The Perks of Living in San Fran
Rolling hills and golden sunsets. Who doesn’t want to see this every day? Truly. San Francisco is the piece on Earth closest to heaven. It is only a couple-hour drive away from beaches, woodlands, mountains, and deserts. How many US cities can claim that? Not only that, but it’s also one of the most liberal cities in the country which has more than 800,000 personalities, all quite happy with each other. Dare to move tomorrow?
The Romantic Landscape
Did I mention the gorgeous landscape already? The Golden Gate Bridge is a magnificent view. But this is only the beginning.
There are little gems that are just as romantic. If you want to spend some quality time with your partner, take a tandem pedal boat out on placid Stow Lake. You can enjoy views of the waterfall or steer toward the arched bridge for a secluded kiss.
Baker Beach, the site of the original “Burning Man” enactment, is also quite the spot. You can enjoy stunning views of both the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands. When it’s warm, the mile-long beach is great for sunbathing and picnicking.
Dolores Park is another place to appreciate the open spirit of the city. You can see the eccentric side of San Francisco there – people with hula hoops, slack lines, and boom boxes. The park gives you a sense of the diverse mixture of characters and interests the city carries. And somehow they are all surrounded by the scent of romance.
The Delicious Food Scene
The first thing that pops into my mind when I put San Francisco and food together… is avocado! Seriously, they are everywhere. While in other cities, you would see avocados only in guacamole dips, here they are more frequent than Starbucks shops! Last month, San Francisco residents gathered for the first Avocado festival! The Avocado Con featured 15 of the best local street food vendors, all of which were required to prepare something with avocado in it. Yum!
Apart from avocado, Mexican cuisine here is top-notch! The burritos of San Francisco are like the pizza in New York. Heavenly! Latin American cuisine is on a pedestal, and there are valid reasons for it. It’s delicious and often quite cheap, which is great — since you’ll be spending all your money on your rent or mortgage.
Make sure you try a pupusa (a Salvadoran dish made up of a thick corn tortilla and a filling) or an arepa (a fluffy Venezuelan specialty made of ground corn).
Let’s not forget that San Francisco is less than 90 minutes from Napa and Sonoma valleys, earning it the No. 1 ranking among cities for wine lovers. Amen!
The Love for the Environment
San Francisco is noticeably eco-conscious. There are numerous practices in the city that make people think about a more sustainable life. For starters, the recycling and compost are a way of life. Both in the streets and at home. The Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance requires San Francisco residents and businesses to properly separate recyclables and compostables and keep them out of the landfill. You will see the special recycling bins everywhere. Sometimes you might stand in front of them for minutes wondering where your piece of trash goes.
Additionally, the city imposed a 10cent bag fee in 2013, and ever since then people have been carrying reusable bags everywhere. No piece of plastic ends up where it shouldn’t. Even The Dolores Park is a Leave No Trace park!
The Chill and Fun
Let’s not forget the feeling of calmness and relaxation that reigns the city. The various festivals in the area make it a fun place to be, once again proving its liberal attitude. Festivals: LoveEvolution, Bay to Breakers, the How Weird Street Fair are just to name a few.
The hidden parks and resting areas are something typical in San Francisco, too. POPOS are the format that everyone enjoys. These are privately owned properties given for public use – bits of nature in downtown areas. Rooftop gardens or indoor open spaces – the best place for a cocktail after work!
Watch out for these little bummers
Weather Changes
The weather in San Francisco is almost the same throughout the whole year. People love it for that. Yet, you can get quite a variety within a single day. You might be stripping down half naked in the day, and bundling up layer upon layer at night. And let’s not forget that you might feel a tiny earthquake or two once in a while…
The fog in summertime hangs thick in the City by the Bay. But it’s quite a mainstay, really. There aren’t many mornings in San Francisco when you would wake up without any fog. You start considering it as your companion. Your friend. Your friend whose name is Karl and whose tweets you read daily. We’re not even kidding. The fog in San Francisco not only has a name but also a twitter account.
Come to think about it, we are taking the fog off this list. It’s quite awesome actually!
As a whole, March and April are the mildest, although sometimes can get quite rainy. If you want to start with the best of San Francisco – move in September! The Sunshine all over.
Cost of living
The Council for community and Economic Research studied the cost of living in 308 urban areas in the U.S. and published a list of the areas with the most expensive places to live. San Francisco places 4th right after New York’s Manhattan and Brooklyn, and Honolulu. Make sure you have a stable and well-paid job before you move there. Otherwise, you might end up broke after your first breakfast.
- Can of coffee: $6.04
- Average rent: $2,925
- Price of a home: $820,000
- T-bone steak: $10.46
- Trip to the beauty parlor: $59
- Dozen eggs: $2.86
In 2017, San Francisco is still one of the ten most expensive city in the USA.
and … Rent
Take a closer look at that list again. Almost $3,000 for rent. And this is for a one-bedroom apartment, remember that. The amount you have to pay for your housing in San Francisco is the biggest problem with the high cost of living. Coffee for $6 gives you a special feeling, true. We wish we could say the same about the rent. People have started turning to offbeat solutions just to be able to stay in San Francisco. Living in a truck is not uncommon. Even a wooden box seems to be an acceptable option to some.
Finding a home that you can both afford and truly like might be tough, but it is all in the planning. Get to know the living areas, the real estate agencies, the prices and the moving flow. It’s almost the time of the year when San Francisco will start getting crowded with new residents. Soon, college students will start moving to San Francisco, and you might be out of luck to find a new apartment.
Experts say March is the best month for securing a lease in San Francisco. But sometimes it is not worth putting your life on hold to save a few bucks. Unlike in other cities, however, Craigslist is quite a legitimate way to find housing. Start from there but don’t settle too early. The rental market in any city can change quite quickly, so it will likely be different when you arrive.
Leaving your car behind …
This might not be such a bad idea for some. There are a few issues with the city’s parking infrastructure that might make it worthwhile for you to get there without a car.
Parking Limitations
Parking in San Francisco is a lofty ambition. Even though it is free to park in most places, you can never find a place. If you are not a resident, you can stay in a parking zone only for up to two hours. It can be a hassle, especially on weekdays, with meters needing to be fed or paid parking running upwards of $30/day.
If you come to the city with a car, you’d better keep it parked in the same spot for as long as possible rather than give up your space. Whenever you come back from a drive outside of town, you’ll have to allow extra time to circle the neighborhood to find parking. Your best option is to rent a garage. Hopefully, you will be able to afford it after spending your salary on rent.
Lyft and Uber
San Francisco is Uber’s home city. That’s why many people who own a car work for Uber. Don’t be surprised if you see pink mustaches on every corner, too. Lyft, Uber’s competitor, has quite a strong presence in San Fran. Most of the cars in the city are Lyft or Uber. It has become commonplace to see people hopping in and out of the back seats of cars at any given street corner. It’s not a rare view to see people leaving or arriving at work in a Lyft line every morning either. Even if you had a car, there would be no place to stop among the pink mustaches.
Well, you can always join the huge biking community, too. Even Tesla is paying its employees to bike to work instead of driving. Maybe this is a good enough reason to leave your car behind. Well, no.
Honestly, you might rarely use your car inside the city. But you would be like a foreigner to San Francisco if you don’t have your car there. The benefits of owning a car in San Francisco are too many. Remember these if you start having second doubts:
- You can drive to amazing travel destinations nearby, that people from all over the world want to visit: Yosemite, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and many others!
- One of the best feelings you can get in San Francisco is the sense of freedom when driving on the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge.
- The hills can be exhausting. Yes, they are a pretty feature of the city but ones you start going up and down every day, you see the need of a car. Even public transport can’t take up a hill on most days.
- Imagine carrying your case of beer up those hills… Nightmare. Totally kills the pleasure of having a microbrew you had in mind. Be smart, there’s plenty of beer space in a trunk after all.
- Driving in the city will help you become a better driver! If you can parallel park in San Francisco, you can do that anywhere in the world!
Half the magic of living in San Francisco is exploring the Bay area and California as a whole. The area has it all: hiking, camping, skiing, wine tasting… And for that, you do need a car.
With all the planning you have to do around the moving process, sometimes you don’t really want to drive all the way to your new home. Relocation is enough of a big task to think about. It might be easier for you to hire an auto transport company. When researching and booking your carrier, always ask for the experience! Read customer testimonials and make sure you call and ask questions before trusting the first low price you receive online. Whether you are coming from Los Angeles or all the way from New York, we can help you in the shipping process.
New York to San Francisco
New York-California is one of our main service routes. When shipping a vehicle from New York to San Francisco, we can schedule your pick-up often the same day. We work with highly experienced auto transport carriers from across the country. Our team offers both open and enclosed auto transport service, from and to New York daily.
The price of the service depends on numerous factors. Just call us or request a quote online and we will discuss the best options for you and your vehicle.
Los Angeles to San Francisco
We are happy that you have decided to switch up the smog to Karl the fog. San Francisco is not as bad when it gets to traffic congestion as LA, so we are sure you will be happy. If driving across the state is something you don’t want to do, Corsia Logistics is here to take care of this for you. A transporter can deliver your car the same or next day, depending on the pick-up time and exact location. Follow the steps to get through the shipping process with ease.
- Request a quote online or call (818) 850-5258.
- Tell us the car make and model and the moving date.
- We will contact one of our carriers and schedule your shipment.
- The carrier will pick up one to few days from your first available date.
- The carrier will complete an inspection report before loading the car.
- Auto transport from Los Angeles to San Francisco takes one to two days.
- At delivery, the carrier will unload and inspect the vehicle again.
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