What can I say? Everyone has heard of San Francisco, the great rival to Los Angeles as the most famous Californian city. And each has their preferences - if you like the sun, choose LA. If you prefer a more moderate climate, then San Francisco is for you. The days are pleasantly warm, but even in summer you'll need a jacket. Don't live on the west side of town unless you're a fog fan! San Francisco is hilly, has some beautiful Victorian houses, and is great to explore on foot, if you're fit enough!
The advantages are many - the locals speak a kind of English(!), public transport is excellent for America, the city is small enough for you to get to know it all. It's a liberal city, well known for its active gay and lesbian community. Like most American cities, there are some rougher areas of town - but I live in one, the Mission, and so far I find the vibe, the sunshine, and the excellent South American supermarkets outweigh the news of an occasional shooting and some rather untidy streets.
If that's not for you, then there are reassuringly staid parts of town (yes, I mean Pacific Heights) and family-friendly ones too - Noe Valley and Bernal Heights, for example.
Vast gigabytes of the internet are devoted to getting a US Visa - I'll not repeat them, except to say that if you get an L1-A (inter-company) visa because you're transferring from a satellite office abroad to a head office, then your spouse gets an L1-B and is allowed to work. Your green card should also be quicker, but I've yet to test that.
Once you've arrived you need to get a social security number from the local office - this takes a couple of weeks to arrive in the post. You'll also need to get a California driving licence within 10 days of arrival.
Housing is expensive in the city. Craigslist is a good place to start looking for rentals. If you don't mind commuting, then the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland) is cheaper.
If you're buying, have a look at the multiple listing service - most houses end up on here, and you can steal a march on your realtor!
I found a cleaner (on craigslist) whom I pay $15 an hour.
It's hard to find anyone for less than that. It seems to be hard to find anyone who irons - I think people must have creased clothes here! My cleaner had never ironed before - but he is a man, which perhaps excuses it.
I use Rebtel for cheap calls to Europe. We have a triple play deal from Comcast for internet, cable TV and phone, which costs $99 a month during its initial, cheaper phase. I think it goes up to about $120. The service was dodgy initially, but seems to be settling down to being more reliable than Ukraine, where I lived before.
There's a huge selection of books and magazines, including some of the latter from Europe, so if you've suffered as a foreign speaker with very little access to these, you'll be in heaven. I think most US book shops are looking forward to a couple of years massive profits now I'm in town.
The postal service is very slow, if you're used to that in the UK. And, yes, I mean it. If you order something online, be prepare to wait a week or more if you choose the cheapest option, the postal service. Many people choose to pay extra for UPS.
Well, I'm not learning it at all! People can damn well understand me waffling on about bills and pavements. I think of it as revenge for all that Hollywood stuff I've had to watch over the years.
Recommendations: learn Spanish.
The water's safe to drink, and it comes ready chilled from the refridgerator, for the first time ever in my life. The fridge also keeps a bucket-load of ice topped up automatically, and it scares the willies out of me when it falls.
Gas and electricity both come from PG/E, who seem to be really incompetent in working out which meter is which, but otherwise fine. Can't remember costs, which means they're not too different from the UK.
Water is expensive - you don't want to over water your lawn, for example.
Or even have one, ideally.
I've not been looking for work locally yet, although I've had a few people want to speak to me about work even so - but then I'm in the computer industry, so I'm in job heaven. This is really one of the areas where it depends what you do. Have a look on craigslist, and Linked In
It The currency is, of course, the US dollar. We managed to get a bank account before we'd got our social security numbers, but we were going to the personal banker of a friend, which probably helped. The online access to banks here is good. Be warned that you should use the ATM of your own bank - the others charge quite a lot - so join a bank with plenty of branches near you.
We're covered by Blue Cross, but I haven't tested the medical care yet, except to find out that receptionists are just as rude as they are in the UK, and they ask for all the details of your insurance while you bleed to death on the other end of the phone. I mean to see Sicko at the cinema soon.
It's hard not to own a car, if you visit a Ford showroom.
I've never seen such hard sell in my life - it was like an Amway experience. Even if you have a foreign driving licence, you need to take the Californian one, which I'm assured by my husband is easy. I bet I manage to fail it, though! There's a written test, and a practical one.
Oh, and cars are cheap here - and so is petrol, despite everyone whinging about gas prices these days. San Francisco is blessed with good public transportation - it, plus a bike, is all I use. There's the MUNI (underground in the city), buses, and CalTrain which goes down the peninsular - useful if you're commuting to Palo Alto or Menlo Park, say.
America is a shopper's paradise, and San Francisco is blessed with not only the usual stuff, but a bunch of European shops (Camper, my favourite shoes!) and little one-woman boutiques. After Ukraine, when it got nice and fat, my poor bank account is rather thin and weak now.
But it was fun.
I've a great hairdresser, and she costs less than she would in London.
If you don't love the outdoors, you're missing some of the best of the area. There's sailing, hiking, climbing, canoeing, evening skiing only a few hours' drive away.
Have a look on Meetup to see some of the groups that meet for sports and other leisure pursuits. We love walking with the dogs, and Marin is a paradise for that - but more of that in the next section.
Bringing our two dogs from Ukraine was simple and hassle-free. All we needed was up-to-date vaccinations, especially rabies, and we had those on our Euro-style pet passport.
We've found a great vet locally, using Google Maps.
You do need to register your dog with San Francisco City within 30 days of arriving - to do this online, you need a rabies certificate from a local vet.
After spending so long typing this in, I'm going to recommend my blog,
enidd.com, for a look at the funny side of expat life here. (And, if you go through the archives, in Ukraine.)
City Description
Healthcare
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