[edelweiss]

Recomendation: Come check out Vienna Austria first.

I am a "U.S. Citizen", "born in the USA", whose parents were also "born in the USA". I moved my family to Vienna, Austria 8 years ago. I have for 4 years, owned and operated my own business, a GmbH here.

Vienna. The #1 city in the world 2 years in a row.

http://www.mercer.com/qualityoflivingpr#City_Ranking_Tables

First U.S. City, HONOLULU is at #31 with San Francisco at #32.

Insurance: US versus Austria

Three years ago, my daughter, at the age of 14, was diagnosed with morbid Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, a life threatening condition. She spent 4 weeks in a hospital, with the total out of pocket cost of 280 euro for her meals. 100 % of the hospital costs and medical procedures was covered by insurance which costs my family 2400 euros per year.

In the U.S., in 2003, we paid $15,000 per year for insurance, with a $5500 per person deductible. My wife had her Gaul Bladder removed, and it cost us $11,000 deductible + all of the customary procedures which the insurance companies routinely refuse to pay until you take them to court.

My daughters hospital stay, and continuing medical treatments in the U.S. would certainly have led to a filing for bankruptcy (70 percent of all bankruptcy filings are due to medical bills). Instead, the annual costs of treatments in Austria is 240 euros per year, continuing hospital visits, and Methotrexate Injections.

FYI: Higher education is 100% taxpayer funded in Austria.

As long as a large majority of the U.S. voting public continue to believe that taxes are "theft" rather than paying their "fair share" of the "high financial costs of personal freedom and safety", and continue to refuse to admit that affordable healthcare is a basic human right, staying in Europe is a much better option in my opinion.

[maxawaytoolong]

I spent a month in Vienna, Austria.

The price you pay for that sort of quality of life is that it is also perhaps the most boring place on earth next to Zurich or the other Swiss cities listed in that particular top 10.

[mlxer]

How are those places boring? No nightlife(can't be true)?

[maxawaytoolong]

The Swiss are very insular and unfriendly. The Austrians are a little better. However, in both places it seemed impossible to meet any local person. I will say though that I used to be a skateboarder and hung out in Laussanne, and the skate crowd there was great, as they usually are throughout the world. The nightlife is very strange, IMO. The clubs play a weird mix of pounding techno and horrifying "classic oldies" music. I could not find anything to do at night besides a "club." (In the USA there are coffee shops, or simple bars, or bookstores that stay open late, or even lit parks to play basketball, soccer, etc) No club in these countries were as weird as German nightclubs, though. Vienna does have a large range of classical music type stuff, which is why I was there.

I have not been to any of these places since 2002, so perhaps things have improved. Take it with a grain of salt, I was also just a tourist. In contrast, it's very difficult to describe any aspect of California as "boring" unless you are an angsty teenager stuck in the burbs...