OnTheGo
Registered Users (C)
One of our motivations to be pursuing the dream of living in the USA is that Australia has become a brutally expensive place to live!
My wife and I started our journey in Europe, and from moving to Ireland in 1999, we took a big leap and moved to Australia two years later where we continued to live for over ten years!
Two years ago, for some foolish reason, we decided to pack up and return to Europe. What a mistake! But perhaps we just had to come back to realize that we don't feel happy and free in EU and that living in Australia was not too bad, after all!
So by now we would have already been back in Australia. Yet in May of last year, this special sentence made us reconsider our options ("You have been randomly selected for further processing.")
So some of our hopes and aspirations in moving to the USA (as opposed to moving back to AUS) are:
- Generally much cheaper housing in the US -- (in AUS capital cities, within 5miles radius of the CBD, you need at least $500k for a 1-bedroom apartment or $1Mio for a house!)
- Lower grocery bills -- (AUS has only a few major grocery chain stores and prices are about 3-times!! across the board from what we are used from EU, in particular if compared to Germany)
- Lower cost of going out in the US!! -- (AUS cafes and restaurants can be ridiculously expensive .. on our last visit a bakery/coffee shop in Brisbane that we used to go to in the past, would now charge nearly $6 !! for a simple danish, coffee extra at $4 something! That danish would cost $1.50 or $2.00 in EU).
- Lower utility bills -- (Australia's electricity bills have been going through the roof!!!...the average annual cost is said to be $2,200 and has doubled in 6 years! They just reported for the state of QLD that it will increase by another 13.4% in average this year!! I believe that water and council rates, similar to property tax in the US, have been skyrocketing, too)
- More choice of consumer products -- (you usually get what you need in Australia, but the selection is definitely more limited than in EU or USA; Australian retailers often charge astronomical amounts for the same products that often cost half in the US ... that's why international online shopping has been booming in Australia ... and more expensive cars often cost more than double, too! -- quick example according to this article: a Porsche Carrera S costs $88,800 in the US, the same car costs $282,800 in Australia - three times the US price!!! -- or a Lexus LS460 costs an Australian a sizeable $191,200 - but an American pays $66,230)
- More choice of cities and states to live in the US -- (Australia only really has a bunch of big cities, which has probably contributed to inflated property markets, among other things).
- More diverse US economy = more opportunities for jobs or business set up -- (Australia has a traditional dependency on mining ... and then there's some retail, finance and services...and that's it! No other major manufacturing or major innovations).
- More civilized car driving -- (In AUS, at least in QLD and NSW people tend to be quite aggressive on the roads. They speed, they bully, they constantly block the overtaking lanes - there is a lot of road rage. We NEVER experienced this in EU or USA ... our most recent visit to FL reminded us of how joyful driving is in the US...perhaps it is for the wrong reasons, cops at every corner, but still it is way more enjoyable)
- Nicer neighbors!!?? -- (if there is ONE thing we will NOT miss from living in AUS is the tendency of Australians to be a noisy bunch! No matter where we lived, there were always some neighbors that were simply noisy, ignorant idiots! They often crank up their music at home, so you can hear it from the other end of the block, especially because of the sub-woofers! Often they would come home in their cars and not turn off their loud music as they enter their driveway...or they crank it up as soon as they step into their car, while still being on their driveway ... there is a massive problem with hooning and illegal burnouts (doing donuts in cars on public streets, often at night in residential neighborhoods) ... Australia also has a massive binge drinking problem and some areas have a "bogan culture" which is similar to what they label "rednecks" in the US.)
- Geographic location -- (although we love Australia, at least the nice side of it, we have always felt geographically isolated ... because it IS. Especially when you have family back in EU, it is a 23 hours of flights each way, compared to 9 to 12 hours from the US to EU! ... moreover, what excites me is that there is a lot more contrast between states within the US, unlike Australia where we feel there is not much of a culture difference no matter where you live ... plus, Canada is to the north and the Caribbean and beyond is to the south .. it helps that I speak a bit of Spanish, too.)
Since this thread is about what we LOVE about America, I will leave not focus on what our FEARS are in connection with moving to the US, but in short ...
- Crime
- Guns
- Lower pay, lower benefits with jobs (compared to AUS)
- 2 weeks vacation (compared to 4wks in AU or 6 wks in GER ... in case we will actually work for someone)
- Health insurance (esp. lots of controversy re: Obamacare and esp. messy if self-employed!)
- Tax related issues...
As you can see ... we are coming from an already proven international expat background ... and naturally, now in our 40's we might not want to regret our next step, in either direction.
My wife and I started our journey in Europe, and from moving to Ireland in 1999, we took a big leap and moved to Australia two years later where we continued to live for over ten years!
Two years ago, for some foolish reason, we decided to pack up and return to Europe. What a mistake! But perhaps we just had to come back to realize that we don't feel happy and free in EU and that living in Australia was not too bad, after all!
So by now we would have already been back in Australia. Yet in May of last year, this special sentence made us reconsider our options ("You have been randomly selected for further processing.")
So some of our hopes and aspirations in moving to the USA (as opposed to moving back to AUS) are:
- Generally much cheaper housing in the US -- (in AUS capital cities, within 5miles radius of the CBD, you need at least $500k for a 1-bedroom apartment or $1Mio for a house!)
- Lower grocery bills -- (AUS has only a few major grocery chain stores and prices are about 3-times!! across the board from what we are used from EU, in particular if compared to Germany)
- Lower cost of going out in the US!! -- (AUS cafes and restaurants can be ridiculously expensive .. on our last visit a bakery/coffee shop in Brisbane that we used to go to in the past, would now charge nearly $6 !! for a simple danish, coffee extra at $4 something! That danish would cost $1.50 or $2.00 in EU).
- Lower utility bills -- (Australia's electricity bills have been going through the roof!!!...the average annual cost is said to be $2,200 and has doubled in 6 years! They just reported for the state of QLD that it will increase by another 13.4% in average this year!! I believe that water and council rates, similar to property tax in the US, have been skyrocketing, too)
- More choice of consumer products -- (you usually get what you need in Australia, but the selection is definitely more limited than in EU or USA; Australian retailers often charge astronomical amounts for the same products that often cost half in the US ... that's why international online shopping has been booming in Australia ... and more expensive cars often cost more than double, too! -- quick example according to this article: a Porsche Carrera S costs $88,800 in the US, the same car costs $282,800 in Australia - three times the US price!!! -- or a Lexus LS460 costs an Australian a sizeable $191,200 - but an American pays $66,230)
- More choice of cities and states to live in the US -- (Australia only really has a bunch of big cities, which has probably contributed to inflated property markets, among other things).
- More diverse US economy = more opportunities for jobs or business set up -- (Australia has a traditional dependency on mining ... and then there's some retail, finance and services...and that's it! No other major manufacturing or major innovations).
- More civilized car driving -- (In AUS, at least in QLD and NSW people tend to be quite aggressive on the roads. They speed, they bully, they constantly block the overtaking lanes - there is a lot of road rage. We NEVER experienced this in EU or USA ... our most recent visit to FL reminded us of how joyful driving is in the US...perhaps it is for the wrong reasons, cops at every corner, but still it is way more enjoyable)
- Nicer neighbors!!?? -- (if there is ONE thing we will NOT miss from living in AUS is the tendency of Australians to be a noisy bunch! No matter where we lived, there were always some neighbors that were simply noisy, ignorant idiots! They often crank up their music at home, so you can hear it from the other end of the block, especially because of the sub-woofers! Often they would come home in their cars and not turn off their loud music as they enter their driveway...or they crank it up as soon as they step into their car, while still being on their driveway ... there is a massive problem with hooning and illegal burnouts (doing donuts in cars on public streets, often at night in residential neighborhoods) ... Australia also has a massive binge drinking problem and some areas have a "bogan culture" which is similar to what they label "rednecks" in the US.)
- Geographic location -- (although we love Australia, at least the nice side of it, we have always felt geographically isolated ... because it IS. Especially when you have family back in EU, it is a 23 hours of flights each way, compared to 9 to 12 hours from the US to EU! ... moreover, what excites me is that there is a lot more contrast between states within the US, unlike Australia where we feel there is not much of a culture difference no matter where you live ... plus, Canada is to the north and the Caribbean and beyond is to the south .. it helps that I speak a bit of Spanish, too.)
Since this thread is about what we LOVE about America, I will leave not focus on what our FEARS are in connection with moving to the US, but in short ...
- Crime
- Guns
- Lower pay, lower benefits with jobs (compared to AUS)
- 2 weeks vacation (compared to 4wks in AU or 6 wks in GER ... in case we will actually work for someone)
- Health insurance (esp. lots of controversy re: Obamacare and esp. messy if self-employed!)
- Tax related issues...
As you can see ... we are coming from an already proven international expat background ... and naturally, now in our 40's we might not want to regret our next step, in either direction.
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