Pro for the US:

- You can make a lot of money… If you are willing to put up with the toxic work culture

- They have good mexican food

- The wilderness they have. Very jealous of that.

Cons:

- The rest

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Cons for “Europe” (I am from here, no need to tell me it’s not a single country xD)

- They do not have good mexican food

- You make less money than in the US (though - in Luxembourg and Switzerland you can make bank)

Pros

- The rest

It’s always a list of pros and cons.

I have no idea why you left Europe. If you just left out of wanderlust but were fine with Eastern Europe, then the “only” factor keeping you in Australia (not trying to minimize his importance, just a manner of speech) is your boyfriend.

If you moved to Australia because you had other issues with Eastern Europe, be aware that they are very likely to still be there if you move back, and what you are experiencing is just a fit of nostalgia.

All in all it really depends on how you see long term prospects for your relationship.

Probably Canada.

Avoid eastern Europe.

For complete lack of racism probably an African metropolis.

I mean, Cologne or Berlin seem to fit the bill. Cologne is very LGBT-friendly.

You are entitled to your opinion. I am sorry you had those experiences.

Myself (despite being a foreigner and my wife working full time), have not had such experiences and have had only positive ones in Germany. My wife also happens to earn a lot more money than I do and I have never heard the things you mention.

Truth be told, you sound like you are not enjoying your time in Germany, given how incisive your comments were. I know that, were I not happy here, I would not remain.

You need to balance the pros and cons of moving back to the US.

Having family members help out with child care is a massive plus, no doubt. My wife and I moved within Germany to be closer to my MiL, and honestly, we would not be where we are career-wise if she had not been omnipresent (and, I hasten to point out, had not offered to help us in the first place).

The cons are the reasons why you left the US. If you just left “to see the world” and liked the US just fine, then by all means do move back!

If you had other reasons for leaving the US, be aware that they will likely still be there when you return.

I’m European, so obviously my opinion on US society is biased (despite having lived and worked there for two years), but for me bringing a kid into the world would be a reason to move out of the US, and not back in.

Depends. Are you independently wealthy, or going to be working remotely and earning a high salary?

If yes, then Italy.

Of course, it’s normal to regret.

Even people who are really looking forward to moving will experience some degree of regret after some time, for the simple reason that it’s not “home”.

The important thing, in those moments, is to remember WHY you moved. And that is why only moving for pecuniary motives is often not enough.

Honestly, if you had a good life where you came from, it’s hard to justify actually moving away.

I mean, I really do not want to seem insulting here, but you sound like the kind of SA immigrant people who are serious about leaving the country end up avoiding.

You have a major case of rose-colored glasses.

You know very well why you left SA. The criminality, the poverty, the unemployment, the lack of opportunities, the load shedding, the corruption. Sure, you left behind the beaches and braais too.

If you want “affordable” - read: Cheap, then you can move back to third/second world countries.

I think you are seeing this in the incorrect way.

People dithering about moving to the US on Reddit (while realistically being able to do so), will never experience many of the downsides you mention about living in the US, because they are going to be highly qualified.

Highly qualified people in the US earn a lot of money (much more than they would in most European countries), and enjoy a very high quality of life.

They do not experience high crime, because they live in neighborhoods with single family homes, outside of the city, boring but completely insulated from the crime of poor neighborhoods.

High college fees do not matter if your salary is 200k dollars or more per year, and your wife earns the same.

Small amount of LEGAL maternity leave, sure, but employers are free to give you as much as they want, and they will, if you are important enough to them.

The US, is, by essence, a country for rich people. It’s probably the only place on earth where poor people end up subsidizing rich people on a massive and institutional scale.

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The only actual reasons as for why not to move to the US are:

Work-life balance

Fraying society and constant cultural and political warfare

I know the next redditor will tell me about how little they work and how they have every Friday free while working in the US, but that is often the internet effect.

Working in the US means that you can be fired at any point in time, for absolutely 0 reason. People are apprehensive about taking long vacations, because if the company can function without them, well, then why are they even there? They have fewer vacation days, and often end up not even using all of them.

As for a fraying society and constant political warfare. I am sure, again redditors will tell me it’s not actually that bad, but the polarization has gone to absurd levels. The “I got it, fuck you” mentality in the US is also, for me, quite dismal. Many people seem to think of taxation as theft, and there is a reason why the US has a libertarian party. I’d rather live in a society, pay my taxes, and not think that poor people somehow “deserve it”.

No matter the pay, I do not want to work 60+ hours a week for megalomaniacs like the CEOs of big tech companies, while being constantly at risk of being fired.

I like my 40 hour work week, 6 weeks of vacation, and my shops close on Sundays. Doesn’t mean on some weeks you do not work longer hours, but on other weeks you then work less.

Fuck hustle “culture”.

Gotta say, this is hilarious.

Also, a good reason to never have people like the OP in your country and give them the right to vote, because they will turn the country they are in into a shithole as well, go surprised pikachu, move somewhere else and start the process all over again.

Honestly, using the word “servitude” seriously tells me you need to get off the internet, and/or stop reading newspapers and watching news.

And any change entails risk. That’s what life is all about.

Nah.

I love Italy, but with the salary level it’s just not a serious option if you are even slightly career minded.

A vacation home, sure. Going back there permanently, hell no.

My man, if you can work remotely (and for a company from DACH, Benelux, Scandinavia or the UK - with a salary from those countries), then southern Italy is an absolute paradise.

You need to speak Italian.

Also, as an Italian, anyone who is not from Milan or Lombardy will tell you that Milan is honestly the ugliest, most depressing city in Italy.

It’s the economic and industrial heart of Italy, so instead of having a relatively large and intact historical core, it has a small historical core and the rest is more recent (and thus far uglier).

As for people saying bureaucracy sucks, this is a very outdated view. My mother recently died in Italy, and all my encounters with Italian bureaucracy were quick, painless and mostly online. And there were a lot of them.

Dude, you post on r/drugs regularly and are somehow surprised that doctors won’t give you all those juicy drugs you crave? Lolwut?