How do Americans do holidays?

[Champagneforeveryone]

We've just flown to Venice for a few days, and I was reading the guide book which says that flights arrived only from a couple of US states.

Which got me thinking how very little I know about this and it seems I have a huge amount of preconceptions 🙄

I imagined that you could fly from every state to anywhere in the world - obviously not! So I'm guessing there's a large number of internal flights? Are they expensive? Are they as time consuming as taking a flight abroad, or are they similar to taking a bus.

Also, does this limit how you holiday? I had always imagined that the US was similar to us and people holidayed abroad frequently (ours would be mostly Europe with the occasional long haul "big" holiday) Do you fly to different states or do you leave the US?

TIA for filling the gaps in my knowledge while DH showers 😉

I mean most of my bartending friends back home in the US are making $50-75,000 a year.

But sure, they would be so much better off working for minimum wage and hoping they get some voluntary tips.

@Annastacia1

You are talking about philosophy.

I am talking about reality. As someone who has waited tables in both the US and the UK. Which I assume you have never done.

It really takes a special kind of arrogance to tell workers that you know what's best for them, from whatever bubble you are living in. Why would I prefer a system that pays me less? So as to satisfy your philosophical inclinations?

I'm not naive or ignorant, I imagine I've lived in more countries and travelled more of the world than you have, which is why I try to listen to people's lived experiences. Give it a try sometime.

And stop ruining the American threads ffs.

Fucking hell this thread. It’s like as soon as someone says ‘America’ there’s a Pavlov’s dog attack response.

The United States has some amazing things about it. It’s perfectly possible to enjoy these with these and also acknowledge the United States, much like every country in the world including the UK, has flaws. It’s also perfectly possible to want to enjoy, and talk about, the many brilliant aspects of the United States without needing to turn the discussion into one about its problems.

This is incorrect.

If a server makes less than minimum wage after tips, the business must make up the difference.

No one waiting tables wants to change this. It’s a very lucrative job the way that it’s structured.

True. Danny Meyer, the famous NY restaurateur, tried eliminating tips and raising wages in his NYC restaurants. Everyone hated it, and lots of his best staff quit.

Danny Meyer banned tipping at his restaurants — but employees say it has led to lower pay and high turnover

I tended bar while attending university. The money was awesome.

Yes I also put myself through uni working in bars PT
Laugh all you want at the idea of a bartender making 50K/year but it's a real thing.

So, only if you fall into certain narrow categories then?

As opposed to most civilised countries where everyone has equal access to healthcare?

The UK does not believe in paying a fair living wage.

The UK tops up low wages with a multitude of benefits, paid for by the taxpaying stooges or funded by government borrowing (which will ultimately be paid for by the taxpaying and mortgage paying and credit card bill paying stooges of the working and middle classes), and the class that benefits from this is the owner class who can keep wages as low as they can squeeze them.

It's subsidies for the rich while the working poor and middle are getting stiffed to such an extent that buying your own home isn't even a remote possibility in many regions, and people worried all winter about turning on their heat.

$50-75k waitressing in a high end restaurant or bartending in a busy bar is not unusual at all.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Narrow category?
Does the UK have functioning schools?

There are currently 1.3 million active duty members of the US armed forces, and about 800k in the reserves, all branches.

Since 1945, the GI Bill has transformed American society and higher education, and the Veterans Admistration VA health service treats millions along with their spouses and partners annually.

Its provisions have directly benefited all the members of the services for almost 80 years. Its initial impact was felt by approximately 15 million returning veterans of WW2.

Under the ACA, health insurance has become affordable for millions, and Medicaid has expanded significantly. And if you are on Medicaid, you won't find yourself languishing on a grotty, understaffed public ward in a hospital. You'll very likely have a private room with a shower and your own loo. Meals will be brought to you. Your water will be refilled regularly.

Awaiting shrieks of disbelief and references to 'unicorns' from certain quarters...

Population of the US: 300 million.

Does the US have functioning schools? Do they have any time left to teach maths after they've finished swearing allegiance to the flag and then reminding six year olds what to do in a school shooting scenario?

Not to trouble you with the facts, but the US does better than the UK on most measures of education status according to UNESCO and the World Bank

www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/United-Kingdom/United-States/Education

True. So glad several posters corrected this. Wait staff must get at least minimum wage.

Here's a list of minimum wage by state:

www.hivedesk.com/blog/minimum-wage-us-state-federal-2022-2023/#:~:text=The%20projected%20federal%20minimum%20wage%20in%202023%20The,%2416.20%20per%20hour%2C%20beginning%20on%20January%201%2C%202023.

Some low, some high and some in between

My local Target Dept. Store offers $20.00 per hour to start, no experience necessary. Some states will pay less and a few will pay more.

Nobody is going to get rich working the checkout at Target, but some of them will be making in the neighborhood of what a junior doctor in the UK gets paid.

To be fair, if I were unlucky enough to live in the US I would probably want to homeschool my kids too.

Answer - it doesn't. Homeschooling parents often eschew testing, assessment, or any government oversight of their family life and parenting choices. They're often people who have removed themselves from mainstream society. And the sector isn't the size you think it is, not by a long shot.

But the straws you're grasping at are entertaining, I'll give you that..

The going minimum wage where I live is $16-20 per hour. That is what the average teen can make per hour working in a popcorn shop for summer, someone with very basic skills and no prior experience. Babysitting teens can make $20 and up per hour. The local city minimum is officially $15.40/ hour. Insisting on the minimum would mean people would make less.

I suspect there's a lot you don't understand about economics in the real world. You seem completely unaware of the nuances of the discussion around minimum wage. Nor do you have any appreciation that there's a difference between federal law and state or city law or local reality, and the role of market forces.

Which is weird given the degree of absolute certainty evident in your pronouncements here.

350 MILLION PEOPLE

There should be a klaxon that goes off whenever people say why can't the US be like the UK or Australia or New Zea-350 MILLION PEOPLE