Why I am Leaving Austin & Shifting Again to NYC

Posted: 4/17/23 | April seventeenth, 2023

After eight years in Austin, I’m leaving and heading again to NYC full-time.

I first visited Austin in 2013, bought hooked, and began coming again a lot that I made a decision to maneuver right here in 2015. I used to be solely semi-here my first couple of years. I break up my time in NYC for a bit, traveled rather a lot, and lived in Paris for a bit.

However, in 2019, this turned my solely residence.

Nonetheless, over the past yr, it’s change into clear that town and I’ve grown aside. The bizarre little city that drew me right here as a respite from the hustle and bustle of NYC is now not a bizarre little city however an enormous metropolis missing huge metropolis infrastructure. The visitors is horrible, my meals truck parks are gone, it’s costlier, and quirky Rainey Avenue is now all excessive rises and accommodations. Town’s character has simply modified rather a lot as Austin has change into “the place to be.”

Now, I’m not attempting to be a kind of “get off my garden” individuals. I’m certain individuals lamented of us like me coming and altering their metropolis. Simply as of us earlier than them and people earlier than them.

Change is a continuing in life and attempting to cease change is like attempting to carry again the tide. Austin can change all it needs. Not all the modifications have been dangerous. There’s much more to do within the metropolis, there’s extra jazz and comedy, higher meals, and the airport has extra direct flights now.

But when Austin needs to be a metropolis — and its native leaders appear to need it that method whilst they bemoan the rising value of housing — then be a metropolis. Give us higher infrastructure, extra housing, bike paths, and public transportation. Austin has change into a metropolis however with none of the advantages that include cities.

Final yr, roaming from NYC to Paris to Berlin to London, I started to note that the issues I really like about huge cities aren’t current in Austin. I missed strolling in all places, museums, jazz golf equipment, public transportation, copious artwork museums, and variety of individuals, concepts, and meals. I missed the hustle and bustle that comes with locations like NYC, Boston, London, and different metropolises.

I spent a number of final yr in Austin and, beginning in October due to my allergy pictures, I didn’t depart for six months. Throughout all that point, I dated, joined social golf equipment, and constructed a life there.

However my coronary heart simply saved whispering, “This isn’t the place.”

Austin now not appears like residence. NYC has all the time had a bit of my coronary heart. I need to return and see the way it goes. Will I spend 8 years there? I don’t know. By then, I’ll be fifty!

However, proper now, I’m able to say goodbye to Austin. After eight years, this chaper has come to an finish.