Well, more like my girlfriend wants to try new things and I can't really find many reasons not to. We're both fairly young (I'm 23, shes 22) and aren't really being held down by anything here, she's had the same job at Home Depot for 3 years and I started a driving job at a garbage company in August but I didn't plan on staying long anyways because the money sucks and upper management is useless unless you blow them on a daily basis.

What's the job situation like in Austin? It should be no problem for her, she could transfer between stores but how about for me? I have my CDL A and have pretty much no skills other than being able to drive and operate heavy machinery. Does anyone know what the average local driving job pays down there?

From what I've seen there are plenty of places to live and if I could bring my salary from up here ($15/hr...roughly $525/wk on a normal 45 hour week) I could have a 2br apartment down there on my own! Up here I'd be breaking the bank for a 1br studio.

Now that the meaningless stuff is out of the way, onto the more important question! How is the car scene? From what I've gathered it's pretty good and leaps and bounds better than around here. Having no 1/4 mile track within 90 miles really sucks.

How's the weather? I know it seems abnormally cold there this year but still like a sauna compared to the single digits it's been overnight here lately...I'm not a huge fan of hot *** weather either but my girlfriend said 100 degrees there and 100 degrees here are totally different, I wouldn't know, never been to Texas.

Can't really think of anymore questions really, any input would be awesome though! Gotta be bowling alleys around though.... =D I'm an avid bowler and gotta get my fix somehow!

 

move here. its way better.. lol jobs are good right now

 

apply at lowes for a cdl driver. you could pull 16/hr starting driving a tandam. i did it.

 

I moved to austin a month ago, The job out look is great, ads up every day, Apartments are very very cheap, My 2bd 2 bath is around 900 a month after bills. There is a ton to do. The is not to bad down here. There is alot of humidity, but having it nice enough to do things outside 10-11 months out of the year is way worth it. I saw ads on craigs list today for a cdl a driving job, Im sure you could get a job no problem. If you want more info shoot me a pm. I live in south austin which is the best part in my opinion. its 5 min from the center of town with plenty around. There is a lowes and a Home Depot 5 miles from my apartment complex. Plus your an hour away from san antonio which has a great 1/4 mile track and 45 mins from temple which has great tracks. just shoot me a pm.

 

Also there is something to do every night not to mention the best music scene in the world.....

 

FYI stay away from the huge complexes that claim to be "University" based. They are usually cheap and you get what you pay for, plus security is horrible. Different parts of Austin are completely different. Westlake (west side), is basically the more expensive area with the exception of down town which is $$. I live in South Austin off of Slaughter (have lived off 360 and in Westlake) and love it. I pay about 700 for a 1br/study (820 sq ft) with a garage, got a good deal which is why I havn't moved/bought a house. Also do not live on the East Side of 35, or around 183 and 35, unless you like Ghetto. Most areas off of Mopac (loop 1) are good and areas off 360 are extremely nice but $$. I also like all the areas off of Brodie and they are not crazy expensive.

Hell, for the price of an apartment in the East Coast you could probably afford to rent a house/town house down here.

Job market I can't really define, I have been working at Temple Inland as a Systems Administrator for 3 years now; but I think you can find a job pretty quick that utilizes your CDL. Plus, if you're like me you'll find something to make due while you search. My side skill is bartending, which can make alot of money in Austin.

Weather is usually nice, last month has been horrible, but we rarely see snow or ice. There is pretty much a scene for everything in Austin. For example, I play amutuer baseball (there are 3 leagues here with about 30 teams), wakeboard, and am in to music. All of which have a huge scene here. It's a very young town.

There are also plenty of bowling alley's. Not an avid bowler, but the g/f loves to go so I have been to a few here.

Little forwarning, remember your roots, you don't have to be a Longhorn fan just b/c you live in austin

 

Austin traffic sucks.They have no room for expansion. Having the Capital and university together,not fun.

 

When choosing where to live, stay away from Southeast Austin.

Yes, traffic is worse than it should be for a city of this size. We have all the liberal/green dudes and dudettes from California fleeing the mess they made there and invading Austin. They come here because the liberal/hippie scene here makes them feel at home. The effect is that the population has grown faster than the infrastructure, particularly transportation.

On balance, Austin is a great place to live (still) and has a lot to offer. Great restaurants, great live music venues, the Texas Hill Country right outside the city. There is no drag strip right here but you have TAD to the North and SAR to the South. Pretty strong car scene for a city this size.

 

Austin chose not to do anything about 35. 35 has been like it is now for at least 13 years, but Mopac, 290 and the 71 were massaged in that time and are much better. Austin is like San Antonio that way. They add thousands of people a month for a decade and still say "oh no, we aren't big and we don't need any of that big city stuff like highways."

So for commuting, pretend 35 doesn't exist. The growth over the past decade is largely on the west of 35 anyhow, which is also where companies are moving and hiring.

Aside from that, if you guys are early 20s and have something to do you will likely love it. If not, you just go to Dallas or here to Houston, or even San Antonio if you can find work. The point of living in Austin is being close to downtown and the lake, the rivers and the hill country.

To the west and south is hill country which also holds interesting things, plus is some of the best cruising territory around.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys! Sorry it's been a couple days but I've had some unexpected overtime, bowling on Monday and my pain in the *** mom today to deal with...

I also forgot to ask, what's the 4x4 scene like? I'm no hardcore rock crawler or anything, I just have a stock Blazer, but I do like to have fun in the mud or do some trail riding.

Definitely no University ****, anything related to school is a turn off for me plus I was looking more into renting a house kind of on the outskirts of town I suppose. That's how I've always lived up here, I like the privacy, I can't stand having neighbors on the other side of an oh-so-thin wall/floor/ceiling. I definitely do NOT like the ghetto, I'm just a good ol' white boy and don't wanna be looking over my shoulder every time I go to start my car or worry about it being jacked (as much).

From what I've seen that's a definite yes, housing is rediculously expensive here, even in the depression we're in now it's hard to find an apartment or house that won't rape you.

So I've heard, the reason my girlfriend wants to move there is because her older sister lives there. She went and visited last year and said it was really fun with a ton of **** to do unlike here. (Look up New Milford, CT if you want a good laugh)

Win! =D

No doubt man, I'm a Yankees fan til I die so you be your *** I'll be traveling up to Arlington to see em mop the floor with the Rangers anytime they're n town.

Strong car scene...I'm seeing a pattern, and I like it.

Did a quick search on the Texas Hill Country and it looks like a pretty sweet area! =D Multiple drag strips within an hour or so is definitely a big plus, like I said before, the closest one is 90 miles away which equals to 2 hours with absolutely no slow ****** stuck in front of you. (It's one lane either direction the whoooollleeee way.)

LOL. That's like my town that's been expanding since the 60s and we JUST now got a 4 lane "main" road after it being planned since the mid 70s.


Keep the responses coming guys, I really appreciate it! This would be a huge move for us (especially me, who obviously needs convincing!) and even if it's just for a couple years and we move back to CT at least it'll be a good experiance. =D

 

Austin is also not too far from houston. Humongous car scene down there. Texas tk10 comin up in march is gonna be pretty nuts from what ive heard.