Well, just don't move to Florda if you're still working.
My husband has been at a place for 10 years and gets 10 vacation days and 6 holidays, and that's the maximum anyone can get at his company! He's 66 year old now, and is darn tired.

We moved here from another state 24 years ago, when the plant of a large company he worked for closed down. At that time, he had 6 weeks off a year.

We love Florida and can't imagine moving back to a colder climate, but boy do we pay through the nose to live here. Lower wages and less time off than the national average, but hey, we don't have to put up with winter. The downside is, we have to work forever!

And yes, sometimes I think I'd move to Europe in a nano-second if I didn't have children and grandchildren, weather or not. I'm anti-guns, and pro some sort of health care system that one could buy into, that isn't tied into one's employment (and I'm a health care worker!) I'm also a big fan of public transportation, i.e. trains and subways, none of which we have here. If we can't drive here, we may as well be dead.

I really hate our antiquated wild wild west mentality, but I seem to be in the minority.

What we really have that most other countries don't is fabulous appliances, and those WOULD be hard to live without. I love my big fridge, my washer and dryer, my dishwasher, my dual-fuel stove/oven, my microwave, my a/c. Not to mention space to move about in my house.

Hmmmm......maybe I don't want to move after all!

Yes that is the problem with message boards/email, subtle humor is hard to express.
I'm aware Stephen Colbert is a humorist and not a right-wing talk show host, just trying to make a bit of joke.

" My only hope is that they do not base their perception on other countries by what they saw on t.v., but more importantly, what they experienced first hand. .."

A lovely thought but no one can experience everything first hand.

We receive information from t.v.,books, statistics, films, newspapers , short or longer visits etc.

Sometimes that information
gives people in other countries a view of America much different than the view Americans have from their porches.

Same applies for any other part of the world.

<<My old company started you at 4 weeks, and I was at 5 when I left after 2 years. And most of my friends get similar vacation allowances.>>

The legal minimum here in the UK is 4.8 weeks, next year it goes up to 5.6 weeks. BTW I assume we are talking paid leave. And yes employers can give more if they want.

I'm a teacher so my next day at work is August 29th, then I'll have to work until October! Such a hard life.

To those who feel that this is a "Sad Thread" and that the US is being attacked, I don't think so - the question was "If you could move Why or Why not?".

It is not, as far as I can see, tell us why you wouldn't so we can tell you that you are wrong not to want to.
(I am thankful that misconceptions are cleared up).

The main reason I would not wish to move is that despite its many faults, I am very fond of where I live now.

<i>The legal minimum here in the UK is 4.8 weeks, next year it goes up to 5.6 weeks. BTW I assume we are talking paid leave. And yes employers can give more if they want.</i>

But my point is that I don't need the government to tell me how much vacation I need. I prefer having the choice to work or to have time off and can balance my desire for a bigger paycheck with my desire for free time. If you value time off, you can certainly find a way to get it in the US.

<i>I'm a teacher so my next day at work is August 29th, then I'll have to work until October! Such a hard life.</i>

The typical teacher in the US is off from mid-June until, at least, mid-August. They also usually get at least one week at Christmas, as well as one week in the Spring, and (often) one week in February. If you value long stretches of time off, I would think being a teacher is a pretty good job, whether you live in the US or Europe. There are downsides, as well, but from a time off perspective, it would seem tough to match.

I think it would be nice to live (and work!) for a year, or two, or longer in the US.
Many regions would suit my taste: Upstate NY (preferably in the Adirondacks), SE Arizona, Western Colorado, or Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, jobs are not always found where you would like to live in each country, but more often in metropolitan areas. So it would be a bit like trading one urban lifestyle for another big city life. Not THAT much of a difference nowadays.
But if you moved from an apartment on th 40th floor in a Manhattan skyscraper to a little farmhouse in Provence, the major difference would not be in changing countries but in lifestyles.

I think you will travel with too much luggage to enjoy the different concepts of society which exist when you start comparing the availabilty of refrigerators, groceries, religious preferences, and so on.
Or become one of the sad ex-pats which hang out with other ex-pats whining about why this sucks in Paris, or that sucks in Boston, how green the grass was back home, where to find imported goods from the Old Country, and so on.

I am always amazed at how so many ex-pats tend to cluster together, even in the &quot;friendly&quot; countries where they could easily mix with the locals.

And it's true that it is usually a complaint club.

If someone else was paying (ie an overseas posting of some kind) then I'd quite like to spend a couple of years in New York or Boston (neither of which I've visited) or San Fran (which I have) or Chicago (but could I stand the winters?).

Permanently? No way. There is just too much that I am uncomfortable with about the way society and government are organised over there.

I don't find this thread sad. I think it's enlightening to hear what others think of your country, no matter what country we're discussing.

I tend to be a harsh critic of the US, because there is much to be critical of. There is also much good here. I think that's true of most places in the world.

&quot;Dissent is the highest form of patriotism&quot; - Howard Zinn

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
The legal minimum here in the UK is 4.8 weeks, next year it goes up to 5.6 weeks. BTW I assume we are talking paid leave.
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

keep in mind that the quoted figures do include bank/public holidays. i believe the minimum now is 24 days which includes the 8 bank holidays. so for comparative purposes, the minimum by law is just over 3 weeks 'vacation' plus the 8 public holidays. we had dragged our feet on this and changes are driven by the eu. uk had tried to include public hols in the eu minimum (meaning a min of only 12 'vacation' days) but this will no longer be allowed and 20 days excluding the 8 public/bank hols will be the min in the future. i believe the us has 10 public hols.

<i>i believe the us has 10 public hols.</i>

But there is no legal obligation about time off in the US. If your company decides that President's Day is a workday, then it is a workday.

For the most part, the &quot;sacred&quot; holidays would be Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas, New Year's, July 4th, and Thanksgiving. Virtually every company would count these as holidays. Most would also give the day after Thanksgiving. But, again, there is no legal requirement.

Beyond that, many companies give some assortment of other holidays, with MLK day and Presidents Day being pretty popular. Columbus Day has fallen out of favor, but is still relatively widespread. And there are regional holidays, with Massachusetts companies, for instance, usually observing Patriot's Day, and many in Rhode Island observing V-J Day. There has also been a trend toward floating holidays, to be used at the employee's discretion, rather than observing some of the minor holidays.

All in all, I would say that the average company provides between 9 and 12 paid holidays each year.

1,266,000 people from around the globe voluntarily obtained legal residence status in the US in 2006. Life must be a whole lot better here than in most other places.

Life must be a whole lot better here than in most other places.&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

Of course, compared with most of the world the USA is a great deal better, but not everywhere...

I could be wrong, but I don't think it's that easy for most employees in the US to dictate how much time they'll get off... especially if there's competition for their position. Go and tell your prospective boss you'll take the job but want 4 weeks off, and you're likely to be told &quot;Thanks but no thanks, we have plenty of others willing to do it with only 2 weeks off.&quot;

I spent a couple of years there in the late sixties and really enjoyed it.

However, although I had a green card, I returned to the UK.
The main reason was that I wanted children and I didn't want them to be foreign. I thought that the UK was a better environment, morally, educationally and physically.
The US is great if you are young, healthy and affluent.
It is a harsh unforgiving place if you need a safety net.
I lived in New England and so the guns and religious bigotry weren't a problem.
Basically it comes down to &quot;East, West, Home's Best&quot; and where you are coming from is important.
If you were fleeing a pogrom or a famine, then of course it would be an earthly paradise.

I think vacation depends on your occupation. It's been my experience that a lot of professional jobs (i.e. requiring 4 year degrees) have better vacation allotments and are more flexible - if you're a good employee they're not going to fire you / not hire you over requesting 2 weeks of additional vacation.

&quot;Basically it comes down to &quot;East, West, Home's Best&quot; and where you are coming from is important.&quot;

Exactly. And most contributors here come from some pretty enviable positions in life. This question - asked of an elite group of world travelers, many of whom are affluent ex-pats who can zoom here and zoom there at will - is inevitably going to prompt some less-than-positive comments about the US.

But I think that you'd get a much more resounding &quot;yes&quot; to this question from the average world citizen.

&quot;But I think that you'd get a much more resounding &quot;yes&quot; to this question from the average world citizen.&quot;

Absolutely right.
Posters here don't live in Honduras, Kosovo, Sudan, Afhganistan and similar.

For many people around the globe moving to US, Australia, Canada, Europe, or just a peaceful place
where their children will have a future is an unattainable dream.

As we compare our health plans, vacation time, hotels in Paris and
restaurants in Rome, we all must know how fortunate we are .

Unfortunately these threads inevitably start to descend to &quot;Everybody wants to live in the USA, and anybody who says otherwise is anti-American&quot;.

I think it may be part of a youngsters upbringing to be taught that the US is the greatest place to live - and it may be true, but it not a given to many of us in other countries with a good standard of living.

Of course people in 3rd world countries want a better life, and the US is an obviously desirable place to live, but so are other countries.