Travelling to Palm Springs - help

I thought I'd come here because there is no travel section on the U.S.!

I plan to move to Palm Springs at the end of next year. I've never travelled out of New Zealand before (Oh yeah I'm kiwi haha) and I was wondering about jobs. I will be a qualified Graphic Designer by then - is it realistic for me to commute to LA every day? Or are there jobs nearer? Any other info you can give me is welcome too. Thanks!

I am really not sure of the job situation in Palm Springs or the nearby towns. Commuting (by car) to Los Angeles is possible but it is about a 100 miles away, with usually bad traffic as one gets closer to L.A., so probably not realistic unless you don't mind spending hours on the road everyday.

On the plus side, is that Palms Springs is close to beautiful places like Joshua Tree National Park and Anza-Borrego State Park.

Yeah that's the attraction! Haha. So I take it there aren't any trains or suchlike around? That is a bit far....I might have to look at Hemet for a job I guess. Thankyou What else....do you know if the people there are very welcoming of foreigners? Or anything about the flatting/renting situation?

Originally Posted by ponydozer

Yeah that's the attraction! Haha. So I take it there aren't any trains or suchlike around? That is a bit far....I might have to look at Hemet for a job I guess. Thankyou What else....do you know if the people there are very welcoming of foreigners? Or anything about the flatting/renting situation?

I think there is a passenger train that goes from Palm Springs to L.A., but I don't think it runs regular enough to use it for commuting back and forth to work. You may want to check around the San Bernardino area, which is only about half the distance to L.A. It is very developed and populated, which may have jobs in your field. I don't live in Palm Springs, so I can't really say for sure, but the people there seem nice as far as I can tell. As for the renting situation, I have no idea, you can probably find some info if some search around the internet.

Commuting from Palm Springs to LA wouldn't be as bad as blowing Dick Cheney, but it'd be darn close. Have you considered working remote? You can find work through guru.com and do everything online. I've used graphic designers from guru many times... it works well for client and artist. Otherwise, try looking for gigs in the inland empire. It'd be better than driving to LA, and there are more companies out there than most would guess. Many of the Marketing departments have in-house people even if they use agencies for the bigger projects.

Pax y Amor

Yeah I have thought about that, but I'd have to get a reputation first and that might take a while so I was thinking get an 'actual job' first. Plus I like talking to clients directly, it's a thing I have...
Thanks for that! guru.com...

Yeah I've been scouring San Bernardino since posting this, I didn't realise how massive the place is! (coming from New Zealand you expect everything in one city to be within an hour away). I've been looking at the work people do around there, I've found a lot of religiously based graphic design. But I'm sure I'd be okay

I was also thinking of just working at a print factory for awhile until I get a feel for the place, that way I could work closer, maybe even in P.S. itself.

I also didn't realise how 'touristy' Palm Springs is...I hope renting won't be too much. I've subscribed to Apartments.com but they haven't emailed me with anything in my price range yet....is 165-180 a week unreasonable?

Thanks people!

For a long time, Palm Springs was a retirement location and playground for the California rich, who liked the hot, dry climate. Think golf courses, tennis courts and skin cancer. Nowadays, I understand it has a much younger population and is something of a boom-town.

I'd forget commuting to LA though, unless you reeeeeeeeelly like the inside of your car.

You might want to try craigslist for your apartment search. http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/apa/

You can usually find better/cheaper deals than you'll find on the more commercial listings.

Whoops... here is the link for Palm Springs.
http://palmsprings.craigslist.org/apa/

Is Palm Springs the town that's famous for it's golf courts or its Palm Desert?