“It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there” has long been a well-known description of Greece by many Greek-Americans who vacation there, although at least as many – and probably far more – regret: “I can’t believe I’m leaving paradise to return to the daily (American) grind.”
My family and I visited Greece this summer for the first time since 2019. It was my 18th trip there, and as is often the case, I didn’t want to leave, but for different reasons than in previous years.
What attracted me the most on this trip was not the sea – although it is incredibly beautiful – but the supermarkets. Far smaller in size and limited in inventory than our American counterparts, Greek grocery stores still have a more interesting and delicious selection.
I brought two Amazon Firesticks with me, happily planning to watch some of my favorite TV shows from time to time, only to find that they don’t work in Greece. That same day I decided not to watch television at all. Already happy to disconnect from most social media, I was much more comfortable eating, drinking, swimming, walking and listening to music than staring at a rectangular screen for hours.
The taxi driver started a conversation with me about mass shootings in the United States, and it occurred to me that in Greece they really don’t have to worry about such things (and I hope they never have to).
Although the cost of living in Greece has risen and the glory days of American tourists spending thousands of drachmas are a distant memory, it is still cheaper to live there than here.
On most islands, you can go on vacation at any time during the summer months and not worry about a single day of rain – not a single minute, in fact. Compare that to Florida, where we live most of the year: if you set aside a few days for a summer trip down here, it’s a sure bet whether you’re going to have sun or storms. This is not the case in Greece.
So what makes life in the United States so special today? Freedom? Not so much. In the classroom, there is a culture of dismissal, social media policing and ideological harassment. Security? Of course, we’re not afraid of Canada attacking us the way Greece is wary of Turkey, but criminals have gone wild again—not just in the ultra-progressive cities of the West Coast, but in my native New York. The Big Apple is quickly resembling Dinkins’ lawless days—as if Giuliani and Bloomberg never cleaned things up. And let’s not even start with Chicago.
The United States is all about extravagance. A luxury car. Siri and Alexa. Rolex. A house in the Hamptons. If flaunting excesses is your thing, then America is the place to be. But the enjoyment is in eating a simple salad or a bowl of freshly picked figs, and it would be embarrassing for the US to compete with Greece in that regard. Fries don’t need ketchup, and shrimp don’t need cocktail sauce.
I’m no caviar connoisseur (I don’t know any, and apologies to any readers who are), but I’m perfectly happy with some red roe in a tube of toothpaste from the aforementioned Greek supermarkets, for a fraction of the price. .
A friend described to me his late father’s journey from his native Greece to the United States, until he “realized that life in Greece is what life is” and returned there.
Education should also be taken into account. Although I’m not sure about American schools anymore. When teachers are unwilling to make the difficult but necessary choice to fail underperforming students, and professors use their pulpits as an opportunity to shape the ideologies of their unsuspecting students, not to mention the criminally astronomical cost, where is the upside?
However, the advent of online learning and online work makes it much easier to live in Greece and attend an American school or work for an American employer.
To be sure, Greece still has many wonders. A bottle opener that is too loose and makes opening bottles a chore. Cans of Nounou milk that rarely spill after opening. Perpetual back pain from mattresses that look more like concrete slabs and awkward stumbling from the one treacherous staircase that divides the great room. Gaps between the balcony walls and the floor, just big enough to fit a frappe glass through. The wooden planks that are installed on beaches to keep the sand off your feet don’t extend all the way to the shower, which defeats the purpose.
And worst of all, throwing the used toilet paper in the trash instead of flushing it. I’m sorry, I’ve never done that, and I never will. If there was ever a need for infrastructural improvements in Greece, I would start with better plumbing and also install some credible guardrails on the winding mountain roads.
When first time travelers to Greece ask me “where is the best place to go?” I answer:
“So, what do you like to do?” It can also refer to the question: “where is it better to live, Greece or the United States?”
By the way, that beach with the wooden planks that come to a comical stop before the downpour was Zephyros, Rhodes, hardly one of the best beaches on that island. And the showers spew hot water that the wind carries everywhere except where the user would like it to land.
