Is there a city with anywhere near the critical mass of SF?
If that happened to be on the other side of the EU, would you be OK living a 3-hour flight away from Amsterdam, rather than a 13 hour flight away?
Is commuting back and forth 3-hours compatible with the "SF-level work ethic", as you call it?
And nobody checks your social media handles when you land.
Isn't the point of YC (if you make it) that the startup and YC = your future?
What do you actually want? Can't have everything.