i make the equivalent of about usd 3.5-4k/month after taxes, which is considered a quite good salary. in US I imagine this would be a good salary too (maybe).

what can someone here do with that kind of money in a city? pay rent (equivalent 1300 USD for a 1 bedroom, 1 living room, kitchen and bathroom, all small rooms), pay for public transport or gas (aprox 200 usd just to commute to work if working outside the city), electricity, heating, internet and other utilities bills (approx 300-350), food (approx 500, no eating out, just food from supermarket and cooked at home). if one wants a new car which is not even too fancy like toyota yaris that costs $33k, you do the math to figure out how much to pay each month (hint: approx 700$). You already know how much eating/having a beer out costs.

Still, people survive here too, and more than this, we love it. Personally I wouldn’t leave Europe for US that easily.

so as i was saying, you see, it’s not the exchange rate, it’s just that Americans are used to things being much much cheaper (gas is a true knockout, when I hear people complaining about the price of a GALLON being high I always get a good laugh). Here it’s approx equivalent $1.7 per LITER – and remember that salaries are about the same

ok enough rambling, JD i enjoy your posts though my views are just a bit different (i agree with _most_ things)

see you

Your blog is a great source of motivation to pay my graduate loan back. Keep it up.

[...] almost four times higher in England. You don’t see many SUVs here. … article continues at J.D. brought to you by travel and [...]

You can call one of the directory enquiries services to get the numbers (try 118226 its 23.5p for two enquiries) or use a yellow pages.

Arsenal still have tickets for Saturday, but you’ll need to book by tomorrow. If you’re still in London on 4th August, Crystal Palace are playing Everton @ Selhurst Park.

Other London / nearby professional clubs (in no particular)
Tottenham Hotspurs
Leyton Orient
Charlton Athletic
Brentford
Chelsea (may be on tour still)
Queens Park Rangers
West Ham United
Fulham
Millwall
Watford
Reading

Its a pity that you had a poor Chinese meal near Leicester Square – presumably you were in Chinatown. You win some, you lose some.

I wasn’t aware that there are fewer ad boads over here, but it doesn’t surprise me – we have a slightly different style of advertising to the US. There’s very little product placement in TV shows as said above – and of course the BBC doesn’t advertise at all.

Its difficult to say whether tv dominates the country as much as the US as its really hard to compare. We’re certainly very proud of the number of good telly programmes that we produce. I’d say that we have fewer channels to watch and cable/satellite is not as ubiquitous.

Well when time comes to buy dinner or food and I had company then I always offer to share the bill. Thats good for everyone’s valet or purse.

Now I’m not suggesting you completely convert to take-away. But the Brits have a great variety of foods you can just pick up and eat in the park or your room or wherever. Even if you just “roughed it” for breakfast and dinner, you could still have a pleasant lunch — and lunch is cheaper than dinner.

Heck, if you’re not too fussy about lunch, go to Boots’ Drugstore and get a sandwich and a Tango soda for about $2-$3. I wouldn’t do that every day, but it’s okay if you do it once in a while.

You can do the same thing in the rest of Europe. In fact, check out the cafes/restaurants in department stores. In Austria and Germany, you could load up on meats, potatoes and veggies for about $4. The washrooms there are also usually free or inexpensive. And there’s a ton of seating. THe grocery stores are great, too. And it’s fun to see how other people live.

Again, you are on vacation, so you needn’t rough it all the time. But you might want to try some creative ways to manage your meals. If you can shift your main meal to lunch, you’ll save a bundle.

One other place that’s amazing (my favorite in London) is called Food for Thought. It’s off of Covent Garden in London. It’s a yummy and affordable vegetarian restaurant.

Speaking of gas, it cost me $30.00 to fill my new Fusion up all the way from just under 1/2 full the other day. I didn’t think the prices were that much more expensive from when I had my Taurus. Maybe my new gas tank is bigger? (Wouldn’t that be a welcome change!)

My Aussie friends as well as those in the UK have long been spending a lot more on gas than we have here in the U.S. They haven’t had a lot of sympathy for me when I’ve complained.

I find that assumption a little specious, simply because the Brits are known for their TV productions — a lot of American shows are based on British originals….the Brits seem as pop-culture fixated as the Americans, but some measures…

This is quite funny in the sense that I am currently living the opposite situation.

I am based in London and I have been in Vancouver for more than a month. With the GBP at roughly 2CAD or USD, it is awesome all I can do with the same Budget

Nevertheless enjoy as despite being expensive, London is a very nice city. Don’t forget to visit Greenwich park if you have the appropriate weather.

Have fun in England!

When I saw X Factor in Ireland, they blur out the cups to stop the advertising!

$4 for a hot chocolate? Sounds about right
$20-35 per person for a meal is right for your average place.

By the way, this amount of rain is a lot higher than average!