The delivery. Where else can you get so many things brought straight to your door in 45 minutes that will taste great?

The interstate system. Where else are highways this easy to navigate and not have to worry about it (mostly) being paved?

Your reasons?

9/20/2007 6:12:06 PM

other languages

not so much that i don't think people in other countries don't speak english, but i don't want them having sidebars in their native tongues

9/20/2007 6:27:55 PM

NC State basketball and football

9/20/2007 7:28:50 PM

football...


the rest of my life shuts down during the fall

9/20/2007 11:44:51 PM

Widespread internet access.
Road system (though I still grumble about traffic).
English.
Family nearby.
NC State sports.

Seriously, I lived 5 hours (driving) away from Raleigh & 8 hours away from family for 9 months and hated it. Another country would suck that much more. (needless to say I'm back here now )

9/21/2007 12:09:09 AM

I dunno, I wouldn't mind living in Japan again, always shit to do and the roads are pretty good.

9/21/2007 9:35:54 AM

i would actually miss the watered down beer we drink here...i have grown to like Mich Ultra

9/21/2007 3:16:30 PM

I'm afraid they wouldn't let me back in.....

9/21/2007 5:16:44 PM

Quote :

"Widespread internet access."

Don't a lot of European countries have better networks than the US?

9/22/2007 12:12:14 PM

free refills
ice in the glass
customer service
convenience
stores that are open Sundays
decent television
gyms everywhere
the fact that i can walk down the street and say hi to anyone and have them smile and say hi back
college basketball


just off the top of my head

[Edited on September 22, 2007 at 11:19 PM. Reason : forgot one]

9/22/2007 11:19:03 PM

College Football in general
Florida Gator sports

9/23/2007 2:31:05 AM

For starters. . .

The only other language I know is Latin and I don't think that would get me too far.
Naive gullible sucker of a white girl in a foreign country. You do the math.
All I eat is chicken fingers and drink ice cold diet mt. dew. I might starve.
I hate being 2 hours away from where I grew up, much less further.

9/23/2007 8:56:28 AM

Honestly, I think that I'm better than everyone else. This mentality would surely get me shot in any country other that the US

9/23/2007 10:46:22 AM

Quote :

"Widespread internet access."

The rest of the civilized world has better, faster, cheaper internet access than what we get.

Unless you assume that living outside of the US means living in the asshole of some desert somewhere.

9/23/2007 11:49:22 AM

Network is expensive in the hotels in western europe. I have paid 17 Euros per day in Italy and Germany.

9/23/2007 12:44:51 PM

maybe so, but this is living in the country, not staying in a hotel in the country...

9/23/2007 12:57:25 PM

football

college basketball

9/23/2007 2:35:12 PM

none

9/23/2007 3:38:59 PM

Quote :

" The delivery. Where else can you get so many things brought straight to your door in 45 minutes that will taste great? The interstate system. Where else are highways this easy to navigate and not have to worry about it (mostly) being paved? "

I recommend you go to countries that aren't labeled '3rd world' , 'developing' or 'Latin American'

9/23/2007 4:06:39 PM

Quote :

"The delivery. Where else can you get so many things brought straight to your door in 45 minutes that will taste great? The interstate system. Where else are highways this easy to navigate and not have to worry about it (mostly) being paved? Your reasons?"

Which begs the question: have you ever actually lived outside the US?

9/24/2007 7:49:22 AM

Just for the fun of it... someone stated

Quote :

"I recommend you go to countries that aren't labeled '3rd world' , 'developing' or 'Latin American'"

and after reading most of the reasons I kind of laughed. My coworkers and I travel in and out of the nicer areas in Lima, Peru quite often for work (for the uneducated... Peru is considered to be a 3rd world country in South America on the west coast). If you look at this country's history... you would think there is no freaking way you could have most of your amenities that we have in the U.S... but we have been amazed at how nice of a lifestyle you can live there. There are many things they have better than us too (drugs anyone?? j/k... but you never need a prescription to get anything). Many of the reasons listed above were some of the reasons we tried to come up with but we quickly refuted after realizing what is truly available there. Here are some of the items listed above:

Quote :

"The delivery. Where else can you get so many things brought straight to your door in 45 minutes that will taste great?"

You usually get things faster and cheaper than 45min and it doesn't always have to be Chinese food or pizza.

Quote :

"sports reasons"

You can catch any game on TV and legally bet on them... unfortunately no live sports unless you like soccer.

Quote :

"Widespread internet access."

Their city infrastructure is newer than ours. Internet cabins are everywhere. Hotels have free internet. You can be up and running with internet at your house within the same time as our services here. VoIP and other technology services are abound.

Quote :

"English"

Everyone here wants to speak English and as a result, you can usually get by with very very limited Spanish.

Quote :

"(insert any store/place) everywhere"

They have gyms everywhere I looked. They also have big convenience stores similar to Wal-Mart. Many U.S. countries have taken root in Lima.

Quote :

"free refills ice in the glass customer service convenience stores that are open Sundays decent television gyms everywhere the fact that i can walk down the street and say hi to anyone and have them smile and say hi back "

Customer service at any retail level in Lima blows me away. With labor being cheap, you will usually find yourself being helped more often than ever. There are people always right there waiting to help/serve you in a restaurant, grocery store, auto shop, etc etc... I have also had really good customer service (thus far) from a services standpoint for internet and electricity, etc. I think most of that is just luck and is not much different than here.

Also - every single person you meet will greet you very very friendly. In fact, I think I could just about stop and talk to anyone on the street if I wanted (in nice areas of course - just like you don't go into downtown LA and start being chipper with everyone on the wrong streets).

Quote :

"roads, etc"

This is a downside to someplace like Lima. They do have many roads and some interstate-like systems in the area, but they are nowhere near the quality of ours. Other big countries in the world don't suffer from this nearly as bad. The fortunate thing in Lima is, you can walk almost anywhere and a cab ride from one side of the city to the other is less than a couple bucks.

So, in conclusion... I have toiled over this question before (not just related to Lima) and I realized there are only a few reasons that keep me truly rooted to the U.S. and that is friends, family, and the job market. If I could maintain my current income and live in a place like Lima, I'd be able to afford far more than what I have now. I'd be living on the beach with much better TV and internet service packages.

ok enough words... I was a little bored this morning and thought I'd share... the rest of the world is not as bad as your think - and what I listed above was just some comparison to the nicer parts of a 3rd world country.

[Edited on September 24, 2007 at 8:55 AM. Reason : edit]

9/24/2007 8:54:15 AM

all my experiences have been european. Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, etc.

the only place i've been that I would consider living full-time would be Ireland. Beautiful place with wonderful people.

9/24/2007 9:12:23 AM

Quote :

"free refills ice in the glass customer service convenience stores that are open Sundays decent television gyms everywhere the fact that i can walk down the street and say hi to anyone and have them smile and say hi back college basketball"

not having to learn a new language, otherwise parts of germany, belgium/netherlands, france, italy, japan, and hong kong, would be very livable

9/24/2007 9:15:29 AM

the biggest thing for me is store hours. i like not having to do all of my purchasing before 5 and having things open at all hours, and if i can't get everything, then at least convenient stores are open.

9/24/2007 3:07:12 PM

Well I can't live in Europe because of all the swastika tattoos I got in prison.

9/24/2007 3:33:14 PM

Foreigners.

9/24/2007 5:02:26 PM

FREEDOM

9/24/2007 6:28:26 PM

damn i was about to say cause we're the only free country right ?

9/24/2007 7:12:52 PM

Quote :

"The interstate system. Where else are highways this easy to navigate and not have to worry about it (mostly) being paved?"

ever been outside of US or you just assumed this?

9/24/2007 8:23:42 PM

Eastern NC BBQ, and diet Sun Drop. But then again, they don't have those in Virginia either. I spent 3 days in New England. They thought I talk funny, and I know they talk funny. I wouldn't last very long living outside of the south, much less in another country.

9/25/2007 6:00:18 PM

^^I've been to Central America, South America, and Africa.

Water fountains, and free water at restaurants also tops my list

9/25/2007 6:07:55 PM

absolutely ZERO reasons

seriously? 5 hour drive and it sucked? jesus christ cut the umbilical cord people

9/25/2007 6:30:27 PM

5 hours does suck

9/25/2007 7:25:08 PM

Let's see, I technically live in the U.S., but I can't get anything delivered except for pizza (which I could live without), shipping is insane and takes forever because I'm on an island, and I kind of really hate living in a place where it takes me an hour to go 10 miles. And the highways here are ridiculous. You can't just turn around on the next exit if you miss your turn.
I just got back from Italy and Greece, and I think the language is the only reason I wouldn't want to live in a foreign country for an extended amount of time. But I can learn a language (Christ, if I can learn Chinese, I can probably sprout wings and fly), and politeness gets you really far (we went to a restaurant where our waiter only knew "okay" and "thank you," and we only knew the basic polite phrases and how to order wine, but it ended up being the best experience we had at a restaurant our whole time there). We had no problem with getting ice in our drinks in either country (I was actually surprised about this). Hawaii doesn't really do the free refill thing, so I haven't missed that in a few years. And people were polite as hell, but we also went out of our way to try to be polite as possible, too.

9/26/2007 9:58:25 AM

Quote :

"FREEDOM"

Quote :

"damn i was about to say cause we're the only free country right ?"

Maybe you're both joking, but I have to say that's pure hollywood propaganda. Economic freedom is one measure of it: http://www.heritage.org/index/topten.cfm

9/26/2007 11:32:56 AM

if i had a quick link to the carl face, i would post it for you.

9/26/2007 12:29:45 PM

Sports and people that are actually clean and don't smell like shit.

9/26/2007 2:08:16 PM

Quote :

"have you ever actually lived outside the US?"

9/26/2007 2:14:57 PM

because it would/could never be home

9/27/2007 12:18:32 AM

interesting insight breezer

i'd say the main thing is not being in the same country as most of my friends and family which kind of relates to what Sputter said ^

on some old Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz type shit (no homo)

[Edited on September 27, 2007 at 12:34 AM. Reason : still love to travel]

9/27/2007 12:33:49 AM

all the foreigners!

10/5/2007 11:02:40 PM

decent sized apartments/homes.

10/9/2007 10:09:51 AM

I'd be far away from family. That's pretty much the only real reason. Well that and I don't feel like looking for another job or place to live right now.

I'd miss college football as well, but that wouldn't hold me back.

10/9/2007 2:25:19 PM

I would miss a gov't that does a good job at protecting me from ME

[Edited on October 9, 2007 at 5:25 PM. Reason : l]

10/9/2007 5:25:12 PM

This thread is seriously disconcerting. The notion of the rest of the world that a lot you people have is disturbingly inaccurate. America isn't the only civilized nation in the world folks.

I would love to live in Europe at some point, or at least be able to travel for business there extensively. There is nothing here that I couldn't live without or at least have access to elsewhere.

[Edited on October 9, 2007 at 6:31 PM. Reason : x]

10/9/2007 6:31:45 PM

not much really

10/10/2007 4:21:03 AM

Quote :

"decent sized apartments/homes."

That really depends on where you live. In countries like Germany, it's common to see families living in tower block apartments. In Ireland most people live in houses, many of which are detached.

10/10/2007 6:03:56 AM

Even in Ireland the average house size is much lower than in the US.

10/10/2007 8:45:35 AM

Yup, you're right, but apparently the houses in Australia are bigger on average and the houses in New Zealand are almost as big:

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/printer_1000article_10004604.shtml

I don't think I could live in an average-sized Irish house. Never lived in a house less than 2000 square feet and houses that size and larger are readily available, even if they're not the average size.

10/10/2007 11:49:06 AM

BEING ABLE TO ACTUALLY GET CLEAN IN A SHOWER

10/10/2007 10:25:54 PM