Where to live?

Lots of deep sea guys I know live in the Philippines or Thailand. They seem to enjoy it, the younger guys anyway. Let me know, I’ll put you in contact with one of them. Give you the ins and outs of it.

[QUOTE=Heat Miser;146375]Far better Mexican food in Arizona and New Mexico.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=cmakin;146380]or dare I say Mexico?[/QUOTE]

False.

Tex-Mex = Awesome

Food choices aside, I’ve been pretty happy in Galveston. Relatively low cost of living, no state income tax, decent oilfield port, and close to education and training facilities. Oh and the Tex-Mex is pretty good too.

[QUOTE=NewGrad;146303]New academy grad here, looking to move here soon. Where’s a good place to live for a mariner? Should one live close to a major port/union hall in order to possibly reduce traveling time for jobs, or is that impossible/hard to predict? Should I live somewhere close to the union schools so in my off time it would be easier to take classes? Or should I just try to find an area I enjoy with a relatively low cost of living? Just looking for your opinion/experiences/what would you do if you could do it all over again. Thanks for your responses.[/QUOTE]

If you are fresh out of school it might be best to live in or near a large port city where there are lots of job opportunities nearby. When I started I lived in Seattle because of the shipping to Alaska and the union halls. In or near a large city on the GOM might fit the bill as well. As far as classes, in some cases travel and housing is paid so not an issue but again a large port city might have more available.

Once you get established it’s a new ball game as you can travel depending upon your rotation.

[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;146429]If you are fresh out of school it might be best to live in or near a large port city where there are lots of job opportunities nearby. When I started I lived in Seattle because of the shipping to Alaska and the union halls. In or near a large city on the GOM might fit the bill as well. As far as classes, in some cases travel and housing is paid so not an issue but again a large port city might have more available.

Once you get established it’s a new ball game as you can travel depending upon your rotation.[/QUOTE]

I would add that the proximity to an international airport is a thought worth considering, depending on what type of work you get. Living in the middle of nowhere that has 1 flight a day just to get to a real airport for a direct flight can cause you some grief and cost you a day or more of travel that could be spent enjoying life.

Thanks for the input guys, I’ll definitely take your advice into consideration. I get my license in March, maybe I’ll go down for Mardi Gras and scope out New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf. I was cadet aboard a tanker in the Gulf, and wasn’t too impressed with Beaumont and Lakes Charles, but we made it down to Corpus Christi and had a blast down there. In the Navy I was stationed in Charleston, SC and loved living there, maybe I’ll end up back there someday, I guess the Port of Charleston is handling more and more cargo there every year. Plus Savannah is a hop and a skip away.

Never made it over to the Left coast while in the Navy, but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like the PNW. It’s just hard for this Midwest kid to accept the housing prices over there. Still, people are moving there in droves, they must have something good going on over there.

My mentor/sea daddy lives in Las Vegas. No income tax state, low cost of living, good weather and fun. All sounds good on paper, but I definitely could see myself dead in a gutter in 6 mos later after moving there. Probably have a smile on my face though, haha.

WRT states with no state income tax, those states make up the difference in other ways with other taxes and “fees”. Also some places are heavy on the regulations without being generous with the services. Here’s a site that sheds some light on which states offer the most “freedom”, in their opinion.

Live near a decent airport first and foremost. If you have to drive many hours to an airport you will be an unhappy sailor.

After that, it depends on your desires, climate, cost of living, recreation, taxes, do you have or want kids, etc.

That’s the nice part of this job. You can pretty much live anywhere as long as you can get to the job in a reasonable amount of time. Hence the advice about airports.

Sorry if this is a bit of a necropost. Last job had very crappy internet.