Quote:
Originally Posted by shore things
You may find that while gas here is cheaper you spend just as much if not more money getting around because mpg is lower, you will need drive everwhere due to the lack of public transportation, and we don't have the sort of village environment that allows one to simply walk to the neighborhood butcher, baker, or convenience store to get day to day things you may need.
My experience in the UK is limited to passing through Heathrow. However, I have spent a fair amount of time in Italy (a very different country and econmy, I know). One of the biggest differences I have noticed there other than fuel ($12/gallon last year) is in construction materials. If you enjoy "do it yourself" type projects and spend time in some hardware stores you may notice some serious differences in the prices of things like lumber, stone, and concrete. Also one might think that tools such as spades, hammers, and the like are univeral in design. This is not necessarily the case.
Another area of possible difference is techonology costs. I am not a "Mac person" but my friends are and they claim that things like iPads and iPhones are approximately a third of the cost here as compared to Europe. I would be curious to know if that is true.
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I can see your logic re gas prices but I'm sure that I'd prefer to have the choice of paying $3 to $4 a gallon and decide upon my fuel use / engine size rather than be forced to pay $11 to $12 per gallon knowing that 80% is taxes! Interesting example time? My car in the UK is a Citroen C5 Estate with a 2.2 litre straight 4 diesel which gives me an average return of circa 45 mpg and in the UK, this car is considered quite large. However, my previous car was a Land Rover Discovery 2 with a 4.6 Litre V8 petrol engine that gave me an average of 14 to 18 mpg ... Horrific cost to run...
DIY in the UK is similar to much of the rest of Europe, depends whether you buy trade or at the rip off mega stores... I have experience of UK, France and Spain in this, all as bad as each other!
Finally, Apple prices in the UK... here are a few examples (using an XR of 1.587 at todays commercial rate)
iPad Mini from base model @ £269 ($427) to Top model £529 ($839)
iPad 4 from base model @ £399 ($633) to Top model £659 ($1045)
iPhone 5 (unlocked) from £529 ($839) to £699 ($1109)
iMac from £1099 ($1745) to Fully loaded £3558 ($5645)
All prices taken from Apple store Direct.
Most of my Apple kit is actually purchased in the US by either my son or myself with the exception of my iPhone which I get for free on my cell contract... so another comparison : -
My cell contract is for 24 months and included my iPhone 4S (pre- 5 launch)
and includes 2000 mins to any UK landlines or other cellphone per month, 5000 UK SMS per month, unlimited calls to other users on my network and unlimited / unmetered 3G connectivity. For this I pay £36 ($57) per month inclusive of tax.
what else can we compare?