Reasons you wouldn’t move to US

[Preiu]

Dh has been offered a job in the US. The increase in salary would put us into a completely different wealth bracket but I really don’t want to move.

• fear of home invasion with guns
• school shooting - guns in general I guess
• American exceptionalism attitude annoys me
• Being away from family
• Not having Europe on doorstep

Can I ask if you have any other reasons

And within each state there's so many cities and places to see

😀
Palm Springs is in the desert of course, and always crazy hot. Most people of course live/ holiday in the cooler coastal zone.

It is unpleasantly hot. Even here in the mid-Atlantic it's been over 35 more days than I can remember in previous years. It may hit 40 this week, not counting the heat index, and it's not dry here.

But if you go to the desert in August, you know perfectly well it's going to be hot. I looked at the forecast for Phoenix and it's not going below 32 all week, even at night. And Death Valley is called Death Valley for a reason...

There's absolutely loads to see and do in the Americas, though. Which is good, because it is not cheap to fly to Europe these days. Now that is a serious point worth considering. We can't afford to fly back yearly like we used to, and American school holidays all being packed in the summer makes it tricky as well.

Agreed. I was simply giving a context for the kernel of truth in a PP’ statement.

To sive your point home, highs in San Diego, the southern most coastal city, were liw to mid 20s all last week

You just know that the response from them will be "we need more guns"

Ah happy memories! We did a trip from San Diego to San Francisco and loved every minute. Also to Palm Springs where DD was playing in a concert. Beautiful places, lovely people 🙂

And that thing the other day. I would hate to live in a country that both engenders and encourages so much hatred of the Other. It's very disturbing viewed from outside.

Guns, mean natured politics (we aren’t great but politicians in the US are damn right lacking in basic civility towards one another), unwalkability, obesity, tipping culture and crap healthcare system. Insular mindset - something about so many Americans not having passports is weird.

I have spent many Summers in California with my aunt and her family. I have to say the style of cooking in America makes me queasy - genuinely so much “home cooking” involves a packet and jar.

Trump incident just highlights some of the above points.

Although I've never lived in the US, I work for a large multinational firm with about 50% of our presence based over there and I travel quite frequently.

I enjoy my visits, but I wouldn't want to live there, mostly because of the cultural differences towards a work/life balance.

I far prefer the UK/European approach.

Oh, and guns.

Work life balance! They live to work and have hardly any holiday in comparison.

I saw this posted the other day.

Obviously your Aunt is a terrible cook. Most of us don't cook from packets and jars.

I mean - that is an outright lie that the supermarket layouts and stock offering doesn't promote the use of things like jarred pasta sauces and other 'all natural' mixes that require some - but not that many - 'home cook' additions to prep the meal over fresh ingredients. Pre-prepared food does proliferate there.

I am not saying that UK ready meals aren't a bane, but I'm rolling my eyes at 'most of us' not cooking from some form of packet etc.

Even Whole Foods is like that.

I’m not seeing any big differences between the supermarkets in my US home town and my UK home town in terms of fresh vs processed food availability.

I have been to some chains of supermarkets in other parts of the country when on vacation which were very bad for fresh food options - However those locations also had both other really good supermarket chains and excellent weekly farmers markets for most of the year.

I see just as many jarred sauces and packet mixes in the UK as I do in the US. Yes, some people "cook" using mainly prepared and convenience food in both countries, but I don't believe the majority do in either country, certainly based on my family and acquaintances.

It is much more expensive to make a fresh pasta sauce in the US than it is to buy a jar. This isn't true to the same extent in the UK. I understand why people use them - if it's $10 to buy three jars of Prego and $10-15 to buy tinned tomatoes, a four pack of peppers, onions etc, it makes sense for your family.

This is the food companies for you.

I think some people might be basing their US experience on supermarkets they’ve visited on vacation without realizing the other options out there.

The main UK supermarkets don’t seem to have such a big variety in the way they do things.

Here in Virginia's even the same chains can be vastly different one town over.

We visit a summer vacation place in New York State regularly and if you only shopped in the town’s one supermarket you’d be convinced no one was cooking from scratch - you have to drive 20 mins to just outside the next town to get to a decent supermarket. But we only know that from years of experience there.

People have mentioned the cheese - the average cheese available in a UK store is not overprocessed the way it is in the US. You can get nice cheese in the US but things we would take for granted here are on a speciality cheese counter.

I am not basing my experience on that. I grew up in the US and my parents live there. I'm nearly 54 and have lived on both coasts and the Midwest. My parents have observed how much cheaper it is in the UK at the supermarkets, for better quality food.

Are you kidding me, the UK shops don't have variety? Is this a real statement?

Not in my regular supermarkets

Here Giant, Harris Teeter and Wegmans all carry a full range of cheeses - no different from Tesco, Morrisons etc

We get all the European cheeses imported but there’s also a good range of American-made cheeses.

‘American Cheese’ is a different thing than American cheeses - it’s a big block cheap cheddar like thing. I don’t know anyone who buys that.

In the Midwestern city my parents live in, that is definitely not the case except for maybe at Whole Foods which imports - of all things - Neal's Yard cheeses. Was also not the case in NJ when I was growing up.

I mean: Cheese | Wegmans
lol.

Sorry I don’t think I worded that very clearly - I mean don’t have a big variety in standards.

You get a good standard and selection of fresh food at reasonable prices whether you are going to Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s Morrisons or (my favourite) Booths.

In the US the supermarkets vary wildly - dependent on which state/county/town you are in.

So a tourist might walk into one supermarket and easily judge that’s the standard when 10 miles down the road is the supermarket which is just like a UK one with the prominent fresh food sections.

I agree if you're visiting a corner shop, or a 'metro' type store. But not the big supermarkets, which in fact have whole rows of international food. I live in London but am also in North Yorkshire a lot and the Tesco is the same there.