SoCal Aspies, please help...

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I have to travel to the USA in a few days, to SoCal, and I'm very scared. Mostly, how do I go from place to place, say from the hotel to the office? Is it safe to take taxis? And the social subtext, how do I get along with them SoCal people, what should I take into account?

does this mean your application was successful?
is SoCal "Southern California?"

I'm from Orange County, which is about 40KM south of LA.

Don't worry so much, it's not that bad here

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have, but here's my answers to your questions so far:

Public transportation is not very efficient here, even in the downtown areas. Plan to take a taxi most of the time, or better yet rent a car if you can - these are plentiful and relatively inexpensive - you can get one at the airport.

Taxis very safe as long as you make sure that the taxi is licensed (if it looks like a taxi, it probably is), 10-15% gratuities are expected.

Southern California is very cosmopolitan, with large communities of non-english speaking immigrants from all over the world -This means there are really no unusual social customs that you need to be concerned with.

Just be polite like you would anywhere else.

Hope this helps, and have a great trip!

Yes, SoCal is south california. And I'm supposed to start working soon.

Grisha, thanks a million! Sounds like I'll be very near you. I have NLD so I have very bad visio-spatial impairment. If I rent a car, I'll get lost immediately with no way back. I'm fretting, what if the company expects me to rent a car? I can't say I have AS/NLD!

Don't panic, if it's just a matter of getting from your hotel to the office then you can probably take a bus. Just understand that our public transportation is so inefficient that it's often faster to walk

Maybe you can pick up a handheld GPS while you're here? You would not believe how inexpensive consumer electronics are in the USA...

I live in Orange County as well... in Southern California. Just fyi, to me at least the transportation .. sucks here, but if you are going to work and then wherever you are staying and they are relatively close the bus could feasibly work depending on how fast the bus comes because I can tell you that it generally is always late and it's very frusterating for me.

There's not a lot of social things you have to really worry about, though I advise if you are in a high 'crime' zone, that you don't travel alone at night, it's dangerous in certain areas.

And there are a lot of people that don't speak English very well, or at all so it may be hard to communicate with them.

Thank you, guys! I think (not sure) that I'll be in Irvine... Is the bus safe enough for a woman alone? I remember that in LA they told me not to ride buses alone...

I'm not qualified to speak about LA, but the FBI has named Irvine the "safest city in America" 5 years in a row - whatever that means.

http://www.ocmetro.com/t-Irvine_named_s ... 6_1_09.asp

It's supposed to be safe, but common sense always applies no matter where you are - avoid late night travel, be aware of your surroundings, etc. The local police departments around here often have online crime databases so you can check out if the area you will be in is bad.

Good luck!

Aww Irvine is really close to where I live (like.. 10-15 mins away from me) I would say it is safe in Irvine, but just a tip even in the safe areas stuff can still happen. however I do suggest that you try not to look like you are lost (I am not sure how that looks since I am not great with facial expressions) but, yes.. always make sure you look like you know where you are going. It's just a tip for everyone really... and stay in lighted areas too.

It does calm me down a bit to know there's someone "I know" from WP 10-15 minutes from there... To me, right now, it feels like the biggest and scariest place on Earth...

And how far would I be from the SD Zoo? I'd love to see it.

San Diego zoo is about 100KM south - you can take a train there pretty easily (Google "Amtrak") , definitely worth the trip...

wow, 100kms is quite a lot... But then again, if I can go for the day it'd be wonderful.

It seems like a lot, but it only takes about 1.5 hrs or less by train, I've driven there in a little over 1 hour.

I agree with the previous posters, and in particular:

The great thing is that SoCal residents (generally) are prepared to deal with people from all parts of the world. We expect to see lots of different social customs, and tend make allowances. As Grisha said, politeness is always good.

As for transportation, unfortunately yes - our public transport is adequate at best. If you are only here for a short time, taxis are a good option. If you are here for an extended stay, you'll want to figure out the most efficient route using public transportation, or maybe get someone from the office to pick you up on their way to work? Ride sharing or car-pooling is common here. Since you don't drive, you could help pay for fuel.

If they ask you to rent a car, just tell them you don't know how to drive. No further explanation needed. (They may be surprised, because most people here do drive, but not all.)

Hope that helps.

JSB

wow, that's not much at all!

Do you guys like living there? Do you feel at home? I mean, when I was in LA, I felt like it was so cold and scary...

Thank you, JSchoolboy! That reassures me. I'll be there for a few days only, so I'll take taxis.

When I have an Aspie moment, I'll say "oh, this is how we do it in the Middle East!" "In the Middle East, eye contact/multitasking/smalltalk is considered impolite."