6. It's So Cheap To Live Here
The dollar is weak, especially compared to the pound. When I moved here in the late nineties it was over two bucks per quid. A thousand pound notes became twenty-two hundred dollars. But here's the kicker - things cost less even if it was one to one. An example: a two litre bottle of coke is about a dollar twenty five. According to Tesco's website the same bottle is a quid eighty five. This means in pounds an American bottle of coke is about 80p - or more than two times cheaper. Sometimes it's on special and you can get three bottles for a dollar. That works out about 20p per two litre bottle. Coke is just the beginning. A friend of mine's fiancée wanted a Tiffany and Co engagement ring. It was actually cheaper for my mate to fly here for a week, buy the exact same ring in our local Tiffany and Co and then enjoy the sun on the beach for a few days, than it was to simply buy it there in the UK. Let's not even discuss the wide gap between petrol prices and gasoline. Of course the flipside is going back to the UK is horrendous on your US wallet. A pint in London is say six quid, well to me that's ten bucks. That's insane! No wonder foreigners think it's expensive in Britain... because it is.