What I Love (and Hate) About Living in Austin

What I Love (and Hate) About Living in Austin

There are occasions when I certainly adore living in Austin: when I’m paddleboarding on City Lake, when I’m ingesting a frozen margarita at Maudie’s, when I’m hanging out in hip East Austin below string lights.

That getting reported, there are sure items I’m less fond of: the sweltering summers, the isolation, the absence of walkability.

I’ve lived in Austin for just about two decades. Here’s what I have arrive to enjoy and detest about it:

What I love about Austin

The Persons

By and significant, Texans are extremely great men and women: generous, humorous, and sincerely kind. When I had Covid, a number of neighbors brought me tortilla soup and walked my canine. People today say howdy to you on the road in this article, even if they really do not know you. Austin is by far the friendliest location I have ever lived.

The Food items

A further constructive – the foodstuff. Austin’s meals scene is thriving: you can come across great TexMex, Thai, Vietnamese, and of system, barbecue. Some of my preferred places are Uchiko (sushi), Odd Duck (new American), and Loro (Asian/barbecue fusion). I have also grown to Love frozen margaritas, ha.

The Drinking water

As a born-and-elevated Michigander, I desperately have to have to dwell around water (that was a single of the items I located most difficult about dwelling in Colorado). The good thing is, Austin has plenty of it: City Lake, Barton Springs, and Lake Travis, to title a handful of.

The Winters

The winters right here are delightful – the temperature hovers about 70 levels, and the skies are generally crisp and blue. Nevertheless we do have the odd snow working day, the wintertime weather conditions is pretty mild.

Dwell Songs

I’d be remiss if I did not point out Austin’s internationally renowned dwell audio scene. I adore how you can wander into a random bar on a Tuesday and listen to an outstanding performance for the selling price of a Shiner Bock.

The Dog-friendliness

In Austin, you can deliver your doggy almost wherever — I provide my pup pretty much in all places I go. My area CVS is even pet-friendly.

What I Loathe

The Crowds

Thanks to its substantial level of popularity in current many years, Austin feels insanely crowded at instances. Parking is really hard to come across, eating places are packed, and the weekends specifically can be frantic.

The Substantial Price of Dwelling

Austin is very expensive. To invest in a plot of land – not even a household – in my community, expenditures a million bucks.

Lousy Walkability

Unfortunately, Austin is not a walkable metropolis. Bisected by two highways, Austin is a incredibly motor vehicle-dependent town for walkability, it ranks 42nd in the US, between Las Vegas and Pheonix. As someone who loves to walk, this is a big downside.

The Allergies

Central Texas has been termed the “Allergy Cash of the Planet.” There’s even a day-to-day allergy report on the regional information, where official pollen counts for ragweed, grass, and mold are measured. I hardly ever had allergic reactions in my daily life right until I moved listed here — ugh.

The Heat

The summers in Austin are brutal. Temperatures can get to 110 levels (or higher). Following this year’s scorching summer, 90 levels bizarrely feels rather neat to me.

The Isolation

Austin is shut to only a number of cities: Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Earlier this calendar year I built the mistake of driving to New Orleans, which took 10 hours. At times I experience so envious of the East Coast – imagine driving a handful of several hours and getting equipped to obtain Boston, Philly, and NYC? Sigh.


All this to say, I’ve been really satisfied below. I’m not certain if it’s my eternally household (I’m not confident I have a without end property, time period), but I approach to stay at least a couple of extra decades. And enjoy several additional lake days and frozen margs.

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