[El Scorcho]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

My personal experience is with the UK. I worked about 20 years ago for a couple of years with the small US branch of a British company and there (but not in our office) they got 3 weeks to begin with and 4 weeks after 5 years, 5 weeks after 10 years, etc. I liasoned (and occasionally visited) that office a lot and they took all their vacation and the culture was NOT one that discouraged vacations. My wife worked for several years for the US HQ of Virgin Atlantic Airways in Norwalk, and she too both liasoned with and visited "world" corporate a lot and they had the same thing (granted, an airline would encourage vacations, and though she only got 2 weeks here (3 weeks after 5 years), the "culture" here did not discourage taking your vacation time).

I have an uncle that did the same deal (worked for small US office of a European company and visited the "home" office often), but with a French company from the 1960s to just after 2000 and he said it was even more "loose" vacation-wise with the office in France, they got 6 weeks from the get-go.

It's funny what you say about "not leaving before the boss" and long work hours, etc. because from my experience and talking to others, I've seen a lot more of that in the US than elsewhere, nowadays even to some extent more than Japan and South Korea. I will say that to some extent from what I've seen (especially now compared to a couple of decades ago) what you say is true about the UK ("legislation" vs. "reality") but it's much less true about France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, etc.

Interesting points. I have very different experience in Germany and Sweden, and the UK is totally different anyway. I can't speak of the other countries, as I have no personal experience there.

[chemoangel]

The Undesirable Weather would be my first choice to leave. And where I live, there is no such thing as a "Good Driver".

[itsallcrystlclr]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Oh yes, I would much rather live with the threat of "The Big One" (meaning earthquakes) and wildfires than the chance of a blizzard (yes I am being sarcastic). At least the aftermath of a blizzard melts away in a short time. JMHO, Jay

Yes, there is always that looming threat of earthquakes. Some friends of ours from college live in Moore, OK and cannot fathom having stayed in CA. They say, "At least you can usually see a tornado coming and can get away. You can't see earthquakes." I think it all comes down to what one is conditioned to. I grew up in CA so earthquakes are no big deal. They actually happen quite frequently. The usual reaction is "Oh, we just had an earthquake" and on to the next thing. Thankfully, the ones who live in Moore were about two blocks from where the tornado hit, but his work was leveled (he survived hiding in the bank vault). But, anyways, the one thing that really is horrible are the wildfires. My parents house was about a quarter mile away from the 2003 San Diego wildfire and when we relocated to North County we could see the fire coming over the hill above our house in, I think it was, 2007. Thankfully, they were able to stop it, but it was really bad. A few of my mom's clients from work lost homes and one distant family member of ours.

[mels]

We all live under the threat of natural disasters in the U.S., period. It may be a hurricane, blizzard, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, tsunamis, floods, volcano eruptions, or whatever. Chances are, at least one of the above can happen wherever you live in the US. Pick your poison.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by mels

We all live under the threat of natural disasters in the U.S., period. It may be a hurricane, blizzard, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, tsunamis, floods, volcano eruptions, or whatever. Chances are, at least one of the above can happen wherever you live in the US. Pick your poison.

Some disasters are very common in a majority of places. Like drought, a lot of the US is prone to drought.

But other disasters are very rare, or they happen in very limited areas [ hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, tsunamis, floods, and volcano eruptions].

It is not impossible to avoid most of these.

[mels]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Some disasters are very common in a majority of places. Like drought, a lot of the US is prone to drought.

But other disasters are very rare, or they happen in very limited areas [ hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, tsunamis, floods, and volcano eruptions].

It is not impossible to avoid most of these.

Hurricanes can affect anywhere in the entire east and Gulf coasts of the US- that's a large chunk of the US. Tornado Alley is comprised of a large swath of land in the nation's midsection. Tsunamis can affect every Pacific coast state. Wildfires= dry western states- CA, AZ, NM, CO, ID, NV, UT, etc. Blizzards/ice = northern half of the country, plus mountainous areas. I'll give you volcano eruptions as being somewhat easy to avoid.

Where exactly is this geographic region we all should live that is far away from these "limited" areas that are prone to natural disasters?

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by mels

Where exactly is this geographic region we all should live that is far away from these "limited" areas that are prone to natural disasters?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2..._ev=click&_r=0

[atlaw]

Originally Posted by jp03

You live in Arizona? Hell on earth 6 months a year,,why would anyone live there..

silly person-look at a map-Arizona is big and has desert to alpine environments. It's not all cactus! I just saw elk today.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by mels

Hurricanes can affect anywhere in the entire east and Gulf coasts of the US- that's a large chunk of the US. Tornado Alley is comprised of a large swath of land in the nation's midsection. Tsunamis can affect every Pacific coast state. Wildfires= dry western states- CA, AZ, NM, CO, ID, NV, UT, etc. Blizzards/ice = northern half of the country, plus mountainous areas. I'll give you volcano eruptions as being somewhat easy to avoid.

Where exactly is this geographic region we all should live that is far away from these "limited" areas that are prone to natural disasters?

Drought is easy to avoid, as are hurricanes, wildfire, earthquake, tornado, tsunamis, floods, and volcano eruptions.

Now you wish to throw in normal winter too. Well you got me there, good for you. Winter happens.





Winter is a lot easier to deal with, than summer.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by atlaw

silly person-look at a map-Arizona is big and has desert to alpine environments. It's not all cactus! I just saw elk today.

And Flagstaff actually had cold weather and snow and even has cool summer night (because it's one of those "alpine environments")