Travis AFB info

[XL0901]

Thanks (again) for the inputs. I'm familiar with what USAA has to offer and so far it sounds pretty good for me (The young first time home buyer). Not against other options though. Any thoughts on Suisun City? Looks kinda like a middle ground between Fairfield and Vacaville. I know about the part of FF south of Air Base pkwy and just wondering if SS fits that mold as well. Most of what I have seen online looks pretty descent so I'm a little unsure.

[contraildash]

Benicia is 30-45minutes West, and is AMAZING! OK, so I'm very biased. I grew up there.

I second her biased opinion...Benicia is awesome. My mom and sister live there, a block from the water (right by 9th street park). There's a good lil Mexican restaurant downtown. I enjoy going out there, it's quiet and relaxing.

Concord and Walnut Creek are fun times, I've stumbled out of Crogans and Tiki Toms more than my fair share.

Antioch and Pittsburg are slightly ghetto.

[The Kayla]

I second her biased opinion...Benicia is awesome. My mom and sister live there, a block from the water (right by 9th street park). There's a good lil Mexican restaurant downtown. I enjoy going out there, it's quiet and relaxing.

Concord and Walnut Creek are fun times, I've stumbled out of Crogans and Tiki Toms more than my fair share.

Antioch and Pittsburg are slightly ghetto.

If you are gonna send him that far, he might as well look at Blackhawk (this is the city I would live in if I was Rich.. lots of professional sportsmen live here) too...

I absolutly LOVE Benicia. The schools are amazing, the people are nice, down town every thursday from 5-8ish is a farmer's market. During the summer they have the Peddler's fair, and the speed boat races.. Down town is awesome, and if you go up towards Rose Drive, you'll have the big neighborhoods.. that have two schools, Matthew Turner and Henderson. Turner is maybe 15 yrs old, and Henderson has been around over 25yrs. Then, everyone goes to Benicia Middle School, and then Benicia High ( GO PANTHERS!).

We lived in Suisun City before moving to AZ. What areas are you looking at? The houses around Hacienda are OK. They aren't the best and the newest, but the neighborhood is pretty chill. There is also a HUGE park. Not to mention that Suisun City also has a down town "marina" that is very peaceful and relaxing.

[XL0901]

Ok last question I hope...My wife is a nurse and desperately searching for a job in the Travis area. She has found a few postings but looking for info on the hospitals in general. (i.e. what the public thinks of them) She is most interested in (Other than DGMC) Northbay in Fairfield, Vaca Valley in VV, and Sutter Solano in Vallejo Vs. Kaiser in Vallejo. Again not looking for different hospitals in the area just public opinion about these particular hospitals. (Good, Bad, Ugly) I realize most mil folks probably don't have a lot of experience with the off base services but any info is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[The Kayla]

Ok last question I hope...My wife is a nurse and desperately searching for a job in the Travis area. She has found a few postings but looking for info on the hospitals in general. (i.e. what the public thinks of them) She is most interested in (Other than DGMC) Northbay in Fairfield, Vaca Valley in VV, and Sutter Solano in Vallejo Vs. Kaiser in Vallejo. Again not looking for different hospitals in the area just public opinion about these particular hospitals. (Good, Bad, Ugly) I realize most mil folks probably don't have a lot of experience with the off base services but any info is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Kaiser in Vallejo is the BIG BIG BIG hospital in the bay area! I LOVE Kaiser! I would work there in a HEART BEAT! Plus, depending on where you go after Travis, there are some Kaisers in other states. Yes, they stay to the West Coast.. I think the furthest "east" is maybe, CO. Hell, there is even a Kaiser in Hawaii!

Kaiser is union, Kaiser can help to contin. education programs. Kaiser offeres so much more then Sutter, in my opinion... Again, I am biased.

[Techsan]

The housing market in Cali is not going "burst". It has gone down slightly (to a little more "reasonable" pricing), which is probably good.

Was looking at these old posts...hopefully this dude didn't lose too much of his ass!

[Infamous]

Bump. Anyone out here have any advice on where to live these days? I'm getting my first assignment out there and will be moving probably mid-late summer so I have some time to do research. Some background info, I'm single and will be a 1Lt when I get out there. I'm looking at renting (unless buying just absolutely makes more sense). Any "fun" areas that would be a good place for a young LT? Should I be looking for another pilot to split a place with?

[airmanjerm]

Bump. Anyone out here have any advice on where to live these days? I'm getting my first assignment out there and will be moving probably mid-late summer so I have some time to do research. Some background info, I'm single and will be a 1Lt when I get out there. I'm looking at renting (unless buying just absolutely makes more sense). Any "fun" areas that would be a good place for a young LT? Should I be looking for another pilot to split a place with?

First, forget buying there unless you plan to retire there. Housing is super-inflated and it takes forever to close on a home. Not trying to trash your dream of eventual home-ownership, but that's the reality. If you've got the money and time, go for it! But otherwise, a good rental company is called Kappel & Kappel (used them for years).

If you want to live close to the base, live in Vacaville. It's a short drive from the base (and really easy if you use the back gate), and has a good mix of nightlife, shopping/restaurants/etc. It's also sorta close to Davis, CA which is a college town and has a little more nightlife to check out.

You can live in Davis, of course, but it's kind of uber-liberal and really crowded because of the college kids. There are some nice things in Davis for sure, but personally I much preferred living in Vacaville and driving over for the eventual Davis outing.

Dixon is a little farming-type community between Vacaville and Davis. It gets crowded once a year with the state fair grounds having events there, but not too bad.

Fairfield (where the base is located) has a few nicer areas, but generally a lot more crime and crappy neighborhoods. You can get lucky and find one of the nicer ones of course, but I wouldn't recommend living anywhere close to North Texas Street, or just Texas st. in general. There's a pretty nice housing area that just came up in recent years off of Air Base Pkwy (which leads directly to the main gate), but I can't remember what it's called. I'm sure the housing office could tell you about that one in particular.

Cordelia is a little suburb of Fairfield, and one of the nicer little areas. It's pretty quiet, and close to Suisun Community College so there's a decent amount of restaurants and such, but not much else.

Suisun is also close to the base, but is really hit-and-miss on the neighborhood quality. Their downtown area used to be really bad, but in the last two years they have renovated it a great deal and it's a little nicer place to visit. (Plus you've gotta check out Bab's Delta Diner for breakfast.) But as far as living there is concerned, it's better than Fairfield but not as safe/entertaining as Vacaville.

Some people live as far out as Sacramento for some reason, it's a hell of a commute from there so I wouldn't really recommend it. There's also Benicia, which is the other direction (going towards San Francisco). It's a pretty little town, but not a quick drive. Then there's a pretty big city called Vallejo...it's kind of like a bigger version of Fairfield: lots of crime and bad areas, although you can get lucky and find a nicer spot once in a while I'm sure.

Aside from crime/ghetto-level/etc., the other bottom line I'd recommend is this: Vacaville, Fairfield, and Suisun are easy drives (more or less). But if you're gonna live anywhere else, do yourself a favor: if you find some gotta-have-it apartment or house somewhere to rent, get up at 0700 while you're in billeting, drive over to it, and see what traffic is like going and coming. Then do it again in the afternoon anytime between 3:30 and 6:00 p.m. Then ask yourself: is this apartment/house really worth dealing with this much traffic every time I go to the base? People usually underestimate how much traffic there is there, even though the big cities of San Francisco and Sacramento are 45-60 miles away.

Good luck...not sure about the squadron that you will work in, but Travis itself is a really nice base, in a lot of ways. Spent 12 years there myself, so it seems like home!

[XL0901]

Bump. Anyone out here have any advice on where to live these days? I'm getting my first assignment out there and will be moving probably mid-late summer so I have some time to do research. Some background info, I'm single and will be a 1Lt when I get out there. I'm looking at renting (unless buying just absolutely makes more sense). Any "fun" areas that would be a good place for a young LT? Should I be looking for another pilot to split a place with?

What are you coming to fly? Most of the single LTs rent apts or houses in Vacaville. There really isn't much for nightlife in Vacaville or Fairfield. Chances are you will spend most of your weekends in Sac or SF. I bought a house in Fairfield (one if the better areas) but I'm married. Two single Lts in my Sq bought houses but have roomates as well. It would be hard to do without. That being said chances are there will be someone looking for a roommate in your Sq. You could always rent my house...I'll be looking for renters in Aug.

[RogAir]

"Single" + "Fun" = San Francisco. If you are pilot and don't have to come to work everyday it's doable. As a LT you would probably need 2-3 roomates to swing the rent. You will not a have a better experience anywhere in the AF. Professionals only.

[Majestik Møøse]

"Single" + "Fun" = San Francisco. If you are pilot and don't have to come to work everyday it's doable. As a LT you would probably need 2-3 roomates to swing the rent. You will not a have a better experience anywhere in the AF. Professionals only.

Agreed with most of this post. Don't listen to any of that shit above about living local apartments. Get together with 2-4 other Lts (don't worry, half of them will be gone at any one time) and either rent a mansion or live in one of the cities. For $4000-5000 a month you can live like kings and have BAH left over.

Listen closely here, I don't have much experience but I do know this: this is the only time in the foreseeable future that you'll be able to live like everyone else wants to. Sooner or later you will meet a girl and marry her. She will most likely have a medium wage job (if at all) and certainly won't want any roommates. THAT's when you'll have the chance to live in a cookie-cutter apartment in Vacaville.

What jet are you flying?

[airmanjerm]

Listen closely here, I don't have much experience but I do know this: this is the only time in the foreseeable future that you'll be able to live like everyone else wants to. Sooner or later you will meet a girl and marry her. She will most likely have a medium wage job (if at all) and certainly won't want any roommates. THAT's when you'll have the chance to live in a cookie-cutter apartment in Vacaville.

Good lord yes.

My idea on "Vacaville nightlife" is that "it's better than Fairfield," which is like saying that it's better to break your left arm than your right one. lol In the grand scheme, there's not really much unless you want to hang out in some nasty dive bars with old biker chicks. In that case, you're all set! I'd recommend Vacaville over the other local 'villes just if you're looking to live close with a short/easy drive.

That commute to San Francisco is no joke - you need to plan at least 2 hours if it's morning/afternoon rush hour, or if you have to be in at a certain time - you often won't need that much, but there will be that day when somebody loses a mattress out on I-80 and traffic will back up for 20 miles (really). At some times when there's no traffic though (nights, mid-day, etc), it's a really easy drive. If you're up for that, there's certainly a lot to do there.

If you don't mind that kind of commute though, you can also check out San Jose, which is about 90 miles from Travis and not too bad of a drive. It's further than SF, but with the traffic it just about equals out, depending on the time of day. Very laid back city, either one has plenty to get into (and SF is pretty easy to get to from San Jose, relatively). Either one are good options if you're looking for fun over ease, which I highly agree you should make the most out of at this point.

[Techsan]

I know several guys that live in Sac, both married & single, and the commute isn't horrible. Probably in the neighborhood of 45 min or a little less.

[Majestik Møøse]

A good compromise between nightlife and commuting would be downtown Sac.

[Infamous]

What are you coming to fly? Most of the single LTs rent apts or houses in Vacaville. There really isn't much for nightlife in Vacaville or Fairfield. Chances are you will spend most of your weekends in Sac or SF. I bought a house in Fairfield (one if the better areas) but I'm married. Two single Lts in my Sq bought houses but have roomates as well. It would be hard to do without. That being said chances are there will be someone looking for a roommate in your Sq. You could always rent my house...I'll be looking for renters in Aug.

First, thanks for all of the responses guys, I really appreciate it.

I'm heading out for the KC-10! Pretty excited. Hopefully I can find another single LT to room with because I'd really like to find a decent house w/ a garage.

[Infamous]

Agreed with most of this post. Don't listen to any of that shit above about living local apartments. Get together with 2-4 other Lts (don't worry, half of them will be gone at any one time) and either rent a mansion or live in one of the cities. For $4000-5000 a month you can live like kings and have BAH left over.

Listen closely here, I don't have much experience but I do know this: this is the only time in the foreseeable future that you'll be able to live like everyone else wants to. Sooner or later you will meet a girl and marry her. She will most likely have a medium wage job (if at all) and certainly won't want any roommates. THAT's when you'll have the chance to live in a cookie-cutter apartment in Vacaville.

What jet are you flying?

haha no kidding that's exactly what I'm looking for! I just hope I can find a group of guys that want to do that.... I definitely want to do the whole "Brolaggio" thing, my buddy in pilot training with me now said a bunch of his buddies out at Charleston just got a 6000+ sq ft. house on the water with like 4 or so LT's... If I can't find any KC-10 drivers, I wonder how I could find anyone else that would be down to do it (sts)...

[RogAir]

Benicia does not = single haven. It has one non-biker bar and is pretty much dead at night. Family friendly yes, babe central..no.

Big house + garage does not = SF.

Rent or stay on base for 6 months while exploring the area, then decide where is right for you.