I can give you the top one thing to do when you arrive.
1) get a plane staright back again.

Been here (Between LA and San Diego) for 12 years + - hate it and can't wait to leave

So leave, just because you are unhappy here doesn't mean you should put a dampner on other peoples dreams and adventures.

I will be soon - thankgoodness.

Has anyone explained to these people that they may be earning more money but that the cost of living is much more generally ?

And that when you come in you have to get your Driving License wityhin 2 weeks of being here but that you'll struggle to get anyone to insure you ?

Etc etc.

+ have kids , put them in school to be brainwashed that America is the greatest country on earth.

the place sucks

At least he's on L1 so probably has a way back.

My main advise would be prepared for a LOT of frustration and aggravation.
People in the US generally do not have muck knowledge of the outside world.
Country is very inward looking and thrives on self glorification

much - not muck

Nicky...absolutely thumbs up

Nor should the disenchanted hi-jack other peoples threads and use them as an excuse to wallow in and spew their bitterness.
The 2 chaps who've asked for advice both appear well-informed. I don't sense they're sporting rose-coloured glasses - tinting their expectations.
Posts such as those from "Mr.Young" appear to me to simply be an opportune excuse to seize the moment in order to post self-indulgent rants. Such replies are unhelpful, they fail to address the questions asked (in fact they're not replies at all really) and their categorical pronouncements with regard to America are ....at best, his legitimate but wholly subjective opinion. Nothing more.
There's probably a place in this forum for such posts...and I'd suggest that it would be on his own thread, one he starts himself - rather than here - where it's more like "a slap in the face".
Meanwhile, it's unfortunate that 12 years have left him with such antipathy toward the States.
Hopefully he won't feel the same after the next 12 back "home" in Old Blighty.
I don't know why I've spoken about "him" in the 3rd person - instead of talking to "him" directly. But I'm so alienated by the disillusioned bitterness and rage - that I find it hard to "talk" to you directly JBYoung 6.
OMG - what furies have I unleashed?

Not disenchanted - just someone with an opinio which differs from yours.
No rage here - just a statement of my experiences
Glad your happy

Did you not read the hundreds of other threads?

I've not heard of this being a problem, and I certainly didn't have a problem (and yes I got insurance 2-3 weeks after arriving and a license shortly after that - nothing too difficult). What did you do wrong?

So here's somebody about to embark on the adventure of their lives and you have go to and spoil it all with your problems? Charming.

Opinions are fine. It's when you try to try to express it as a fact rather than an opinion that it becomes a problem.

Where did I state it was a fact ?
I stated my experiences, of course people have different opinions.
Mine differs from yours.
I hate the place, you love it.
I think the country thrives on self glorification and is inward looking.
You don't
My opinion versus yours.
Not a statement of fact
A statement of opinion

Here:

I didn't say that.

I didn't say that.

So here's somebody about to embark on the adventure of their lives and you have go to and spoil it all with your problems? Charming. [/QUOTE]

Just giving a balanced view.
Many people have stated the goodside that they see
There is also some bad.
I think it is helpful to be given a view from both sides of the spectrum.
The good and the bad.
I wish I had been given some of the negative side before I left.

I didn't say that.



I didn't say that.[/QUOTE]

So you agree ?