UK vs USA was your life better in UK or USA

[Cupcakeicecream]

Just out of curiosity really. For those who have lived in either country which did you prefer and why. I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons. Eventually want to be living in the USA. It's always been a dream. I want to give my child a better quality of life and I feel that USA is better suited. I feel that there are more opportunities. But of course health care costs and gun laws put me off slightly.

@LittleMy77 eh?

Yes fuck the NW. if I'm going to live in constant rain I may as well be in the UK lol!

Sorry plates, I read the poster wrong!

I am finding this thread fascinating. I grew up in the US, have lived 24 years in the UK. I'd never go back for a variety of reasons. I never lived there as an adult so my steer on what it's like to raise children there etc tends to come from speaking to friends. I am on several FB groups for alums of my liberal arts college (which currently costs $62K per year to attend.) Vast majority of posters are US based. It's incredible what questions/comments get posted on the employment one. Today, someone was saying she has to find another job because her current health care premium is $1000 per month with a $17k per year deductible. On the other hand, I have another friend in banking who has done spectacularly well.

People (particularly ethnic or religious minorities, same-sex relationship couples) have also been talking about trying to get another passport since Trump got elected - I am no fan of Trump but even for me it did feel over dramatic in the beginning and a bit like Brexit here. But I am now seeing posts from Jewish alums whose families came to the US after WW11 looking into German citizenship programmes. After this weekend? Can't blame them. I suspect most people will end up doing nothing - probably because their options are limited as much as anything else. It is difficult to square the America of the Trump rallies/the headlines to my day to day experience in the US when we visit my parents. And yet these rallies are embraced with enthusiasm. The guns you can't get away from - I will never get over the no hand gun signs in stores (plus how would they ever check???)

My husband, the kids and I have done two large road trips in the last five years. The poverty in the parts of northern California we drove through was incredible. Same in Tennessee. We filled up in one petrol station which seemed to have a corner shop attached to it. People were gathered around a table with their computers. Only place in town with internet, I'm guessing? Yes, there are underprivledged bits of the UK but none hundreds of miles from anywhere, with no viable public transport. Burbank, California, in contrast? Expat package there??? Sign me up, sure!

There was a really interesting article in the New Yorker written by a Brit who became a US citizen but has recently returned home:
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/20/a-new-citizen-decides-to-leave-the-tumult-of-trumps-america The article is actually quite irritating - anyone who's grown up in the US could have filled her in on some of the things she realised a bit late. Plus - if you decide to become a citizen, presumably it's for SOME emotional reasons too? I am a UK citizen but in some ways feel like I only 'became' a citizen after the Brexit vote. That was when you sort of realise - you're in it for better or worse, so to speak.

I will never get over the no hand gun signs in stores (plus how would they ever check???)

They can’t, I carry on a daily basis. No one knows apart from me.

I have often wondered how many people around me in the stores in the US have handguns with them. I usually tell myself to get over it and stop freaking out, probably most people don't have guns. Guess I'm wrong then!

I should have really said 'the gun signs' above, not the guns.

They are everywhere which I find nerve wracking. But I guess I was assuming my imagination was running away with me that it was actually that common.

In DH’s office of 38, he knows that 7 carry on a regular basis.

Of the 6 closest houses to us, 3 are confirmed gun owners, I suspect 2 more own,

One other thing I found incredible on a trip I took a year ago to New York was the breathtaking arrogance of the people there. I mostly visit the Midwest now. They seriously think something terrible might happen if they had to step outside of the Tri-State area. I do sort of remember that attitude growing up in Jersey but New Yorkers are something else. There was a girl at college who, when you asked where she was from would just go, "Rye." We had lots of international students. "Would that be the Republic of Rye?" It's a regional arrogance and a general USA USA USA! sort of attitude that is easily, easily as aggressive as anything you might encounter in the south, which outside of the US is probably more known for that sort of thing. One girl was talking about going to a wedding in Minnesota. Just outright rude, to be honest. Imagine if it were true that literally the only intelligent people in the US lived in New York IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! At $17 a glass, I couldn't afford to buy enough wine to actually get to a point where I'd say that to their face...

Some pros of USA I found:

• strangers more friendly then in UK
• people have more of a 'can do' attitude
• people are more sociable
• larger houses then in the UK (depends on area obviously)
• easy to drive (good road systems, lots of space)
• good service in restaurants & hotels

Some pros of UK:

• people don't meet you for the first time and immediately ask which church you go to (this happened a lot in USA)
• more history and culture
• NHS
• people are more genuine
• sense of humour is wittier
• fewer people expect tips and no one actually asks you for one

Both places are lovely, but for different reasons.

They can’t, I carry on a daily basis. No one knows apart from me.

But you wouldn't carry a handgun somewhere like Chicago where it's illegal, I assume, which is where you tend to see the shop signs saying 'No handguns'.

Stupomax

No, wouldn’t carry in MA either, just wherever there is ME reciprocity

I wouldn’t say that Brits are any more or less genuine than Americans. That hasn’t been my experience.

You know, the more I read this thread, the more I'm struck by the limitations of the question. Geography, personal circumstances and so many other details render a broad question like "US v UK: Where?" pretty much meaningless. I mean, I guess I'd rather live in a villa in St John's Wood than be homeless in Chattanooga, if that helps.
The only thing I'd add to that is that if you value some lifestyle detail enough, and you're a person with decent means, you can usually make it happen if you prioritise it. Britain doesn't have as many wide-open spaces as the US has, but non-mansion houses in the country are available. The US has more car-centric suburbs than the UK, but walkable urban areas exist in every American city.

OVienna Yep NYCers are lovely but it's the transplants who are just awful. They come to NYC to make something of themselves and lose who they are in the process. It's an inferiority issue.

I came to NYC in my mid 20s and yes I made it here but truth be told I would have made it anywhere I had moved to. I don't live in Manhattan in part because I don't need to be around the arrogance. My town has been through gentrification and I don't like most of the new people who have moved in. If it were up to me I'd be in Bayonne or out towards Harrison. People are real whereas where we live now it's a daily struggle to keep everyone's feet on the ground.

The people in Westchester and Jersey commuter suburbs are the worst when it comes to chips on shoulders. I refuse to move to the burbs because I want nothing to do with these people. The vast majority are awful. The people who are nice massively regret moving out and many are counting the days until their DC leave for college so they can move back to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Jersey City downtown or waterfront half of Hoboken.

Not the city I'm from. Not for the same % of total journeys, anyway.
What Houston neighbourhood is very walkable? Commuter cycling in Phoenix well supported.

• not well supported, oops

Ragged: Midtown? Montrose? Areas south of there near the Rice campus and near the MetroRail line?
I've spent some time in Houston and I understand entirely that the vast majority of it is suburban commuter hell. (I'd go so far as to say it's kind of the poster child for how now to design an American city.) My point was that if you're looking for a certain kind of lifestyle and you're willing to prioritise some things (like walkability) over other things (like the absolute biggest house you can afford on your budget), varied lifestyles are available.
From some of the comments here, you'd think it was a legal requirement to head straight to the car-dependent, far-flung suburb as soon as you step off the plane from Heathrow.

It's absolutely not only the transplants, lol. The people making most of the comments I've heard over the years were dyed in the wool New Yorkers, believe me.

Jersey has it's very own brand of (ahem) confidence. We don't like it when New Yorkers pretend they've never heard of any towns in Jersey though.

Or even New Jersey itself. I'm thinking of a hilarious cocktail party I went to in London when the owner of the company I was working for invited some mates over. Woman of the couple pair seriously said to me: "we don't know New Jersey" when I said where I was from (very well known area on the shore.) Not long after 911 either. We lost a lot of people. She was an asshole.

Lived in the US for a few years (as an adult with DCs), and in the UK for many more both before and afterwards.

Hands down, life in the UK suits me better. A few reasons: the NHS rather than private health insurance; a rounded, universal, whole world education rather than a parochial approach to subjects like geography and history; restricted, licensed gun ownership rather than it being the norm, and so easy to access incredibly destructive weapons; awareness of environmental issues and a desire to be more conscious about using resources like water, power and fuel; food not filled with sugar and meat with growth hormones; I find it much easier in the UK to develope deeper friendships rather than in the US where I found many superficial relationships and many fewer 'close, lifelong' friendships.

It depends where you want to live, they get snow unlike anything in the uk and humidity unlike anything in the uk.

Somewhere with dry heat like California would be perfect for an outdoor lifestyle.

The other thing apart from the gun risk is that no one walks anywhere so you will have to drive everywhere all the time unless it's somewhere with a subway system. The buses only seem to get used by homeless people or dodgy types.

And most homes have guard dogs. Or every 2nd home. When I lived there my roommate got attacked badly getting out of the car by a neighbours guard dog that had escaped over the fence.

Also the street lighting in residential areas is rubbish so couldn't see the dog it's that poorly lit.

Healthcare/dental brilliant as long as you have everything included in your insurance and never have to call an ambulance.

Don't know about the schooling personally

Unless you ski/snowboard or do a sport or love watching sports there is no real culture sense of belonging to anything.

You can't drink more than 3 alcoholic drinks without someone mentioning aa, even if you are not driving. Lots of Americans are are health freaks or obese not just a size 12 and normal

You get amazing salad bars in nearly every restaurant

Normal sized cars are not really a thing they are all pick ups and mpvs everywhere. In some states children can drive at 13 which was so weird to see them at red lights in this massive truck but it's all automatic cars so easier to drive.

I would go and try it and see what you think, you can always come back again!

What the fuck are some of you talking about?! It sounds like you're drawing from one specific area because it sounds nothing like the places I've lived.

Most homes have guard dogs?

Street lighting is shit?

Um, ok.