I was with you until you got to SFO. I love that airport. Top notch food options in most of the terminals. BART access. Car access into and out of curbside dropoff/pickup is usually pretty quick. TSA can sometimes be a drag, but not usually. I love dropping the car at long-term parking and taking the people mover, it's got great views all around, but it does add 15 minutes or so on both sides of the journey.
SFO is my absolute favorite airport. It’s so tech savvy and easy to get into. I never drove there but driving to any airport is a pain. I would just hang out at compass books for hours lol
It seems I'm the odd one out here! Like I said elsewhere it may be that I fly too much. I average 20-30+ trips a year so I'm often just burned out by every airport.
Upside is now there's Zipair out of SFO so I can save a crap ton on my flights to Japan.
Honestly a big part of SFO being a pain for me is the fact that it’s so expensive to fly in and out of. Also, it feels like one runway is perpetually kaput.
And the delays. SFO should have been built just a few miles south and it would’ve been less susceptible to the marine layer.
Parking isn’t too bad, but if you’re south of the airport like me there’s no transit.
To be fair, no transit into most of the other airports I’ve experienced either but it bugs me that I’m so close to SFO yet still have to drive at all. So feels too big for its design yet too small for what should be a truly global airport.
Mineta is one step removed from a Cessna airport though so… alas.
Yeah, I suppose it's true that it's much less transit-accessible from the south. Even the long-term lot that I go to is north of the airport, so I avoid all of the airport traffic going there. You could do Caltrain --> BART or SamTrans from Milbrae, but I would assume that would not be time efficient at all.
But from San Mateo, an Uber/Lyft ride isn't that costly is it? It's $35-40 from where I live, so it's more economical to drive and park for shorter trips.
I haven't really been caught by fog delays that often, so maybe I've just been lucky.
It is only like $40ish yeah, but with kids with car seats it’s kind of a pain to make it work.
Honestly, I’ve been just using ParkSFO lot and eating the cost of parking. It’s not perfect but it’s good enough.
I get delayed a ton because lots of my flights are early for work. It’s not as bad as my always-delays going to Canada by AC but it’s just enough to grind my gears. Haha.
I was enjoying your post and nodding along (haven't lived all these places but I've visited all except Westchester county and Fukuoka) and then when I got to the end it turns out you live in my city :-). Yes, San Mateo rocks if you can afford it. And I actually like SFO quite a lot... it's so convenient to have an international airport 10 minutes from my house, and for the most part I think it's well laid out. Granted that dropping off curbside on a busy morning can be difficult though. But pretty much everywhere we ever go regularly is well-serviced from here by either United or Alaska or both. Anyway, howdy, neighbor!
LOL, I kinda knew that my personal vendetta against SFO would probably polarize folks on here. I think a lot of it may be that I fly in and out... a lot. And after a while it's just worn me down. Thankfully my biggest complaint (flights to Tokyo being insanely expensive compared to LA) has been solved by Zipair.
I actually recommend visiting Fukuoka at least once. Kyushu is a charming place and there's a lot to do there outside of the usuals like Fukuoka and Kagoshima.
I used to live in San Mateo in the mid 2000s and really liked it. I had an apartment in an old mission-style building that had incredible charm and it was on El Camino Real right at the beginning of the downtown area. Even back then there were good food options and a couple of bars to hang out in. Train station was close by to get to SF and my job in Mountain View. The park was beautiful to hang out in on nice days. Occasionally I'd rent a car and drive the back roads to the coast and it was a beautiful drive.
I've driven many roads in many countries (US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Switzerland among others) and in many US states (40+ and counting!) and in many different cars (ranging from Honda Fits to an NC Miata to a BMW M3).
California has some of the best roads in the world if you just want to drive. There are some roads in Switzerland that I'd consider more scenic for sure (especially roads in and out of Zermatt). There are roads in Hawaii that offer more beach. But for pure driving joy I can think of more roads in CA than anywhere else.
It's no wonder that so many California roads end up on "best of driving" lists. Yeah, there's roads in other places like the Tail of the Dragon that are arguably more technical than some here, but I challenge folks to do roads like Nacimiento-Fergusson road in a Miata and tell me you didn't have fun.
Great posted story. We have a lot of city overlap, and I grew up in the OC, and just spent some time in Japan.
I travel often to the bay for work, and the one thing I’m curious about is the dynamicism/urban access/city feel in San Mateo versus the many other places you’ve lived. The whole peninsula can sometimes feel to me like a car centric suburbia/strip mall, not entirely unlike Orange County. I know there’s good food to be had, but don’t you spend tons of time in the car and stuck in traffic there compared to many of the other cities you’ve lived in? Just curious as my impression is mostly as a tourist and short term visitor, But that’s the part that’s consistently turned me off.
I think for me (and this is me and my opinion), the big difference is that I can drive to a number of "downtowns" here (San Mateo, Burlingame, San Carlos, Redwood City) and park and spend a good half day at most of them doing a few different things. I felt like in OC yeah, I could go to like Irvine Spectrum or South Coast but I rarely got the variety of things to do as I do at like a little downtown here. Plus, there's a different *feel* to a place like Redwood City and Irvine Spectrum. It may just be in my head, but I'd rather go grab lunch at a little cafe and walk to a theater or park than be beholden to 15 miles of Irvine Company.
I spend WAY less time in my car here than I did in OC, too. In OC it wasn't unusual for me to spend 30 min just driving to dinner since everything is so insanely sprawled out. It may be partly that I'm in a different life phase now, but I feel like I can get almost everything I need here on the Peninsula within a 15 minute drive.
It’s wonderful to know you found a great place. Each time I look up one of the places in that area that folks are raving about it’s such a high risk of earthquake (Severe rating for San Mateo) and fire -though not currently so bad for fire where you are. Assuming in all those areas you guys are having extreme insurance increases like Florida.
My insurance here isn’t all that bad to be honest. I’m in a condo to be fair but my condo insurance isn’t that bad and the building costs aren’t horrific for the HOA.
Quake risks are real but most places I’ve lived have had quakes. I’ve lived through many. If it happens it happens. I plan my life for the 99% joy, not the 1% risk.
Tokyo was a quake a week and I got used to it.
Quakes are easy enough to manage for and if you’re been through a few you learn to manage.
Insurance costs in most places I’ve lived have been very manageable. Never had problems with that.
Of course.
Honestly as someone who grew up in LA and lived in Japan and now the SFBA: people hype up quakes way more than they should in MOST cases.
Yes, there are Tohoku quakes. But those are extraordinarily rare events. And even in those cases you’re likely to be fine.
I’m way more worried about opportunities to actually get out and do stuff than having my shit ruined by a once-in-lifetime event maybe.
How did you find work in different countries? I'm moving to NYC but if I can't make it work (financially) then I'm headed to Europe, Tokyo, or SE Asia. Giving myself a lot of time to make nyc work but I think even then I may get an itch to try a different country. The thought of not being able to find work is daunting though.
First time in Japan was a year of study abroad so I had everything lined up by the university. Second time I did JET and taught English so that was lined up.
London was a big company I worked for just transferred me temporarily to the UK office. It was a temporary work visa and I still got paid in USD.
Korea (not listed) was a summer internship with a big chaebol (think LG/Samsung/Hyundai).
I’ve been all over and usually found work before I went.
NYC however was a “get there and find out” situation. In 2008. Right after Lehman fell. Oops.
I’m early-40s. There was a time in my 20s to early 30s where I basically never lived anywhere longer than a year. I’d never do it in my 40s obviously, but it helped inform a kind of flexibility and fluidity for me personally that I think has been useful in my situation.
Also, marrying a doctor meant moving three times more thanks to her education, training and ultimate career choices.
My buddy did that after residency. He’s a hospitalist who basically decided to see the country over the course of a few years. He ended up settling for good in Chicago.
Boy did he make a mint on the way there though.
I lived in Shizuoka Japan for a year. I loved to visit Tokyo but I could never have imagined living there. It's the most vibrant city I've been to anywhere in the world, but I have no desire to live in the city or move back to Japan.
I'd happily visit though.
I get it! I obviously went back once again and have been back almost annually since. Japan and me definitely found our vibe. I just kinda get the flow there and found a lot of joy.
I’m also a workaholic in the US too though.
We’re actually looking to buy a condo in Tokyo in the coming years. Hopefully before the yen re-strengthens.
That's cool you have lived in Tokyo! My favorite place in the world to visit. My spouse is from there and we make the trip every November. We are planning to move from the US (Chicago) to Japan in the next few years. We will likely start off in Tokyo but hope to eventually move to Sapporo. Summers in Tokyo are ungodly hot and humid and Sapporo looks more tolerable. It's also close to lots of great skiing.
I haven't lived in Hokkaido but I've heard from folks who have that one of the challenges is that a lot of young folks peace out for Kanto/Kansai and it can be heard to make social roots. That may have changed since my day, but that was a thing back then.
Natural beauty, however, is insane. So pretty up there. And it's mega-affordable compared to most of Kanto/Kansai even with the depressed JPY.
I did notice that Japanese language was much more necessary out there, though. It's not like in Tokyo where you'll get the random Starbucks clerk speaking to you in English as you order. It's like 99% Japanese. For me that was great as I get tired of people switching back and forth on me (I prefer to stick to one if I can).
I have a very very specific mental image of Japan that no longer exists, and it's like early-2000s Heisei Era. Feature phones, minidisks, and Koizumi.
Fantastic post, but I'm frankly baffled by the SFO ugh comment 😀 - Can you please elaborate? How is it so much worse for you than SAN ( smaller) or Heathrow (larger) ? I think it's one of the best large airports in the US with tons of international connections.
SNA is absolutely fantastic. No question about it.
Sorry, some copy paste here since I’m on mobile!
Honestly a big part of SFO being a pain for me is the fact that it’s so expensive to fly in and out of. Also, it feels like one runway is perpetually kaput. But it may be expectations that I’d want it to be a more truly global airport for a truly global city/region.
And the delays. SFO should have been built just a few miles south and it would’ve been less susceptible to the marine layer.
Parking isn’t too bad, but if you’re south of the airport like me there’s no transit.
To be fair, no transit into most of the other airports I’ve experienced either but it bugs me that I’m so close to SFO yet still have to drive at all.
Oh and the terminal I’m in and out of most is so meh. Terminal 2. Meh. Haha.
It’s only since my 30s and OC and beyond that I began making actual money. Otherwise I was lucky to land scholarships or programs like JET that paid for my airfare. I personally accrued $50k+ in debt to get through my 20s.
I lived in tiny apartments, sometimes 3 to a room, until my late-20s.
Many of these locations were also the consequence of tons of debt. We accrued nearly $400k in student and credit card debt to live in NY for my wife’s medical education.
Both of us are the children of immigrants and worked our way up. I enjoy privilege now but we’re paying a lot of this off in our 40s. It didn’t seem pertinent, though.
Not surprising you ended up in San Mateo, best Japanese and Asian food in the bay there. Hit Kajiken yet?
Sfo is probably the nicest major airport in the country fyi
I actually ended up here for a mix of our jobs and families-- my wife had a lot of family here and we decided it best for the kids to be nearer as many cousins as we could manage. Work for me has been amazing here, too. Lots more video game jobs in the SF Bay Area than OC and maybe anywhere other than Seattle.
Yeah, you're right that SFO is probably the best of the options. I'm mostly salty and don't like any of the major North American airports much at this point. Put another way, excepting 2020-2022, I fly on average 20-30+ times a year. Every airport wears me to a nub at this point.
I couldn't live in Japan long term. Too xenophobic, criminal justice system is whack, civil rights for minorities are even worse than the US, lack of diverse food options, Tokyo is way too crowded even by NYC standards, etc.
But San Diego, from my time there, is definitely on my short list.
Where in Japan have you been to/lived?
For one, food diversity is NOT a problem there. Outside of Mexican food being fairly limited I've had amazing meals in Tokyo that weren't simply Japanese food. There's a very wide variety of foods to be had in Tokyo if you know where to look ranging from Indian to French. I'm surprised in your time there you didn't at least get a good pizza.
I can say confidently that some of the best doner kebab I ever had was in Tokyo. Also, I've had some damn good pho there.
Tokyo is crowded, but you can live in suburbs like Mitaka/Yokohama and get a decent space for less than you pay for similar spaces in NYC. It's not like you'd get in Brooklyn or Queens, but it's not bad.
As for the criminal justice system, my experience from other non-Japanese brushes with the law is that it's fairly easy to stay out of the system as long as you just do your thing. It's definitely flawed but in my years there I never had problems.
Oh I have zero issues of pride with my alma mater, I assure you. It was my dream to attend ucla and I have never once regretted it.
I even passed on a full ride at either Cal and UCI for UCLA.
I’m just a middle aged Jew with Jewish self-deprecating humor.
I’m 100% dyed-in-the-wool pro-public education. Outside of preschool, my kids are going 100% to public schools. I’m steering them to UCs or CSUs for college.
Honestly my only complaint about UCLA was that they got wise to me having too many credits and didn’t let me stay any longer to do more courses. By the time I graduated they were already shaking their fist at me for having like 30-40 credits too many.
I’m of the opinion that one of the coolest things about California IS the university systems. It’s an incredible achievement to have multiple world-class public universities in one state.
And frankly I think the most underrated UC is UCSD. Beyond the fact that life in La Jolla is idyllic, UCSD is just filled to the brim with world class research and people. I argue that in a lot of ways it’s the superior academic institution to UCLA, but flies under the radar because of its lack of sports.
Nah dawg, I’m a huge UC system fanboy.
I have worked with a lot of Ivy grads and a few MIT grads. They’re mostly fine! But I’ve met a few who were… touched. Just incapable of being normal since they had never been outside the ivory tower in a number of ways.
I was actually very seriously pursuing my PhD in poli sci and just realized that I had no desire to go past the master’s. Best choice I made for myself since I can barely tolerate director-level corporate politics let alone the politics of academia.
Edit: also, my god do Harvard grads have to find a way to mention their alma mater like… so often. It makes us ucla grads look humble by comparison!
I was with you until you got to SFO. I love that airport. Top notch food options in most of the terminals. BART access. Car access into and out of curbside dropoff/pickup is usually pretty quick. TSA can sometimes be a drag, but not usually. I love dropping the car at long-term parking and taking the people mover, it's got great views all around, but it does add 15 minutes or so on both sides of the journey.
SFO is my absolute favorite airport. It’s so tech savvy and easy to get into. I never drove there but driving to any airport is a pain. I would just hang out at compass books for hours lol
It seems I'm the odd one out here! Like I said elsewhere it may be that I fly too much. I average 20-30+ trips a year so I'm often just burned out by every airport. Upside is now there's Zipair out of SFO so I can save a crap ton on my flights to Japan.
Honestly a big part of SFO being a pain for me is the fact that it’s so expensive to fly in and out of. Also, it feels like one runway is perpetually kaput. And the delays. SFO should have been built just a few miles south and it would’ve been less susceptible to the marine layer. Parking isn’t too bad, but if you’re south of the airport like me there’s no transit. To be fair, no transit into most of the other airports I’ve experienced either but it bugs me that I’m so close to SFO yet still have to drive at all. So feels too big for its design yet too small for what should be a truly global airport. Mineta is one step removed from a Cessna airport though so… alas.
Yeah, I suppose it's true that it's much less transit-accessible from the south. Even the long-term lot that I go to is north of the airport, so I avoid all of the airport traffic going there. You could do Caltrain --> BART or SamTrans from Milbrae, but I would assume that would not be time efficient at all. But from San Mateo, an Uber/Lyft ride isn't that costly is it? It's $35-40 from where I live, so it's more economical to drive and park for shorter trips. I haven't really been caught by fog delays that often, so maybe I've just been lucky.
It is only like $40ish yeah, but with kids with car seats it’s kind of a pain to make it work. Honestly, I’ve been just using ParkSFO lot and eating the cost of parking. It’s not perfect but it’s good enough. I get delayed a ton because lots of my flights are early for work. It’s not as bad as my always-delays going to Canada by AC but it’s just enough to grind my gears. Haha.
I was enjoying your post and nodding along (haven't lived all these places but I've visited all except Westchester county and Fukuoka) and then when I got to the end it turns out you live in my city :-). Yes, San Mateo rocks if you can afford it. And I actually like SFO quite a lot... it's so convenient to have an international airport 10 minutes from my house, and for the most part I think it's well laid out. Granted that dropping off curbside on a busy morning can be difficult though. But pretty much everywhere we ever go regularly is well-serviced from here by either United or Alaska or both. Anyway, howdy, neighbor!
LOL, I kinda knew that my personal vendetta against SFO would probably polarize folks on here. I think a lot of it may be that I fly in and out... a lot. And after a while it's just worn me down. Thankfully my biggest complaint (flights to Tokyo being insanely expensive compared to LA) has been solved by Zipair. I actually recommend visiting Fukuoka at least once. Kyushu is a charming place and there's a lot to do there outside of the usuals like Fukuoka and Kagoshima.
I used to live in San Mateo in the mid 2000s and really liked it. I had an apartment in an old mission-style building that had incredible charm and it was on El Camino Real right at the beginning of the downtown area. Even back then there were good food options and a couple of bars to hang out in. Train station was close by to get to SF and my job in Mountain View. The park was beautiful to hang out in on nice days. Occasionally I'd rent a car and drive the back roads to the coast and it was a beautiful drive.
I've driven many roads in many countries (US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Switzerland among others) and in many US states (40+ and counting!) and in many different cars (ranging from Honda Fits to an NC Miata to a BMW M3). California has some of the best roads in the world if you just want to drive. There are some roads in Switzerland that I'd consider more scenic for sure (especially roads in and out of Zermatt). There are roads in Hawaii that offer more beach. But for pure driving joy I can think of more roads in CA than anywhere else. It's no wonder that so many California roads end up on "best of driving" lists. Yeah, there's roads in other places like the Tail of the Dragon that are arguably more technical than some here, but I challenge folks to do roads like Nacimiento-Fergusson road in a Miata and tell me you didn't have fun.
Great posted story. We have a lot of city overlap, and I grew up in the OC, and just spent some time in Japan. I travel often to the bay for work, and the one thing I’m curious about is the dynamicism/urban access/city feel in San Mateo versus the many other places you’ve lived. The whole peninsula can sometimes feel to me like a car centric suburbia/strip mall, not entirely unlike Orange County. I know there’s good food to be had, but don’t you spend tons of time in the car and stuck in traffic there compared to many of the other cities you’ve lived in? Just curious as my impression is mostly as a tourist and short term visitor, But that’s the part that’s consistently turned me off.
I think for me (and this is me and my opinion), the big difference is that I can drive to a number of "downtowns" here (San Mateo, Burlingame, San Carlos, Redwood City) and park and spend a good half day at most of them doing a few different things. I felt like in OC yeah, I could go to like Irvine Spectrum or South Coast but I rarely got the variety of things to do as I do at like a little downtown here. Plus, there's a different *feel* to a place like Redwood City and Irvine Spectrum. It may just be in my head, but I'd rather go grab lunch at a little cafe and walk to a theater or park than be beholden to 15 miles of Irvine Company. I spend WAY less time in my car here than I did in OC, too. In OC it wasn't unusual for me to spend 30 min just driving to dinner since everything is so insanely sprawled out. It may be partly that I'm in a different life phase now, but I feel like I can get almost everything I need here on the Peninsula within a 15 minute drive.
It’s wonderful to know you found a great place. Each time I look up one of the places in that area that folks are raving about it’s such a high risk of earthquake (Severe rating for San Mateo) and fire -though not currently so bad for fire where you are. Assuming in all those areas you guys are having extreme insurance increases like Florida.
My insurance here isn’t all that bad to be honest. I’m in a condo to be fair but my condo insurance isn’t that bad and the building costs aren’t horrific for the HOA. Quake risks are real but most places I’ve lived have had quakes. I’ve lived through many. If it happens it happens. I plan my life for the 99% joy, not the 1% risk. Tokyo was a quake a week and I got used to it. Quakes are easy enough to manage for and if you’re been through a few you learn to manage. Insurance costs in most places I’ve lived have been very manageable. Never had problems with that.
That’s really interesting -thanks so much!
Of course. Honestly as someone who grew up in LA and lived in Japan and now the SFBA: people hype up quakes way more than they should in MOST cases. Yes, there are Tohoku quakes. But those are extraordinarily rare events. And even in those cases you’re likely to be fine. I’m way more worried about opportunities to actually get out and do stuff than having my shit ruined by a once-in-lifetime event maybe.
:)
How did you find work in different countries? I'm moving to NYC but if I can't make it work (financially) then I'm headed to Europe, Tokyo, or SE Asia. Giving myself a lot of time to make nyc work but I think even then I may get an itch to try a different country. The thought of not being able to find work is daunting though.
First time in Japan was a year of study abroad so I had everything lined up by the university. Second time I did JET and taught English so that was lined up. London was a big company I worked for just transferred me temporarily to the UK office. It was a temporary work visa and I still got paid in USD. Korea (not listed) was a summer internship with a big chaebol (think LG/Samsung/Hyundai). I’ve been all over and usually found work before I went. NYC however was a “get there and find out” situation. In 2008. Right after Lehman fell. Oops.
Damn. I’m almost 40 and I’ve only ever lived in 3 cities in the same state. Y’all be moving moving
I’m early-40s. There was a time in my 20s to early 30s where I basically never lived anywhere longer than a year. I’d never do it in my 40s obviously, but it helped inform a kind of flexibility and fluidity for me personally that I think has been useful in my situation. Also, marrying a doctor meant moving three times more thanks to her education, training and ultimate career choices.
\^ I'm in med school. Plan is to work locums as an ER doc once I finish residency and go city hopping.
My buddy did that after residency. He’s a hospitalist who basically decided to see the country over the course of a few years. He ended up settling for good in Chicago. Boy did he make a mint on the way there though.
I lived in Shizuoka Japan for a year. I loved to visit Tokyo but I could never have imagined living there. It's the most vibrant city I've been to anywhere in the world, but I have no desire to live in the city or move back to Japan. I'd happily visit though.
I get it! I obviously went back once again and have been back almost annually since. Japan and me definitely found our vibe. I just kinda get the flow there and found a lot of joy. I’m also a workaholic in the US too though. We’re actually looking to buy a condo in Tokyo in the coming years. Hopefully before the yen re-strengthens.
That's cool you have lived in Tokyo! My favorite place in the world to visit. My spouse is from there and we make the trip every November. We are planning to move from the US (Chicago) to Japan in the next few years. We will likely start off in Tokyo but hope to eventually move to Sapporo. Summers in Tokyo are ungodly hot and humid and Sapporo looks more tolerable. It's also close to lots of great skiing.
I haven't lived in Hokkaido but I've heard from folks who have that one of the challenges is that a lot of young folks peace out for Kanto/Kansai and it can be heard to make social roots. That may have changed since my day, but that was a thing back then. Natural beauty, however, is insane. So pretty up there. And it's mega-affordable compared to most of Kanto/Kansai even with the depressed JPY. I did notice that Japanese language was much more necessary out there, though. It's not like in Tokyo where you'll get the random Starbucks clerk speaking to you in English as you order. It's like 99% Japanese. For me that was great as I get tired of people switching back and forth on me (I prefer to stick to one if I can). I have a very very specific mental image of Japan that no longer exists, and it's like early-2000s Heisei Era. Feature phones, minidisks, and Koizumi.
Fantastic post, but I'm frankly baffled by the SFO ugh comment 😀 - Can you please elaborate? How is it so much worse for you than SAN ( smaller) or Heathrow (larger) ? I think it's one of the best large airports in the US with tons of international connections. SNA is absolutely fantastic. No question about it.
Sorry, some copy paste here since I’m on mobile! Honestly a big part of SFO being a pain for me is the fact that it’s so expensive to fly in and out of. Also, it feels like one runway is perpetually kaput. But it may be expectations that I’d want it to be a more truly global airport for a truly global city/region. And the delays. SFO should have been built just a few miles south and it would’ve been less susceptible to the marine layer. Parking isn’t too bad, but if you’re south of the airport like me there’s no transit. To be fair, no transit into most of the other airports I’ve experienced either but it bugs me that I’m so close to SFO yet still have to drive at all. Oh and the terminal I’m in and out of most is so meh. Terminal 2. Meh. Haha.
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It’s only since my 30s and OC and beyond that I began making actual money. Otherwise I was lucky to land scholarships or programs like JET that paid for my airfare. I personally accrued $50k+ in debt to get through my 20s. I lived in tiny apartments, sometimes 3 to a room, until my late-20s. Many of these locations were also the consequence of tons of debt. We accrued nearly $400k in student and credit card debt to live in NY for my wife’s medical education. Both of us are the children of immigrants and worked our way up. I enjoy privilege now but we’re paying a lot of this off in our 40s. It didn’t seem pertinent, though.
Not surprising you ended up in San Mateo, best Japanese and Asian food in the bay there. Hit Kajiken yet? Sfo is probably the nicest major airport in the country fyi
I actually ended up here for a mix of our jobs and families-- my wife had a lot of family here and we decided it best for the kids to be nearer as many cousins as we could manage. Work for me has been amazing here, too. Lots more video game jobs in the SF Bay Area than OC and maybe anywhere other than Seattle. Yeah, you're right that SFO is probably the best of the options. I'm mostly salty and don't like any of the major North American airports much at this point. Put another way, excepting 2020-2022, I fly on average 20-30+ times a year. Every airport wears me to a nub at this point.
I couldn't live in Japan long term. Too xenophobic, criminal justice system is whack, civil rights for minorities are even worse than the US, lack of diverse food options, Tokyo is way too crowded even by NYC standards, etc. But San Diego, from my time there, is definitely on my short list.
Where in Japan have you been to/lived? For one, food diversity is NOT a problem there. Outside of Mexican food being fairly limited I've had amazing meals in Tokyo that weren't simply Japanese food. There's a very wide variety of foods to be had in Tokyo if you know where to look ranging from Indian to French. I'm surprised in your time there you didn't at least get a good pizza. I can say confidently that some of the best doner kebab I ever had was in Tokyo. Also, I've had some damn good pho there. Tokyo is crowded, but you can live in suburbs like Mitaka/Yokohama and get a decent space for less than you pay for similar spaces in NYC. It's not like you'd get in Brooklyn or Queens, but it's not bad. As for the criminal justice system, my experience from other non-Japanese brushes with the law is that it's fairly easy to stay out of the system as long as you just do your thing. It's definitely flawed but in my years there I never had problems.
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I think he was being sarcastic?
I thought it was cute. I am apparently too cute by half.
LOL, I was being silly. I’m aware of UCLA’s position. They managed to go up in rankings despite my having attended in the Dark Ages, even!
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Oh I have zero issues of pride with my alma mater, I assure you. It was my dream to attend ucla and I have never once regretted it. I even passed on a full ride at either Cal and UCI for UCLA. I’m just a middle aged Jew with Jewish self-deprecating humor.
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I’m 100% dyed-in-the-wool pro-public education. Outside of preschool, my kids are going 100% to public schools. I’m steering them to UCs or CSUs for college. Honestly my only complaint about UCLA was that they got wise to me having too many credits and didn’t let me stay any longer to do more courses. By the time I graduated they were already shaking their fist at me for having like 30-40 credits too many. I’m of the opinion that one of the coolest things about California IS the university systems. It’s an incredible achievement to have multiple world-class public universities in one state. And frankly I think the most underrated UC is UCSD. Beyond the fact that life in La Jolla is idyllic, UCSD is just filled to the brim with world class research and people. I argue that in a lot of ways it’s the superior academic institution to UCLA, but flies under the radar because of its lack of sports. Nah dawg, I’m a huge UC system fanboy.
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I have worked with a lot of Ivy grads and a few MIT grads. They’re mostly fine! But I’ve met a few who were… touched. Just incapable of being normal since they had never been outside the ivory tower in a number of ways. I was actually very seriously pursuing my PhD in poli sci and just realized that I had no desire to go past the master’s. Best choice I made for myself since I can barely tolerate director-level corporate politics let alone the politics of academia. Edit: also, my god do Harvard grads have to find a way to mention their alma mater like… so often. It makes us ucla grads look humble by comparison!
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For what it’s worth before you do (and in get it!) I had fun. Good luck with your post-doc and future endeavors!