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?!

Well, mainly they are.

The US has always been known for its good weather and high standard of living. Many people trapped on a rainy grey overcrowded island are jealous of that. Why else do they denigrate the US so much - BEFORE the Trump years, I mean. Years before I met my husband, when I had nothing to do with the States, British people would always be negative about it. (And then jump at the chance to go to NYC or Florida! 😂)

Come to Boston!

Most of those buildings in the styles you mention were created by Catholics for Catholic worship! Hence they're all quite flamboyant and have similarities. It's not like they're Quaker or Methodist, is it? Like I said, the overarching culture of Europe is Catholic, which makes it somewhat samey.

It’s on our lists of possibles for our next move which should be early 2026!

So far we could be selected for:

• UK (what we are hoping for!)
• Germany (totally fine)
• Italy (totally fine)
• Hawaii (extremely expensive and locals don’t want us there)
• Japan (Massive culture shock and locals don’t want us there because the USMC have ruined it for everyone)
• Guam (1000 miles from civilisation)
• Boston, MA (4 distinct seasons, and shorter flight to family in the U.K.)
• Rome, NY (As above)
• Somewhere in North Dakota (Worst possible nightmare scenario 🫣😂 to the point the powers that be have now put a special caveat on this posting that if you agree to do a year on the frozen tundra, you get first pick of your next posting 😂)
• Anchorage, AK (stunningly beautiful, but also incredibly high cost of living)

I know public transport is better in the UK, but I still feel as if most places, you need a car. Everyone seems to have several, anyway. And perhaps Bryson felt that about connections because he was/is a big success, and that's always going to attract people with dubious motives. It's true about beyond 9pm if you're outside a city or a lively town. The US is very rural and it's also very much an early to bed, early to rise culture.

Gosh, that's quite the list!!

Yeah, DH has quite a niche job and they need people in his role at every single USAF base across the world as well as on home soil. There’s also quite a few voluntary, more obscure postings for his job role in areas where there isn’t a permanent USAF base but personal are there intermittently - but most of those can’t facilitate families joining the serving person ☹️ There’s a few in the UAE which he has done previously and I’ll be forever mad that me and the DCs wouldn’t be able to go with him! He really was living the high life in Dubai when he was last there!

I don’t feel like that at all though you are making huge generalisations. I live rurally in the south west on the edge of an area of outstanding natural beauty, it most definitely sunnier here than other parts of the UK but the reality is I don’t like the heat of summer. I can walk from house to bridleways and footpaths which criss cross the countryside where I can walk for hours without seeing a person. I just do not recognise the UK you are discussing.

Even so it does not mean I would want to live or visit the USA, on my list of countries I wish to go to it wouldn’t even be on the first page. I’m in no way jealous of your life, my families or any other Americans it just does not interest me. I cannot think of anyone in my circle whose dream it is to live in America. Even my family who live there are seriously tempted to move to Europe.

I’ll admit to knowing nothing about North Dakota, but I’m kind of intrigued. This thread has made me realise I’m an annoying “glass half full” person who would find something to like about it if I got sent there!

Alaska would be an amazing experience though. I recently met someone in the USAF who’d served there and loved it, although he said arriving in midwinter and barely seeing daylight was rough.

@ThisFluentBiscuit we found it like that even in California - couldn’t believe in Laguna and even LA how dead everywhere was post 9pm - it very much seemed a place where people go out if going out at 6pm and then home in time for cocoa etc! Must admit that did take us by surprise.there are things I like and don’t like in both country’s if I’m honest - I could live there but would want water tight contracts/healthcare etc - no one has mentioned the somewhat hire and fire culture and a distinct lack of protections for many - to me that’s a biggie. I deal with US businesses a fair bit and there’s an awful lot of ‘scheming/ going back on deals etc - so as we work ourselves- it wouldn’t be for me . I would want more protection .
being fair though lifestyle wise it was the same when we lived in Copenhagen- loved the clean upmarket pretty funky vibe, didn’t like the supermarkets much ( I’m not a huge fan of Lidl or Aldi) nor the lack of Amazon/uber etc ( they don’t allow it) and it’s hard to get much branded medication at all - a weird one I know.

on the other hand as you say I did like a bit more snow, warm but not hot summer days and very high standards in so many things. Everywhere it’s a balance and depends on so many other things in your life and what stage you are at . I certainly don’t think the uk is the b all and end all —

Been going to the USA for fourteen years, twice per year for longer periods since I retired. Want to see real America, get away from tourist traps and go to the back roads to see people living 6 or 7 in a shack the size of a garden shed or look up crime rates in a city, unfortunately that's where the homeless will be because people have to eat to survive. USA is not what's portrayed in the media, its the real people living in squalor trying to survive that's very real. Its a third world country in many respects behind the facade.

This particular base in North Dakota is like the boogeyman of the USAF 😂
It’s near Minot, so the weather sees both extremes - the winters are extremely harsh and long, the summers are humid and claggy. And the base is literally in the middle of nowhere.
Hardly anyone volunteers for that base unless they’ve got family in the area. So there’s now the caveat added where if you volunteer for a year there, you get first pick of where you go after that!

Well, if you go to poor areas and backroads, then of course you'll see poverty. Same as you'll see in the UK if you look for it in deprived areas. Some councils place families in housing with black mould and worse. There have been investigative documentaries about this. And if you saw 6-7 people living in shacks, they were probably undocumented immigrants who had no way of legally earning money, since they wouldn't have had a Social Security number. What you saw is not typical.

You can have a far better life on far less money in the US than you can in the UK, which is rather Third World itself in many respects.

But I never felt I had any job protection in the UK...employers sack people all the time in the UK. 🤷‍♀️

This with bells on.
I live just outside one of the fastest growing cities on the planet. An incredible amount of money is pumped into the city because it’s a magnet for tourists……but you go two streets off the main drag? The poverty is astounding.

We got lucky in that just before we got here, property developers bought up a lot of land that was previously just bare, empty desert right by the base of the mountains on the north side. There was nothing here until about 5 years ago. Our house is brand spanking new, in a brand new neighbourhood with all the usual suburban infrastructure close by. But where my DC’s school is? It’s further in towards the city itself, and those suburbs are clinging on for dear life. There’s massive socioeconomic disparities between the communities on the outer ring of the city and the suburbs further towards it. It’s not uncommon to see families living in cars on empty lots, homeless people living in tents just off the highway…..all whilst another celebrity who’s sick of LA throws up another mega-mansion on the side of the mountain 🫠 And the local government love to demonise the huge homeless population here instead of doing anything to help prevent the problem in the first place.

There are no parallels between poverty in the US and the UK. I know you want to defend the US but really, that's ridiculous. The average British person would be shocked if they knew the true extent of poverty in the US. Let's not pretend any different.

That’s simply not true.

You do not need to go to “poor areas” or back roads to see that kind of poverty.
I live in one of the richest, fastest growing cities in the entire country and stark poverty is never more than a few steps away in any direction.
And as for undocumented migrants, I’m not sure where you live, but where I am? It’s those people who are working every hour possible to ensure their family’s security - and usually doing jobs that Americans won’t do. They are working the farms, construction sites, cleaning jobs etc.
The vast majority of our homeless population are Americans who were either born in this city and have been here there entire lives or have travelled here from other areas of the US. A lot of them are train-hoppers coming in from California.

This comment related to the wrong places in the UK.

OK, so if the posters above are all correct, how come 30 percent of UK children live in poverty but only 12.4% of US children do?

Two and a half times the number of children living in poverty in the UK than in the US.

But the US has much worse poverty.

OK then!

When was the last time you worked in the UK? It’s really hard to sack anyone in the UK.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504851.2019.1688238

https://confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-than-elsewhere/

2022 US child poverty rate 12.4%
https://unitedwaynca.org/blog/child-poverty-in-america/#:~:text=The%20official%20child%20poverty%20rate,poverty%20in%20the%20United%20States.

Oh, looks like UK child poverty is 31%
https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/poverty-facts-and-figures

2006