Talk to me about quality of life. UK vs USA

[ilovemydogandmrobama]

So, DD is 3 and DS is almost 2. I am American, living in the UK, but am thinking of moving back to California. Both DCs have dual citizenship, so no problem with visas etc.

What are the good points living in the USA? What do British people miss about the UK?

i live in the mid west, moved just 13 months ago.

i know it sounds materialistic, but we have a MUCH better standard of living, due to the amount of space. it's not just how much we could own, but kids just spend the summer outside/swimming/by the lakes. we have more leisure time as a family & there seems to be more to do (ski-ing, skating, swimming, rock climbing) which all costs less than in the UK.

i miss my family a lot, and cannot work, so get a bit 'housebound'.

What i don't like - having to drive, but it's much less stressful here & far less crowded - you can even find spaces in the car park,
-healthcare, we're OK, but obviously not everyone is. having said that, if you do have healthcare, the service is way better than anything i ever experienced in the NHS

struggling to think of anything else!

i have been v lucky, & met a 'real life' mn group - we meet every week for coffee, twice a month to go out in the eve, and if you have any trouble, they will help out no questions asked. i only had to ask once for help finding a garage, and immediately got emails back offering me a lift to get my car sorted.

it seems v family friendly here - you can take your kids anywhere & they'll be made welcome. in fact 'community' is important, looking out for neighbours etc.

there are attitudes i don't agree with, but the same was true in the UK.

there is far less excessive alcohol consumption (but more 'mild' drink driving), particularly amongst teens.

in fact, it is a bit 1950s stepford wives (men watch 'the game' & shoot pool, while women chat & cook) but i find it v relaxing, perhpas cos i don't work.

if i could get home more easily, i wouldn't want to move again, or at least til dd is sec school age.

Is it reasonable to say that life in America has real similarities to life in Australia?

I have to agree with everyone who said that it depends on where you are. I'm an American (from Minnesota) and

*Walk everywhere
*Am not materialistic in the slightest
*Most people I know are ridiculously friendly
*I don't know a single person on anti-depressents

But again I do live in a rural area, and most Minnesotans have a "pull together" attitude...it's left over from the Scandinavian/German immigrants who settled the place-either you helped each other out or you froze to death.

oh, cheerful yank, yes it gets COLD in winter (i'm next door in MI). last jan wasn't nice - but i sort of assume that anywhere in california is likely to be ok!

the US is such a VAST country, it's like trying to generalise about the whole of europe.

Oh that's right, we're practically neighbors! I'm coming your way this summer to bike on Mackinaw Island.

Oh about the cold thing, my husband told me it "wasn't that bad today"...it was only 8 below fahrenheit!

I am an american, dh is british, kids have triple citizenship (which by the way, America does recognize...but just expects you to put your USA duties first). I lived in London for 7 years and both dc's were born there. I moved back to LA when ds was ready to start kindergarten (almost 5) and dd was almost 3. I have absolutely NO REGRETS about coming back and in fact wish I had made the move sooner. The only thing that isn't better is the tea and that I get dh to bring over for me. The healthcare issue is nonsensical. If you get health insurance in the usa then you are just fine and a hell of a lot better off than being "cared" (if you can call it that) for by the NHS (who almost killed me twice, and my ds once). I have an enormously better standard of living, better health care, better education (my children walk to the local state school which they are entitled to a place at because we live locally, not because we pretend to be religious), better weather, nicer people, better healthier food, cleaner air, cleaner streets, better tv, child friendly everything, working parent friendly store hours, more flexible work possibilities, and no class prejudices. The list goes on, but I think you get the idea.

Cleaner air in LA?

I can see the smog cloud when I'm halfway up the I5

Yes, but it is nowhere near as bad as the air in London where you can see the chunks of dirt in the air from the diesel buses/trucks/cars, never mind all the people smoking everywhere. My asthma is a thousand times better in la than anywhere else I have ever lived. The only place worse than London was Beijing in July.

OMG, RIven. You hung out your washing? What's WRONG with you? And drinking beer? A child might have seen you!

Homeowners associations make Hitler look liberal.

We parked our car on our own driveway briefly once. From the bollocking, you'd have thought we'd shat on the HA's doorstep.

lol, this thread is bringing back memories, esp the flags!

i lived there when i was much younger, so obviously that makes a difference in your perceptions of a place, but i did find that generally americans were pretty superficial in their friendships and the consumerism was just beyond anything i had ever seen before (or since really).

but i loved how americans (where i lived anyway) were so willing to embrace a newcomer, and were so delighted at my foreigness. obviously, it got tiring for me, but at least they were interested and wanted to know about where i was from and stuff. plus, i got loads of free meals

The guy taking my blood for a blood test wanted to guess where I was from. On telling him I was from Britain, yes, from an island near England but not from England, he asked if I was from Liverpool

Then again, several years ago, I wouldn't have had a clue where Albuquerque was so I suppose it's even.

There seem to be a lot of South Africans around here and the odd Brit so accents are a novelty but not a HUGE novelty. Just enough to distinguish one as 'other.'

There is segregation between white and hispanic population though. On the news over New Years, they said they had to run extra police patrols round the towns near the border to stop people firing their guns into the air and wrecking other people's houses/hitting other people.

Wow -- so much to think about.

What is so funny is that having been brought up in Southern California, fairly uneventful, come to the UK and there was a shooting about a block away . Oh, and the previous shooting in the city a few months before that was about a quarter mile away. Both random shootings.

Accept that strangers are more polite on the surface, but hey, that's absolutely fine by me as I have family and proper friends.

There is definitely a car culture in the USA, California especially, but unless one lives in London, then the public transport for getting around in town isn't great either.

Health care is a big issue. The NHS has been nothing but fabulous for me and the DCs.

Taco Bell/ Baja Fresh may be the clincher though

Earlybird dh is Australian and he had much less culture shock moving to the States than I did, so I'd say there are a lot of similarities - dh thinks Australia's a sort of hybrid between US and UK

I love the US, I was born and brought up in a glorious suburb with great schools etc. I'm a dual citizen and would love to live there for the good stuff.

But I would be petrified to live in a country where I/or a family member might develop an illness which would invalidate my insurance and where people regularly end up selling their homes to pay for healthcare at the most exorbitant prices.

You have to ask yourself:

Will I, my children, my partner, ever get seriously sick or even more likely OLD? Unless you're seriously wedged up you could end up completely penniless in a short period of time.

Also how much to send your kids to college? It's scary.

My f lives in the USA and is old and sick but he earned tons of money when working and had great healthcare provision. What percentage of us would be in that position? I don't know how people live with the anxiety?