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Please move my thread if there is a better board for it.
I'm wondering if anyone in the US feels like I do. I'm an American, born and raised here. But I'm beginning to feel so separated from the rest of the world. Not many people in my area travel more than a few states away, let alone travel abroad. Of course that doesn't matter to my personal life because I am "free" to travel abroad if I so choose (see more below). But I still feel isolated living in a place that isn't in tune with the rest of the world and doesn't seem to care about other cultures.
I'm tired of the American working culture too. I currently sit 40 hours a week at a desk and don't make enough money to live on my own. I commute on dirty public transit nearly an hour each way that is late by at least 15 minutes more than half the time. No one seems to care about having time with their family and friends. The people I work with are very nice and I am thankful for that, but it's weird how they rush through their lunch in 15 minutes then get back to work. One coworker recently had a baby and she was back in 3 weeks, while the child has been put in an all day day-care (her husband and her both work full time). It's just sad to see that this is the necessary lifestyle here because people need to work long hours to afford a living. It's so sad that a newborn child is spending more time in a daycare facility than with at least one parent. Why bother having a child if you have no time with them? Only to work more hours to afford having a child? I don't blame the individuals workers. I blame the companies taking over and using people just to make the CEOs pockets fatter. The cost of living is insane and it's becoming worse.
I've been learning that in Europe, it is more relaxed, public transit is more reliable, and there's more vacation time and more easy going lunch breaks. I know in a lot of European places, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, whereas dinner is here in the US, which is just a simple cultural difference and I get that. There's a lot of people here who think that is "lazy" but I personally see that as more productive. There's no reason for me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, when my work load can easily be done in 4 hours. It is a frustrating lifestyle to live. Growing up, my father worked for a bank in their administrative offices from 1pm-10pm plus the commute time. He worked every Thanksgiving and Christmas. We lived check to check and still do. It's just no way to live and I am scared for my future that it will be nothing except working 40 hours+ per week and earning only enough to pay bills and do nothing else, plus getting only one week of vacation. One week is not enough to travel abroad (actually maybe this is why many people in my area do not go abroad, plus the money issue).
It has been weighing on me lately. Does anyone else feel the same? Is there anyone out there (or boards that you can direct me to about this topic) who has relocated to Europe and what the good and bad is about it? I'm new here, so thanks for reading
OP, your thread title, and the topic/s you've outlined here, don't relate to each other. Your topic outline doesn't have much, if anything, to do with isolation from the rest of the world.
Also, I don't see how putting infants in day care relates to anything. They do that in Europe, too. In fact, many European countries offer much better daycare service, at much lower cost, to help support working women.
Most of the developed world works a 35-40 hour week. And in some countries, like Germany, you're expected to work more intensively than in the US; you're expected to be focussed on your work, not chatting with co-workers, hanging around the water cooler, etc. If you're able to do the work assigned to you in 4 hours instead of 8, why don't you? Why aren't you being more productive?
Banks generally are good employers; I've known several people who started out as bank tellers, and rose through the ranks to highly-paid positions. One woman, a single mom back in the 50's, eventually became the bank VP. Even tellers get Xmas and Thanksgiving off, OP. There's something about the story about your dad that doesn't add up.
You've created a Fantasyland as an escape for your discontent, and labeled it "Europe". The reality of Europe has very little to do with the fantasy you've conjured. If you're unhappy with your job and earning level, go to evening school, to improve your prospects. But you'll have to face the fact that most people in the adult world work more or less a 40-hr. week. Some work a lot more than that, so count your blessings. There is no dreamland of Oz to be found "just over the rainbow", where you can live a dream life of working a 20-hour week, get paid enough to live on, and enjoy "free stuff"--various benefits from other people's tax money.
Of course life can be hard anywhere, but it's a known fact that Europe has a better work-life balance than the United States, and that's what I'm getting at. I can't see myself working more than 40 hours a week, with one week of vacation, and making barely enough money to get by for the rest of my life. That is no kind of future for me, personally. I'm aware enough of what it's like in Europe, and to accuse me of thinking it's "all cafes and baguettes" is seriously inaccurate. But if you are an American, then I understand why you said that. I think most Americans think the European way of life is "lazy" just because they can take 4 week vacations and work less hours per year than the USA. I believe life is to be enjoyed and I don't want to spend my life working it away.
Get a university job, any job: office staff, gardener, techie, mailman, and you'll start out with close to 3 weeks of vacation, working up to 4 weeks after a few years. Case closed.
The geography is what it is. The USA is physically distant from most of the world.
Well I feel isolated here in Canada. The only land border we have is with the US. We are sandwiched between the lightly populated northern parts of the US and the vast empty north of the continent and the North pole.
It an orientation thing. Spending 8 hours on a plane to get from Chicago to London is OK, but 6 1/2 hours to get from South East Australia (Sydney) to Indonesia makes it 'remote'.
I suspect too that most Europeans and North Americans are not really focussed on or are aware of the locations that are close to Australia, like NZ, Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia etc.
You have to remember that some of these people have absolutely no idea of the size of Australia and the multitude of amenities it offers from cities to back country.
I managed to find this one to illustrate my point that if one feels remote in Austarlia they need to ask themselves "what from".
One could suggest that if "desiring to travel" was the single reason for hopping on a plane train or car; you could do that in Australia, see a whole different make-up of scenery and never leave the island.
Here's another site that suggests remoteness as regards time in the air to get from one country to another is relative.
Air time to get to Tokyo from Australia is about the same as flying from San Diego to Newfoundland Canada.
So dependent upon your chosen destination and air travel shrinking the planet; Australia could b said to be no more remote than any other first world developed country with major airlines.
the usa is enormous so i could understand how someone would see no need to explore other parts of the world when it would take several lifetimes to explore america itself
if someone is disillusioned about there life , im not sure moving abroad would change things , it might but it could just relocate the issue
Depends on why you travel. If it's just to see natural sights and cities, you could spend a lot of time exploring large countries.
If your goal in travelling is to expand your knowledge of the world and how different people live and think, then it doesn't work as well since in the US and Canada for that matter, wherever you go, you are still in that country and not being challenged.
Depends on why you travel. If it's just to see natural sights and cities, you could spend a lot of time exploring large countries.
If your goal in travelling is to expand your knowledge of the world and how different people live and think, then it doesn't work as well since in the US and Canada for that matter, wherever you go, you are still in that country and not being challenged.
The OP's complaint is specifically about travel to Europe, though. That's one of the world's most expensive destinations. Travel to parts of Asia and Latin America is just as educational and broadening, while being much more affordable. Europe for many Americans is a once-in-a-lifetime (or very rare) travel experience that requires years of saving.
The OP's complaint is specifically about travel to Europe, though. That's one of the world's most expensive destinations. Travel to parts of Asia and Latin America is just as educational and broadening, while being much more affordable. Europe for many Americans is a once-in-a-lifetime (or very rare) travel experience that requires years of saving.
I don't know. My team at work has someone from Morroco, India, Costa Rica, Bolivia, NYC, and Chicago(me). My workplace also have representation from Poland, Russia, China, Myanmar, Signapore, Malaysia, Turkey, and various other countries. When we take vacation, it's almost always to a different country; I frequent Japan a lot, but my boss has been to Turkey, Austria, Germany, Taiwan, etc. We have 'unlimited' vacation (within reason) that seems to only come into question after taking 4 weeks off. I think the statistic at some point was that this city is something like 1/3 foreign-national. This is NYC.
Maybe your job is terrible and you don't like the city your reside in. I worry more about retirement, but I thoroughly enjoy my work/life balance here. YMMV of course.
You have to remember that some of these people have absolutely no idea of the size of Australia and the multitude of amenities it offers from cities to back country.
I managed to find this one to illustrate my point that if one feels remote in Austarlia they need to ask themselves "what from".
One could suggest that if "desiring to travel" was the single reason for hopping on a plane train or car; you could do that in Australia, see a whole different make-up of scenery and never leave the island.
Here's another site that suggests remoteness as regards time in the air to get from one country to another is relative.
Air time to get to Tokyo from Australia is about the same as flying from San Diego to Newfoundland Canada.
So dependent upon your chosen destination and air travel shrinking the planet; Australia could b said to be no more remote than any other first world developed country with major airlines.
I'd still say that Australia is more remote than a good number of destinations, but nowhere near as much as some are led to believe. Of course, as you pointed out, perspective plays a big role as well. For example, someone living in the Congo would likely feel more isolated then another person in Australia, despite the fact that he's got a number of neighboring countries all around him. The situation in the country and the limited travel opportunities would play a role.
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