Austin was great when it was the only liberal and cultural oasis in TX, back when that meant something. When it was a Texas-sized college town. SXSW created a reality distortion field for tourists looking for the Good Life and since then they’ve been trying to graft a tech hub on top of a place that was never suited.

One under discussed downside to Austin is how isolated it is. 

In LA you're a 5 hour drive from Vegas, 6 hours to SF, 3 to San Diego, 5 to Yosemite, skiing is a few hours away, Joshua Tree is in your back yard. You can sail, surf, hop down to Baja etc. Austin? Day trips to Houston or Dallas...  even Marfa is 7 hrs.

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But <3 hours flights to NYC and SF/LA makes up for that 

Not really any other millennial catering city that can compete with that, except maybe Chicago

friendly neighborhood anon // crypto angel + advisor + shitposter

That’s true. International travel is much more painful than being on the coasts:
- NYC is the move for Europe
- Cali for Asia

ATX to NY or SF is 4 hrs but I see your point. With traffic and getting through security you're looking at 6 hrs. When I lived there I felt a great sense of geographic isolation. Achieving escape velocity was tough. Getting to Europe for example turns into an ordeal. 18 hrs as opposed to 10 all things considered