I had a foreboding feeling it was going to get difficult moving around the world.
But something is happening here in the US that isn't being addressed, acknowledged, or even being spoken of in mainstream conversation.
It is getting extremely challenging to move around inside our own country.
Housing is outrageous. I can't find a decent affordable rental anywhere worth living. I have been searching for almost six months. The closest I've come is a studio for $970 a month in Huntsville, Alabama. I suppose moving to Nebraska or Iowa might yield better results but I don't want to get trapped on the plains. If I want to move to an area with excellent medical, things to do, and a mild climate... $3,000 a month for a one-bedroom, a decent one bedroom
Hotels (really crap chains) are charging near $170 a night. Going to recon pleaces before moving costs as much as a once small vacation. Heaven forbid you have a pet, $100 a night.
The electric car thing is a joke. Try driving from Buffalo to Los Angeles. Bring a tent. You will somewhere to rest during charging.
Let's not go into the airline industry... but I am doing so, but briefly. $700 to fly from Grand Rapids, MI to Las Vegas. NV unless you choose to ride in their deluxe cattle car accommodations.
I don't have an answer. But this started around 2021. When I was roaming around the country in 2020 I saw the beginning of it.
At the moment i'm trapped inside a mortgage at 2.15%... my husband died, I don't want to live here anymore... but my choices have narrowed considerably. I'm 68 years old. I can't afford to make mistakes. I still hold out hope I can move to Colombia. But the door is closing.
I have no solutions. But there is a chaos and world order being shifted... and only God knows who will come out on top and be the next superpower. We can blame it on us and Trump... but I believe that this is too narrow a place to blame.
Here's the thing. My issue is that I have no idea how long I'll live. Will I outlive everything save? The last thing I want is to end up on the street inside a tent. This stuff its a real fear, especially for women - and I don't care how much they have saved or are earning.
Wow, Patti, I hadn’t even thought about that. We spend most of our time outside the U.S., so aren’t well versed in what you’re describing. But we’re currently back for six months, and have been amazed at the price of groceries and the cost of eating out.
Eating out is insane. I end up buying fairly high-end food and drink and justify it by saving $200 to go out for dinner, $100 for lunch, and $60 for breakfast! I can go buy a few pounds of Dungeness crab and feel like I'm getting a bargain after perusing restaurant menus!
The UK is similar. Since the pandemic we eat out far less than we did but eat - and drink - better at home. Still the restaurants will be full this weekend for Mother’s Day.
Exactly the same here. The restaurants are full for the most part. It's like people are sleepwalking not recognizing how things are evolving, including the ridiculousness of eating out and the cost coupled with lack of quality.
Well, Nebraska is barely better, a studio in a decent place is like $850 a month now. When I moved here in 2016, I had a 2 bedroom with garage and pet for $900. I'm sorry to hear about your husband, I lost mine just over 5 years ago, and it is hard.
I'm certainly glad you confirmed this - I read in some of the bigger publications about how less expensive it is in places like Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. I knew they were not being truthful. I research geography, states, cities, and housing daily, because I'm trying to find a place inexpensive enough that I can pay the rent for six months while I live in South America for the other six months. I can find wonderful places to live in Central and South America - but now due to the world upheaval I'm unsure if they're still safe. This is a real problem for everyone - being unable to migrate whether in or out of the country. It just hasn't been brought to attention here - most are not nomads like I am. Everyone is too busy staying focused on illegal immigration, the proverbial carrot dangling to distract us.
I don't need much but would rather avoid living in a yurt out in the middle of nowhere to afford my lifestyle that does not include housing. Even if one wanted to live in a mobile home park, Wall Street is buying them up and raising the lot rent too high so people who have been in their homes for years can no longer afford to stay. This entire housing crisis and migration thing is criminal. It is due to greed and power.
We have a large aging population that is slowly being crushed from all sides. It's criminal.
Don’t pussy foot around it. Trump has destabilized the world. USA is feeling it and we are wrecking havoc on other nations. This is a sad sad time to be an American.
We are out traveling the world and have been for the past 15 months. We’ve felt no ill will directly. We have had at least 10 strangers bring up Trump to us…even at the beginning of his second term. We were all in agreement he’s bad and they seemed to assume from the outset that we would think so. One thing I did notice though is in a rare instance where we stayed in a hotel, down at the morning breakfast filled with Europeans on vacation, not a SINGLE person engaged us in conversation. They befriended each other but not us. That’s very unusual in a whole week. I definitely felt like it was a blowback of our country’s incredibly unfriendly politics right now.
Yes, it definitely made me kind of sad. It also didn’t help that the Davos meeting was playing in the background all week during breakfast. So embarrassing!
We had that happen a year ago in Peru, but in reverse. We were on a multi day hop-on tour across the country. There was one fellow who sat across the aisle from us a few times, but never talked to us. On the last day we stood in a line in front of him, and he noticed the Canadian flag on the side of my wife's hat. He immediately engaged is in conversation, and apologized for ignoring is. He thought we were American, and didn't want to get involved with us 🙄. It's definitely having an impact. Good luck with it.
Thanks for sharing that. Unfortunately, I had a strong feeling my hunch was not wrong. I’ve done quite a bit of travel and that was definitely an unusual experience. It didn’t seem like a coincidence. :(
I just returned from 6 weeks in Thailand and felt no ill will. I did have three Thai people on three different occasions bring up Trump. Usually Thai people mind their own business and aren’t that concerned about the politics of other places. However, they all told me that there is a general feeling of dislike for Trump amongst Thai people and that they fear that he’s trying to take over the whole world. They are paying attention.
Yeah, that’s been our experience as well. As I note in the article, I fear that eventually people might start feeling ill will toward Americans. Understandably so…
I would add something my Aussie partner said about a year ago. That he’s always separated a country’s government from its people (and has happily visited a LOT of countries whose governments generally appall me), and agrees that most humans outside the states do too. But that it was The American People who voted that thing in for the _second_ time, so he’s pretty unhappy with the people now too. Like this is a man who once went to Iraq on holiday (he loved it!) saying he wouldn’t travel to the states any more, not because of the government but _because_ of the people. So yeah, I think things have changed at this point.
That’s really sad but I get it. I loathe half of my country for putting the SOB back into office. There’s no way I can blame other people for being angry at us.
It’s also a huge problem for Americans living abroad. I normally try to get to Colorado a few times a year to see my son and his family. Now, traveling while brown, I’m nervous about entering the US from Canada and have only ventured once since 47 was elected. My little grandchildren don’t get to see me other than on screens, for which I feel deeply resentful. NTM that they’re trying to disenfranchise Americans living abroad and threatening to denaturalize us if we’re too outspoken.
I live in Australia and cancelled our trip to Calif... this Sept to visit our grandkids because of Trump entry rules and worried about getting locked up for no reason. As a fan of Americans it had deeply disturb me how Americans put him back in power!
I cancelled plans to visit British Columbia this year because I feared my own government’s policies would make it too difficult to safely return home. We are headed for the modern version of the French Revolution.
I live in Mexico and occasionally have to travel to the U.S. My last trip I drove across the border and was feeling mildly to moderately stressed about the prospect of border-crossing. Fortunately, I passed without incident, but here I am about as privileged as one can be in the U.S., wondering what the stress must feel like for border-crossers more directly targeted by the anti-immigrant/racists machinery in the federal government.
I think it is true that the vast majority of people outside the US can distinguish between US policies and its citizens. That has nearly always been my experience.
For me, the problem has been the unpredictability of future air travel, and the reciprocal moves by certain governments who rightly feel insulted by US visa policies. I recently became persona non grata in a country I sought to visit.
That's been true for us too, but I do wonder if views could change it the world economy tanks. And it only takes a small minority of America-haters for travel to become very unpleasant. 🫤
Too many regular Americans are still under the delusion that they can survive this era and get to control what, when, and how much discomfort they’ll tolerate. Yet too many still haven’t lifted a finger to do the bare minimum, like calling their congressperson.
This magical thinking is why many Americans won’t survive this moment, and why others around the globe are ready to tell us to F off. We are sick with privilege and convenience and the rest of the world is tired of overlooking that trait in our everyday citizens. Can’t say I blame them.
What did you think would happen when America/Trump the idiot, declares war on countries, impacts world economies and literally alienates our closest allies? We have more than "egg on our face". We are responsible for the worst and corrupt president in American history. Did you think other countries would welcome Americans when we do not REMOVE him from office? Really? I AM ASHAMED we have not removed him.
What did we expect to happen? Well, this, which is why we packed up and left nine years ago. Here’s hoping the midterms are disastrous for the Republicans.
I fled the United States on March 1. I actually drove across the border into Canada. I started the visa process last July. I thought I would have plenty of time. I barely made it out in time. I don’t think I will ever return.
(Even before the incident at the Embassy here in Oslo occurred — I had just been saying I was happy we had just completed the renewal of my daughter’s passport there so we didn’t have to go during this awful “War” — I was thinking how it might be good to keep my “American-ness” from being too obvious when out and about, even here.)
I get what you're saying. The thought has gone through my mind. But then I feel icky worrying about my luxury of travel and living abroad when the foreign policy is killing people and destroying lives and homes. You know?
I do know and I try to speak up about that. My Facebook feed has been filled with my fury over the destruction of USAID and the lives that has cost, the murder of the little girls in Iran by our bombing, and so forth.
But all of us still have to live our lives and navigate the reality of the impact of our government’s actions on our own lives.
Michael, you make so many good points. This incomprehensible, illegal war and its consequences were almost 100% predictable if we’d had a sane President who did his homework. But clearly we don’t. Compared to those who are risking and/or losing their lives, their homes and their livelihoods, we who love to travel have little to complain about. Yet it’s difficult to reconcile ourselves to this new reality that we’re becoming the bad guys and might be less welcome abroad than in times gone by. By launching this war, on top of all the other dastardly things he’s done to piss off the world, Trump has put a target on all our backs. He has managed to squander more than 60 years of good will in a single year. I’m not sure it’s salvageable, even if Dems manage to win back the House in November.
I had a foreboding feeling it was going to get difficult moving around the world.
But something is happening here in the US that isn't being addressed, acknowledged, or even being spoken of in mainstream conversation.
It is getting extremely challenging to move around inside our own country.
Housing is outrageous. I can't find a decent affordable rental anywhere worth living. I have been searching for almost six months. The closest I've come is a studio for $970 a month in Huntsville, Alabama. I suppose moving to Nebraska or Iowa might yield better results but I don't want to get trapped on the plains. If I want to move to an area with excellent medical, things to do, and a mild climate... $3,000 a month for a one-bedroom, a decent one bedroom
Hotels (really crap chains) are charging near $170 a night. Going to recon pleaces before moving costs as much as a once small vacation. Heaven forbid you have a pet, $100 a night.
The electric car thing is a joke. Try driving from Buffalo to Los Angeles. Bring a tent. You will somewhere to rest during charging.
Let's not go into the airline industry... but I am doing so, but briefly. $700 to fly from Grand Rapids, MI to Las Vegas. NV unless you choose to ride in their deluxe cattle car accommodations.
I don't have an answer. But this started around 2021. When I was roaming around the country in 2020 I saw the beginning of it.
At the moment i'm trapped inside a mortgage at 2.15%... my husband died, I don't want to live here anymore... but my choices have narrowed considerably. I'm 68 years old. I can't afford to make mistakes. I still hold out hope I can move to Colombia. But the door is closing.
I have no solutions. But there is a chaos and world order being shifted... and only God knows who will come out on top and be the next superpower. We can blame it on us and Trump... but I believe that this is too narrow a place to blame.
That is so depressing. Yes, we see it too. It must be really tough on a fixed income.
Here's the thing. My issue is that I have no idea how long I'll live. Will I outlive everything save? The last thing I want is to end up on the street inside a tent. This stuff its a real fear, especially for women - and I don't care how much they have saved or are earning.
I hear you. I really do.
I feel the same way
Wow, Patti, I hadn’t even thought about that. We spend most of our time outside the U.S., so aren’t well versed in what you’re describing. But we’re currently back for six months, and have been amazed at the price of groceries and the cost of eating out.
Eating out is insane. I end up buying fairly high-end food and drink and justify it by saving $200 to go out for dinner, $100 for lunch, and $60 for breakfast! I can go buy a few pounds of Dungeness crab and feel like I'm getting a bargain after perusing restaurant menus!
The UK is similar. Since the pandemic we eat out far less than we did but eat - and drink - better at home. Still the restaurants will be full this weekend for Mother’s Day.
Exactly the same here. The restaurants are full for the most part. It's like people are sleepwalking not recognizing how things are evolving, including the ridiculousness of eating out and the cost coupled with lack of quality.
Well, Nebraska is barely better, a studio in a decent place is like $850 a month now. When I moved here in 2016, I had a 2 bedroom with garage and pet for $900. I'm sorry to hear about your husband, I lost mine just over 5 years ago, and it is hard.
I'm certainly glad you confirmed this - I read in some of the bigger publications about how less expensive it is in places like Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. I knew they were not being truthful. I research geography, states, cities, and housing daily, because I'm trying to find a place inexpensive enough that I can pay the rent for six months while I live in South America for the other six months. I can find wonderful places to live in Central and South America - but now due to the world upheaval I'm unsure if they're still safe. This is a real problem for everyone - being unable to migrate whether in or out of the country. It just hasn't been brought to attention here - most are not nomads like I am. Everyone is too busy staying focused on illegal immigration, the proverbial carrot dangling to distract us.
I don't need much but would rather avoid living in a yurt out in the middle of nowhere to afford my lifestyle that does not include housing. Even if one wanted to live in a mobile home park, Wall Street is buying them up and raising the lot rent too high so people who have been in their homes for years can no longer afford to stay. This entire housing crisis and migration thing is criminal. It is due to greed and power.
We have a large aging population that is slowly being crushed from all sides. It's criminal.
So did I.
Don’t pussy foot around it. Trump has destabilized the world. USA is feeling it and we are wrecking havoc on other nations. This is a sad sad time to be an American.
Yes, he has.
Yup.
We are out traveling the world and have been for the past 15 months. We’ve felt no ill will directly. We have had at least 10 strangers bring up Trump to us…even at the beginning of his second term. We were all in agreement he’s bad and they seemed to assume from the outset that we would think so. One thing I did notice though is in a rare instance where we stayed in a hotel, down at the morning breakfast filled with Europeans on vacation, not a SINGLE person engaged us in conversation. They befriended each other but not us. That’s very unusual in a whole week. I definitely felt like it was a blowback of our country’s incredibly unfriendly politics right now.
Wow, that’s sobering about the people at breakfast. I worry that will become the new norm…
Yes, it definitely made me kind of sad. It also didn’t help that the Davos meeting was playing in the background all week during breakfast. So embarrassing!
Embarrassing is right.
Fascinating.
We had that happen a year ago in Peru, but in reverse. We were on a multi day hop-on tour across the country. There was one fellow who sat across the aisle from us a few times, but never talked to us. On the last day we stood in a line in front of him, and he noticed the Canadian flag on the side of my wife's hat. He immediately engaged is in conversation, and apologized for ignoring is. He thought we were American, and didn't want to get involved with us 🙄. It's definitely having an impact. Good luck with it.
Thanks 👊
Thanks for sharing that. Unfortunately, I had a strong feeling my hunch was not wrong. I’ve done quite a bit of travel and that was definitely an unusual experience. It didn’t seem like a coincidence. :(
The world will cheer when he is buried.
It will. But I also think he's a symptom of a greater problem.
Agree. The fatal problem for the U.S. is his supporters. There is no way to fix the damage they have done and will continue to do.
Definitely.
I just returned from 6 weeks in Thailand and felt no ill will. I did have three Thai people on three different occasions bring up Trump. Usually Thai people mind their own business and aren’t that concerned about the politics of other places. However, they all told me that there is a general feeling of dislike for Trump amongst Thai people and that they fear that he’s trying to take over the whole world. They are paying attention.
Yeah, that’s been our experience as well. As I note in the article, I fear that eventually people might start feeling ill will toward Americans. Understandably so…
And they're too polite to tell you the truth or explain how they feel.
I would add something my Aussie partner said about a year ago. That he’s always separated a country’s government from its people (and has happily visited a LOT of countries whose governments generally appall me), and agrees that most humans outside the states do too. But that it was The American People who voted that thing in for the _second_ time, so he’s pretty unhappy with the people now too. Like this is a man who once went to Iraq on holiday (he loved it!) saying he wouldn’t travel to the states any more, not because of the government but _because_ of the people. So yeah, I think things have changed at this point.
Don't blame him AT ALL. It really is inexcusable. Half of America seems almost unfathomably stupid.
That’s really sad but I get it. I loathe half of my country for putting the SOB back into office. There’s no way I can blame other people for being angry at us.
1/3 didn't vote. 1/2 of 2/3 voters won for him.
It’s also a huge problem for Americans living abroad. I normally try to get to Colorado a few times a year to see my son and his family. Now, traveling while brown, I’m nervous about entering the US from Canada and have only ventured once since 47 was elected. My little grandchildren don’t get to see me other than on screens, for which I feel deeply resentful. NTM that they’re trying to disenfranchise Americans living abroad and threatening to denaturalize us if we’re too outspoken.
I’m so sorry, Uma. Another shitty thing to add to the list of shitty things that shitty man is to blame for.
Exactly right. I have heard this from so many of our friends (like you!).
I live in Australia and cancelled our trip to Calif... this Sept to visit our grandkids because of Trump entry rules and worried about getting locked up for no reason. As a fan of Americans it had deeply disturb me how Americans put him back in power!
I'm not sure how we get through the next 3 weeks, much less the next 3 years.
I hear you. For me the answer is Always take the effing walk...
You n me both.
This is how I feel — and very, very worried
I cancelled plans to visit British Columbia this year because I feared my own government’s policies would make it too difficult to safely return home. We are headed for the modern version of the French Revolution.
Yup, every time we return, we wonder what it’s going to be like. And we are headed for something without a doubt…
I live in Mexico and occasionally have to travel to the U.S. My last trip I drove across the border and was feeling mildly to moderately stressed about the prospect of border-crossing. Fortunately, I passed without incident, but here I am about as privileged as one can be in the U.S., wondering what the stress must feel like for border-crossers more directly targeted by the anti-immigrant/racists machinery in the federal government.
I think it is true that the vast majority of people outside the US can distinguish between US policies and its citizens. That has nearly always been my experience.
For me, the problem has been the unpredictability of future air travel, and the reciprocal moves by certain governments who rightly feel insulted by US visa policies. I recently became persona non grata in a country I sought to visit.
That's been true for us too, but I do wonder if views could change it the world economy tanks. And it only takes a small minority of America-haters for travel to become very unpleasant. 🫤
Which country was that?
Gabon.
Too many regular Americans are still under the delusion that they can survive this era and get to control what, when, and how much discomfort they’ll tolerate. Yet too many still haven’t lifted a finger to do the bare minimum, like calling their congressperson.
This magical thinking is why many Americans won’t survive this moment, and why others around the globe are ready to tell us to F off. We are sick with privilege and convenience and the rest of the world is tired of overlooking that trait in our everyday citizens. Can’t say I blame them.
Completely agree.
Nor can I.
What did you think would happen when America/Trump the idiot, declares war on countries, impacts world economies and literally alienates our closest allies? We have more than "egg on our face". We are responsible for the worst and corrupt president in American history. Did you think other countries would welcome Americans when we do not REMOVE him from office? Really? I AM ASHAMED we have not removed him.
What did we expect to happen? Well, this, which is why we packed up and left nine years ago. Here’s hoping the midterms are disastrous for the Republicans.
You're preaching to the choir! Couldn't agree more! 😂
Sorry...just ranting...:)
Oh, I get it. I rant a LOT! LOL.
Make that Sir Rantzalot. I like it to rhyme with the OG.
I dub thee, Sir Rantalot. Wear it with pride my friend. We need you.
I fled the United States on March 1. I actually drove across the border into Canada. I started the visa process last July. I thought I would have plenty of time. I barely made it out in time. I don’t think I will ever return.
completely fair, honestly.
Important read!
(Even before the incident at the Embassy here in Oslo occurred — I had just been saying I was happy we had just completed the renewal of my daughter’s passport there so we didn’t have to go during this awful “War” — I was thinking how it might be good to keep my “American-ness” from being too obvious when out and about, even here.)
What a sad commentary that we have to feel this way.
So true.
I get what you're saying. The thought has gone through my mind. But then I feel icky worrying about my luxury of travel and living abroad when the foreign policy is killing people and destroying lives and homes. You know?
I do know and I try to speak up about that. My Facebook feed has been filled with my fury over the destruction of USAID and the lives that has cost, the murder of the little girls in Iran by our bombing, and so forth.
But all of us still have to live our lives and navigate the reality of the impact of our government’s actions on our own lives.
It's very true.
Michael, you make so many good points. This incomprehensible, illegal war and its consequences were almost 100% predictable if we’d had a sane President who did his homework. But clearly we don’t. Compared to those who are risking and/or losing their lives, their homes and their livelihoods, we who love to travel have little to complain about. Yet it’s difficult to reconcile ourselves to this new reality that we’re becoming the bad guys and might be less welcome abroad than in times gone by. By launching this war, on top of all the other dastardly things he’s done to piss off the world, Trump has put a target on all our backs. He has managed to squander more than 60 years of good will in a single year. I’m not sure it’s salvageable, even if Dems manage to win back the House in November.
I'm not sure it's salvageable either. I think the damage to the world economy is going to be incredible -- and it's all our fault.
Sadly, I completely agree.