Have you ever wondered how to move to a new city? Perhaps you fell in love with the place while traveling and could see yourself living there and then couldn’t stop thinking about it?

It’s happened to Kim! After visiting Austin for a weekend trip she was sold on making Austin, TX her new home. Two years after visiting and thinking about it incessantly, she finally made the move from San Diego to Austin!

This episode talks all about the travel/moving bug, how to plan a big move, and how to explore your own backyard in a brand new city! We also share some money saving tips, and how to find a place to live when you’re miles away.

We’ve done a couple other episodes on Austin already, so whether you want to move to Austin or are planning to visit this amazing city, check these out for some cool places to see, where to eat, and where to stay.

Austin for First Time Visitors

Things to Do in Austin, TX

How to Move to a New City – Episode Transcript

2 (56s):
Hey Squadies!

3 (58s):
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we’re excited to share a different kind of episode. As you all know, I moved from San Diego to Austin in June and in this episode we’re going to dive into What. It’s like to move to a city that you fell in love with while traveling. And

2 (1m 15s):
We’re so excited because right now at the time of this recording, our friend Robin is here with us to record this podcast. She has been Kim and my best friend since we were like what, 12? 12? Yes. 12 years old. And I love it because every time we get back together it’s like no time has passed. We just like get back to where we were. Catch up. And so this is gonna be really fun, interactive episode and I’m super excited to have Robin here with us.

4 (1m 41s):
I’m super excited to Robin today is an honorary Squad member. We’ve had several honorary Squad members on our trips and on our recordings. And here we are with Robin, longtime friend Alan as a honorary Squad member. I’m super excited. Not only that, the reason why Robin is also here with us today is we are recording live from Cortez, Colorado. Where is Cortez, Colorado? We are right outside Mesa Verde National Park. And believe it or not, we are gonna have an episode for you coming up on that. But like Kim said in her little intro bit here, we’re talking all about her move to Austin because she fell in love with the city when she was visiting there one time. So really excited to get into this

2 (2m 21s):
And this is the first time we’ve recorded on the road, so what a monumental episode for us cuz we’ve never recorded on the road before

4 (2m 30s):
On the road. And we got a very special guest with us today. It’s super exciting.

3 (2m 33s):
No, and I wanted to have this recording like this because I have been holding back for the last two months on telling Brittanie and Jamal like anything about the move or anything about Austin, even though I’ve been dying to tell you some really important things. And Robin, I haven’t seen you in so long that I knew we’d be talking about it, so I’m like all right, it needs to go on the podcast. This is great. Thanks guys.

2 (2m 56s):
So Kim, why don’t you dive into why you wanted to move from San Diego to Austin specifically?

3 (3m 2s):
You know what’s crazy is that I wanted to move to Austin before I even ever went there. I knew I would like this city and I really wanted to visit and it was like a couple years of wanting to visit. When I finally did visit, I went with our friend Jamie, my friend, our friend. And I just fell in love with it immediately. I can’t really tell you What It was, but immediately I was just like, I love this place. The music, the people, like the nature, the vibe. It was just amazing. In fact, it was supposed to be a two day trip and we ended up staying four days. Oh

2 (3m 32s):
Wow. You remember that? You were excited, you

3 (3m 35s):
Loved it. Yeah, and I came back like, Yes, I wanna move here immediately. It ended up taking two years but I finally made it.

2 (3m 42s):
Do you think it was postponed due to the pandemic or for other reasons or kind of a combination of both?

3 (3m 47s):
That trip was August, 2020, so it was mid pandemic. But that definitely put a wrench in things because you know, things are shut down. You’re like, do you really wanna move to a city when it’s not? It’s full self. But even in the pandemic I still loved it. But yeah, I’m happy that June, 2022 was the date of the move. And so one thing I thought before moving, cuz moving from San Diego, San Diego was an amazing place to live, right? You guys were there, you would come down all the time, had tons of friends, great, you know, job, I didn’t leave my job, I took it working from home but I was a little bit nervous. I didn’t wanna say it out loud but I was like, am I really gonna like Austin that much?

3 (4m 29s):
I’ve only been there for four days and I even told you guys like we’ll probably move back maybe a year, maybe two years.

2 (4m 36s):
Yeah, I was actually gonna ask you about that in the car today, but I was like maybe we should save it for the podcast.

4 (4m 41s):
Well I just wanna say something real quick too. I knew when Kim came back and couldn’t stop talking about Austin and potentially moving there, that she really liked it because you know what, that’s not the first city that she said to us that she loved and wanted to move there. She was a Miami girlfriend I

2 (4m 56s):
Know or she

4 (4m 57s):
Miami. She would but she never put a plan in place but she came back from Austin and kept really talking about it and slowly but surely putting a plan in place. So something about it was really special for you to do that cuz you were talking a big game about Miami. We know how I feel about Florida so I’m glad you’re not there and And Austin, well that’s closer to us obviously to come visit back

3 (5m 18s):
And forth after our most recent trip to Florida and the near Swamp as situation, I had to rethink Florida, although

4 (5m 27s):
The rock locked at Everglades and we were concerned about the swamp as sit, you rocked it real hard and it didn’t come in. But you know, you gotta worry about that on the reg out there. You really gotta worry about that on the

3 (5m 37s):
Ramp. Yeah. So I know you guys have, you two have been tossed Austin you haven’t been yet Robin. You’re going to love it when you go but I wanna tell the listeners some tips. We always start with the tips, you know I do have some tips for moving to a new city.

2 (5m 53s):
Let’s hear them. First

3 (5m 54s):
Tip is a money saving tip and this is on your U-haul. So I moved, packed everything in the smallest driving U-Haul you could get the quote online was like 32, 3300 bucks. I actually went into the U-Haul office to get a quote or just to look at the size actually just to like physically see what we’re working with. They gave us a quote there and then someone even called after to offer a special discounted rate if you book now. And when I was ready to book, I got back in touch with that person, ended up spending 2,800 on that U-haul. That’s great. So Squad tip, if you’re thinking about moving go into the U-Haul place.

2 (6m 33s):
Okay, good to know.

3 (6m 34s):
And then what I was saying about oh maybe we’ll move back like you are going to be nervous, you just cannot expect anything different. For as excited as I was, I was also nervous. I think everyone will feel that way. Don’t let that stop you. You’re definitely gonna miss your friends and the people and everything that you knew. Don’t let that stop you either. I don’t feel like I’ll be moving back to San Diego anytime soon. Whoa.

4 (6m 58s):
Bold statement, right? Ever.

2 (7m 0s):
Or just

3 (7m 1s):
Anytime soon. I’ll never say never cuz even when I moved to San Diego eight years before, I thought I’ll never leave San Diego.

2 (7m 7s):
Sure.

3 (7m 8s):
So I may leave Austin at some point but it’s going to be a while.

2 (7m 12s):
Yeah, I feel like it’s the great city for you and I feel like it has your vibes and so especially now like we’re still in our early thirties and you’re like just getting acclimated to it. I feel like you’re gonna be there for a while and then maybe after a while I’ll be like okay, I’m ready to move on. What really draws you to this city? What is it all about?

3 (7m 32s):
There are so many pros to living there and I’ll just get this out of the way now. The con Everyone asks what’s the con? The heat? Yes the heat sucks in the summer. It it’s been consistently like a hundred degrees most days since we moved but I stay inside most of the day so it doesn’t really bother me that much. Right. And some days it doesn’t feel as crazy as it sounds so

4 (7m 55s):
Slightly better than that Florida humidity.

3 (7m 57s):
Oh yeah. There’s no swamp as happening. So pros, nature is everywhere in Austin. I am outdoors and in nature so much more than I ever was in San Diego and I really wanted it too cuz coming from San Diego in the downtown area, it was starting to get a little sketchy, really sketchy and not like a place you wanna walk around at night by yourself. Coming here where I live in Austin, we live in the South Austin community that’s right off of the main freeway. It’s this tucked away community. As soon as you turn in it’s like Texas brick houses suburbia. It’s so beautiful, it’s the safest neighborhood.

3 (8m 37s):
On the first day we moved in, one of the neighbors walked over with a freshly baked plate of cookies and with her southern hospitality welcomed us to the neighborhood who doesn’t

2 (8m 48s):
Love fresh cookies? Something you see in the movies really. But

4 (8m 53s):
You know there are certain places in the US where they still have that neighborly charm, care of sense of community and I feel like that’s the case. You know it’s funny you were talking about those beautiful brick homes while Britney’s sister recently and by recently, you know within the last several years moved to Texas herself. Granted different city in the Dallas suburb area. But that’s one of the things that I really, really love about Texas is the homes. It’s just like the different architecture and you see it and they have that like distinctive charm that’s really different than the homes and the styles you see in California or even in other places in the US for that matter. They just look different and I like that.

3 (9m 28s):
Yeah, so in that community though, even though it’s right off of the main drag, so you have easy access to stuff, you’re in this tucked away community. We have an entire green belt system and walking area create private for our community only. Wow. First day we moved in, we went for a morning walk and saw deer and birds that we’ve never seen before. Yeah and there’s raccoons and foxes and all kinds of like animals and And it also sounds like a jungle and I think that’s something that else surprised me about it was you were expecting like Texas desert planes, I don’t know, that’s maybe what you have in mind. There are trees everywhere as far as the eye can see. Trees, trees, trees, trees.

3 (10m 9s):
Everything’s green and it’s loud like the, there’s bugs but the bugs make it sound like you’re in the Amazon jungle. Wow. It’s really cool.

2 (10m 18s):
You set up that hammock in your backyard?

3 (10m 19s):
Not yet. We’re slowly working through the house. We moved into a three bedroom, two bathroom house with a backyard and a garage.

2 (10m 27s):
You make this place sound so appealing.

3 (10m 29s):
It’s amazing. And one of the things that I think really made me fall in love when I first visited was Jamie and I went out on Dirty six and we were out getting some drinks and I remember ordering a double Red Bull vodka and the person said $16 please. And I was just like, what? Like coming from San Diego you expect that to be just one and a single. But that just made me think like oh my god, Austin is so affordable and it really is your money goes so much farther and there’s so many fun things to do and it doesn’t make you like you’re not paying $15 for guac, you’re paying a reasonable $8 or sometimes even less for guac and that makes me happy.

3 (11m 14s):
Fucking I’m hard out there.

2 (11m 18s):
I felt like the one con that I thought like if I were to move to Texas is it’s far to get anywhere outside of Texas. Like coming from San Diego in California you can road trip into multiple different states and it’s really easy to get to other places. But I feel like Texas is so big that if you wanna do like a weekend trip and you wanna drive, you’re kind of confined to Texas. Have you experienced that at all? Well

3 (11m 42s):
We’ve only been there for two months and there’s so much to do in Texas that I haven’t really felt like leaving except we are in Colorado right now as we record this. So I have have taken a trip, this is my first time leaving this date since moving. But every single weekend we’ve been doing different things in the area just to name a few. We’ve kind of designated Sundays our day for nature and then other days we’ll do other stuff. So we’ve done kayaking on 4th of July with the fireworks going off over us on Ladybird Lake right in front of downtown. We’ve seen the bats fly out from underneath Congress Street Bridge. We went standup paddle boarding in Ladybird Lake.

3 (12m 23s):
We went swimming in Barton Springs pool, which is this natural spring fed pool that they’ve like blocked off and made really cool.

2 (12m 31s):
That’s one thing I do like about Texas is in Austin area in particular, there are so many different like watering holes that you can visit at different times and in the summer when it’s a hundred plus degrees and you really wanna cool off like those are the perfect places to visit.

4 (12m 44s):
Well that’s also why Kim is saying it’s so green and it is so green. There’s a big underwater source there and it spreads throughout the entire area. That’s why they have all these springs. So lots of plants and the trees and that’s the greenery. They’re getting it literally from the underground itself. So that area particularly is, I don’t wanna say water rich, but it, it’s available there. And when we went on our trip also, that’s one of the things like the big things you see to do in Austin is those water activities where they have those creeks and canals and you mentioned Lady Bird Lake, I just have to say this, it’s not really a lake, it’s a part of the Colorado River. I don’t know why they call it the lake but

3 (13m 19s):
They also call it town lake which is confusing.

4 (13m 21s):
Yeah, so multiple names and it’s not even a lake, it’s the Colorado River running right through there. But yeah you can do the the kayaking and standup paddleboarding.

3 (13m 31s):
Standup paddleboarding capital

4 (13m 32s):
Right The downtown area. So it’s really, really cool in that scenic sense. And like you said it goes under the congress street bridge that has the bats fly out cuz they have a natural cave there and that’s one of the cool things to do. So lots of water active you went from Yeah one water extreme which was the ocean in San Diego to now the river life.

3 (13m 50s):
And I felt like with the ocean in San Diego like yeah you could walk by it and everything and it was gorgeous like no doubt. But here you’re actually able to swim. It’s not too cold and yeah it’s everywhere you go there’s water. That’s another thing that really surprised me was you think Texas dry desert whatever. No there’s so much more water here than I think even San Diego really has and way more trees. So we’ve done the Hamilton pool preserve, that was one of those watering holes. Oh and then another thing about the water, it’s all clear or blue or green. Beautiful. There’s turtles everywhere in the water. When we were at Hamilton Pool preserve, this snapping turtle was swimming through covered in moss.

3 (14m 34s):
Looked like it was a thousand years old. Oh my God, that’s so cool. And it swam right up to the shore where we were like two feet from it Or you could be in the pool swimming with it too. Oh my gosh. There’s turtles everywhere out there and they’re so cute every time like turtle,

4 (14m 49s):
Although snapping turtles aren’t very cute and they’re quite dangerous if you’re squirming they but your toe off.

3 (14m 53s):
Yeah. You know keep your distance from that one.

2 (14m 55s):
Yeah totally.

3 (14m 57s):
Last weekend we went out to the Longhorn Cavern State Park, which is about an hour-ish from Austin underground cave system. Super cool. It looks like what you’d imagine the moon would look like. Really cool underground place. Again you’re not in the heat so the heat isn’t really a factor. That was really cool. Barton Springs I would love to go back to cause we only spent a couple hours there on like 4th of July weekend and so it was really busy but that place is so cool and right outside of the gates of Barton Springs where you do have to pay the small fee to go into the creek continues and there’s a live band that sets up on the rocks of the creek. Nowhere, anywhere a live band can set up in Austin.

3 (15m 40s):
They do the airport on the way to this trip. Had a stage with an auditorium and a band playing in the middle of the airport.

4 (15m 47s):
You know I’ve been on the Austin airport several times, I’ve not seen a live band break out there.

3 (15m 52s):
You’ve probably seen the stage though cuz it’s kind of right.

4 (15m 56s):
Probably not just paid attention that it’s a stage or anything like that. But

5 (15m 60s):
I remember that was one of the things that you said you were drawn to was their live music and everywhere. Yes. And like their live music at night and how like their downtown life was a lot stronger than you know San Diego.

3 (16m 15s):
Yeah. Another place that we saw live music was when we were kayaking on 4th of July, the whole river was filled with people and there was a DJ set up on a standup paddle board. My god. Playing for everyone out on the lake.

2 (16m 29s):
What type of music are they playing? That

3 (16m 31s):
One was edm but usually like the one in the airport was like John Mayer vibes. Okay. There’s a lot of that

2 (16m 38s):
On this trip, Kim has been talking about getting cowgirl boots and she wants these like bedazzled, bright pink ne Nehi boots. I mean all she needs now is like a cowgirl hat and some daisy dukes and she’ll be set. She has Daisy

3 (16m 52s):
Duke do.

4 (16m 53s):
Well once you have the ensemble, are you gonna go to your first rodeo?

3 (16m 57s):
I will, yeah. When? When you guys come down in October, Kaha had said look into rodeos in San Antonio. So I’ll be doing some research to see what we can find. So Jamal will get your boots.

4 (17m 10s):
Okay, I need to get my tevas. I’ve keep telling you about that brand Tavas if any, if you Squad is listening, don’t know what’s they’re really good boots. Go check them out. And as a matter of fact, like Brittanie was saying when Kim was talking about getting her Daisy dukes, I told her she should get some tavas

2 (17m 27s):
Her her daisy dukes, not her cowgirl boots,

4 (17m 29s):
Cowgirl boots, Daisy dukes I guess the one and the same to me as a man. I guess I don’t know the difference but boots are boots I guess

2 (17m 35s):
Daisy Dukes are short.

4 (17m 37s):
No well the daisy duke’s with the boots. Excuse me, we tongue title. It’s been a long day. I’ve been up since 4:00 AM ladies we know. So it’s

5 (17m 44s):
Very late right? Went to sleep at one o’clock. Yeah

4 (17m 47s):
You have a path. Thank you for chiming in for extra defense of me Robin.

1 (17m 51s):
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3 (18m 3s):
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1 (18m 39s):
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4 (18m 53s):
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1 (19m 15s):
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3 (19m 29s):
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3 (19m 58s):
Start podcasting now by downloading the free Anchor app or going to Anchor dot fm to get started. Outside of the nature there’s a ton of other pros. So for people thinking about moving to another city, this is something to look into. Texas does not have income tax, state income tax, right? So simply by moving to Texas, not only do I have to pay less for things, my income went up upwards of $800 a month overnight. But

4 (20m 24s):
You’re lucky in the sense, and I don’t disagree with your statement, but you kept your same job and same pay just moved from a state and so it change somebody moving to a different job. Maybe they have different cost of living as you know, so that’s true. It’ll balance. But Louis,

3 (20m 38s):
My boyfriend is big, got a new job when he moved to Austin new company, he’s making more money as well. Very

4 (20m 45s):
Nice. That’s great.

3 (20m 46s):
So I think that that there’s a lot of opportunities for work in this specific area. So anyone thinking about moving to another city, definitely look at how it’s growing. Austin is insanely growing, there’s so much construction going on, there’s so many like new things popping up and because of that there’s a ton of work and

4 (21m 5s):
How’s that affecting your home? Internet

3 (21m 7s):
Kept, it is better since I called and they made a simple fix. So we’re making improvements there. Well

2 (21m 13s):
What

4 (21m 14s):
Happened? Well when we record with Kim or talk to her do podcast stuff and we’re doing it remotely now with each other, we noticed that there’s a little bit of a delay or glitch with her internet. And I had told her, which was funny cuz literally the week she left I was reading an article that was talking about how so many people are moving to Austin just in general, plus with remote work, digital nomads, et cetera and making that a hub that their internet isn’t amped up to take on that big load of everybody using it at the same time. That makes sense. So it still is functional no doubt. But it’s kind of like an inside joke that I have with her of like, Oh how’s your

3 (21m 52s):
Internet? You know what the fix was? There was a router in the front room and a router way in the back room where my offices, we had to move them closer together. There

4 (22m 2s):
You go.

2 (22m 2s):
Very nice.

3 (22m 3s):
Okay, another Squad tip for everyone having internet troubles at home. More pros of living in Austin or just another place in general. Maybe this doesn’t apply to every place but specifically Austin, everything’s bigger in Texas so you get more steps in every day. I’m getting more steps just walking from the back of my house to the kitchen than I ever did in my apartment. And the grocery store’s way bigger. The parking lot’s way bigger. You get a lot more steps

4 (22m 29s):
Parking lot’s, way bigger cuz they gotta fit all those big trucks out

3 (22m 32s):
There too. There is always parking. That was the thing in San Diego parking was bitch

2 (22m 37s):
Parking is still a bitch in San

4 (22m 39s):
Diego. And when you’re, and that’s the thing like Texas in general is very spread out. So when you say parking is always available, are you referencing in downtown or are you referencing in like even in a neighborhood grocery store area because you know San Diego is very compact. So even in a neighborhood area. Yeah the parking is limited. So are you referencing downtown everywhere?

3 (22m 60s):
Everywhere. We’ve gone downtown several times to eat, always found parking very quick. I’m like shocked you guys. I didn’t know this was possible.

2 (23m 9s):
Right. Without many amount of people you know?

3 (23m 12s):
Yeah. And one other personal win is that now I wear sunblock every day.

4 (23m 18s):
There you

2 (23m 18s):
Go. You should have been doing that in San Diego to begin with. Your sin is thanking

3 (23m 24s):
You. You almost have to. Or it just kind of burns painfully

2 (23m 30s):
No stock up on that alovera like Jamal does.

3 (23m 33s):
There is one thing I’ve been dying to tell you guys though and that is that there are no toilet seat covers anywhere in Austin. None

2 (23m 41s):
At all.

4 (23m 43s):
You know What, it’s funny and we’ve talked about this on previous podcast episodes, I feel like the further east you go the less likely you are to see toilet seat covers And we flew into New Mexico, drove up here cuz we’re in the very south corner end of Colorado. And let me tell you something, I have yet to see a toilet seat cover on this trip also.

3 (24m 2s):
Yeah, I don’t think I’ve seen one yet either but yeah I keep looking thinking no that can’t be, There are no toilet seat covers in Austin.

4 (24m 10s):
It’s not a thing in Texas.

2 (24m 12s):
Well it wasn’t a thing in Chicago either. So we’ve had these conversations before.

3 (24m 16s):
California’s just out here making more waste I guess with its toilet seat covers.

4 (24m 23s):
Well I was trying go on California that hard right now. Big,

2 (24m 26s):
Big can a lot of toilet seat covers.

3 (24m 27s):
I do. I wish they were here. You know your face gets kind of shiny from being sweaty. You could take one of those. Yes.

5 (24m 34s):
D it absolutely I have such an oily face I need this all day.

2 (24m 39s):
So random question for you guys. When you use the toilet seat cover, you know you have to kind like punch out the middle. Do you put the middle in the toilet or do you hang it over so that you’re not, you’re not touching like the centerpiece?

3 (24m 51s):
I usually punch it in,

2 (24m 53s):
Punch it into the toilet. You know I, that’s what I have always done too. But recently I read something in that said they’re actually meant to go outwards so that all parts of the seat or cover

3 (25m 4s):
Like over the front lip.

2 (25m 5s):
Yeah And then you like that makes sense.

4 (25m 8s):
I dunno what’s going on with you. I’m living in the future. I just literally tear that fucker out, crumple it and throw it into the toilet.

3 (25m 17s):
You tear the

2 (25m 18s):
Middle park completely

4 (25m 20s):
Like Yeah because then I don’t want, if it’s hanging in the toilet, having the water that’s touching that portion like kind of drip up and now the water climbs up and does all this so yeah I tear it and I still have my full ring.

2 (25m 33s):
Well apparently you’re supposed to like flip it

4 (25m 35s):
Out. Well there’s no need to flip it out so I just tear it out like I’m living in like

2 (25m 40s):
That’s not the way

4 (25m 40s):
2050 over here in the future, you know? No,

2 (25m 43s):
We’ll

5 (25m 43s):
Try to adjust my habits. No promises.

4 (25m 47s):
But back to Austin as much as that ency cover tirade was fun and interesting,

3 (25m 52s):
One of the things I had to adjust to after moving there was the driving. So there are a ton of trucks everywhere and they haul ass on the roads. They like totally tailgate you and they’re so big it looks like a monster truck trying to run you off the road in my little car. And when I had California licenses I was like they’re doing this on purpose but I have Texas license now and they still do it. It’s just how they drive and if you even take a second too long they are not afraid to honk really.

2 (26m 23s):
They don’t give no fucks.

3 (26m 25s):
So another tip for everyone moving to a new town, just when you type in directions on your gps, read the directions before you set it off to go. Cuz I found that really helpful for navigating. I was missing all these like turns. And Texas is weird for the freeways. They don’t have just an exit, they only have certain exits that put you onto the frontage roads and then you exit off a frontage road. So if you miss your exit onto the frontage road, you could be looking at several miles before you, you could turn around and when you exit you can’t go like north or south or or west. You only can go one direction and then you have to wait to find a U-turn spot and then U-turns all over.

4 (27m 5s):
I know all about those. I see in one week Brittany’s sisters all the time. I know exactly what you’re talking

3 (27m 11s):
About. So reading the instructions before taking off has really helped me get better. Driving the first couple weeks I was like a lost puppy out there on the streets just getting run off the road by Chuck’s left and right. But

4 (27m 25s):
What you say is rather interesting and I think it relates to anything in travel, you know if you spend most of your time in your own state where you’ve lived, you just get accustomed to it even though there are national like standards of the road and highways and how they’re supposed to international. Yeah but each place is kind of different like how you said that. Yeah like they’re for highways and they have the frontage roads like here in California, like if you’re going on an on ramp or off ramp, like they have the dotted lines and it will phase in and it’s all one. But like, and you see in other places it just kind of, the line is straight and it merges and it cuts right in. You know like and there’s just stuff that’s different and you see it when you travel

3 (28m 6s):
Weird tolls or bridges or PIs. Yeah can you

2 (28m 10s):
Turn on a flashing yellow light? Do they have flashing

3 (28m 13s):
Mode? Yes, yes you can. And and then yeah there was like flashing red, flashing yellow and I was like what does this mean? Can I go? I’m like fuck it, I’m going flashing

4 (28m 21s):
Yellow. You could go. I learned flashing yellow the first time I was in Seattle. That’s the first time I was ever exposed to a flash in yellow for a left hand turn had no fucking clue. It’s not a thing in California,

3 (28m 31s):
It’s confusing. And then a lot of the roads are like, like the lines aren’t really clear and so everything’s just like great out and you’re like I hope I’m going the right way. But now that I’ve been driving around a lot more and I have really understand the south Austin region now, which is where we’re at and so have that down pretty good north Austin don’t venture over there too much and then downtown’s like a grid so I’m getting it down and it’s makes it feel much smaller, much more manageable, much more like oh when someone says I’m over here cause I’ve been buying a bunch of stuff off Facebook marketplace and they’ll say like I’m on MoPac over here and I’m like where the fuck is that? So I have to look it up and then so now when I hear people say stuff I kind of know where it is.

4 (29m 14s):
I got a hard hitting question for you Kim

3 (29m 16s):
Hit me with it.

4 (29m 17s):
We know how disappointed Jamal can be when he goes places especially that he feels is really, really hyped up. Austin is one of those places that’s really, really hyped up Brittanie and I went for an anniversary trip and I liked it but I didn’t love it. Definitely didn’t love it enough to move as you did. Now obviously I know we’re gonna be going over there to visit you for multiple things but when we go what’s one thing and you know what we did when we were there, what’s one thing that I missed or you tell me now as a local like I should do and it will maybe change my perspective on Austin.

3 (29m 49s):
One place I’d love to take you is called Moon Tower in South Austin. It’s like eight minutes from my house. It’s this amazing outdoor venue. So they do have an inside bar, it’s like kind of divey but then you go outside and it’s huge. They have corn hole over here. They have actual volleyball quarts in the sand over here. They have tons of places to sit where they’re like around in a circle or on benches. They have food trucks, they have big connect fort, they have a stage with a live band. It’s so much fun. You would never see that place from the street though because you see trees and you pull in and you park in the back. You would never see it from the street. And what I’ve realized after living in Austin for two months is that most places are like that you probably didn’t enjoy it or get the hype of it cuz you didn’t see those things cause you can’t see them from the street.

3 (30m 41s):
There’s so many trees everywhere that all of a sudden a fucking Home Depot pops outta nowhere that you never even saw. Or a Costco or my gym is a massive gym and you cannot see it until you pull into the driveway. So you really need to know what’s there to experience it and have fun with it and start to appreciate it. And as we explore more and more and more and finding all these cool things and hidden parks and hidden restaurants and menus and it just really unveils the magic of it. So when you guys come you’ll have a totally different experience getting a tour guy that locally lives there. Yes. Versus going on your own. I felt the same way when I was there. I didn’t experience all the things that really, really make it cool that I’m starting to see now are

2 (31m 24s):
We gonna get a personal walking tour? You know I love walking tours.

3 (31m 27s):
Well it’s pretty spread out so the walking’s gonna be intense.

2 (31m 32s):
Okay, I’ll put my walk and choose on.

3 (31m 35s):
It’s not a very walkable place I’ll tell you that. Do

2 (31m 37s):
You feel like if you visit you need to rent a car to really experience a city or

3 (31m 42s):
Planned Uber. But if you’re gonna go out to like the pools and you know springs simply going from like Z Park and Barton Creek Springs, which is pretty close to downtown to going to like moon tower to then if you wanna go to the east side and go to some of the like really creative artsy kind of restaurants, it’s a lot of driving. It takes, what I’ve realized is it takes 20 to 30 minutes to get anywhere unless like in South Austin some places are like 10 minutes from my house but everywhere else it’s 20 to 30. And

4 (32m 11s):
Like we were saying earlier, I think that’s a Texas thing cuz even when we see it at her sister’s place, everything’s just so spread out because they have so much space.

3 (32m 19s):
Yeah and that’s what you love about Austin, Texas. You have so much space but then you can’t have all that space and expect things to be 10 minutes apart. Right. So I had to come to terms with that but I have now. And I think another thing too with like the heat, the driving, if you expect it, your expectations are set right. If I kept expecting things to take eight minutes like in San Diego I would constantly be pissed off at how long it takes to get to places. But now I expect it, I expected it to be hot so it didn’t really like disappoint me or blow me away that it was hot. Right. I knew it was gonna be hot. That’s

5 (32m 54s):
What I had to learn when I moved out of Woodland. I mean I had to learn that it was gonna take 20 minutes from Fairfield to the other side of Vacaville but it didn’t seem like it would be that long. But it was. Well

4 (33m 4s):
Not only that, you’re in Bay Area now where I’m so like you have traffic and everything like that on the interstate and so

5 (33m 11s):
Where’s traffic? Yeah.

3 (33m 12s):
Have you been exploring at all and like discovering like a park or restaurant or anything like that? Like where you’re living now?

5 (33m 19s):
Where I’m living, the restaurant that we kind of like to go to is Hana a sushi restaurant that’s like a little hole in the wall next to star bread. It’s just a little hole in the wall and they have really fresh sushi. It’s

3 (33m 30s):
Delicious. It’s exciting when you find stuff like that your favorite spot to go or like your favorite place to walk the dog. Like once you start getting those places, at first it’s so overwhelming cause you’re like I don’t know where anything is. I don’t know where to go. I’m hungry, I don’t know where to eat. And that happens a lot when you travel too. You’re like looking on Yelp, where do I go? Yeah it’s overwhelming.

2 (33m 52s):
It is overwhelming. Absolutely. I mean sometimes just figuring out where you’re going to eat. Like on this trip we were trying to figure out what we were going to eat on our drive and it’s like we’re searching the map for those things and it’s time consuming and then you’re worried about like having to get to sleep the next day and all of that. So it’s just like information overload and trying to like process that. So I even remember that moving to San Diego it was like there was just so much new things and so many different areas and you’re just not familiar with like the layout or the town. But as you start to get acclimated to different areas and like move about, find those little spots that you love to go to or the your favorite place to eat it all starts to feel a little more familiar and homey.

3 (34m 33s):
Yeah. So I’m gonna tell you guys some restaurants that we’ve eaten at that are absolutely amazing. Cause that’s another thing about Austin the food scene is off the chain. So good. Robin, you’re a foodie. You would love it.

5 (34m 46s):
That’s what I was gonna say. You know I’m a foodie.

2 (34m 49s):
Let’s start with barbecue.

3 (34m 50s):
Okay. Okay. Best barbecue I’ve had, I’ve gotta say is Terry Black. Terry Black? You guys tried it when you were there

4 (34m 58s):
And Austin specifically. Yeah I love Terry

2 (35m 1s):
Kim did not get the cream corn. She does tell us that. And that is a party foul. The

3 (35m 6s):
Mac and cheese was bomb though because

2 (35m 8s):
If you go to Terry Blacks you have to know brisket is king and cream corn is amazing.

3 (35m 14s):
Yeah it was really good. There are so many barbecue spots in Austin though. We went out to Salt Lake which is more in like Dripping Springs area and it’s this massive venue where they definitely have live bands. It’s so country when you’re actually in there they’re playing country music and like you see people in cowboy hats and I don’t know, it just Austin doesn’t feel like Texas until you start to see some things like that and you’re like, oh shit, I’m in Texas.

4 (35m 42s):
What’s funny about Salt Lake is I’ve been seeing lots of stuff on social media about it and then you posted a story

3 (35m 49s):
Of the pit, which is

4 (35m 50s):
Amazing. And that’s how I knew exactly that you were at Salt Lake was the pit. Because they have the sausages that are even just like hanging from the top. It’s like oh Kim, that Salt Lake.

3 (35m 59s):
Salt Lake is what made me start liking brisket. Oh it’s really good. Another place in East Austin called LA Barbecue was really good as well. And the ribs were bombed there. Mac and cheese was amazing there.

2 (36m 12s):
Yeah, Jamal and I tried to go to La Barbecue but the line was out the door and around the corner. Oh when we went to go visit. So we did not go there. And then it ended up having a summer downpour and while it was summer down pouring, we were like well it’s probably even clear out the crowds. And that’s when we snuck into Terry Blacks

4 (36m 30s):
And it wasn’t even really a sneak and it was still a long wait in line and at that point but like you said, everything’s too far. We were closer to there and we gave Terry Blacks the go and I’m glad we did. But I do want to have the

3 (36m 41s):
Barbecue. The barbecue. There’s another one called Valentina’s TX Barbecue. Tried to go, the line was really long and we didn’t have time to wait in it, but I really wanna try that spot some other places cuz I have a list. There is a place called ABA on South Congress. Amazing Mediterranean food with a garden atmosphere. The food, the jalapeno Faffel

4 (37m 5s):
D

3 (37m 5s):
Delicious Mediterranean salad. Like I never even liked fe of cheese until this salad. It was so good. Didn’t. And then we had chicken kabobs. The rice was amazing. 10 out of 10 would recommend. It’s kind of more of like a trendy spot you’d see in like Little Italy San Diego.

4 (37m 20s):
You know how I know Kim really, really loves Austin cuz she fucking ate feta. She’s really thinky about her food. But she was so enthralled with it like everything’s going good over here. Fuck yeah, gimme the fed on the salad.

3 (37m 33s):
Well Melissa was actually here the first week I moved. She happened to be in town for her boyfriend’s fight and so we went there together and that was really nice to see her and the food was amazing. Awesome. Another place in downtown Austin called Devil May Care, it’s like a basement spot you walk into. They have amazing cocktails. It’s kind of set up almost like nightclub vibes but the Brussels sprouts were amazing. The sliders were amazing. 10 outta 10 would recommend. And

2 (38m 0s):
I know you love your brussel sprout. She does brussel sprouts and mac and cheese.

3 (38m 5s):
So this next spot is also downtown. It’s not a restaurant, it’s a speak easy. And it was really cool. Their entire cocktail menu was based on colors. So first of all, when you walk in they greet you with a little champagne, which is cute, lovely. And you have to have a password to get in. You like type it in on the code and then it opens the gate and you go in. So it was really cool. Okay. But their whole menu was color so you’d order the red, the black, the blue. And they’re all different. I got one that had like a bubble that you pop in the airs, like some weird scent. They were really, really cool And that was like an underground little spot. So I would recommend that spot. You have to make reservations for those last three that I mentioned cuz they do sell out not back to food.

3 (38m 46s):
Like I said there’s a ton of Tex breakfast tacos are diamond dozen. But the best breakfast tacos that I have had in Austin and a lot of them aren’t that good, I’ll tell you that. They have some room to grow. But the best ones I’ve ever had are at two places. One cosmic coffee, which is a really cool coffee shop but it’s, it’s also like a venue where they have all these community seating. They have trucks, they coffees are great and there’s a breakfast taco spot there. Really, really good. And the other place is a truck called El Premo in the South Congress area. It’s like traditional Mexican but the breakfast taco. Oh my god it’s so good.

5 (39m 22s):
Christian, can you please explain a breakfast taco?

3 (39m 25s):
Yeah, it’s a breakfast burrito but mini. Oh

5 (39m 28s):
Okay.

4 (39m 29s):
And taco form.

5 (39m 30s):
Okay. Well

2 (39m 31s):
And then in Texas sometimes they put like brisket in it or

3 (39m 34s):
Yeah they’ll do like barbecue fusion.

2 (39m 37s):
Yeah so like sometimes it’s like jalapeno sausage that’s inside the breakfast taco. Sometimes it’s brisket. Yeah they have like a whole bunch of different like Texas

3 (39m 46s):
Meat potatoes

4 (39m 47s):
And the times that we’ve had breakfast tacos and Texas and they are clearly barbecue themed. You don’t have salsas barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce. Just gonna ask with your egg for

3 (39m 58s):
Topping Austin Austin is obsessed with the same like light green verde salsa. Every place has it and it’s great. Okay. More TX Gabriela’s. Really, really good. It was like a, we got a Caso Fundido but it had I think rizo or some kind of meat in it and Glock and salsa on it. It was so good. So good. This spot called Hula Hut was recommended by a lot of people. A lot of our neighbors that came over when we first moved in recommended this spot, which I think is a great tip for anyone going to move to a new city. But we always do this when we visit cities too. We ask people where would you recommend we eat? People will tell you the best spots to go.

3 (40m 38s):
Yelp cannot tell you what a human can tell you. Right. Hula hut is on Lake Austin and it’s tiki setup so it’s on this whole deck. It kind of almost gives me like swee vibes in Sacramento. Oh okay. But it’s all set on on a deck. There’s tiki everywhere. There’s boats right under you and it’s Hawaiian food and TX and it had the best chili reno I’ve ever had outside of jps wedding.

5 (41m 5s):
Yeah,

3 (41m 5s):
Really, really good. That would be a place I would take you guys. It’s a place you bring a visitor for sure. There’s turtles right under you.

4 (41m 11s):
Well I’m excited to try it because that’s one of the hardest things. Cause you said TX but like I’m just gonna go with the next portion. Coming from California, it’s really hard to find anything Mexican related food wise. That’s actually satisfying. So if you are even going ahead and saying it, I’m super excited to try it, let alone for the Amon.

3 (41m 30s):
Oh yeah, yeah. Tito Mocho is another one. Everything’s pink and flowery and oh it’s pretty. Even the taco shells are pink it, it’s super cute but the food’s really good too. And then they have like funny drinks. Like I got a honey flavored drink and it was in like a little honey container so everything’s really cute. Yeah, that place is fun and it’s a great place to bring girls and you know, eat good food and have cute drinks for every place I’ve told you though, there’s probably like two or three we ate at that I wouldn’t recommend. So I’m doing y’all a favor and weeding out the mediocre

2 (42m 3s):
Oh the Texas is coming out in Kim y’all I heard that. Yeah, you’re right. Next time you meet up with Kim she’s gonna tell us that she knows how to line dance and two stuff right now she currently doesn’t.

3 (42m 14s):
I think though like about moving I think like should I have moved sooner cuz I, I’m liking it so much I don’t feel that way. I feel like I moved at the perfect time. Yeah. And I was ready for it and I got the perfect house. I live in the perfect spot. I’m just enjoying it so much. There’s so much to see and do and I think that’s why I won’t be moving anytime soon because there is so much more to do. Yeah, just cracking the surface.

2 (42m 38s):
One thing people always say is it costs so much money to move. And I know you touched a little bit about how much the U-Haul was, which is a huge expense in itself, but how much would you say someone would need to save in order to move to a different city? Just to have like that security deposit, like the moving expenses. A lot of times you need new furniture, things like that.

3 (42m 57s):
Oh my god, yeah.

4 (42m 58s):
You even had to get a new appliance.

3 (42m 60s):
Yeah we had to buy fridge apparently our house didn’t come with a fridge.

2 (43m 3s):
Oh more washer dryer.

3 (43m 5s):
More washer and dryer. Yeah. Geez. It was really weird. So

2 (43m 8s):
What would you say that buffer of like money you need to move to like a completely new city is? I mean you moved halfway across the

3 (43m 14s):
Country, probably double what

2 (43m 15s):
You think, Double what you

3 (43m 17s):
Think. Yeah. So whatever your rent is gonna be times two for the deposit we had to pay pet deposit on top of that U-haul three grand. Well the three day trip, oh I didn’t even talk about the three day trip. Like we luckily made it fun. We stopped at Carlsbad CA’s National Park so we, we made it fun as we were going but that’s a whole other adventure on its own. So you need gas money for that at a time when gas is really expensive.

4 (43m 42s):
Hotel rooms that you had to pay to spend the night to break it up.

3 (43m 45s):
Yeah. Luckily they were like 60 bucks a night so not too crazy but, but that’s another expense. And then the furniture is a whole other thing so if you’re moving into like a one bedroom apartment it’s probably not as crazy but we have to fill a through bedroom house and we sold a bunch of stuff to make the move easier and just wanted to get new shit anyway. It’s been expensive for sure. But again I knew what I was getting myself into so it’s not like I was expecting it to be cheap. Right. And you

4 (44m 11s):
Said earlier you’re saving so much a month on the taxes.

3 (44m 13s):
That’s true. That’s true. And and so now it’s like we talk about explore your own backyard and yeah there’s so much to explore in my own backyard that I haven’t really felt like going on a bunch of trips and getting out of town. Like in San Diego I wanted to be gone all the time even though it’s an amazing place, vacation city of its own, it was the the same things over and over, you know. But now everything’s new.

4 (44m 34s):
But you didn’t feel that way when you first moved to San Diego. And I don’t mean this to rain on the parade cuz I know you love Austin but at what point if at any do you think maybe you’ll be like, all right I still love this but have that kind of feeling of like just doesn’t have that charm to me anymore.

3 (44m 50s):
Well I think in San Diego it just got to be the same places you would go, the same restaurants, the same events, even year after year, annual events, they’re the same. And it was just like I, I know what I’m getting when I do that. Yeah. And so I think when that happens in Austin and it and it might for sure then I’ll feel like okay it’s time to move on. But I think travel like makes me not want to stay in the same spot every time I go somewhere except for Denver, I fall, I fall in love with it.

2 (45m 19s):
What about Albuquerque? Were you enthralled with that?

3 (45m 21s):
Oh I would never live in New Mexico. Not hating on New Mexico for anyone that lives there, but it’s just not for me. But I wanna live in so many places that I’ve, I probably won’t stay in Austin forever. Although I feel like I could,

2 (45m 34s):
You know, I feel like and I are for now pretty tied down to San Diego and it’s funny cuz we don’t do a lot in San Diego, we do a lot in San Diego when people come to visit us or when the like it’s like when family comes or friends come and then we’re like tourists in our own city and we explore a bit more on our own backyard. But we have done a lot in San Diego and so it’s like doing those other trips like you were talking about is we’re constantly going outta San Diego to to go new places and explore. But I think if I were to pick a city to move to that I fell in love with, I’d probably pick Chicago. Do I see myself living there realistically? No.

4 (46m 11s):
Or permanently for that?

2 (46m 12s):
Or permanently? No, probably not. But like that’s probably a city that continuously draws me back and I’m not a person to go back to the same spot a lot of the time. But we’ve gone back to Chicago several times and I always feel that way. Like if we were to move outta San Diego, it would probably be short term to Chicago and just kind of like feel out those vibes. I

3 (46m 31s):
Don’t think you have to pick somewhere to live permanently.

2 (46m 35s):
I don’t think so

4 (46m 35s):
Either. And I respect that. And I think what you hit on was very, very true and resonates with a lot of people who like to travel is you see different places so it intrigues you and you want to experience that lifestyle, whether that be in another country or another city in your own country here in the United States for that matter. I mean and especially depending on your job and luckily for you you’re very fortunate that you can take that job really anywhere that you want to go here in the US and do it. So,

3 (47m 3s):
And overall we’re fortunate that there are more jobs like that available since Covid. There are so many more opportunities. If you want that freedom, you can get it more than likely.

2 (47m 14s):
Absolutely. I feel like in the future, more of long term Jamal and I’d probably move somewhere in like the mountains or

3 (47m 20s):
Montana,

2 (47m 21s):
Maybe Montana, Wyoming, somewhere there.

4 (47m 24s):
We talk all the time about just renting out our home to somebody, letting them pay the mortgage for it and we buy an RV and just like drive it around and we live in that. Oh my

2 (47m 34s):
God, I

4 (47m 35s):
Love that. And we’re really thinking about it hard, really, really thinking about it hard.

2 (47m 39s):
And now that my job has kind of changed a little bit, I’ve been thinking about like possibly getting into the travel nurse scene and Oh yeah, possibly just see how trying out some different areas we, Jamal and I have talked about that a little bit. So there’s a lot of opportunity whether you work remote or just like the niche that you’re in. Try to find a place that can accommodate what what you have in your skill set and or how you want to adapt and enhance your new skills or take on a new job.

3 (48m 7s):
Yeah, if you want it, you can make it happen. I love what you said, you used the phrasing, try it out

2 (48m 13s):
Because

3 (48m 14s):
It is like you can rent out your house for six months short term or long term. Put someone on a year lease and try it out for one year.

2 (48m 21s):
I know. And rent’s so crazy right now. Like I feel like if there was a time to do it is now. I mean Robin, you were just sharing with us, your apartment is like close to $3,000 a month for a one bedroom and it’s like one bedroom, one done. You know that would cover our mortgage, our hoa, our property taxes, and then give us also income on top of that. So it’s like it can be done. It’s just that mindset of like moving forward and propelling that new idea.

3 (48m 47s):
Yeah, I think it’s a lot of work to make a change. It was probably four months of planning this and it was exhausting, but if you wanna do it, you can definitely make it happen.

2 (48m 57s):
And that’s like in any aspect of life, like finding a new job, it could take you a while to scope out the perfect job, find out what the benefits are. Is this the right culture and company for you? Like every big major change you’re gonna make, you are gonna spend some time making those changes

3 (49m 13s):
For sure. But change is part of life and it’s

2 (49m 17s):
Fun. Well I’m so excited like that we’ve had this conversation cause we haven’t really talked about your move and it’s been weird cuz usually I’m like, Hey, what’s up? What’s new? And you know, what are you doing? And you have held back a little bit. And so I feel like this was a perfect opportunity to dive in. Is there anything else you wanna share with us or our listeners Kim?

3 (49m 35s):
No, I mean I’m glad I got to share my excitement cuz I have been holding it in and I think if anyone listening is thinking about moving to a place that they’ve been to and you have any questions, I’m happy to answer any questions, reach out. But I would encourage you to go for it cuz I think you can always move back, but you won’t regret trying it. You’ll just continue thinking about it until you do. And on that note, thank y’all so much for tuning in to this week’s episode. Please keep the adventures going with us on Instagram and YouTube at Travel Squad Podcast. We will be continuing the podcast even though we are in different cities. So send us in your questions of the week and we’ll loop ’em in for next

4 (50m 11s):
Week. If you found the information this episode to be useful or if you thought we were just playing funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always, guys, please subscribe. Rate Reviewer podcast. I tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

2 (50m 26s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode. We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you. Bye Squad. Bye Squad. Thanks for being here, Robin. Yes, thank you guys.