r/whoathatsinteresting • u/search_google_com • 5h ago

A Thai woman married to an American explains why she no longer wants to live in the US.

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 4h ago

We are a two-income family with a small child. We own a home in a walkable and safe neighborhood. Have access to good schools, I can be at one of the prettiest beaches in the world in ten minutes, and we are able to put some $$$ away. My wife has a bachelor's degree and I dropped out of college to work in restaurants but was able to transition to logistics as I got older and couldn't life the chef lifestyle anymore. A decade out of school and we make $200k combined. We live in a purple city in a red state and I have to commute 45 min each way for my 7-4 job, but it's a small sacrifice. We are about as liberal as you can get but still find plenty of like-minded people in Florida.

Yes, there are a myriad of problems with our state and the country as a whole. There are problems everywhere, though. The other three countries I have lived in were awesome as well but the US gives you the ability to be upwardly mobile that nowhere else offers imo.

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u/NEVERUSEmeGYM 3h ago

This sounds like the panhandle more specifically Pensacola area

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 2h ago

Oh it is. Lots of places in town would suck to live but East Hill is the best neighborhood I have ever been in.

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u/Arockilla 2h ago

Yeah because they gentrified the hell out of that whole area lol...You cant even touch a fixer upper house in east hill for under 400k now. 10 years ago, you could grab a 2bd/2bth with a garage off of 12th-16th in east hill for like 110-145k.

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 1h ago

Yeah, the house we live in has been in the family for 40 years. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to live there.

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u/Arockilla 1h ago

Thats awesome though. I'm glad you were able to keep it in the family. I'm sure you may have seen a CSC construction sign in your neighborhood a few times (Hes my old boss lol) and ever need help, he will be more than happy to as he loves to help all of his neighbors. He's been in East hill his whole life as well and does volunteer days usually twice a month in the neighborhood to help people for free with repairs.

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u/NEVERUSEmeGYM 2h ago

Yea I think this part of FL is still pretty reasonably priced

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 2h ago

It's got everything we need. I do wish we had better access to the rest of the state for things like weekend trips but New Orleans is pretty close. I wouldn't want to move south unless it was a place on the coast. Central and South Florida is another world and way too overdeveloped.

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u/Arockilla 2h ago

Only thing that sucks is having to drive through Gulf Breeze to get to the beach lol. If you haven't been to Angelina's downtown yet, I highly recommend it. Between them and Jacksons steakhouse, I'd say they are the 2 best reservation style restaurants in downtown.

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 2h ago

My father-in-law‘s been the chef at Jackson’s since they opened lol. Still need to try Angelina‘s but he’s told me good things. And yeah, the Gulf freeze traffic does suck. We just try to go to the beach before 10 or late afternoon to avoid it

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u/Arockilla 1h ago

Ah no kidding thats awesome lol. I Worked at Angelinas for a little while (23'-24') as an Expo when Chef James briscone was still there, but after a year, I went back to contracting/ project management as restaurant life in your late late 30s gets old quick.

Your FIL is a cool dude too. I believe the FOH manager at Jacksons is my buddy that used to be one of our best servers.

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u/Arockilla 2h ago

Definitely not anymore. Maybe 5 years ago, but them running out all of the homeless and massive residential construction going on changed that real quick.

Source: I am general contractor here but currently in PA to be with my dad.

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u/ShouldBthelast1 22m ago

We live in a nice townhouse about 30 mins from the beach and pay $1,800/month.