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Abstract

r plans.</p><p id="52d0">You would think in a civilized society, one should be able to have a relatively peaceful existence while living close to other people.</p><h2 id="eaf6">Car-centric culture</h2><p id="0310">Other than moving back to New York, or trying out Chicago or San Francisco, I don’t see how car dependency would get easier anywhere in the U.S. At least here in LA, they tried to create a public transit system. Though not many people I know use it.</p><p id="5c68">Heck, even New York is the only major city I’ve been to outside of the U.S. that doesn’t have a dedicated train or a bus going to the airport.</p><p id="1f0d">Try taking a two-hour subway ride from JFK after a ten-hour flight and you’ll see what I complain about.</p><h2 id="c399">Lack of food culture</h2><p id="e66f">While I’m well-aware of all the ethnic cafes LA and New York have to offer, it doesn’t make me feel any better about our culture of fast food, drive-through (sorry, drive-thru), in-car-eating, enormous portions, and plastic trays of junk food in public schools.</p><p id="c10e">This too, I’m afraid, does not get better outside of Los Angeles.</p><h2 id="3960">Waste</h2><p id="8333">Neither does this.</p><h2 id="8308">Pollution</h2><p id="8244">This may. After all, Los Angeles is a population and car-dense city. Which was one of the main reasons we moved to the oceanside city of Santa Monica right outside of Los Angeles.</p><p id="688b">However, the U.S. is still <a href="http://www.apple.com/">the second largest carbon polluter in the world</a>, outnumbered only by China.</p><h1 id="ee10">Food prices</h1><p id="b3b4">Sure, grocery prices might drop if we leave the Los Angeles area, but to be fair, I only compare large cities (like LA or New York) to other large cities (like L

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ondon or Copenhagen).</p><p id="5f40">If I need to move to the country to be able to afford quality food in abundance, that’s not “solving a problem” but covering it up.</p><h1 id="183b">Prices of education</h1><p id="f405">We could surely get cheaper pre-schools for our daughter outside of Santa Monica (and trust me, we looked), but it would most likely come at the expense of her older sisters’ public education which is quite good here in Santa Monica, even by European standards.</p><p id="5cfc">As long as any part of the country has kindergartens charging 30K (Santa Monica) or 50K (Manhattan) a year, we have a problem. Find me a school that charges that in Europe, and you win.</p><p id="6a36">Likewise, would moving out of Los Angeles solve putting two kids through college (our impending struggle) in the most expensive university system in the world? Hardly.</p><h2 id="e19d">Lack of free healthcare</h2><p id="60ca">Can’t be solved by moving anywhere in the United States.</p><h2 id="d5df">Anxiety</h2><p id="0d66">Sure, people in big cities are more anxious by default. But again, you find me another developed nation that is more anxious as a whole than the U.S., and you win.</p><p id="a810">We’ve traveled a lot, and we’re yet to find one.</p><h1 id="9604">Guns</h1><p id="5d39">This one might get worse, depending on where we move to.</p><p id="b170">There you have it. Looks like other than escaping pollution, moving away from Los Angeles won’t “solve all of our problems” after all.</p><p id="f0c1">And moving to the country, as lovely as it sounds, is not only unrealistic for us at the moment but shouldn’t be necessary for a healthy society. Yet often it’s the only solution I can think about when I think of this upside-down country of ours.</p></article></body>

Apparently, All My Problems “Can Be Solved by Leaving Los Angeles”

Or so my readers say

I write a lot about what bugs me and my Danish husband here in the U.S. I also make sure to list the things we like. While I’m nowhere as negative as some other writers on this platform, I still get a fair amount of self-defense rants from readers.

Since I’m getting tired of responding to each comment telling me to “move out of LA” or “LA is not America,” I decided to write one long answer I can answer those with.

Let’s look at some of the main things I struggle with (and write about) in Southern California and see how it relates to the rest of the country. Perhaps, all my problems could just be solved with a move.

Noise

While loud car engines and constant beeping might be more common in cities like LA and New York, most other noises surrounding us remain the same throughout the country.

Unnecessarily loud ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars, beeping trucks, music playing in cafes and stores, and people talking louder than necessary followed me everywhere I visited in the U.S.

Sure, things get quieter in the countryside, but homeschooling two teenagers and a toddler, while working remotely, is not in our plans.

You would think in a civilized society, one should be able to have a relatively peaceful existence while living close to other people.

Car-centric culture

Other than moving back to New York, or trying out Chicago or San Francisco, I don’t see how car dependency would get easier anywhere in the U.S. At least here in LA, they tried to create a public transit system. Though not many people I know use it.

Heck, even New York is the only major city I’ve been to outside of the U.S. that doesn’t have a dedicated train or a bus going to the airport.

Try taking a two-hour subway ride from JFK after a ten-hour flight and you’ll see what I complain about.

Lack of food culture

While I’m well-aware of all the ethnic cafes LA and New York have to offer, it doesn’t make me feel any better about our culture of fast food, drive-through (sorry, drive-thru), in-car-eating, enormous portions, and plastic trays of junk food in public schools.

This too, I’m afraid, does not get better outside of Los Angeles.

Waste

Neither does this.

Pollution

This may. After all, Los Angeles is a population and car-dense city. Which was one of the main reasons we moved to the oceanside city of Santa Monica right outside of Los Angeles.

However, the U.S. is still the second largest carbon polluter in the world, outnumbered only by China.

Food prices

Sure, grocery prices might drop if we leave the Los Angeles area, but to be fair, I only compare large cities (like LA or New York) to other large cities (like London or Copenhagen).

If I need to move to the country to be able to afford quality food in abundance, that’s not “solving a problem” but covering it up.

Prices of education

We could surely get cheaper pre-schools for our daughter outside of Santa Monica (and trust me, we looked), but it would most likely come at the expense of her older sisters’ public education which is quite good here in Santa Monica, even by European standards.

As long as any part of the country has kindergartens charging 30K (Santa Monica) or 50K (Manhattan) a year, we have a problem. Find me a school that charges that in Europe, and you win.

Likewise, would moving out of Los Angeles solve putting two kids through college (our impending struggle) in the most expensive university system in the world? Hardly.

Lack of free healthcare

Can’t be solved by moving anywhere in the United States.

Anxiety

Sure, people in big cities are more anxious by default. But again, you find me another developed nation that is more anxious as a whole than the U.S., and you win.

We’ve traveled a lot, and we’re yet to find one.

Guns

This one might get worse, depending on where we move to.

There you have it. Looks like other than escaping pollution, moving away from Los Angeles won’t “solve all of our problems” after all.

And moving to the country, as lovely as it sounds, is not only unrealistic for us at the moment but shouldn’t be necessary for a healthy society. Yet often it’s the only solution I can think about when I think of this upside-down country of ours.