We're moving from Millbrae to San Jose!
For the past 10 years we rented an apartment in Millbrae, a small city that is conveniently in the middle of San Francisco peninsula. It is 30 minutes north of San Jose and 30 minutes south of downtown San Francisco, and is right next to San Francisco International Airport. There's not much to do in Millbrae. Sure it has modern living necessities but not a lot of variety. It's mostly residential areas, similar to neighboring cities San Bruno, Burlingame, and San Mateo. But what makes these areas great is easy access to surrounding areas. Want to buy groceries? Ranch 99 is 15 minutes away both north and south. Craving Japanese food? several good restaurants in downtown San Mateo, 15 minutes away. Traveling? we can see the airport from our apartment windows. Movies? there are theaters within 10 minutes drive...although the Millbrae Blockbuster and Hollywood video stores closed down within the past 2 years...sad. One other aspect is Millbrae has a good academic environment. with parks, trails, recreation center, a fairly decent library, and prestigious schools, it is perfect for students.
A trend nowadays is to live in the suburbs and work in the city. San Francisco Bay Area is exactly like this. Sometimes work is also located in the Suburbs, like those high tech companies in San Jose/Silicon Valley. But living like this allows more opportunity to go to different places. I know a lot of people from San Jose and Fremont area who do not know where Millbrae or San Mateo is, but people from Millbrae know where other places are. I would also recommend taking the Caltrain. It is a good way to get familiar with the peninsula from San Fran all the way south to Gilroy. BART is useful for north/east bay also.
One disadvantage in living in San Jose is that mom and dad have to drive to Lai Lai Restaurant, and I couldn't walk them back when they get off work... But since they might stay longer in Taiwan from now on, the cost of renting an apartment comes first. Hopefully living at my sister's place now would give me another perspective of the bay area...though I doubt it because I lived at both sisters' place before and they're about the same XDD
