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Well it really depends what you consider here as if you compare NYC vs Paris, I don't think Paris is more expensive...
I agree regarding hotels. NYC and Paris are comparable. But NYC is a massive outlier in the U.S., and Paris is not really an outlier in Europe.
If you go from Paris to, say, Florence, or Madrid, or Vienna, you will have about the same hotel prices as in Paris. But if you from NYC to any other random U.S. city, hotel prices will be much lower (maybe half).
To me, food is significantly cheaper in NYC than in Paris, even if you are ordering prix fixe. Prices for food in NYC are the same as everywhere else in the U.S., which is to say lower than everywhere in the Eurozone.
I guess I will ask this here and not in USA or Americas because it also has to do with Europe.
A couple of years ago we were having breakfast at a common table in a nice B&B in New Orleans. My wife and I started some casual conversation with a couple (in their 50s) from Atlanta. The conversation was about New Orleans, how they liked to go there as often as they could because it was a fun city, etc. We were saying that we were having a good time in New Orleans and what we did before that (we were in Florida before that). They also asked us where were we from, and we told them we were from Spain but living in Brussels, Belgium. Then they asked us how do we find the cost of life in New Orleans, and in the USA in general, if everything was much more expensive than in Spain or Brussels. And then I answered back that actually we were surprised by how cheap everything was. Exchange rate at the time was something like $1.42 USD per Euro, so we were getting nice hotels or B&B for about 60 or 70 euros per night, and meals were really cheap (less than 20 euros both of us in a nice restaurant). I said that it was cheaper than Spain and much cheaper than Brussels (which is generally more expensive than Madrid).
From that moment on, they changed their behaviour towards us, almost not saying anything else, and about 2 mins later they left. We were a bit surprised because we didn't understand if we had offended them in any way.
Thinking about it afterwards maybe when you make casual conversations in the USA and you get asked questions there is an unwritten rule that says that you shouldn't say the truth but instead lie about your impressions and opinions? Maybe they were expecting us to say how expensive everything was? Or we came accross as arrogants because we said everything was cheaper than back home?
Culture clash?
Anyone with an insight about it?
Since you are Spanish, Americans might indeed come across as a bit cold or unfriendly. I have seen interviews with Portuguese emigrants living in the US and Canada, many of them have made similar comments. I guess when you come from a country where total strangers start conversations and touch each other, it must be hard to deal with Americans/Canadians, or Germans.
By far the harshest comments I have heard about that so far came from African immigrants in the US. I remember that woman (I think she was Somali), she was so sad. She said where she came from people leave their doors open and neighbors drop by to chat. In the US nobody visits her, nobody has time, etc.
Since you are Spanish, Americans might indeed come across as a bit cold or unfriendly. I have seen interviews with Portuguese emigrants living in the US and Canada, many of them have made similar comments. I guess when you come from a country where total strangers start conversations and touch each other, it must be hard to deal with Americans/Canadians, or Germans.
By far the harshest comments I have heard about that so far came from African immigrants in the US. I remember that woman (I think she was Somali), she was so sad. She said where she came from people leave their doors open and neighbors drop by to chat. In the US nobody visits her, nobody has time, etc.
What the hell... Americans are super open with strangers, maybe less "touching".
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