Possibly relocating to Austin from Toronto (move to, requirements, to work)

[Lakeway Man]

Ditto the Houston comments... Giant airport and biggest medical center on planet earth. I am a former IT consultant, and wife was a health care worker... We lived there until just a few years ago. Houston is your town...

[Need4Camaro]

Honestly, with a IT and Healthcare profession and the need to travel at a dimes notice I would also recommend Atlanta.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Lord Almighty! How recently have you all traveled?! twenty years ago, yes, this was a valid criticism of Austin but NOW in 2019? NO WAY! You can fly direct from Austin to Frankfurt on Luftansa! Non-stop, direct to London on BA, Amsterdam on KLM,



There are multiple direct flights to SFO every day, you can fly direct Boston, Newark, Chicago, AND Toronto, the list goes on (you can search the threads about 6 months I replied with a list of the all-stop flights from Austin. I am too old NOT to fly non-stop and I can't remember the last time I had a connecting flight unless I was going to Asia. I would argue that there is no other US city of our size that has more non-stop flights!

When you travel for IT you end up in all kinds of non major cities. Austin has directs to some major cities, but once you go to second tier cities, you will have to connect. It is irrelevant the flights per size of austin. Austin has less non stops than DFW and IAH

For example:

Cleveland
Tampa
Sacramento
Little rock
Buffalo
etc

[Skipito]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Lord Almighty! How recently have you all traveled?! twenty years ago, yes, this was a valid criticism of Austin but NOW in 2019? NO WAY! You can fly direct from Austin to Frankfurt on Luftansa! Non-stop, direct to London on BA, Amsterdam on KLM,



There are multiple direct flights to SFO every day, you can fly direct Boston, Newark, Chicago, AND Toronto, the list goes on (you can search the threads about 6 months I replied with a list of the all-stop flights from Austin. I am too old NOT to fly non-stop and I can't remember the last time I had a connecting flight unless I was going to Asia. I would argue that there is no other US city of our size that has more non-stop flights!

I travel for business 40-50% of the time. If I had a dollar for every time I got stuck in IAH or DFW or PHX waiting for a connection to AUS, it would cover at least 3-4 of the bar tabs I racked up while waiting.

[blakely]

Originally Posted by Austin97

When you travel for IT you end up in all kinds of non major cities. Austin has directs to some major cities, but once you go to second tier cities, you will have to connect. It is irrelevant the flights per size of austin. Austin has less non stops than DFW and IAH

For example:

Cleveland
Tampa
Sacramento
Little rock
Buffalo
etc

I fly non-stop to both Tampa and Sacramento (Southwest).

I haven't made a connection in years, although it's true travel to a few smaller cities might require a connection. But I regularly fly nonstop to Boston, New York, LA, Long Beach, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Portland, Atlanta, Tampa, Charlotte, Chicago--the list goes on. London, too.

There's reasons not to live in Austin, but air travel wouldn't be one on my list.

[m1a1mg]

I’d rather live in Austin and have to change planes than to live in Atlanta.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by m1a1mg

I’d rather live in Austin and have to change planes than to live in Atlanta.

Admittedly, same here.

I moved from Atlanta to Austin and have no regrets.

[cBach]

Houston is better for healthcare, better airport, and more Indians. Houston wins.

[KerrTown]

Connecting with 3+ flights thing as an extensive traveler can be exhausting. I like to vacation in nearby Mexico, but unless you're going to Mexico City, you're stuck with the American carriers or going to catch a connection at MEX (which can be hair-raising during arrival through Mexican customs, and a short connection on the way back to NorteAmerica because the plane had to wait for a gate to be available.). United is the only North American airline with an extensive flight list from IAH to many cities in Mexico, from popular resort towns to state capitals to serve ex-pats.

Plus CBS' Gayle King has a lost luggage story to share as she stopped by Oprah's house on her way to Mexico.

Originally Posted by Lakeway Man

Ditto the Houston comments... Giant airport and biggest medical center on planet earth. I am a former IT consultant, and wife was a health care worker... We lived there until just a few years ago. Houston is your town...

Well it's similar to Toronto. Both have been acclaimed "Most Diverse Cityâ„¢" in their respective countries.

There are slightly more Calgarians here (especially in Katy--a major suburb to the west of Houston) due to the oil & gas ties (you couldn't get a flight from DFW to both major Alberta cities on Air Canada, but United, AC, and Westjet fly to Calgary and Edmonton from Houston). But Eastern Canadians are also well represented here.

[Toronto99]

Does your family live in Brampton now?

Coming from the GTA, you will probably prefer Austin to Houston. Austin is a more compact city and not as much sprawl as Houston or Toronto (especially if you live in Brampton).

Flying out of AUS is a much better experience than YYZ. Southwest Airlines is great, so is JetBlue (neither of which fly out of YYZ). If you do have to connect, lots of American Airlines flights to DFW and from there you can connect anywhere (you can also drive there).

For arts and culture, check out Bass Concert Hall, Moody Theatre and the Paramount Theatre.

You can always drive to San Antonio, Houston or Dallas to catch a Raptors game.

Living in Austin would be a MAJOR upgrade from Toronto. Good luck.