This story starts about eight years ago. We were still living in Israel and just got married. Since Nili already had American citizenship we decided to get the Green Card and move to the US. Her entire family (except for her sister) was living in California (in the Bay Area) and back then she owned a marketing agency that worked with startups and tech companies so many of her clients were there. To me, it was a great opportunity to continue my career in
tech. So we thought it would make sense to move over there. About 4 months before we moved she layed out a totally different plan: California is only a stop on the way to our final destination- North Carolina. I was reading a book when she told me that and had to stop my reading and look at her and ask– North
where? Where the heck is North Carolina? I mean, I heard the name but never thought about going there, let alone living in that state.
Long Term Planning
We moved to California and had a ‘soft relocation’. Being surrounded by family is very helpful when you move into a new country. I quickly found my place in the tech scene and she was working as well. It was pretty exciting for a while- great food, awesome weather and as a musician the big music scene with tons of bands coming through the area meant fulfilling childhood dreams of seeing bands I never had a chance to see before.
After a couple of months we had our first child and that’s when it dawned on me- there is no way on earth we could stay in the Bay Area beyond just a couple of years. Even with both of us working in tech, we were not making enough money to buy a house, and if you want something that is affordable you have to live outside of the bay and the traffic there is insane- you basically have 4 hours every day which are not traffic hours. Life in Silicon Valley is pretty fast and intense and everything is expensive. I finally understood the idea behind moving to North Carolina.
The Four Pillars of Good Living
So we started looking outside of California. We wanted to find a place where the entire family can move to so the kids (ours and her sister’s) will get to grow up together. We had a
couple of options, and of course, Raleigh was one of them. Luckily, Nili’s grandfather was living in Southern Pines at the time and invited us for a weekend vacation. We decided to use that trip to learn more about Raleigh and the Triangle area and see if it’s for us or not. We got connected with a realtor who showed us around- from Wake Forest all the way down to Apex and we just fell in love with the area. It basically answered all of our asking points. I now call it the 4 pillars of good living- Affordable life (housing, gas, childcare, food etc..), no traffic, good schools (you have three top universities within 45 minutes drive from each other) and a great area for the kids to grow in (there are so many options here). And that was it, we decided on Raleigh and started making our plans for the move.
Our Final Destination
It tooks us two more years to do it but it was worth the effort! We love the area and our life here. We were able to quickly re-establish ourselves and build new circles of friends and we are not looking back. Sure, we miss the weather and food from California (but we found same great options here as well), but for the first time ever, we can take a breath and enjoy life!