21 Benefits Of Living In America That Are Rarely Found In Europe, As Shared On This Online Page
While we all share the same planet, in some aspects, the contrast between America and Europe can be as clear as day and night. But whether these differences are good, bad, or anywhere in between, they’re always fun to educate yourself about.
One of the best places to learn about these comparisons, at least from the ordinary people’s online point of view, is Reddit. For example, in this thread, someone asked what American everyday things Europeans view as a luxury, and people filled it with responses. Scroll down to check them out!
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You can pretty much choose to live in any climate you like when you live in the USA and still be in the same country. You like 4 seasons: Move to the Northeast. You like humid ocean climate - move to Seattle. You like dry warm weather - move to Los Angeles. You like deserts, move to Arizona. You like warm and humid weather - move to the Southeast.
As a German who loves warm weather I am always jealous because of those options. If I wanted to try to move somewhere warm I would have to move to a new country and learn Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Greek or other southern European languages.
I am actually envious of those living in California. I saw somewhere that going from spring to winter are only about a 3-4 hours drive from each other. Not sure how true but sounds pretty fun in my book.
Disability access everywhere. I can go to any place -- theatre, store, office, school, whatever -- with confidence that I'll be able to navigate fine in my wheelchair, they'll have ramps and/or elevators
That is not true of the USA, as a whole. I live in a city where it is very difficult to get disability access at places that aren't national chain businesses.
Real Mexican food. We have Mexican restaurants in my home country but the owners are usually not Mexican and it’s just not the same. Now, I’m living in Japan and it’s the same problem… Mexican food is so delicious.
The size of your homes in places like Utah and Texas.
There's a dedicated room for everything. Kids play room that isn't the living room or the kid's bedroom, walk in pantry room, a laundry room.
American here visiting Germany right now. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say fuel cost. The station down the road here sell petrol for 1.75 Euro/Liter, that's about $7.20/gallon if my math is correct. For comparison, I'm from Phoenix Arizona and just paid $2.85 per gallon last week, which is about 0.75 Euro/Liter. Gas is even cheaper than that in the Midwest US.
Currently equivalent to about $6.60 a US gallon in my European location. And bear in mind average gross salary is around $20,000 compared to over $55k in the US. OTOH we have walkable cities and good public transport, and I'll take that trade-off (when it comes to fuel prices; I could still use the higher pay!).
The two most peaceful neighbors ever Mexico, Canada
I live in Germany, we touch borders with nine different countries and we're cool with all of them.
One thing I really noticed is the lack of escapism in Europe. You wanna go on a long drive to clear your mind? Well, there’s nowhere really to go - you’re always going to find yourself in pretty well developed areas. It’s hard to find true serenity or wilderness.
On a related note, yes there’s traffic in America, but once you’re out of the cities and on open road, good lord… nothing even remotely compares in Europe. Driving is just way more pleasant in the US. There’s a reason Americans would prefer a long drive over a long train trip, but vice versa in Europe. In Europe they also have TONS of speed cameras, so you’re constantly on edge looking down at your speedo to make sure you’re compliant. Americans are anything but compliant 😉.
I know that Norway has the right sort of geography for the sort of escapism described, and all big European countries have plenty of countryside well away from towns. It seems to me that this particular American hasn't explored much of Europe.
Big kitchens and big refrigerators/ freezers. Even in my student apartment we had a pretty good sized kitchen. I was dating a Czech girl and her parents came to visit. When they went to my apartment for a dinner, the mom was just amazed at the size of my fridge. They were amused when I dumped the scraps in the sink and turned on the garbage disposal. They’d heard about it but had never seen one.
Garbage disposals are so bad for waste treatment, sewage systems, and the environment that they are banned in many countries.
Free refills
I don't mind not having it here. Free refill on non-healthy food is a good idea if you don't want a healthy population. That said, the sugar tax that they implemented now is stupid as well. Why not make fruit / vegetables in their pure form (so not cut or put into a salad) cheaper to promote healthier habits?
Air conditioning. Americans pump it all summer long
Hard to call something a luxury when it's tricky to live without it. Arizona summers need air con in a way that most of Europe doesn't.
Wawa.
My American husband always went on about it how he'd love to just drive to Wawa. I never got it until we spent thanksgiving with his parents.
Bring Wawa to the UK please.
24/7 hot water. Lots of older places especially have hot water on timers to limit energy use. Instead of sealed insulated cylinders they used open air cisterns in the attic.
Garages. Closets. Really storage space of any kind. Home hobbies are much rarer for it as there's nowhere to have a workshop. Even Christmas decorations are comparatively rarer for want of places to store them.
Outlets in the bathroom. Can't dry your hair in there.
Edit for clarity: this is Ireland, similar to UK. Storage and outlet issues are true even in new builds, hot water cisterns haven't been a thing in decades, but the housing stock is old and many places haven't yet been upgraded. Even where they have, timers are ingrained and electricity expensive so they're still common.
You don't have hot water or outlets all the time? Never heard of this even beeing a thing
I’m Australian but I will say the College culture. Idk if what we see in American shows and movies is true but here in Australia, if you want to further your education, you go to a University after highschool, you go to your classes and leave. There’s barely any Universities that are even sport oriented despite us being one of the greatest sporting nations. In America, it seems like they have so much pride and culture surrounding their colleges, with big bands and such.
Winter fresh chewing gum. Haven't found a gum as good anywhere else.
Houses and lawn space are ridiculously big. Like pointlessly big. I actually have a theory that that's why they all speak so loud, it's because they have to shout across 2 or 3 rooms by default.
I was happy until you brought back a stereotype...where do you all live where no matter what Americans are loud?
I’m surprised no one has mentioned a nice shower. Not everywhere in Europe is the same but far too often showering is a chore instead of a relaxing experience.
Someone's clearly had a bad experience somewhere, but I don't get this one at all. I've been to the USA and some of Europe and if there's a big difference in showers, I've missed it.
As a European I appreciate it was other-way this time, gives some perspective, but generally BP please stop turning us against each other for clicks
We aren't this time! I mean.....uh....so far......I don't think.....what I'm saying I haven't found any stereotypes yet!
Load More Replies...
OK, anti-American comments in 3 . . 2 . . 1 . . (writing from France). BP, do you get a lot of clicks with your anti-American stuff?
They must. It's a frequent visitor.
Load More Replies... Modestly positive article about the USA, immediately crapped on in the comments by "Who needs that? It's bad!" or "We have that too!".
As a European I appreciate it was other-way this time, gives some perspective, but generally BP please stop turning us against each other for clicks
We aren't this time! I mean.....uh....so far......I don't think.....what I'm saying I haven't found any stereotypes yet!
Load More Replies... OK, anti-American comments in 3 . . 2 . . 1 . . (writing from France). BP, do you get a lot of clicks with your anti-American stuff?
They must. It's a frequent visitor.
Load More Replies... Modestly positive article about the USA, immediately crapped on in the comments by "Who needs that? It's bad!" or "We have that too!".
