We have loved living in San Francisco but all good things eventually come to an end. We have decided to leave the city and move down to the peninsula to be closer to my husband’s new job. We are looking at Palo Alto or Menlo Park, which are about 40 minutes drive from here when the traffic is good. Really in Sydney, you would still consider that part of the city, but here it is very much its own place.
I will miss our little home in Noe Valley. We have a super-cute cottage with a garden and view of the city, friendly neighbours, a rec centre with a tennis court nearby, lots of cafés and shops, and a tram line into town. San Francisco is not a big city but it’s interesting – there is always something going on. I’ve also got friends here – in the city and also in the East Bay. It’s started to feel like home.
Still there are advantages to the move. San Francisco is foggy and cold in summer but elsewhere in the Bay Area it is sunny and warm. I’m looking forward to that! We should get more for our money in terms of housing stock without being too suburban – the places we are looking are really more like little, upmarket towns than suburbs. Although I work from home, the location should be better for me in my coverage of the media and tech scene in Silicon Valley. We are planning to buy a car and this will also be good for my travel writing as it will make short trips out of town far more convenient and cost-effective. (We both got our driving licences earlier this year – I got mine about five weeks before my husband so I joke that I am the senior driver!)
We have let our landlord know and we need to get the house ready for tenancy viewings so that we can get it rented out and avoid any double rent. We have also started looking down south – we rented a car on Saturday and saw a few places and we plan to do this again this weekend. Hopefully we will find somewhere soon as I am going to New York in June and I would like to have everything in place before then. I dislike moving but I’ve done it enough times by now that I should be quite good at it! Wish us luck!
[...] found a place to live! As I mentioned previously, we are leaving San Francisco to move closer to work opportunities in Silicon Valley. For me the most stressful part of moving [...]