On my regular-irregular trips stateside, I have noticed enormous price increases over the past two years. Even in places that are not "at a major hotel next to a convention center in a large city in an already expensive state."
Groceries in a normal supermarket in rural New York State, or going out to eat in a very average restaurant somewhere in Illinois (like: we stop here because we are hungry, not a "destination restaurant"), or a diner breakfast in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire are surprisingly NOT cheap. We have mild consolation that the Swiss franc is strong, but the US is hardly a bargain destination anymore.
It's true, everything has become super expensive in the U.S. We noticed it more when we were traveling in Colorado than when I was home in Wisconsin, but the price increases are everywhere.
We had many similar feelings on our US trip a few months ago. For the San Diego portion, luckily my friend works in hospitality and we got food and lodging discounts. German public transit may be nicer than the US but it still deserves a lot of that complaining you hear! A German friend who is anti-car and involved in political campaigns to that end recently gave up and bought a car because he couldn’t stand the train anymore.
On my regular-irregular trips stateside, I have noticed enormous price increases over the past two years. Even in places that are not "at a major hotel next to a convention center in a large city in an already expensive state."
Groceries in a normal supermarket in rural New York State, or going out to eat in a very average restaurant somewhere in Illinois (like: we stop here because we are hungry, not a "destination restaurant"), or a diner breakfast in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire are surprisingly NOT cheap. We have mild consolation that the Swiss franc is strong, but the US is hardly a bargain destination anymore.
It's true, everything has become super expensive in the U.S. We noticed it more when we were traveling in Colorado than when I was home in Wisconsin, but the price increases are everywhere.
It’s a small detail, but I love that you wrote „substance use“, not „substance abuse“. I never understood how someone could „abuse“ crack…
Yes, it not only linguistically makes more sense, but also helps reduce the stigma of drug use.
We had many similar feelings on our US trip a few months ago. For the San Diego portion, luckily my friend works in hospitality and we got food and lodging discounts. German public transit may be nicer than the US but it still deserves a lot of that complaining you hear! A German friend who is anti-car and involved in political campaigns to that end recently gave up and bought a car because he couldn’t stand the train anymore.
If you have time, you can travel cheaply in Germany, but other than that, it is best to get a car :)
We moved from Germany to California. I complete get what you wrote about the expensive price. Still not getting used to it after two years 😅