Sally Redux

It doesn't really bother me either way. People will come if they're coming and some will like it and some won't.

I think I started by trying to answer OP's specific question about schools. The thing about teens has got a bit blown out of proportion. Just saying they are not that different in either place, from what I have seen.

Hotscot

You seem to be equating culture with geography


For me, standing in the middle of 3000 year old standing stones in Scotland.
Touring The Tower of London and all it's history.
Eating Gelato while walking the street of Florence listening to an opera troupe at 2.00 am.
Rothenburg medieval walled town in Germany.
The Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle.
Catching an Easy Jet in Glasgow for a romantic dinner with my wife that evening in Paris.
The wide variety of restaurants across Europe.
The often dynamic/tumultuous history of each country.

And after you've driven the Big Sur 20 or so times...

(And I do enjoy natural beauty, I've been to those places you listed many times. I tend to drive for appointments and conferences, even half way across the country.)

(Rude teens bother me on both sides. It's the ones with guns that bother me most.)

Cherrysoda

No I am saying that there are amazing things wherever you live.....we find culture at the Getty/Lacma/Art nights etc....but geographical features as available in the US-we enjoy these as these are more readily available compared to when we lived in London and for the OP these are maybe a positive she can look forward to with her kids.

And actually having done the big sur 5 times I am still not tired of it....I really accessed those lovely things in Europe- my cousin lives in Rome so I went ther ergulary and it was lovely and yet still life is better here...maybe it is being in a family I find life is more contented so that may colour my view of life here- we came, had kids and life became pretty magical if tiring...in London it was mainly tiring with a 90 minute commute on a friday night to get in to access teh culture or restaurants London is so famed for.

Yes Sally- I know what you are saying...people are people, but there is a different sensibility here to the UK and we really enjoy it- the friendliness of people generally....i have met so many kind and generous Americans here- meals brought for 3 weeks after our kids were born.....10 years in London and we did not have the network we have here so to the OP- yes it is easy to meet people and people are pretty open in our experience, compared to London life This morning 3 teens on separate occasions opened doors/picked up a cell I dropped...with big smiles and a graciousness......Having taught teenagers in London....there was a difference in the way they were towards strangers and I am still pondering why that is....why are Americans( in general) kind of more polite and open than the(us) Brits generally?

Hotscot

Sounds like London isn't as friendly as Scotland

Bob

In your neck of the woods....and in your neck of the UK.

The flip is also experienced in other locations and a good mix of the two being the norm.

N1cky

In your opinion.

It's been easy for YOU to meet people. That doesn't mean it's easy to meet people in America or LA, that's just your experience, it doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.

I found most people in LA to be extremely rude and up their own arses. Not giving a damn about anyone else and being very cagey. It doesn't mean I think you're wrong, it's just you've had a different experience to mine. I also don't believe all people in LA are like that, that's just my opinion on the majority of people I met. If I'd lived in a different area, or come across without kids and then had kids here, my experience would likely have been totally different.

Cherrysoda

I think it goes without saying on a forum like this it is all our own opinion- or pretty transparent what is opinion.
I wish the Op as positive experience of LA as I have had.

Pulaski

Opinions as maybe, but a number of us, perhaps most of us, are sceptical about having a great quality of life in LA on $80k.

$80k gross is going to be around $70k net of taxes, so being generous about $6k/mth, out of which has to come rent (say $2½k), health ins ($500), food and household consumables ($1,000), utilities ($500), car taxes and insurance ($200), gas for two cars $300+, cell phones ($100), leaving $900 for everything else ..... One flight home (flights alone) for a family of four would take at least $400/mth, then there's clothes and shies ($200/mth for the whole family would be a stretch, which by my reckoning, leaves $300/mth, which in my experience would be just enough for one meal out a week at one of the better chain restaurants for a family of four.

What am I missing? ...... Apart from car payments because you apparently arrived with $50k+ in your pocket to buy two vehicles outright. ..... So you should be putting cash equivalent to the depreciation on the vehicles into a sinking fund for replacements. 401k? Nah! Who needs to save for retirement? College fund for the kids? Nope, sorry kids, no can do. ..... So how much fun do you have on $80k?

N1cky

The forum is full of facts as well as opinions, you state your opinions as if they are facts.

Sally Redux

Yes I think that's why I got drawn in - 'LA is friendlier/greener(?)/more fun/more polite/cheaper' are all subjective.

Personally, I lived in London for 10 years and found it a very friendly and sociable place. I lived in LA for 9 years and found it a real uphill battle.

Regarding the income, I think we do have to be a little careful telling people a family can have a great standard of living in LA on $80K. Not saying that living in the sticks and looking at bears and going to Disneyland as the big excitement of the year has anything wrong with it, but making a direct comparison with London life is misleading.

Moses2013

Would be interesting what $80K gets you in LA. Are they living in a big Villa, Condo?

Sally Redux

It would. A 2-bed apartment in Calabasas, so well out of LA proper but considered desirable, is about $2,000/m and is not suitable for more than one child.

Moses2013

The cheapest 3 bed (cottage) in La Crescenta I've seen would be around $2,700 . That's $162,000 just gone for rent in 5 years.

dlake02

So it's been a while since I last posted on this forum, but I couldn't resist this opportunity...

To the OP - IMHO, don't do it ! We found America, California in specific, to be a place tied up in bureacracy and just down-right unfriendly. All the social neccessities (being able to take a day off if your child is sick without loosing pay/being bolloc*ed by your manager) and cutural norms of an organised society are missing.

For example.... dinner dates that are full of "Oh - you simply MUST come to dinner" and are never acted upon (unelss they are another ex-pat who is also stunned by the outward friendlienss but inward selfishness).

Scout meetings that are SO utterly dis-organised it's embarassing. The fact that we needed a FULL MEDICAL in order for our son to go away more than 2 nights camping (and that half the kids had NEVER been away from home before aged 10 !) and nothing, but nothing is planned in advance (e.g. the mad dash 1 day before last year's camp to arrange 500 mile round-trip transport for 50 boys - c.f. our Scout troop here who have already booked the bus for next summer's trip to Torquay and included the cost in the price of the camp !)

Children that are loud and badly behaved, especially in restaurants. And eat like JCBs (could apply to the adults as well...)

Events that are arranged/cancelled at the drop of a hat or take place at odd times (e.g. the soccer matches that moved venue 5 minutes before they were due to start - timings for matches not being emailed out until 5am the same day, events starting at 16.30 when everyone should really still be at work/school (see "misogynism" below)).

Over-bearing, inefficient bureaucracy everywhere - DMV, School, Social Security, Tax, health-insurance companies, broadband (very expensive and not very good in places), mobile (likewise - little choice, not full coverage and very expensive by EU standards). Banking that is stuck in about 1952. And NO ONE COMPLAINS EVER !

The total lack of a functioning helath "care" system. The lack of proper media not helped by the remote/isolated feeling of California as it really is the ar*e end of the world. The abscence of proper public transport and the fact that no one cares about it. Over-reliance on cars. Religion - it's 2014 people !!!!! Mysognism and 1950s-style "happy families" where Mumsy does the driving round whilst Hubby goes hunting/shooting/fishing - as one manicured wife told us "Oh - I'm luckier than you - my husband earns such a good salary that I don't NEED to work." Well - up yours lady; it's not all about money....

Oh yes - the obsession with everything being about money, sales and advertising. The TV/Radio being essentially one long advert with no programmes worth watching in-between.

The lack of a culture of GOING ON HOLIDAY AND HAVING FUN FOR FUN'S SAKE (coupled with the fact that there is little in the way of low-cost travel and either very slummy (incredibly basic camping) or very posh (expensive hotels) and none of the middle-of-the-road holiday provision (e.g. a week at CenterParcs for half-term.....))

Now, the UK is not without it's problems - we need to spend more on infrastructure, make sure those nasty multi-nationals pay their fair-share of taxes, invest more in the NHS and embrace Europe (IMvHO), but at least these issues are talked about and discussed !!!!! In California - the vast majority of the population, including the apparently brilliant ones in Silicon Valley, seem to care one jot about this.

Not that I want to put you off, you understand.... If you feel that the UK is "too modern" and "too European," then maybe it's the place for you.

Sally Redux

Possibly they are getting an employer subsidy of some kind.