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I have received an opportunity to take a position at one of our other offices in the US. Since its a global company there are many places to choose from. My wife and I would be moving (no kids yet) and we do have a choice as to where to go with some limitations.
The issue is that we really dont know much about the US in terms of living there. We want to be somewhere that meets our lifestyle, that isn't too much of a culture shock from Toronto.
We're both 30. Shes Canadian born Korean and I'm a white guy. We like snowboarding, surfing, opera, museums, art, city life (in moderation), pubs, water, mountains. Home life we like our privacy but dont want to be in the middle of nowhere. 20-30 min drive from a major city would be nice. We're night owls, things being open late is good.
We're thinking Colorado initially. I've posted there and got some good suggestions to look into and will get to that. But in reality we really dont know whats best for us. We'd want to buy a house eventually but to start with we think renting close to or in the major city would be beneficial to start.
My questions to you all would be, based on our lifestyle, where would be a cozy safe place to live. What cities?
California would be just be too expensive to be worth it for us. My salary would be somewhere between 110 and 125K USD annually. Could add another 40-50k for her to that and thats what we're looking at.
General locations we're thinking about, Colorado, Boston, NewYork. Any other city suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
I think you've made a great choice in Portland: it has all of the things you mentioned that you like, with the possible exception of surfing. I think there is cold water surfing somewhere in the Northwest, but not sure where or what it's like. One thing I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet is that Portland is close to windsurfing! The town of Hood River in the Columbia Gorge is all about windsurfing and isn't far from Portland. Plus you've got Mt. Hood for snowboarding, or you could drive up to Whistler for a weekend.
If being around others of Korean ancestry is of interest to your wife, she'll find that (although the Portland metro area is predominantly white) there are some Koreans in the area. When I lived in Lake Oswego fifteen years ago, there were quite a few Koreans in the Mountain Park neighborhood and I believe also in the city of Beaverton.
If you want nightlife, there isn't any in the suburbs, though the suburbs are cozier than Portland proper and generally have less crime-- sometimes far less. If politics is of importance to you, consider also if you'd prefer extremely liberal Portland or its moderate-conservative suburbs (or the very conservative rural areas beyond).
Actually, come to think of it, Reno isn't a bad idea as janellen suggested. i like Reno. It's a bit of drive to the coast (i can get from Santa Cruz to Truckee in less than 41/2 hours when during non-commuter times and add another 1/2 hour to that roughly?) It's closer to the coast than Colorado. And it's so close to Truckee / Tahoe!
apparently I stopped receiving reply notifications again from this thread. Donno why. I would have replied a lot sooner, I just assumed the thread drifted away and no one cared anymore!
Thanks a lot for the feedback.
First and most important.... we don't say "aboot"! There was an older show on the comedy channel when I was younger with these two stereotypical Canadian guys. It wasn't the air farce show, it was something else....cant remember the name but those dudes said "aboot" all the time. I think it might come from the french-canadian accent. I will admit we do say it a bit differently though. But not super noticeable. We say it more like "a-bout" quick BOUT, like a boxing match "bout" whereas I've heard people in texas say it more like "aboww-t" or "ab-out" emphasis on the out. Almost like like an ow that hurt sound. Otherwise we sound like most A actors in american movies in terms of accents. Nothing too distinguishable. Its funny that New York and Boston are so close and they both have very noticeable accents at times.
Reno looks amazing. Nevada was on our initial list. Something about the southern states scare us a bit. Probably all in our heads of course. We aren't religious, we don't get too involved in politics aside from reading enough to know who we like to vote for. We're more of live and let live kinda people but really enjoy discussions and debates regardless of how controversial. Wouldn't wanna offend the everyday people in our community by accident! but I'll look into Reno anyway now that you mention it. Location portion of this process isn't locked in yet. My "higher ups" suggested Boise. I've never considered Idaho, in fact I thought it was south to be honest, til I looked it up.
We like Portland because, the community seems pretty open. Age-range seems decent. It's an up and coming tech hub. Some of the large companies I work with daily have even opened up branches there(not that THAT fact is a deciding factor). From the city data I checked out, the houses we like and we can afford are in the safest rated areas in Portland. I have no idea what these are like in terms of people and community though. We like nightlife for sure, mostly pubs/cafes/live music/indie scene/concerts nice restaurants with nice (sometimes pricey)food... that kinda thing. We aren't the nightclub / rave types. We both drive, but don't mind taking a taxi into town for the amount of times we go out on the weekends. Though some nice restaurants within 15min drive of where we live would be nice.
The airfare to Cali is pretty reasonable from Portland, both for work and a surf trip. Also as mentioned we're quite familiar with Vancouver/Whistler and the drive isn't so bad for a long weekend getaway. There is also surfing on the island there which works nicely too. So it being central west coast is kinda nice. For budget as a rough idea, I'd say 110K/year for me and add another 30-40K for her and that's our total to start with. (hasn't been 100% finalized yet, what with the conversion rate and COL etc). I've yet to board in Tahoe. I hear it's amazing. So far I've been limited to (Whistler 1-2/year, Kelowna, Tremblant(barely worth mentioning) and Hokkaido. Whistler is my favourite place so far.
Not sure how the mortgage process works there to know what we can afford to buy, hopefully similar to here.
@joeyg2014: They surf the Great Lakes in the winter time. The water in Oregon & Washington will be like a jacuzzi in comparison.
LOL. Agreed. I don't go near the lakes in the Winter. but lately shes out there a lot. We aren't getting much snow this year, but the winds seem to be generating some really decent waves! Ironically she'll probably have to get a "colder" wet suit as the one she has will probably be too warm as is on the West Coast, but I have no idea. I'll wait til we trip to somewhere warmer to surf myself. Im more in love with snow and the mountains and can board better than I can walk. It's why i do BC once or twice every year.
@Phrogg: Her family is somewhat traditional and her parents are still very into sticking with the korean community, but in general I'd say shes "whiter" than me. We both definitely love certain aspects of korean culture though, like heavy into Korean food and karaoke lol. That said, "american-korean" people of our age would be a bonus for her to make friends with, why not. As for politics, we aren't so involved. I'd say we're more liberal I guess. Like we aren't religious but we're fine with people being religious. We don't care about gays or abortions etc. "Do as you like as long as you dont hurt or bother others with it" kind of attitude. We also generally like to keep to ourselves, so even if we were in a mixed conservative/liberal community, it probably wouldn't matter. We like to like our neighbours, but we're just as ok never talking to them as long as its all peaceful!
Wow long post.
Last edited by Carverstone; 02-28-2016 at 02:56 AM..
Honolulu if you want some of the best surfing in the world, tropical weather and snowboarding on a volcano.
We went to hawaii last year. It was amazing. The volcano road and seeing all the land mass formed from volcanoes and stuff was intense. Awesome place. We checked out Maui, the big Island and Waikiki. The internet was terrible everywhere we went though... maybe its just bad luck or it's standard in Hawaii since it's pretty remote, but I'd never be able to get away with working from there on a 6Meg connection with the amount of time/data I spend online for work!
apparently I stopped receiving reply notifications again from this thread. Donno why. I would have replied a lot sooner, I just assumed the thread drifted away and no one cared anymore!
Thanks a lot for the feedback.
First and most important.... we don't say "aboot"! There was an older show on the comedy channel when I was younger with these two stereotypical Canadian guys. It wasn't the air farce show, it was something else....cant remember the name but those dudes said "aboot" all the time. I think it might come from the french-canadian accent. I will admit we do say it a bit differently though. But not super noticeable. We say it more like "a-bout" quick BOUT, like a boxing match "bout" whereas I've heard people in texas say it more like "aboww-t" or "ab-out" emphasis on the out. Almost like like an ow that hurt sound. Otherwise we sound like most A actors in american movies in terms of accents. Nothing too distinguishable. Its funny that New York and Boston are so close and they both have very noticeable accents at times.
Reno looks amazing. Nevada was on our initial list. Something about the southern states scare us a bit. Probably all in our heads of course. We aren't religious, we don't get too involved in politics aside from reading enough to know who we like to vote for. We're more of live and let live kinda people but really enjoy discussions and debates regardless of how controversial. Wouldn't wanna offend the everyday people in our community by accident! but I'll look into Reno anyway now that you mention it. Location portion of this process isn't locked in yet. My "higher ups" suggested Boise. I've never considered Idaho, in fact I thought it was south to be honest, til I looked it up.
We like Portland because, the community seems pretty open. Age-range seems decent. It's an up and coming tech hub. Some of the large companies I work with daily have even opened up branches there(not that THAT fact is a deciding factor). From the city data I checked out, the houses we like and we can afford are in the safest rated areas in Portland. I have no idea what these are like in terms of people and community though. We like nightlife for sure, mostly pubs/cafes/live music/indie scene/concerts nice restaurants with nice (sometimes pricey)food... that kinda thing. We aren't the nightclub / rave types. We both drive, but don't mind taking a taxi into town for the amount of times we go out on the weekends. Though some nice restaurants within 15min drive of where we live would be nice.
The airfare to Cali is pretty reasonable from Portland, both for work and a surf trip. Also as mentioned we're quite familiar with Vancouver/Whistler and the drive isn't so bad for a long weekend getaway. There is also surfing on the island there which works nicely too. So it being central west coast is kinda nice. For budget as a rough idea, I'd say 110K/year for me and add another 30-40K for her and that's our total to start with. (hasn't been 100% finalized yet, what with the conversion rate and COL etc). I've yet to board in Tahoe. I hear it's amazing. So far I've been limited to (Whistler 1-2/year, Kelowna, Tremblant(barely worth mentioning) and Hokkaido. Whistler is my favourite place so far.
Not sure how the mortgage process works there to know what we can afford to buy, hopefully similar to here.
@joeyg2014: They surf the Great Lakes in the winter time. The water in Oregon & Washington will be like a jacuzzi in comparison.
LOL. Agreed. I don't go near the lakes in the Winter. but lately shes out there a lot. We aren't getting much snow this year, but the winds seem to be generating some really decent waves! Ironically she'll probably have to get a "colder" wet suit as the one she has will probably be too warm as is on the West Coast, but I have no idea. I'll wait til we trip to somewhere warmer to surf myself. Im more in love with snow and the mountains and can board better than I can walk. It's why i do BC once or twice every year.
@Phrogg: Her family is somewhat traditional and her parents are still very into sticking with the korean community, but in general I'd say shes "whiter" than me. We both definitely love certain aspects of korean culture though, like heavy into Korean food and karaoke lol. That said, "american-korean" people of our age would be a bonus for her to make friends with, why not. As for politics, we aren't so involved. I'd say we're more liberal I guess. Like we aren't religious but we're fine with people being religious. We don't care about gays or abortions etc. "Do as you like as long as you dont hurt or bother others with it" kind of attitude. We also generally like to keep to ourselves, so even if we were in a mixed conservative/liberal community, it probably wouldn't matter. We like to like our neighbours, but we're just as ok never talking to them as long as its all peaceful!
Wow long post.
The more you say, the more I think you're a match for Portland. Portland has a high percentage of non-religious people, lots of coffee shops, brew pubs, indie music, etc. I've heard people say Boise is "the next Portland" but I know very little about it. As for Portland neighborhoods, do ask about them on the Portland forum; there are literally dozens of named neighborhoods. I'm thinking you'd probably like Portland proper better than the suburbs.
Research the negative aspects of Portland too: huge homeless problem, grey rainy weather, looming threat of major earthquake. If you're OK with that, and don't mind the "keep Portland weird" stuff, I think you'd like the place.
The more you say, the more I think you're a match for Portland. Portland has a high percentage of non-religious people, lots of coffee shops, brew pubs, indie music, etc. I've heard people say Boise is "the next Portland" but I know very little about it. As for Portland neighborhoods, do ask about them on the Portland forum; there are literally dozens of named neighborhoods. I'm thinking you'd probably like Portland proper better than the suburbs.
Research the negative aspects of Portland too: huge homeless problem, grey rainy weather, looming threat of major earthquake. If you're OK with that, and don't mind the "keep Portland weird" stuff, I think you'd like the place.
You know its so tough finding good information. The portland forum here seems to be dead not sure what kinda response I'd get there. The Oregon forum seems like its still active. It's really tough, because of course a city can vary from end to end and without context of the comments its pretty tough to discern the reality.
Everything I'm reading about Portland lately seems to be rather negative. I'm not sure how to take this.
The main complaints are:
- homeless
- terribly unfriendly everyone
- slow moving/driving/thinking people
- awful government that rips you off constantly and hates businesses?
- higher income tax than other places
- much higher general cost of living
- "beware the Portland mystique, it will wear off quick"
Benefits
- food
- scenery
I feel like many could say the same complaints about any city they live in, especially relative to where they live, how and how much money they have.
*sigh* this is so tough. I'm sure I'd read similar things if we look deeper into Seatlle or anywhere else really.
Also where are you referring to when you reference "Portland proper"?
Last edited by Carverstone; 03-04-2016 at 12:30 AM..
I have received an opportunity to take a position at one of our other offices in the US. Since its a global company there are many places to choose from. My wife and I would be moving (no kids yet) and we do have a choice as to where to go with some limitations.
The issue is that we really dont know much about the US in terms of living there. We want to be somewhere that meets our lifestyle, that isn't too much of a culture shock from Toronto.
We're both 30. Shes Canadian born Korean and I'm a white guy. We like snowboarding, surfing, opera, museums, art, city life (in moderation), pubs, water, mountains. Home life we like our privacy but dont want to be in the middle of nowhere. 20-30 min drive from a major city would be nice. We're night owls, things being open late is good.
We're thinking Colorado initially. I've posted there and got some good suggestions to look into and will get to that. But in reality we really dont know whats best for us. We'd want to buy a house eventually but to start with we think renting close to or in the major city would be beneficial to start.
My questions to you all would be, based on our lifestyle, where would be a cozy safe place to live. What cities?
California would be just be too expensive to be worth it for us. My salary would be somewhere between 110 and 125K USD annually. Could add another 40-50k for her to that and thats what we're looking at.
General locations we're thinking about, Colorado, Boston, NewYork. Any other city suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Northeast Ohio has great museums, including the world class Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the best orchestras in the world and offers some opera. Check out the acclaimed Ohio Light Opera in Wooster. The Allegheny Mountains are a couple hours to the east. Check out Peek 'n Peak and Holiday Valley, although there is some downhill skiing/snowboarding in Greater Cleveland (Brandywine and Alpine Valley).
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