Strong US Dollar

[spdrun]

poorgradstudent — I’m seeing $807 r/t from LAX to Berlin in April. With one stop each way. NOT horrible.

Customers at smaller city airports like SAN tend to get shafted as far as airfare abroad, unfortunately. Cheapest 1-stop from San Diego is $1237. There’s a two-stop round trip for $100 cheaper, but that involves Aeroflot, which flies over a disputed part of Ukraine where SAM sites are in use. No thanks!

[FlyerInHi]

I gotta say that it feels good to have a strong Dollar. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy that we are the top dog again. I have a cousin once removed visiting. It will we nice to show those Europeans how nice, big and sunny the West Coast is. They have never been out West and will die of envy seeing our big everything here.

[spdrun]

… until they notice that you have to drive a car just to scratch your bee-hind and see your health insurance bill.

Then: “it’s a nice place to visit, s’long.”

I’d probably be morbidly obese if I lived (and I use that term loosely) in a place where I had to drive everywhere.

[an]

[quote=FlyerInHi]Europe is a good place to use your rewards points for hotels[/quote]Especially if you like to stay in nice places that are centrally located.

[an]

[quote=spdrun]… until they notice that you have to drive a car just to scratch your bee-hind and see your health insurance bill.

Then: “it’s a nice place to visit, s’long.”

I’d probably be morbidly obese if I lived (and I use that term loosely) in a place where I had to drive everywhere.[/quote]
What are you talking about. With San Diego weather, you could bike everywhere, surf, go for long walks on the beach, hike the many trails we have, etc. If you’re obese in SD, then you’ll be obese anywhere.

[spdrun]

I was speaking to the West in general — doesn’t FlyerInHI live in Vegas now? As far as SD, unless you live in certain places (North Park, coastal North County, PB, OB) it’s harder than you think to commute by foot, bike, and generally be car-independent if you don’t either want to be hit by a car, or spend all of your free time walking and biking.

I routinely walk 8+ miles a day, part of it being part of my “commute”.

[an]

I wouldn’t walk 8+ miles to commute to work in SD’s beautiful weather. There’s no way in hell I would walk 8 miles commute anywhere else. I would rather Uber my way to work and chalk it up as just and added cost to the total cost of living in that area.

[spdrun]

You don’t understand … I don’t walk to save money. I walk because I enjoy doing so. Subway would only cost $5 per day so it’s not an issue. Walking is enjoyable to me, wakes me up, yet relaxes me. I *want* to live in a place where I can walk everywhere. Thus NYC.

Four miles each way is an hour basically. A nice, fast walk twice a day. Who can go wrong with that?

And I’d never take Uber. Kalanick is a piece of fucking dirt. There’s no possibility of using Uber anonymously (no cash or prepaid cards allowed), so all travel goes “on your record.” Yet if their CEO had no respect for Sarah Lacy’s privacy, why should I trust him with mine?

[an]

Oh, I fully understand. You wouldn’t walk 8 miles to commute unless you enjoy doing so. I don’t because I hate it. You don’t have to live in NYC to live close to work. I live 3 miles from my last job. Several of my ex-coworkers would bike through the canyons to work. Do you walk to work when it’s 0 degrees outside? In SD, you can walk 365/year. Which is why I say, if you’re obese in SD, you’ll be obese anywhere. People like you would be walking here too, but the weather here would allow you to do so more often.

[spdrun]

Not too many zero degree days, but I walked even when it was 15F out and snowing. I enjoy the cold and snow — I love me a brisk winter!

I might not walk as much in the rain, but cold and snow don’t bother me as long as I have good boots. This (and last) winter were pretty much ideal in my book. If I could somehow teleport NY to the Maine coast (cold winters, not above 80F in summer), I would.

The problem with San Diego isn’t climate, BTW. It’s lack of pedestrian and bicycle amenities. Walking or biking more than a mile from home often involves 4 or 6 lane streets with cars doing 50 mph. I’d probably walk if I lived in an older community near the coast, not so much if I lived inland. As I said, I could stand living in North Park, University Heights, Golden Hill, PB, OB and the like provided I worked nearby.

Not in some development where only exit is to a giant street with cars whizzing by and spewing exhaust. My test whether somewhere is worth living in is “can I live there 99% of the time without ever getting behind the wheel?” I like driving on road trips. I hate it for day-to-day use. Using a 2500 lb steel box or 400 lb motorcycle to haul a much lighter human around is an inelegant solution.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=spdrun]… until they notice that you have to drive a car just to scratch your bee-hind and see your health insurance bill.

Then: “it’s a nice place to visit, s’long.”

I’d probably be morbidly obese if I lived (and I use that term loosely) in a place where I had to drive everywhere.[/quote]

They are in their mid 20s so I won’t bore them with the nitty gritty. They are on a budget so they are bummed out about the strong dollar. I will provide lodging and transport. But they want to rent a mustang convertible! They will love it.

There are lots of professions that provide more prosperity in America,
But the USA is not really for the average joe. You gotta work harder here.

One guy is in grad school so I want to encourage him to do a doctorate or post doc in USA. More opportunities here.

[spdrun]

Depends what they’re doing, I know people doing physics and biochem research in Europe because the funding simply wasn’t available in the US.

And better to be somewhere where you can be comfortable without putting forth extraordinary effort, because it’s a big fucking waste of life to be always rooting and hogging.

Having a government that takes care of things like health insurance, education, working hour negotiation, etc from cradle to grave is actually a big time-saver.

[FlyerInHi]

A US degree or experience is always more valuable, because of perceived value (real value is debatable). With the US credentials and American English, you can go and work anywhere (Mohammad Zarif, Christine Laguarde, Raghuram Rajan, Stanley Fischer, etc…)

[quote=spdrun] because it’s a big fucking waste of life to be always rooting and hogging.[/quote]

I agree… but some people are good at what they do. It doesn’t take them much effort.

[quote=spdrun]
Having a government that takes care of things like health insurance, education, working hour negotiation, etc from cradle to grave is actually a big time-saver.[/quote]

I also agree.. Great for the average Joe.

But for people who have good health insurance it’s better here.

Another of my relatives works at a major university. He married a German girl and who loves it here. She says medical and maternity services is nicer and friendlier here. They live in a university town 2 miles away from work.

Interestingly, he prefers Germany, but they are waiting for her US citizenship (3 years) before they move to Berlin, where he will change career and start his own business as a music promoter.

America is good for people who are smart, talented and “excellent”. Not so good for the average Joe who’s content to just get married, have kids and raise a family.

[CA renter]

[quote=FlyerInHi]A US degree or experience is always more valuable, because of perceived value (real value is debatable). With the US credentials and American English, you can go and work anywhere (Mohammad Zarif, Christine Laguarde, Raghuram Rajan, Stanley Fischer, etc…)

[quote=spdrun] because it’s a big fucking waste of life to be always rooting and hogging.[/quote]

I agree… but some people are good at what they do. It doesn’t take them much effort.

[quote=spdrun]
Having a government that takes care of things like health insurance, education, working hour negotiation, etc from cradle to grave is actually a big time-saver.[/quote]

I also agree.. Great for the average Joe.

But for people who have good health insurance it’s better here.

Another of my relatives works at a major university. He married a German girl and who loves it here. She says medical and maternity services is nicer and friendlier here. They live in a university town 2 miles away from work.

Interestingly, he prefers Germany, but they are waiting for her US citizenship (3 years) before they move to Berlin, where he will change career and start his own business as a music promoter.

America is good for people who are smart, talented and “excellent”. Not so good for the average Joe who’s content to just get married, have kids and raise a family.[/quote]

Out of curiosity, if they’re planning to move back to Germany (for an indefinite/extended period of time?), why is she trying to get U.S. citizenship? Wouldn’t it be better for him to get German citizenship (and for her to keep her German citizenship) for all the reasons already stated by spdrun?

[spdrun]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship

For her, there seems to be a process that allows keeping German citizenship if one acquires foreign citizenship. Being a dual citizen is always the best option if one views citizenship as a matter of convenience.

OTOH, he’d likely need to renounce his US citizenship if he acquired German citizenship, but he could easily gain permanent residence via marriage without renouncing.

[Author]

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