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I posted this in the international forums but it was suggested I post it here to get more of a response.




Working in the hospitality industry I have many opportunities to meet folks from all over the world. One of the things I like best about my job.

I recently chatted with several families from England and the UK. What we find rather pricey in the US, these families found very inexpensive. We americans complain about our gas prices being $4.00/gallon and the family from England said their gas is $15.00/gallon.

I also notice in the forums there seem to be more get togethers overseas, where a bit of traveling is involved than in the US.

My question is how do you manage with costs being much higher? Are the wages much higher than the US?

I think the overall cost of living is cheaper in Europe than the USA. We also have many budget airlines which offer fantastic deals on flights so we can literally get around Europe on a shoestring.

is that the extent of your curiosity, Assets52?

you don't want to know what I can do with a bowl of custard and a matchstick then?

He,ll tell you exactly what you can do with a bowl of custard and matchsticks Hi Q man, just jokin mate, how,s it hangin ?

I can say it's most more about offer here.where I am there is a word "Angebot " when u see such word oopsssssss u have to make sure not to miss it

The mind boggles...

yes it sure does...

do tell please

I'm sure you can imagine

it s hangin' good mate. and you?

Make a very small alternative downhill skiing slalom piste?

Test the flammability of vanilla flavoured desserts??

Do a road-handling-on-slippery-roads test course for toy cars???


NO - I can't imagine!!! Do tell!!

That one would work

I have noticed that people here, specifically CH, say it is worked out how much people need to earn to live decently, and then prescribed salaries are set in concrete...............with only slight fluctuations........

great ideas

mind still boggling

erm no, no and no!

The minimum wage in the UK for somebody over 21 is, I think, something like £5.40 (about $10.80) per hour while in the great USA it's more like a little over $5 per hour.

I think we Europeans do generally have a BETTER quality of life - Americans generally accept a basic two weeks 'vacation' of two weeks per annum while we have at least 21 days in the EU (a week taken off work being five working days so 21 days actually equals over four working weeks away)...

even in the 1980's in the British Army I had 40 days leave a year (but worked out at 40/7 weeks) plus stuff like disembarkation leave, re-engagement leave etc..... very yummy if you're not actually getting blown up in far-away interesting countries while trying to assimilate the culture by digging like crazy to find a safe place to avoid the flak flying all around you......... but I digress

A US gallon is actually smaller than an Imperial gallon - so your ten gallon hats are really piddly compared to a decent bowler hat as worn by our bigheads working in the 'City' in London.

We also consume less food - we eat less but better quality stuff (as a general rule). What feeds your average obese American family would feed at least 1.6 average UK families and 23.67 recurring well-fed Somalian families.... but we are catching up with you, and our present generation of schoolchildren contain an ever-increasing percentage of fat ugly 'little' trainee yobbos! ~sniff~

We manage with higher costs by spending 60% of our free time watching tv, surfing the internet, eating fish and chips and feigning headaches so that we can avoid sex.

We spend the other 40% of our free time doing what we really love - going to sleep and pretending that live is really wonderful.

I hope I have been of help to you,

Agatha Christie (deceased)

---

I'd recently read a book called Nickel and Diming in USA. There were stories of many many people in it - most holding down three jobs, sleeping in their cars, brutalised by superiors at work and without a penny of savings. Some American's still call it 'God's country' and how everyone is envious of their great nation.

It is true that, on average, in Europe we pay nearly 4 times for gas than you do in USA...we have done so for decades. Our cars use perhaps one third the metal that an american car uses and are highly fuel efficient compared to american cars.

There is also a thing called 'social security' in Europe which may have been unheard of before in America. There are minimum wages; strictly monitored work conditions; a thing called rmg ie.minimum guaranteed revenue which means that peoples without jobs or any other means are given the eqivalent of $1900 a month without taking into account further subsisdies if they have dependents etc. There is also mecical security - there is practically total medical coverage from visiting docyors, buying medication, hospitalisation as well as sending a patient to another European country by helicopter if the better treatment is avaible there. There are, depending upon your years of work, up to 55 working days of paid leave. Unemployment benefits are very generous. You cant simply hire and fire at will. The courts of justice will leave a compant throughly mangle if it does that. (Needless to say many American banks and companies here have tried it and some even lost their license to operate in Luxmbourg. And there are countless other smaller benefits, varying from country to country, that people are entitled to.

Because TVA (or value added tax), which are relatively high, any spike in basic commodities are buffered by this already high VAT. The wages in Europe are not the employer's whim. There are conventions and trade/management agreement all over Europe. Wages are, I think, significantly higher in the European Union - as long as an American here is being paid in Euros and not dollar denominated salary converted to Euros. Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in Europe - may the world - the average per-capita (per living person) earns nearly a 100.000 US dollars. In American I think it is somewhere closer to 27.000 dollars. Anyway, I should re-check my facts because it's been a while but I dont think much of any significance has happened.

There are some other differences beteen the USA and the EU which I wont bring up now because they are rather political and cultural in nature, not purely economic.

I am not sure, whether travelling around directly related to your earning.

I am travelling a lot for work with strong wish to work and find out any mean that would make you move, and then move and explore.

I completely agree that "things" related to travel would not depend only on economy but on the "mind" which means much more than we think.

Having lived in Europe and America (well "only" four months) in can make some realistic comparisons.
But be aware this is all seen from a students perspective so I can't/won't touch wages and paid holidays.
I can't deny that this makes my comparison kind of useless

Europe:

-good food for less money (if I eat in the dining hall, I have to buy good food for about 10€/week(cheese,bread,butter,juice,yoguhrt))
-clothes and electronics is way more expensive
-dining out seems more expensive to me
-education is for free in most countries !!

USA:

-electronics is really cheap
-clothes are ULTRA cheap (not to mention that it is assembled in China/India anyways)
-good food in the supermarket is expensive (little piece of French cheese costs me 5 $)
-dining out is (not only the fast food stuff) seems to be less expensive to me.
-education is expensive

well I don't know, I think there is a balance but for a free education you better stay in Europe

Having lived in Europe and America (well "only" four months) in can make some realistic comparisons.
But be aware this is all seen from a students perspective so I can't/won't touch wages and paid holidays.
I can't deny that this makes my comparison kind of useless

Europe:

-good food for less money (if I eat in the dining hall, I have to buy good food for about 10€/week(cheese,bread,butter,juice,yoguhrt))
-clothes and electronics is way more expensive
-dining out seems more expensive to me
-education is for free in most countries !!

USA:

-electronics is really cheap
-clothes are ULTRA cheap (not to mention that it is assembled in China/India anyways)
-good food in the supermarket is expensive (little piece of French cheese costs me 5 $)
-dining out is (not only the fast food stuff) seems to be less expensive to me.
-education is expensive

well I don't know, I think there is a balance but for a free education you better stay in Europe