Bikes, cars, food, beer, rent and too many other things to mention are a lot cheaper in N.A.

That’s not true in my experience. We normally visit the Mid West which is the cheap part of the country in terms of housing (i.e. away from the coasts) and houses are ridiculous, about 1/3 the price of the UK, however used cars aren’t. The cheapest used cars you can find go for $1,000 and they are utter junk, because there’s no MOT equivalent in Wisconsin so you get holes in chassis so big you could hide stuff in them and they are driving down the road visibly bent in the middle. God knows what the rest of the mechanicals are like. Restaurants are cheap yes but buying a weekly shop in a supermarket is surprisingly very expensive. We’re always shocked when we do it. And the choice and quality is poor.

I can’t speak for Canada, and I’ve not spent time in a domestic part of Colorado but I’d expect it to be more expensive than Wisconsin.

I was suggesting getting a mail order bike once he’d arrived, though I’d recommend buying in a local shop. The town I live in has 25000 people and 2 of the best bike shops I have ever used. Amazing stock of semi obscure items, lovely bikes and great staff. They deserve to be supported.

One thing You should check before turning up in the place you decide upon is the availability and cost of rent. You may find availability low and costs high. The same is true of used cars.

I’m excited for your son! That sounds a bit odd, but I’m typing this looking out my window at snowy mountains. I’d be on my bike but the windchill is -35°c, the only thing moving outside are ravens.

“Back in the day” when it was $2+ CDN to the pound then things in Canada could be cheap. Now it isn’t so much. Also Canada is not as cheap as the USA for a variety of reasons (supply chain, tax, monopolies)

For example I regularly spend $250CDN per week on food for three people and I’m not shopping at high end stores (although it’s not Costco). No idea how that compares to the UK but when I left the UK 10 years ago Tesco seemed cheaper.

Take a look at Park City Utah.

That’s not how foreign exchange works.

Enlighten me.