What countries have you lived in and visited?

[StevenK]

Good points but don't overlook the effect of low interest rates on housing. Rates have been extraordinarily low for well over a decade. Combine that with relaxed down-payment minimums and other than for a year or two after the 2008 crash there has been continual upwards pressure on house prices. Most people buy homes based on the monthly payment they can afford, not the price of the house.

It wasn't really meant to be a scientific look at recent house price rises, it was more an example of the principal in action I guess. For instance it annoys me when I walk down a bar district and they have guys/girls outside handing out flyers to try and entice drinkers in. Every bar has one of these guys, and there are the same number of people wanting to go for a drink, so no extra drinks are consumed, just a whole line of people carrying out jobs that nullify each other for the sake of it, and pestering customers in the process, just because one bar owner got greedy sometime in the past.

 

[Atro]

I'm living in Portugal.

Places I've been too:

Madeira Island (Portugal)
Spain
France
Switzerland
Germany
Czech Republic
England
China
Macau
Hong Kong
Thailand
Brazil

Next week I'm gonna cross the pond and visit the US of A. If anyone from New York wanna meet up, just hit me a PM. I'll be there for about a week, then I'll take two days in Paris before coming home again.

 

[NGT]

It's the standard race to the bottom. It starts with a few people doing it, and they end up with the spending power that everyone else wants so they join in. All that means is prices go up and it becomes a necessity to live a normal life rather than something to live an exceptional lifestyle.

Same thing happened with the revolution of women going to work. Now most women work, all families have greater spending power so family homes went up in price to swallow this spending power, thus making it all a big fucking waste of time. Everyone packs their kids off each morning for someone else to raise them while they sit in an office looking at spreadsheets, and for what?

We bought at the bottom with a large down payment and now pay 1675 @ 3.75 30yr fixed, which includes ins/etc for a house that could sell for 520+. I use the good fortune to have my wife not work and stay home with my 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter. We still don't have money for vacations, but we do have some fun. We have chickens, a small pool, couple of decks, a big yard with fruit trees, a nice boat to take out, my son gets to play sports, he's about to get his first dirt bike, and we'll be fishing and riding for 9 weeks together this summer while other people work in an office. Some people want to pay for traveling for memories. That's totally cool! I am Sometimes envious. But, some people want to use their money to purchase things and make memories more than once right here at home. To each their own. None of this happens if i don't work the other 9 months out of the year that I'm not on vacation w/ differed net pay.

 

[StevenK]

We bought at the bottom with a large down payment and now pay 1675 @ 3.75 30yr fixed, which includes ins/etc for a house that could sell for 520+. I use the good fortune to have my wife not work and stay home with my 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter. We still don't have money for vacations, but we do have some fun. We have chickens, a small pool, couple of decks, a big yard with fruit trees, a nice boat to take out, my son gets to play sports, he's about to get his first dirt bike, and we'll be fishing and riding for 9 weeks together this summer while other people work in an office. Some people want to pay for traveling for memories. That's totally cool! I am Sometimes envious. But, some people want to use their money to purchase things and make memories more than once right here at home. To each their own. None of this happens if i don't work the other 9 months out of the year that I'm not on vacation w/ differed net pay.

Don't get me wrong, someone's got to work, simple as that. I actually think your work/life balance sounds pretty good, but exceptional if I go by what I hear from most of the US folk on here.

With regards to what you do with time off I'm with you again. There's a lot of pressure for people to go away to further flung places these days to tick some kind of travel box, I find. I've been plenty of places, I know now that travelling for the sake of travelling isn't particularly for me, I'm just as happy in my local area doing things that I enjoy for myself and my family.

What I don't entirely buy though is when people tell me they're happiest when at work. It feels like someone's lying to themselves. There is so much amazing stuff to do outside of work it sometimes overwhelms me, maybe the mind boggling array of choices and avoiding thinking about it is what people enjoy about the uniformity of a 9-5 job?

 

[NGT]

Don't get me wrong, someone's got to work, simple as that. I actually think your work/life balance sounds pretty good, but exceptional if I go by what I hear from most of the US folk on here.

With regards to what you do with time off I'm with you again. There's a lot of pressure for people to go away to further flung places these days to tick some kind of travel box, I find. I've been plenty of places, I know now that travelling for the sake of travelling isn't particularly for me, I'm just as happy in my local area doing things that I enjoy for myself and my family.

What I don't entirely buy though is when people tell me they're happiest when at work. It feels like someone's lying to themselves. There is so much amazing stuff to do outside of work it sometimes overwhelms me, maybe the mind boggling array of choices and avoiding thinking about it is what people enjoy about the uniformity of a 9-5 job?

Oh i enjoy my job, but i could pick a dozen places I'd rather be, even on my best day at work. I've got friends who hate our time off and need to "have to do something", but that's never been me. I like being productive, but that could be anything from cleaning up my yard to teaching my son how to fish. It doesn't need to be work. My buddy use to go wash dishes at the winery his wife works at just because he was bored being home with nothing to do. I told him to get a hobby, lol.

 

[daithidownunder]

These are all part of the Canary Islands, which is a province of Spain, so why did you list them separately as if they were different countries?

edit: it's a shame so many people visit Bali without also going to the main Indonesian island of Java. Went there during Ramadan which was interesting to say the least, cool experience to try all the little snacks that sell behind curtains that you can only eat after sundown.

I listed all islands/archipelagos separately, if you check my post you'll see that I mentioned "most of mainland Europe". Would you rather I listed all those European countries separately? Yes the Canary Islands are an "autonomous community/Province" and are recognised as part of Spain. Thanks for the Geography lesson though mate, I never had any idea that the Canary Islands were part of Spain

 

[Heinz]

Thanks for the Geography lesson though mate I never had any idea that the Canary Islands were part of Spain

The water in Perth fucks with your brain cells.

 

[daithidownunder]

The water in Perth fucks with your brain cells.

I do agree with that Lachlan, there more than the water to fuck with your head in WA but let's not take away from my thinly veiled dig at Dr LoneSage.

P.S I edited my original post to separate European Islands (just to keep the peace)

 

[LoneSage]

There's a lot of pressure for people to go away to further flung places these days to tick some kind of travel box, I find. I've been plenty of places, I know now that travelling for the sake of travelling isn't particularly for me, I'm just as happy in my local area doing things that I enjoy for myself and my family.

Definitely, there are a lot of hidden gems in everyone's city, but if you've lived there your whole life chances are you might not think it's special enough. In the previous Chinese city I used to live in, ruins of unmaintained sections of the Great Wall marked its northern border. There were actually quite a few sections not mentioned in any English literature/internet before I went there. The locals in the city however had absolutely no idea about any of them (save one or two of the sections, maybe) and were puzzled why I found those Great Walls more fascinating than the restored ones in Beijing.

Back in America last summer I wanted to do more traveling around my region. Patrick Henry's former home and grave was less than an hour's drive away and I did that but never got to do the rest, like Thomas Jefferson's retreat, George Washington's home, etc.

I definitely recommend checking out your city's tourist center, guaranteed they have tons of pamplets of cool things to see and do throughout the area.

I listed all islands/archipelagos separately, if you check my post you'll see that I mentioned "most of mainland Europe". Would you rather I listed all those European countries separately? Yes the Canary Islands are an "autonomous community/Province" and are recognised as part of Spain. Thanks for the Geography lesson though mate, I never had any idea that the Canary Islands were part of Spain

Well I was genuinely curious because I thought they had their own currency or the cultures were vastly different enough to warrant separate mentions. I should've worded it better but my autism got in the way, my bad.

 

[daithidownunder]

Definitely, there are a lot of hidden gems in everyone's city, but if you've lived there your whole life chances are you might not think it's special enough. In the previous Chinese city I used to live in, ruins of unmaintained sections of the Great Wall marked its northern border. There were actually quite a few sections not mentioned in any English literature/internet before I went there. The locals in the city however had absolutely no idea about any of them (save one or two of the sections, maybe) and were puzzled why I found those Great Walls more fascinating than the restored ones in Beijing.

Back in America last summer I wanted to do more traveling around my region. Patrick Henry's former home and grave was less than an hour's drive away and I did that but never got to do the rest, like Thomas Jefferson's retreat, George Washington's home, etc.

I definitely recommend checking out your city's tourist center, guaranteed they have tons of pamplets of cool things to see and do throughout the area.



Well I was genuinely curious because I thought they had their own currency or the cultures were vastly different enough to warrant separate mentions. I should've worded it better but my autism got in the way, my bad.

No worries mate [emoji6]

Sent from my HTC 2PST1 using Tapatalk

 

[Neorebel]

Always lived in the US, visited Germany a couple of times, Belgium, & The Netherlands.

 

[MySoberCompanion]

Born and raised in Italy.

Visited:

Austria
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland
England & Scotland
Netherland
France
Slovenia
Croatia
Hungary
Japan
USA (NY only)

I'd love to visit every single state of the US, but my waifu didn't enjoy our American trip
She barely tolerate Italy and Austria. And all our big travels are planned to Japan only because is her homeland.
Beautiful country, but I'd like to see the rest of the civilized world.

 

[Heinz]

I'd love to visit every single state of the US, but my waifu didn't enjoy our American trip

Oh? What was it about the US that wasn't well received?

Austria has good beer and good food and mountains! what can you not like about it.

 

[MySoberCompanion]

Oh? What was it about the US that wasn't well received?

Austria has good beer and good food and mountains! what can you not like about it.

Initially it was my fault: I chose a cheap hotel in Brooklyn that wasn't located in the best neighborhood.
So the hygienic standards and most of the people we met didn't match her expectation.

Then her pickiness made the rest: we risked a police intervention for a discussion due to a linguistic incomprehension in a mini-market, the cashier spoke just Spanish, my wife some sort of engrish and I had to translate with the help of the other customers.

And she had other discussions about tips in restaurants. Probably she is already in some ban-list.

 

[LoneSage]

People think going to North Korea is impossible but it's easy, just join a tour group and that's it really. Turkmenistan looks to be more difficult unless joining a tour group, I'd like to go one day but hate tour groups. The prices are also cheatingly high, like paying $50 for what should be a $6 hotel. http://imgur.com/gallery/VMbQ7

Bhutan is the same, difficult to get into unless joining a tour group, and even then travelers need to spend $250 daily or they can't go, which is insane. The $250 daily limit discourages tourists and helps retain the culture I guess. http://imgur.com/gallery/XjzmW

Unsure of where to go this summer. Wanted to visit Uzbekistan after hearing it'd be visa-free but for whatever reason they scraped those plans.

 

[oliverclaude]

MURKA

Nice! You was in Iran. Quite a trip...

 

[K_K]

Born and raised in Italy.

Visited:

Austria
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland
England & Scotland
Netherland
France
Slovenia
Croatia
Hungary
Japan
USA (NY only)

I'd love to visit every single state of the US, but my waifu didn't enjoy our American trip
She barely tolerate Italy and Austria. And all our big travels are planned to Japan only because is her homeland.
Beautiful country, but I'd like to see the rest of the civilized world.

Kinda happens with us too. Our big holidays are often spent in America to see my mom and stuff. And so we have to use our smaller holidays to bounce around Europe. She wants to go to Iceland next. Wonder how it is in the summer.

 

[Dr Shroom]

People think going to North Korea is impossible but it's easy, just join a tour group and that's it really. Turkmenistan looks to be more difficult unless joining a tour group, I'd like to go one day but hate tour groups. The prices are also cheatingly high, like paying $50 for what should be a $6 hotel. http://imgur.com/gallery/VMbQ7

Bhutan is the same, difficult to get into unless joining a tour group, and even then travelers need to spend $250 daily or they can't go, which is insane. The $250 daily limit discourages tourists and helps retain the culture I guess. http://imgur.com/gallery/XjzmW

Unsure of where to go this summer. Wanted to visit Uzbekistan after hearing it'd be visa-free but for whatever reason they scraped those plans.

Bhutan looks nice.

 

[FilthyRear]

I'd like to go one day but hate tour groups.

Why do you hate tour groups?

 

[Dr Shroom]

Why do you hate tour groups?

Autism.

 

[FilthyRear]

Autism.

They must hate when he screeches incessantly.

 

[LoneSage]

Look at Shroom over here saying something nice about a shithole!

Why do you hate tour groups?

Because having complete control over what I'm doing is preferable to being lead around like a sheep following a tour guide. Freedom bruh.

 

[GohanX]

Most guided tours don't stop at the whorehouse.

 

[Ren-chan]

Lived: Spain
Visited: France, Sweden, Germany and Japan. Been at Russia's piece of shit airport for 13 hours on my last trip to Tokyo.

 

[Heinz]

Been at Russia's piece of shit airport for 13 hours on my last trip to Tokyo.

Did you have to keep one eye open in case of organ hunters?