I just spent the past week down in Orange County, in fact. I took my work laptop and all the stuff I needed to spend a week away from home (exercise gear, books, personal laptop, foodstuffs I didn't want to go bad while I was away), and drove down Saturday before last. I stayed at my mom and stepdad's house down there, keeping him company while my mom was out of town (she's a lot more confident with traveling than I've been, though I've had external circumstances that made that harder). During the days I'd drive down to the condo they had nearby, which they were renting out but is currently empty and typically used as my mom's office. Because I'm fully remote at work, I didn't need to get permission, just headed down and got my work space sorted out down there.
Having now been back home for one workday, it's struck me how much like a vacation it was, even if I was working my normal hours. For one thing, the commute gave me a nice sense of split between work and not-work, even if I spent about ten minutes in the car each way. I'd arrive in the morning, change out of my jeans and pour a bowl of cereal, before logging on for the day. At five, I'd log out, change back into my jeans and drive back to watch German TV with my stepdad and have dinner.
The other thing that made it feel like a real vacation was the scenery. They live in a pretty prosperous part of Orange County, not far from Laguna Beach and the coast generally, with communities sprinkled onto hillsides, so that basically every house has a beautiful view. I kept going for my daily walks last week, and quickly realized that if I walked up the hill, I'd get to a road that had amazing views east toward the mountains, or west toward the coast. A far cry from the flat suburbia that I usually walk around in Palo Alto.
That last part was a bit of an adjustment for me, because I've spent the last twenty years being down on Orange County. I went to college at UC Irvine, and always thought of it as a blinkered place, full of right-wing people and racist cops. If I've considered the merits of moving to Southern California, it's always been to Los Angeles, where there's exciting cultural stuff going on and I'm slightly less likely to run into a pro-Trump protest. However, the prospect of being able to enjoy views like that every day has made me a little more open to settling in Orange County...
What also helped was the subtle changes from my regular routine. For whatever reason, even though I work from home and have zero commute, I usually feel a little rushed in the evenings at home, trying to fit in writing, dinner, cleaning and whatever other tasks I want to accomplish. Down there, my stepdad usually cooked and preferred that I leave the dishes in the sink, so he could put them in the dishwasher. Plus, they've got their cleaners back in once a week, so the place was more spotless than my house, which was also nice.
One other thing, not a particularly big one but fairly important now that I consider it, was the feeling of taking a break from the pandemic. Here in Palo Alto I still wear a mask when I go out for walks, or at least carry it with me. Down there, because so few people are out walking on the roads near the condo, I didn't even bring a mask along, and honestly didn't need it (it's not like there are stores nearby that I could nip into). I maintained my usual rules of masking up in stores and of not eating in restaurants, but on Friday my stepdad and I grabbed a drink at the balcony of one of the local hotels, and ended up eating dinner there.
As I said, I spent the bulk of the pandemic at home, first on my own and then with my then-girlfriend. Since I've been on my own again, I've been trying to balance staying safe (the pandemic is still out there, even if it's not quite as out of control) with doing stuff outside the house to keep sane. My first vacation away from home since 2020 was at Christmas, when I went to Orange County to see the family, and then my first long weekend away was in March, when I went skiing for a couple of days with my dad. This trip has awakened me to the possibility of decamping somewhere else to work for a few days, and really taking advantage of being 100% remote. I don't see myself becoming a digital nomad (I'm still not completely sold on air travel) but it's nice that the possibility is open.
And failing that, I've also spent some time scanning Zillow for houses within my budget in Orange County. I'd be limited to condos, but it's nice to see I'm earning enough now for it to be a realistic idea. It might be a stretch to imagine that I'll truly end up there (I have a better social network here in the Bay Area), but I'm not ruling anything out just yet.
Though if I do move down there, I'm going to have to invest in a Brita filter, because the tap water is gross, y'all.
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