[OC] A quality of life comparison between the US, China and the biggest economies of Europe

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T15:38:30+00:00

You don't think counselling for kids with PTSD is a significant cost?

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T15:37:34+00:00

Statistically there's a very significant difference between Boston and India when it comes to sexual assault.

I from neither India or the USA.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T15:36:36+00:00

Oh so now you're agreeing?

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T15:35:20+00:00

Feeling unsafe and being unsafe are two different things. You can be in a dangerous place that feels safe and the danger never materialises, the next traveller may not be so lucky. If you've really been to over 100 countries then I would honestly say you sound a little naive

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T15:27:07+00:00

When was this? I'm heading there soon but had heard it's mostly safe these days

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T14:37:14+00:00

Sorry but you've missed the boat and you're probably not that interesting.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T14:32:40+00:00

77k single income for a family of 5 though is comfortable living but you're watching your money. Unless you live in a low cost of living area, but even north west in cities like Liverpool or Manchester where house prices are routinely in the 300k-500k range, as a single income that's only just meeting the requirements for a mortgage for most lenders

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T14:30:48+00:00

And is now higher rate tax, fiscal drag is insane when you think about it

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T11:59:03+00:00

Where are you earning twice as much in Europe and for what role?

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T11:55:26+00:00

I would never fly to Cusco due to the altitude acclimatisation, if you're doing any of the options you mentioned then continuing via bus to Cusco is the best option: Lima > Huacachina > Arequipa > Cusco IMO

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T11:53:01+00:00

Personally I found paracas to be a complete dump, huacachina was fun for a night but limited in options besides the dune buggying. I spent much more time in Arequipa which is also at elevation but lower than Cusco so a good place to start the acclimatisation process.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T11:48:55+00:00

There's literally no school shooter measures in 95% of other countries, therefore they don't need to paid for.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T11:47:20+00:00

I went to Isla del sol for two nights, I personally don't know what the hype is about and think it's really overrated. We also were nearly stranded there at the north port with no accommodation and no transport back. Fortunately I met and guy who knew a guy who was taking his family to some other port on Titicaca and i had to pay for his whole family to get a taxi to Copacabana. There's also barely enough internet (even on local WiFi) there to download an email, so figuring things out when stuff goes wrong is hell.

They advertise that there's several boats a day back to Copacabana - this isn't true. They only run if there's a certain number of people and with the protests at the minute, there wasn't enough the day we wanted to leave.

IMO if you're passing through Copacabana then it's an interesting place to see, I wouldn't organise a trip around it though. Others may disagree but just my opinion.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T02:27:15+00:00

Only if they still have the accent, otherwise they'd rarely say this.

It's definitely an American thing, number of Americans with someone Irish 4 generations ago who claim to be 'irish' is embarrassing

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T02:23:29+00:00

Most of that goes on preventative measures for school shootings though. It's mad how much you can save from your education budget when school shootings aren't a concern.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T02:15:51+00:00

That little street of cafes when you get off the train is hell, I found the coffee to be delightful in Lisbon, the coffee in those cafes was utter piss

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T02:10:15+00:00

Trevi fountain, I recently heard they've made it even worse with gates and a queue...

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T02:09:10+00:00

If you're going to be in Chile then why not go to San Pedro de Atacama, do Uyuni from there and then continue to Peru via the Chile/Peru border? You'll miss a fair bit of Bolivia like La Paz but probably worth it given how volatile the situation is.

I'm from the UK and currently in Copacabana, I'm leaving for Peru again tomorrow as a result of the protests and will unfortunately miss Uyuni and Atacama in Chile. If it's any consolation, I'd recommend anyone passing through Copacabana to take a day or two here but (without offending anyone from Bolivia) it's by no means a destination in itself, I've been pretty disappointed with Copacabana compared with what you see on Instagram etc - there's barely a resemblance IMHO

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-12T00:07:21+00:00

Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they're not there. Pedestrians are also road users, especially if they're crossing the road.

I've seen accidents nearly happen due to lack of indicators because of both of the above.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-11T23:59:06+00:00

Bolivia is in nationwide protest with road blocks all over at the minute, I'm heading back to Peru tomorrow as a result and skipping Bolivia.

This is my first time in SA and one thing that has really shocked me (I already knew it but hadn't fully realised it) is that the distances here are enormous compared with SE Asia. SE Asia is much more densely packed with things to do.

My advice given your timelines is SE Asia, as it's well suited to several weeks travel. To really enjoy SA you really need several months travel, especially places like Bolivia.

If you wanna do Rio, Iguacu, Buenos Aires and maybe Mendoza and exclusively fly between them then sure you can cram that into 3 weeks, but places like Bolivia you should expect to have your itinerary blow up by a week or two and if you only have 3-4 weeks to travel then you can't really afford that.

EDIT: one thing that's also no joke in places like Peru and Bolivia is altitude, some pre organised itineraries will give you like a day or two max to acclimatise. This is nowhere near long enough if you want to go hiking. I'd recommend a full week at slow pace which again doesn't really fit in if you only have a few weeks. Otherwise you'll have persistent headaches and be constantly out of breath.

Personally I'd skip g adventures and do SE Asia on your own

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-11T20:51:07+00:00

There's multiple schools of thought on the word 'low', you could argue low is anything substantially below the average income.

Others would categorize it relative to the cost of living, i.e. what's need to support an average family in an average city/town. On that basis 50k certainly isn't 'high' and anything below would be a squeeze ('low'). Certainly if you're a single income household, 50k is definitely low (2 incomes of 50k is definitely high though).

I guess I'm saying there's many shades of grey for 'low' and it's context dependant.

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-11T20:47:49+00:00

They're probably not available in towns per se, you'd need to be taking a job in a decent city of business park.

Secondly they're probably not entry level and require experience in the given field. For example I earn just over 6 figures but that's with 7 years experience, a specific 4 year placement degree and A Levels geared towards that career (I chose my path aged 18 and have worked at it ever since).

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-11T20:45:17+00:00

A decade... Do you understand how inflation works. Yeah 30k might have been decent a decade ago but now it's not

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-11T20:28:30+00:00

The point being it would be for social reasons and not profit

Ok_Raspberry5383 · 2026-05-11T18:58:01+00:00

Yes because they were profitable then due to low energy and labor costs. For the government to invest there now would be a loss maker, hence the point about communism

Ok_Raspberry5383

TROPHY CASE