I’ve traveled in Europe and Canada. It’s cleaner, safer, and more sophisticated. Period. I’ve learned to accept and/or ignore the occasional rudeness that occurs because I’m {gag} American.

Is there violence? Yes, but it tends to group violence, rather than individual crime. Stay away from roving gangs of crazies, don’t carry stuff in your pockets riding the tram, and for g*d’s sake, try to speak the fucking language.

Very quick story: I was in St Moritz, backpacking. At the hotel overlooking the racetrack. My companion and I clearly had been on the road. Everybody else in the lobby looked like they owned half the damn planet. Asked the concierge, in French, for the restrooms. He replied politely in English and asked if we needed someone to show us. We declined. He smiled and nodded. We did our thing, came back the same way. We said, “Merci”. He said, “Come back if you need to find something.”

In the states, we would have run into a “restrooms for customers only” sign.

My simple point here is that people in this country have no sense of society, propriety, tradition. We throw the words “bullshit”, “fuck you”, and “it’s a free country, I can do what I want” around without regard for much of anything or anyone. America just glitters and sizzles. Europe glows.

I don’t know about any European cities firsthand. I tried to do a little research on the subject (very little) by googling “European crime rates” and I didn’t find any credible/updated sources on the subject. The only thing I found were some old articles and blogs which stated Europe actually has a higher crime rate than the US. I don’t know.

My real point (minus the sarcasm) was that with the exception of some real bad cities, the rest of the country doesn’t live in fear of being robbed, murdered, raped…etc. Does it happen in other cites, sure it does. Just like you could be riding around on a bus in Canada and have your head cut off (and partially eaten.

“This point of yours is simply bullshit. Firstly, it is a proof by anecdote. Secondly, it assumes that the things that make you want to live are harmful for you. Which is only true for people who enjoy taking drugs (legal or not) or something else equally self-destroying.”

It wasn’t a point, it was sarcasm and offers absolutely no proof of anything (by anecdote or otherwise). As for the quote being “simply bullshit”, that would depend on one’s perspective. You’re certainly entitled to your own opinion; however, to simply dismiss something/anything as “bullshit” because it doesn’t conform to your way of thinking/living seems a little pious (IMO). I’m sure that quote is balls on for a lot of people(for whatever reason).

As for the ACTUAL statement, “You’ll live longer.”, I believe it.

RE: 1) see – that’s exactly the problem – you’re thinking in terms “acceptable to live areas” and “death zones”. I certainly can’t vouch for all european cities, but in those where I lived and visited, I’ve never heard of any places I should avoid because of the high crime rate.

RE 5) This point of yours is simply bullshit. Firstly, it is a proof by anecdote. Secondly, it assumes that the things that make you want to live are harmful for you. Which is only true for people who enjoy taking drugs (legal or not) or something else equally self-destroying.

Onto your specific points.

1)”You’re less likely to be robbed, raped, beaten or shot.”

Unless you live in downtown Compton (or similar death zone) you shouldn’t go to bed worrying about these thing. If this is a big problem for you, stop molesting children and kicking puppies:)

2) “You won’t feel the gas crunch nearly as much.”

Hmm? I agree our country has done a shitty job in terms of mass transit. Even/especially in our big cities (Chicago, Dallas, LA) mass transit is really under utilized/developed outside of downtown areas. Odd, considering most people live in the surrounding suburbs. That being said, I wonder if other countries don’t have the same mass transit issues in rural areas?

As for scooters and bicycles, shit, I can’t get my girlfriend to go get the mail on a cold January day, let a lone go out to dinner on my scooter.

3) “You won’t face the burden of listening to people talk about their faith.”

If you don’t like it and you’re still listening, you’re doin something wrong.

4) “Castles kick ass.”

Yes they do. If you should ever have the misfortune of being in Owosso, Mi, look me up. I’ll be be more than happy to give you the grand tour of our castle:)
http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/curwood.htm

5) ‘You’ll live longer.”

I think Woody Allen put it best ” You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.”

While I was reading yout post, two other reasons popped into my mind (in no particular order):
1. There’s no stinkin’ no-fly list in EU. You still have to show your ID and there’s this stupid bottles ban, but at least noone will prevent you from boarding your plane if you’re not trying to sneak a gun or something.
2. Assuming that you’re not a citizen of the country you’re moving into, you have no right to vote in this country. Which gives you a good excuse not to watch the news or, better yet, throw away your TV (you probably do not understand the local language yet, anyway.) The result – you have much more time to actually enjoy the castles and nature.