ERE - early retirement extreme or not :-)

[RuralEngineer]

My feeling is that ER people living with a few money would completly change theirs lives and live like a millionaire.

My understanding is that ER is about living whatever lifestyle is sustainable indefinitely, without mandatory work. If one had millions of dollars I imagine the lifestyle that's infinitely sustainable would be more opulent.

[frugal]

Hi,

US is something real big and amazing for me, since I was child...

What can I visit there to experience how americans live?

Regards

[notsheigetz]

What can I visit there to experience how americans live?

Given our current political and economic situation you might want to start with Fantasy Land at Disney World.

Seriously though, America is probably the most diverse country in the world so I would recommend taking a cross-country trip if you have the time and money. I spent a couple of years touring the whole country in an RV and would love to do it again myself.

As for the subject of this thread, early retirement, I'm 63 and plan on at least semi-retiring in 3 to 5 years. Since both of my parents are still alive at the ages of 93 and 94, with that amount of longevity in front of me I actually consider that to be early retirement.

[l82start]

it used to be very popular with young men from  New Zealand and Australia to come to the US buy a cheap American muscle car (un-restored) and do the "explore America road trip" in classic style, in a type of vehicle they would never get to drive at home, i don't know if they still do this but it sure looked like a great way to go.
gas and car values being what they are it may not be as feasible as it once was.

[MachineGhost]

What can I visit there to experience how americans live?

That's not really difficult as USA is a boring, huge monoculture of government-encouraged endless suburbanism and shopping malls, with a bit of rural living here and there, so pick a random spot along the coastal areas.  For some sort of variety, you may want to visit the big metropolises like New York City, etc. but once you've seen one, you seen it all pretty much.  One exception to the rule is Portland, OR which is the most European-like city and is extremely walk-friendly, transportation-friendly and with over a thousand parks (keep in mind, it is still all relative to the car-centric USA).  But if you're used to that kind of thing now, it likely won't be all that novel.  There's also New Orleans, LA with its French historical influence, sort of like a Quebec of the USA.

To add to what l82start said, he probably means driving along Route 66 which was a classic freeway before the interstate highway system existed.  It's undergoing a sort of gentrification as the Baby Boomers retire and wax nostalgic.

[MachineGhost]

Back to the Roku 2...

HuluPlus is worse than I thought it would be.  Out of the 20 shows I regularly watch, HuluPlus does not have 13 of them!!!  So, I cancelled the two week trial after just one day.  There will be no cutting the cable anytime soon.  Also, the HD quality is inferior to Amazon Instant Video (possibly Netflix also, but didn't compare).

Possible good news is Time Warner is going to provide service via the Roku 2 to existing cable subscribers sometime this quarter.  So, assuming their app is HuluPlus like, I'll at least be able to drop the HD DVR and DVR service and save the $22 lease a month.

I had to send the cable modem back as it couldn't be provisioned.  Turns out Time Warner does not allow third-party modems on their network for security reasons.

I really want to like Amazon Intant Video because of the 2-day free shipping as part of the Prime membership, but its really weak in certain factors compared to Netflix.

[l82start]

What can I visit there to experience how americans live?

To add to what l82start said, he probably means driving along Route 66 which was a classic freeway before the interstate highway system existed.  It's undergoing a sort of gentrification as the Baby Boomers retire and wax nostalgic.

a route 66 trip would be fun i have driven sections of it myself, most of the kids in muscle cars i met were on sport oriented trips, rock climbers driving from one climbing area to the next kayakers from one river to the next, etc

[Pointedstick]

Route 66 is great. Be sure to stop at the Roadkill Cafe!

I'd highly recommend the American southwest, especially New Mexico. The culture and architecture there is very different from the typical suburban shopping-mall-and-mcmansion wasteland.

I'd also dispute what MG said about everything being homogeneous. Newer developments and cities are more likely to conform to what he described, but there's a huge amount of diversity.

[notsheigetz]

a route 66 trip would be fun i have driven sections of it myself, most of the kids in muscle cars i met were on sport oriented trips, rock climbers driving from one climbing area to the next kayakers from one river to the next, etc

When I was doing my cross-country RV touring I quickly got into the habit of avoiding the interstate highways whenever possible out of sheer boredom. There are really a lot of interesting highways and byways in the U.S. besides route 66 if you are willing to take it slow.

I once did the route 66 trip all the way to Las Vegas with my parents before the interstate highways even existed (actually they were just starting to build them at the time which I remember well because my Dad drove on the wrong side of the road for about 50 miles before he realized it). Was definitely more interesting back then. Also remember getting a hamburger in a cafe in some small western town for 10 cents.

[l82start]

nothing like a hamburger and a chocolate malt (milkshake) from a traditional 1950s style dinner/drive-in in some small American town... it will make you question why chain fast food ever caught on, and whether what they are serving is really "food"..

[Xan]

I second New Orleans, for sure, and I would also check out Charleston, South Carolina.  Great place.

[Greg]

I lived in Charleston for two summers working at an engineering internship down there. Great place. Very old historic city, nice weather, nice people, and right near the water. Certainly a great place to visit if you haven't already.