Want to move to the USA? Here’s what went down in my first 100 days

South African expat Jason Levin describes his first 100 days living in the United States. From charging for air to answering ‘Are you British?’ questions, it’s a must-read.

Airport tears followed frantic packing, selling and, disposing of what felt like our lives 100 days ago.

Alongside a meaningful number of our contemporaries, we were off.

And we have, now, hit 100 days of being resident in the USA.

It was a long lead-up to this point.

The journey took over five years, and was fascinating and frustrating for us, but also for our friends and families.

So much South African attention swirls around “living somewhere else”, that if you’re doing it, done it, or are contemplating doing it, you’ll be flooded with opinions, input and questions.

We had undertaken a number of recce trips leading up to moving to the USA more permanently,
but started the adventure in early-2024 with a five week, 5 000-mile road trip to see parts of the
country we hadn’t yet visited.

We have now settled in booming South Florida.

The US sunbelt is attracting masses of the country’s Northerners with its good weather, beaches, lower taxes, “affordable” cost of living and Eastern time zone.

So, what has it been like?

Well, firstly some of the expected stuff stands out: the place is huge.

Really huge.

The long road trip we did hardly scratched the surface: the USA is almost three times larger than Europe.

And most aspects of life are large too: museums, conferences, farmers’ markets, “sidewalks”, and highways are all oversized compared to most of the world.

And – a direct benefit of being the leading industrialised nation in the world I guess – most of these are also very, very good.

The museums are vast, well-resourced and sparkly.

The markets have 260 stalls not 60.

Highways are four lanes each way, and in a great state of repair.

South Africa feels both far away and quite small.

But South Africans do box above their weight class here, one comes across them for sure, and they have, generally, achieved a good degree of success.

They also seem quite well-liked.

The USA also has a distinct feeling of industriousness.

Building, activity, humming and buzzing go on everywhere, almost all the time.

Sometimes it’s roadworks, sometimes it’s an 80-storey skyscraper going up, sometimes it’s just large-scale hedge trimming.

But there is a definite sense that things are getting done.

In my South African microcosm, we also worked hard and created a lot, but we were aware that outside of that, a lot of the “doing” had slowed to a trickle.

And of course, here, it all happens infused by different voices.

Yes, they do pronounce things funny (read as not-that-correctly), and think that we are the ones who are wrong.

“Are you British?” is common.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s in South Africa, we grew up surrounded by American TV and pop culture.

And it’s been such fun to see, that lots of those things are (still) exactly like in cheesy ‘80s movies:
yellow school buses, pepperoni pizzas, garbage disposals, one dollar bills, highway patrol cops
(CHiPS!), yard signs.

All still here!

Socially, we have found the people friendly.

And unfriendly.

Many of our friends have asked about this as if there is a blanket answer, but like everywhere else in the world, if you greet everyone you walk past, half will greet you back and half won’t.

I’ve tried it, this is literally how it works.

On balance though, I would say this is a more transactional society.

Especially for strangers or acquaintances: there is business to get done, and unless you are a close friend, it often feels like “the win comes first, the human second.”

Money definitely feels centric.

It’s discussed a lot, and almost everything is expensive.

Certainly much more expensive than South Africa.

In my estimation, between 50% more and five times more.

That is, with the peculiar exceptions of Apple and some other tech products, cheese, bottled water, some seafoods, greeting cards, timber, certain name brand clothing and cars (a bit cheaper).

Oddly.

And know that even air is charged for…if you’re filling your “tires at a gas station”, you’ll pay around R40 to do so.

The scale of wealth is hard to fathom: homes in the $2m to $10m range are not at all uncommon.

If you see a R190m home in South Africa, it’s a full-on event, while here it’s just “that’s nice”.

The fact that aid of over $40bn (roughly R760bn) has been extended to Ukraine is case in point.

Of course, it all spirals out to an insane level of national debt: a fact that everyone here works pretty hard to ignore.

A huge premium is placed on convenience.

Because most people here work such long hours: anything that provides ease-of-use is sought after.

Automatic this, that and the next.

Oversized washing machines ensure that laundry doesn’t have to be done unnecessarily frequently.

Trash shoots in condo buildings mean you toss it in, don’t haul it down.

Healthcare is a problem.

It’s exceptionally expensive (insurance, medication, doctors, everything) up to 10 times more than SA…and, on balance, it doesn’t seem better.

Many citizens have an ailment or six, and the barrage of TV ads touting remedies bear this out.

This is a national concern, and it’s discussed a lot.

Food is tough: sweet fare is very sweet, savoury stuff is very salty.

Good food is easy enough to find (if you are orientated with an area), but expensive.

Portions aren’t as over-sized as they once were, but they’re often large.

South Africans are spoilt with above average food offerings (groceries and restaurants) at lower-than-average (by global comparison) prices.

R70 ($3,60) cocktails and R35 ($1,80) coffees are a distant memory here.

Enjoy them.

Arts and culture are taken at least as seriously as in Europe: galleries, theatre, concerts, historic
homes and heritage sites are properly funded and damn good.

I have been more surprised by this than maybe I should have been.

Of course, sport is taken even more seriously: football, basketball, ice hockey.

Massive.

We got to attend a Super Bowl viewing party in early-February hosted by a Kansas City Chiefs fan (the victors): it was epic, and you can feel that it is deeply engrained in the culture. (Of course, the fact that American football is almost impossible for the layman to understand is beside the point.)

Nature and parks are a real thing: the USA boasts over 3 700 State Parks and over 400 National ones.

Even the most avid explorer will only ever get to a tiny percentage of those.

And it may be part of the reason that so many Americans never leave their own country.

Plus, there are really spectacular beaches: as good as I’ve seen anywhere, including island paradise resorts.

But of course, it’s not paradise.

It has problems and psychoses and crazies; just like anywhere else.

And as a foreigner from an African country – getting by on “ZARs” initially – you’re definitely not at the top of any heaps.

But there is liberty, opportunity and really big burgers.

So, the first 100 days have been exciting and exhilarating and confounding.

And we look forward to settling in and flying the South African flag high 13 000km from home.

Jason Levin is a born-‘n-bred Joburger. As an entrepreneur, he lived and worked in his hometown all his life. He has a partner, a dog, and loves art, coffee and and cycling. He is a voraciously patriotic South-African-turned-global-citizen.