I lived in US mostly and for a short while in Birmingham, UK.. I saw the life in US is a class apart from that in UK.. Living an easy life is much more affordable in US than UK.. and because of consumer oriented culture, you enjoy in US more while spending money. Life in UK was more towards the one which I had in India and I could not compare it any thing which I had in US.
Few example here , as a cusumer you are treated so well in US. but I did not find the same thing.My above comments is based on few incidents in UK, and as I did not live for more than two months, I am not sure if they can be generalised.
The few incidents which I want to mention:
1. when I was leaving the apartment in UK after giving proper notice, the leasing office wanted to show the apartment to prospective tenants and they refused to fix an appointment with us before such visits. with my family at home, it was hinderance in my privacy and I objected but she simply rejected that she can not fix the appointment.
2. Though I paid rent like 600$ for a small 1BR apartment, the lift rarely worked. When I called leasing office, they just told they donot maintain the lift, I have to call some other number.
3. in US, leasing office will have drop boxes and if you are vacating the apartment in off office hours, u can drop the key, but in UK, they forced us to vacate the house in thier working hours and return the key to them, even if you have to go and live in hotel if you have flight next day early morning or on weekend.
4. in US, you will have move out inspection which is organised and you know upfront if you have to pay for any damage.. those guys in UK, told they will do inspection only once we give them the key and vacate it. when i lived in Minnsota, they came for move out inspection 2-3 days before the move out so if they have some thing, which I can fix or clean, i will still have time.
5. shopping is fun in US and things are more affordable. Because of sale and price reduction, you enjoy shopping.. i bought some food stuff from TESCO,UK under price reduction, and after coming home, i found they have "sell by" date same as the date on which I bought. I saw them in UK, they were reducing the price only in the afternoon or evening of the 'sell by" date.. and you can not bring home a big cake and eat it on the same day.
6 Car - Car is so much affordable in US.. but not in UK, this was the biggest problem in UK. without car, you can not do much shopping, you have to walk down from the bus stop to your home with all the loads in the hand.
I lived for two months in Birmingham and it was a horrible experience, I love US and I will be here.
Abhijit
