To be a bit envious of this lifestyle? (USA)

[ThePinkPonyClub]

I've just watched School Swap: UK to USA on Channel 4 and have ended up feeling a teensy bit jealous of the kind of lifestyle that's possible over there.

Even normal, non wealthy families seemed to be able to live really outdoorsy lifestyles where they can hike and hunt and boat amongst the gorgeous scenery. I feel like in the UK, even rurally it isn't possible as everywhere is so densely populated especially when the weather is nice. The weather is also a limiting factor!

I'm obviously not jealous of the MAGA/Trump craziness or the crappy healthcare and all the rest of the political stuff but purely the lifestyle side of things, it seems so much more possible to live in that free, outdoorsy kind of way.

And the schools seemed to have a much more positive, enthusiastic culture with things like school sports and dances, compared to the UK teens in their drab uniforms staring at their phones the whole time in their miserable, run down secondary school.

aibu? Anyone live this kind of life in the UK? If so, where?!

I understand the envy of the outdoors lifestyle and the more positive outlook etc but those kids also go to school with the risk of being shot in their classrooms.

What came across to me was the racism against anyone that wasn’t white.

It’s a TV programme - surely it’s going to focus on the good bits and downplay the rubbish bits?

It is also perfectly possible to live an outdoorsy lifestyle in lots of the UK.

I lived there for 11 years. Life style, outdoors or indoors, depends totally on where you live and how financially comfortable you are. Like everywhere else.

I lived in the French alps for five years. Now that was a lifestyle to be envious of - so much amazing outdoor life, fab weather, and amazing food and wine! I miss it so much, but I’m still pretty active here in the UK. I live next to the Peak District which is glorious in its own way.

Affordable for everyone in France too. They would hold village fetes where a race would be organised (run, walk or bike) including a meal and wine for ten euros!

I am in London and my DS lives an outdoorsy life! Maybe not so outdoorsy as in rural Texas. But on the other hand he doesnt have to deal with guns either.

The outdoorsy life is definitely possible in the UK!

We have that lifestyle in Canada (minus gun culture)

Racism, gun violence, and a possible long number of years ahead of tyrannical dictators posing in a democracy. I wouldn’t even visit, never mind aspire to live there. Yuck

Hmmm I do like the US a lot ( and was at college there) but there is a great deal that’s isn’t very admiral.. these are the fleeting memories I had when I read your OP… the guns, the poverty of the Appalachian, the homeless veteran with no legs begging on the corner in SF, the young man who was carried out of a hospital and died because they thought it was a drugs overdose ( and it was in fact a diabetic coma)…. Presumably he had no insurance. If I was going pine after an outdoors lifestyle I’d be looking more at Canada personally.

You do realize the states is a very big place? Not all places are all about hiking, and many are inner city and they don’t so those things you claim. I’ve been many times since I was a child, and have relatives, it’s a complex country. In some parts of the states people can’t get about if they don’t drive. We are lucky we get about much , can do city break in Europe etc, we have amazing places, great history. There are many many drawbacks and depends on what state you live in. The schools are same as here, some good and some not. I enjoy visiting my relatives, but it’s not what you have described. The shopping was good, and they have eating nice places, some native Indian sites were impressive, and the weather is slightly better where my relatives live but that’s about it. They are well of and come to Europe every other year due to not a lot holidays , and go to different parts as they want to see real history, and do some real walking lol 😂 You sound very very naive

Yes, I'd love to have a neighbour that thinks being able to piss in his yard is the height of life's achievements.
You can get that lifestyle here, in Australia or NZ.
To envy anything american is weird

@Fransgran indeed, you only saw a prosperous town on that show. I watch a lot of this channel on YouTube it’s an eye opener and very depressing

God. That boy would not have died in the UK. That just made my blood run cold. I would never ever live in a country that allows this to happen.

@TheCountofMountingCrispBags and kill every living creature in sight

Then there's the whole 'allegiance to the flag' everyday in assembly, the whole-school have to support the football team, the dreadful 'prom', the racism, the parochialism, the lack of questioning of the madness that is the current president, the fact that they voted for this president...
Then there's the 'world series' of 'sports' that only that country plays or is allowed to compete in, there's Vegas, there's the general ignorance....
How long do you have?

We live in a forest and have the outdoors on our doorstep. Just depends where you live.

We have that lifestyle in Sweden too and we don’t have to be ruled by an orange muppet.

Now @ThePinkPonyClub you know you can’t express any positive opinions about the US here.

There isn’t anything good about the US and we’re all shooting each other while we look longingly into hospitals that no one is able to afford with our lunch bags full of sweet bread and spray cheese.

I actually think UK has amazing access to nature/outdoors:
-so many green spaces in cities
-safer doing road cycling than a lot of European countries
-an island so easy access to coast/beaches
-plenty of walking paths everywhere, hiking is really really accessible. When I was living in a commuter village in Poland I would have to drive for an hour to access a hiking trail
-there is plenty of places to go wild swimming, kayaking
-a lot of small, very quiet, ten only camping sites
-plenty of AONB/national parks which are spectacular
I can go on! Yes I wish summer was a bit more predictable and there was snow in winter, but overall I think if you are not disabled or living in poverty then its on you if you are not outdoorsy.

Plenty of opportunity fit an outdoorsy life where I live but teenagers still spend hours in their bedrooms stuck on their phones/gadgets.

Absolutely. As is so often the case on MN, this reads as a very English-centric viewpoint. In terms of population density, people living in many parts of Scotland are experiencing a totally different lifestyle to the majority of people on England. I can't speak from experience about NI or Wales. However life in England is not reflective of life across the UK.

I’ve never lived in the US but I recognise the lifestyle you are talking about. I lived in NZ and I think there are a few commonalities:

Towns can be very suburban and spread out - no terraces or apartments, and everyone drives everywhere. Houses can be much much more spacious so there is space to store all the outdoors / sports gear, and loads of people drive 4x4 or pickups to cart it around.

population density in many places is much lower, so it doesn’t feel crowded.

there’s just an expectation (in NZ anyway) that you will be doing something active at the weekend - hiking, kayaking, hunting, whatever. And the weather is much more amenable.

until recently, consumer goods are pretty cheap in the US compared to the UK. I just listened to political podcast about the uk, and one thing they said was that Americans are not like Europeans in terms of consumption: they like to buy lots and lots of stuff, and they really aren’t concerned about the impact - environmental or social - of that.

I remember reading a Bill Bryson book, where he’d been living in the UK for years, then went to visit friends in the US and he was just gobsmacked at the sheer amount of stuff they had - cupboards full of sports gear, diving equipment, surfboards and loads of kitchen gadgets etc - and the size of their house was massive compared to his, and he was considered relatively wealthy in the uk at that point.

and there a bit of a push factor; in suburban NZ, there’s really not a lot to do culturally, so people do tend to look elsewhere for things to do - and I imagine suburban US is the same. My sister lives in the suburbs of her UK city, and she’s only a 15 minute regular bus ride from all the museums, art galleries, theatres, restaurants etc in the centre. Not so in the US suburbs - no buses for a start.

I lived in Scotland (small town) for a few years and it was definitely outdoorsy. I think it's possible to have that in the UK but there are trade-offs re career/job prospects. I think the US can offer an excellent lifestyle on the outskirts of mid-sized towns. Lots of good stuff there. The guns are an issue, yes, but actual risks are still statistically low. US-style education is also great to build confidence. However, I worry that a lot of the positivity you describe is at risk from the consequences of this horrible chaotic regime.