Any UK expats in the USA?

[KatanaDV20]

Boulder Boulder!!! Lived there for 8 years absolutely awesome place!! You are really lucky dude, enjoy America....you wont wanna come back Im sure

And the girls...UK accent...nuff sed

 

[Ev0]

Not sure where I'd pick to be honest, have been told that Denver/Colorado is really nice.

Think it'd need to be somewhere with an NHL team in town though, a season ticket would have to be bought

Missing DC after a trip there recently, a game every other night was awesome

Here's hoping (and doubt it'll happen) I can get some time working over there in my new role.

 

[sammo62]

I saw the thread title and had great hopes, but if you aren't moving to Wisconsin, Illinois or Indiana I can't really help at all.

I love it over here though, minus a few stupid things.

 

[flynlr]

Another place to consider is Salt Lake City. You can leave your office and have skis on your feet in 15 minutes. The Wastatch mountains thee have the best skiing on the planet bar none, and offer amazing hiking in the summer. Easy drive to southern Utah which has some of the best scenery on earth. Road trips to Colorado, Las vegas, Wyoming, Arizona all relatively easy. Taxes and living costs are low, very safe area to live. Long hot summers hat are dry, colder snowier winters still lots of sun.

The high Mormon population makes some things a little strange but they are really nice friendly people. just means there are less star bucks (not a bade thing) and bars relative to the population size.

The city is not particularly attractive but outside the city is really nice.

pretty much sums up what I was going to say .

 

[crinkleshoes]

Heard more about this now... looks like it'll happen in the first half of next year... nice to have a target, I'm only about a year away from the move of a lifetime

Each state gets money from the federal taxes so the lack of state taxes doesn't have a big impact really. Corporate taxes are a little higher but not in a significant way, i doubt these expenses change salaries that much. Salaries reflect the living costs of the area, I could earn probably 50K a year more in SF bay area but the living costs and extra tax would mean I would be worse off.

Yeah - SF would be my first choice if the cost of living wasn't so incredibly high... especially when compared to other nearby places.

$2k/month for a small apartment in an only-ok location is bonkers... other nearby cities would cost $600-800 for the same place.

Need nearly $4k/month for a good apartment in a good location!

While I could, technically, "afford" that... I don't want to!

Most of the places I've been looking, it'll cost me $1.5-2k/month to get a nice house in a good location.

Santa Cruz is an option...

Another place to consider is Salt Lake City. You can leave your office and have skis on your feet in 15 minutes. The Wastatch mountains thee have the best skiing on the planet bar none, and offer amazing hiking in the summer. Easy drive to southern Utah which has some of the best scenery on earth. Road trips to Colorado, Las vegas, Wyoming, Arizona all relatively easy. Taxes and living costs are low, very safe area to live. Long hot summers hat are dry, colder snowier winters still lots of sun.

The high Mormon population makes some things a little strange but they are really nice friendly people. just means there are less star bucks (not a bade thing) and bars relative to the population size.

The city is not particularly attractive but outside the city is really nice.

I've never been there and I don't like to jump to conclusions about places without a visit... but the high Mormon population is incredibly off-putting for me.

I know I'm going to have to be more tolerant of various religions over there, but jumping straight in to Joseph Smith central is a bit too much for me.

Other than that, it does seem like a nice place.

 

[crinkleshoes]

Always found that part of the world quite mellow, loads of things to do, weather mostly quite mild (it is actually as far South as Paris) - but with the odd few weeks of going to the extreme with blazing sun or heavy snow.

If you like open-ness then Denver and that area has it in spades - personally the "emptiness" of it gets to me.

Fair enough

I'm a bit of a social moron... I do still like interacting, but the idea of not seeing another human for miles is one of the reasons I like the more spread-out parts of the US

btw, words cannot describe the envy I have for you. Your circumstances are absolutely awesome

Hehe, cheers... been getting the same from most of my friends

Lol you have to tell me more. (given that I'm still waiting on my immigration visa to get sorted for the USA - A waiting game, and the balls in their court at present).

OP> If you have kids, you might want to consider thinking about good school area's. Just look for the rich car area's and the big houses, they will guarantee relatively high taxes, but very good schools.

Thankfully, not a sprog in sight and no intention of having one for a long long time (if at all).

As soon as you do, I notice the health insurance costs shoot straight through the roof!

 

[Ev0]

Definitely want to be careful with the religious side of things in some places, but does depend on where you are.

Got some family friends who are living somewhere over there and they made a faux pas once about not going to church or something and that was it, the local community then pretty much ignored them.

Possibly different in that they were a family over there with a little one.

Sounds extreme and I'm not saying that happens everywhere, but it does/can happen.

 

[crinkleshoes]

Boulder is a wonderful place. I nearly moved there and my wife went to uni there.

Boulder Boulder!!! Lived there for 8 years absolutely awesome place!! You are really lucky dude, enjoy America....you wont wanna come back Im sure

And the girls...UK accent...nuff sed

Boulder's going to stay on the shortlist... what I'm doing is getting a shortlist together and will be exploring while I'm over there on my trial.

I know all to well about the accent, shame I'm supposed to be taking the current female companion with me

Is there more to this story or is this a really terrible reason for deciding whether or not to emigrate to one of the harder places in the world to be accepted?

Eh? It's got nothing to do with deciding whether to go there or not... it only has an effect on where I end up setting up camp. I need a good, fast, reliable internet connection in order to do my job!

 

[G-MAN2004]

Not got time to read the new replies, but have you picked a location yet?

 

[crinkleshoes]

I saw the thread title and had great hopes, but if you aren't moving to Wisconsin, Illinois or Indiana I can't really help at all.

I love it over here though, minus a few stupid things.

Hehe... I have been to Madison and Chicago... both nice places, but there are quite a few other places higher on my list

Not sure where I'd pick to be honest, have been told that Denver/Colorado is really nice.

Think it'd need to be somewhere with an NHL team in town though, a season ticket would have to be bought

Missing DC after a trip there recently, a game every other night was awesome

Here's hoping (and doubt it'll happen) I can get some time working over there in my new role.

If I end up anywhere near one, I will be getting a ticket - Ice hockey rules

Definitely want to be careful with the religious side of things in some places, but does depend on where you are.

Got some family friends who are living somewhere over there and they made a faux pas once about not going to church or something and that was it, the local community then pretty much ignored them.

Possibly different in that they were a family over there with a little one.

Sounds extreme and I'm not saying that happens everywhere, but it does/can happen.

Yeah - it's one of the reasons I struck off most of the southern states (south east, mainly)... there are some worrying things in that region!

It does very much depend on where you are... the places currently on my list - I already know aren't like that at all

 

[crinkleshoes]

Not got time to read the new replies, but have you picked a location yet?

Nope, creating a shortlist and will be exploring on my trial... got more info on when this is going to happen... first half of next year.

Plus, with the trial period before the full move - I'll have time to explore before I commit to a final location

So there's no rush for me to decide.

This thread will have died by then, I'll resurrect and put up info on my thoughts of the places I visited and what I ended up deciding on

 

[G-MAN2004]

Nice one. I look forward to hearing your views.

 

[Ev0]

It does very much depend on where you are... the places currently on my list - I already know aren't like that at all

Yeah I wouldn't expect any of the places you've mentioned to be like that and the areas I would expect to be like that aren't your usual choices, unless you have to be somewhere because of work (which you don't)

This chap was in northern Alabama.

 

[Amp34]

OP... One Question...

Will you get UK holiday (Ex Pat) or US holiday allowance?


This thread makes me a little jealous. If I end up moving over there for a while I'll be stuck in one place basically... Houston, which by all accounts is a rather boring/nasty place to live.

 

[Docaroo]

Well firstly congrats to you!! What a great position to be in

I'm writing this from our Houston office which I spend around 6-8 weeks in a year and I love it out here.

I was asked (begged!) to move out here with a promotion/raise/house/car/etc haha but my circumstances are different and I declined (see posts about my band for where my focus lies!)

If it wasn't for the band, I'd be living here right now!

 

[Amp34]

Well firstly congrats to you!! What a great position to be in

I'm writing this from our Houston office which I spend around 6-8 weeks in a year and I love it out here.

I was asked (begged!) to move out here with a promotion/raise/house/car/etc haha but my circumstances are different and I declined (see posts about my band for where my focus lies!)

If it wasn't for the band, I'd be living here right now!

Who do you work for?

You're the first person I've spoken to that's lived there for any reasonable period that has said they like it! I know a few people that have spent a couple of months up to several years and they all seem very disdainful of it!

 

[Docaroo]

Who do you work for?

You're the first person I've spoken to that's lived there for any reasonable period that has said they like it! I know a few people that have spent a couple of months up to several years and they all seem very disdainful of it!

A O&G Consultancy called Senergy although I work in the Software company as a Geo-Software specialist.

I think Houston is great, very laid back atmosphere and friendly people and LOADS to do! Lots of sun The humidity in summer is killer but it's bearable. Can't really complain!

 

[Ricochet J]

I can't offer advice but will say congratulations and a bloody well done. You're only 24 and I find that amazing.