Has anyone up and moved entirely and never looked back?

This lady sums up the LA experience pretty well. Fantastic weather, though.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later. I AGREE

TIP: to embed Youtube clips, put only the encoded part of the Youtube URL, e.g. eBGIQ7ZuuiU between the tags.

Yeah, never look back, it may be catching up.

Before moving to NYC, I lived in the DC area, New England, and Chicago, as well as stayed in Rome for several months. I've missed at least some aspects of each place after leaving--except for Chicago.

Originally Posted by willpower

Click to expand...

This lady sums up the LA experience pretty well. Fantastic weather, though.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later. I AGREE

TIP: to embed Youtube clips, put only the encoded part of the Youtube URL, e.g. eBGIQ7ZuuiU between the tags.

The laid-back L.A. atmosphere is not for everyone, especially displaced New York City folk.

She spends 3/4 of the video saying nasty things about the city, "no one is interesting here" etc, then she turns around and says "it's not been easy" to find friends. Gosh, I wonder why?

re: mom's video, i actually find the opposite.. i find it easier to meet people in LA, find them friendly, and if they're superficial and vain, at least they don't try to hide it (how can you when you're shirtless, tanned, and sporting a six-pack). of course this is generalizing, exceptions are around.

and to add, every time i've been to LA it was for vacation/visiting friends, so i'm sure that aspect plays a part in my perception, just as when my LA buds come visit me in NY and are awed by the city.

a bunch of times. It's scary, rewarding, daunting, lonely, but ultimately each time in its own way was one of the best things Ive ever done.

OP, I wouldn't move just based on some vague idea that it's 'more exciting' in LA or the weather is better or something... my opinion is that location has much less to do with quality of life than the relationships you have in a place. I've never understood this fascination some people have of finding the 'ideal' city. If you're getting laid by a different chick every night in Fairbanks, you'll be convinced it's the best place on earth.

Raised in Gainesville, Florida and moved to LA after college. Lived in LA for 5 years which was about 4 years too long. Agree with previous poster that LA is terrible. Not just for the image snobby people but the city has no real culture and no real history.
Now I live in Seattle and love it. I'll never look back.

Originally Posted by cminor

Click to expand...

LA sucks. Get over it. The douchiest place in west coast. The only positives are good looking girls, lack of indians and more diversed foods.

Originally Posted by PNW Guy

Click to expand...

Raised in Gainesville, Florida and moved to LA after college. Lived in LA for 5 years which was about 4 years too long. Agree with previous poster that LA is terrible. Not just for the image snobby people but the city has no real culture and no real history.
Now I live in Seattle and love it. I'll never look back.

"Why would I move to a place where the only cultural advantage is being able to turn right on a red light?"

Yes, and it was the best thing I ever did.

In 2000 I moved to San Diego from Seattle within approximately one week of making the decision to do so. I literally sold most of my ****, put the rest in my car, and started driving. On the drive down I heard that a friend of a friend of a friend was moving to the same city at the same time, and we both needed a roommate. It took us two, three nights in a hotel before we were able to find an apartment into which we could immediately move. I found a short-term job (at a big box store) within a week, which allowed me to find a real (i.e., career-related) job within two months. It took me two weeks to get laid via the traditional, multi-date method (vs. the drunk hook-up one-night-stand method). I had a girlfriend in about six weeks. In three months' time I had visited all the satellite cities, knew most of the local hotspots, good restaurants, local lore, had the freeway system and it's traffic intricacies figured out, noted the best surf spots (even made inroads with the locals at one of 'em), had the local sports teams and their recent history down, and generally had become a "local."

But!

I did all this when the economy was better, jobs were plentiful, I had a few thousand dollars saved up in reserve, and had the dual safety net of my parents if **** went horribly awry (I was pretty young then), and family living within 4 hours' distance -- close enough to have a guaranteed place to sleep. I was also very motivated to do it, and assimilate. And, not the least of which, I was very lucky to have everything just fall in line for me. I don't think I would be so successful were I to try the same thing today, even with the same city as the destination. Still, if you're under 30, San Diego -- indeed, much (not all!) of SoCal -- is a pretty ******* awesome place to be.

And, by the by, Maynard James Keenan is right: LA is a human cesspool. I don't recommend stopping there. And if you absolutely must drive through it, do so at 3:00am or so, lest you enjoy traffic.

^interesting story surfrider, so you're not in Puget Sound anymore?

For those of living in the bleak, damp hinterlands of Washington, there's something special about driving down the I-5 or 101 to the drier, scented coast of California that the rest of the country can't appreciate. It's really one of the few dramatic eco-region transitions in the world (beyond driving to higher elevations). Then you arrive though and you realize most of the residents don't even care about the surrounding outdoors, lol

Yup, never looked back.

I dream about it every day. When I took my test drive with three months to SEAsia I didn't miss a thing about NY. Well, except the salary. Which is why I'm still here.

Originally Posted by Svenn

Click to expand...

^interesting story surfrider, so you're not in Puget Sound anymore?
Super-condensed version of a very long answer: No. But I was recently, and will be again very soon. Presently I am a bit of a nomad. Like I said; it's a long story.

For those of living in the bleak, damp hinterlands of Washington, there's something special about driving down the I-5 or 101 to the drier, scented coast of California that the rest of the country can't appreciate. It's really one of the few dramatic eco-region transitions in the world (beyond driving to higher elevations). Then you arrive though and you realize most of the residents don't even care about the surrounding outdoors, lol

Click to expand...

Agreed. For any northwesterner who's never done it: The drive can be quite nice if one takes the proper route. If one has all the time in the world, the best plan is to take a small, very well-handling car down the 101. I got to do that once in a convertible Miata; very fun. If time is at a premium, one might consider heading down I-5 into NorCal, then getting off at Tracy, and catching the 101 south in the Bay Area, hugging the coast all the way to mexico. Staying on I5 south of Tracy will lead one into a flat, boring section of land around the greater Sacramento area that seems to take FOREVER to drive through. Anyway, Svenn, you're right about the many of the locals not caring too much about the surrounding outdoors. Or, at least that's the way it seems to me, being from the PNW where the outdoors-trekking, granola-eating, compulsively-recycling, birkenstock-wearing neo-hippie stereotype isn't entirely uncommon (and is a stereotype with which I must admit I share many qualities). There's only one caveat; California would be perfect if it wasn't for the local government.

I've been deported from both Korea (only for 5 years) and Uruguay. I've never looked back.