15 things a 30-year-old Londoner learned when he moved to San Francisco and started working in Silicon Valley

It's not hard to see the draw of life in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California. Already a vibrant city famed for its iconic Golden Gate Bridge, hilly streets, painted ladies, and quirky dive bars, the enigma of the nearby Silicon Valley has lured countless tech-savvy and ambitious millennials. It's all conveniently located close to the California wine country and some stunning natural scenery, too. 30-year-old Londoner Nicolas Carey relocated to San Francisco with design and development agency Potato a year ago. He spends four days working in San Francisco and one day a week in Mountain View, Silicon Valley, when he visits Potato's client Google.  Business Insider caught up with Carey while he was in London for the festive period to hear about his first year of life in the Bay as a so-called "transplant." According to Carey, there are many things about living in the Bay — and working in Silicon Valley — that aren't what you'd expect from a global tech hub. Here are 15 things he has learned since moving to San Francisco: SEE ALSO: This 28-year-old got paid £8,000 a month to Instagram her way around the world staying in 5-star luxury villas 30-year-old Londoner Nicolas Carey relocated to San Francisco with design and development agency Potato a year ago. Here are 15 things he has learned since becoming a "transplant." Temperatures can vary from block to block. Instagram Embed:http://instagram.com/p/BXMSL3tghgM/embed/Width: 658px   San Francisco's climate is generally pretty mild, but temperatures in and around the city can vary dramatically from block to block. "The Golden Gate bridge is often covered in fog, which locals have named 'Karl,'" Carey said. Karl the Fog even has its own Twitter and Instagram accounts, each with hundreds of thousands of followers. "If you live in the Inner or Outer Sunset areas you generally have worse weather than the Mission, for example, that's only a few miles apart." It's worth taking these microclimates into account when picking where to rent, he said, as well as remembering to layer up. You can easily pay about $1,000 a month in rent for one half of a bunk bed. As a Londoner, Carey's no stranger to sky-high rents, yet he says accommodation in San Francisco is much more expensive. "One thing in general that surprised me about San Francisco is that you'd think the city is going to be super high-tech in every way. It's not," he said. "Here most places are advertised on Craigslist — it's like Gumtree but a significantly worse user experience, where you need to watch out for scams." He added that you always need to check out the space in person. "Often it's just a bed in the living room. Others try and sell it as a party 'hacker' house, but it's just about 20 people sharing loads of bunkbeds. And I've heard of people paying about $1,000 for one half of a bunk bed." Carey said the best tip he ever got was to ask for his work's housing list. See the rest of the story at Business Insider