I moved from Ann Arbor to Seattle back in '05 - site unseen. My brother was living in Portland at the time with his girl and they wanted to check it out too, so we all moved in together. Got a place in Upper Queen. I used to walk down that crazy ass hill to hit up the bars in Lower Queen, which I affectionately refer to as The LQ. Still have no idea why that term hasn't taken off yet. Easy Street records is down there so I would kill some Dick's and then listen to records all day. Once the evening rolled around I would sit up in Kerry Park and watch the sunset behind the Olympic Fucking Mountains. Yep - Olympics to the west and Cascades to the east. It's a 50 minute drive to Snoqualmie for decent skiing at the Summit. Go a bit north to Mt. Baker for an even better downhill. Baker, btw, has the world record for snowfall in a month AND in a year. 95 feet beyotch!

After that first year, I got a little sick of living with a couple so I moved to the north end of Cap Hill. I used to say it was where Hipsterville U.S.A. ended and really really old money began. I was working in the ID at the time and would usually walk home. Throw on some headphones and cut through the city up to Pine. Maybe stop by OMA's insanely progressive library, walk through Lawrence Halprin's Freeway Park - which feels like forest hiking but in the middle of downtown, and might have even ended up at Sun Liquor from time to time. That's a great little bar tucked away on the hill. They make a fantastic Manhattan. Working on 4th was great cause my lunch opportunities were pretty spectacular. Chinatown, Pioneer Square, I could even walk to the market and back in an hour.

On weekends I would jog around Volunteer Park and sometimes pay my respects to the master himself - Bruce Lee. Brandon is buried right beside him too. I would cruise Broadway pumping Sir-Mix-a-Lot's 'Posse on Broadway'. Shout out to Rainier. To add to onehunna's list - Seattle is home to the Fleet Foxes, Pedro the Lion, Heart, Quincy Jones, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, and Dave Matthews. Dave lives in Wallingford I think. I hear he walks around like it ain't no thing. I even had jury duty once in the courthouse downtown and sure enough, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab was in the stands with me. It was a hung jury, but me and Ben both thought that fool was guilty. True story. And yeah, the venues are great here - small and big, easy to get to. The Capitol Hill Block Party is fun, Bumbershoot (in the City Center) is good, and just the drive down to Sasquatch along the Columbia River is worth the trip alone. It's easily one of the best looking parts of the entire country. I should also mention that the Pacific Northwest is one of the few remaining temperate rain forests on the planet with some of the oldest living trees in the world.

I live in Vancouver now, but still have a handful of friends in Seattle who manage to get me down there a few times a year. I stay at my buddy's in Ballard. He has a boat now so after a bit of volleyball in Golden Gardens, we shimmy up the canal on his sunrunner and watch the fishing boats come in. Last time I was on the water, we saw a yoga class on paddle boards. No joke. That had to be the most Seattle thing ever. Ha ha!

And as far as the rain goes. Just be prepared and you'll be fine. Besides, the water keeps everything super green and makes the city glisten with the most charming sparkles - be still my heart.

Posse Up!

All of those locations are good. I've lived in Belltown, which has a ton of nightlife, but is very expensive. Right now I'm on Capitol Hill, which also has a ton of nightlife. It's the gay district, but if you don't mind getting hit on every now and then it's a lot of fun. I had a girlfriend who had a place in Queen Anne and it's nice there, and not as expensive as it is in the heart of the city. Quieter, too. The U District can be sketchy but yeah, it's cheap and fun. Tons of UW students up there. I head up there whenever I wanna get white boy wasted.

Luke, where you at in MT? I attended the University of Montana in Missoula. I can see why you'd want to get to Seattle, but Montana sure is an amazing state. I look forward to one day returning.

I think the biggest thing is having a thorough grasp on how much money you have and how much money you spend and watch every dollar. I've always been OCD with my accounts. Now there are apps like Mint and stuff that do the hard work for you. If you figure out and watch closely you can survive on a way smaller amount than you expect.

Finding a good place to live is probably the single most important thing. Find out from people who live there the different areas and get recommendations for areas that are still nice but cheaper than the rest. Find a room there on a month to month basis and live there while you feel area place out. Once you live somewhere for a bit you know exactly which neighborhood you want to live in, and being tied into a 1 year lease can suck in those situations. Plus you never know the friends your going to make, job you're going to get etc.

If I were you I would spend a couple more paychecks where you are, and save EVERY penny, and research places to live. Save as much as you possibly can right now and accept that you may have a miserable month not spending any money. But it'll all be worth it when you have a couple extra bucks in the place you really want to be.

Another way I saved boatloads was not being a beer snob - the cheapest beers (bud light, coors light, miller light - whichever one is on sale that week. If the beer ain't on sale, walk your ass to the next store. Learn to cook for yourself. If you're on reddit, I recommend /r/frugal and /r/budgetfood and /r/Cheap_Meals/. Once you stop eating out, and take note of where you spend you money, you realize how much you can save by cutting out that morning coffee, that tall can from the corner store, whatever etc. Those little things that you don't even realize you are buying because it's $5 here or there make a huge difference in your monthly budget.

Also, don't waste your time on the get money quick schemes. There are sites like Mechanical Turk and fivrr and donating blood (is that still a thing?) but the amount of time you spend on them isn't worth it. It's way more worthwhile to try to get an office assistant or data entry job off craigslist. Help a small biz for $8 an hour, 5-10 hours a week. They tend to have more flexible scheduling, and maybe you can end up doing some of the other work from your other job. That can bring in an extra $160-$320/month.

Lastly, keep in mind it's all temporary. If you work hard, focus on grow your skills not just the paycheck, and try to be a good person to everyone you come across, opportunities will open up. People like helping people they know and trust and like. In Australia, I ended up living into a closet for a fraction of the rent. I didn't end up paying the last half months rent because they enjoyed their feisty little American chick. The room was exactly as big as the air mattress I slept on. It was phenomenal. Because I religiously washed the dishes and wiped down the counters EVERY SINGLE MORNING (things people typically hate doing and put off until it's gross) they didn't mind the piles of clothes and stuff that would float out of my "bedroom" and into the hallway. Little things like that make a big difference.

Be happy and keep your head up.

This is exactly what Portland is like