shared house, would be a great way to meet some people.

If you are going to work downtown I would suggest you live in that area as public transport is not good in San Diego and as someone mentioned the freeways are heavy with traffic. A lot of effort has been put into reviving the area over the past 5 years or so, and for a young person I think it is probably a good place to be.

I must have been so lucky as we lived there for 3+ years and never once saw a needle in the sand or even had a bad experience. Mission Beach is ok, Pacific Beach is the happening place for young people, everyone goes there on the weekend. La Jolla is for the wealthy and pensioner set, Del Mar is for the snobs with heaps of money.

I say go with an open mind and you will enjoy it. Weather is pleasant and would take it over the misery of Cleveland any day.

Expat_Wannabe

The company that I'm working for have offered to help find accomodation and I've also been looking at roommates.com, which seems to have lots of shared places within my price range, so I'm not overly worried about accomodation (just yet!) Plus there's 2 other British interns in the office, so if all else fails there's always the sofa!
With regards to transport, I'm near the university, so (and this is a Londoner's expectations) I expected there to be reasonable public transport. You would have thought they'd invest in some decent public transport to ease the freeway congestion!

Vicky88

Californians seem to loathe public transport and because the city is so sprawled.I can't see how it could be cost effective or efficient enough to serve their needs. There almost seems to be a snobbery about not using public transport, it is as if it tells everyone you are too poor to own your own vehicle.

When you say near the University which do you mean UCSD or SD State as they are far apart?

Expat_Wannabe

Hum, not sure! The zip code is 92103, Yahoo Maps says its here http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt...%A0Map=Get+Map

I know what you mean about the snobbery of using public transport out there, whilst here in London its the norm and what with the congestion charge, having your own car is probably more frowned upon (or at least more costly). I'm amazed by how many cars there seem to be per family out there, just did a quick search and it says theres 0.8 cars per capita (which when you take into account those below driving age, is just amazing!)