Ever Been To The Good Ol' US of A

[Rogerbh]

I worked in restaurants for years during my high school and college days, saw plenty of waiters and waitresses getting "stiffed" as we called it - staff didn't like serving Europeans as they were supposedly use to having tips already on the bill. Don't remember any comments about Aussies. Never saw any fist fights over "stiffs", accepted as being luck of the draw.

Lived all my life in the US and never saw anyone shot either.

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by bowlinggreen

What the hell were you doing in Mississippi?

To this day I don't know

This I found, Vegas was great, lost a shit load but loved every minute of it, Hotel staff were awesome, locals and tourists were all great.

Hated LA, won't even comment on it.

We did start in NY, I have relatives that live on Long Island, the few days we were with them were great, they knew where to take us, and Manhattan was something to see, I'd go back in a flash.

But the South That's another world. we had no real plans on our trip, some maps, drive and find a motel for a night or 2. Could have been in Mississippi or one of the States next to it, Alabama maybe Pulled into a motor inn, lady at reception wouldn't give us a room for the night thinking us 2 were Gay So, I asked for 2 seperate rooms ... still no was the answer, she just didn't want 2 men who she thought might be gay in her motel

Cuckoo

All in all, we had a great time, I want to go back one day, think I'll just skip the South. Oh, and though not the best but close to best however easily biggest steak I had was in some town in Texas, couldn't finish it

[73north]

I went to the United States twice , once in June 1997 for my Honeymoon -
to Washington DC - had a great time ( lovely people ) and visited Arlington , Washington Monument , National Air and Space Museum
and took my new wife to a Shopping Mall - Potomac Mills Mall
man I bought some great , cheap ( superb quality ) clothes and T-Shirts that lasted 10 years - I was amazed how cheap C.D's were as well , and the Music Store Vendor was amazed we paid in 1997 , 40 Dollars for a CD - in the UK
( I still have my faded red USMC T-Shirt - bought there - never get rid of that ) -
the thing that blew me away was how huge ,really huge - it was massive -
I spent an hour wandering in the Books-A-Million - bought some great Pacific war paperbacks that were not available in the UK -

The other thing that was really noticeable ( I was a young looking 31 then ) was how strict the Yanks are about Under-Age Drinking - I had to keep showing my passport to get a Lager

I then went to New York , for the Lennox Lewis v Evander Holyfield Fight in March 1999 - had a great time at that boxing match , but would say its a bit expensive and above all , people there were rude and unhelpful - I even went to ask directions from a Female Cop - who just turned her back to me , and ignored me ..

I would say its worth it to go to the USA ..
If you have a Scottish accent , you really stand out even more , and get treated like Royalty ( except in New York )

[trailmaster]

I have been living in America now for almost 66 years. I have not seen that much of it myself as I don't like to travel. When I was young, my late father being so big in local and national politics either drove to or used a commercial airplane to go to various conventions around the country and sometimes my late Mom and me and my brother would come with. I have been to Washington D.C, Stratford, Ontario(Canada), Atlanta, Georgia...Houston, Texas...New York City.
When I was in college I spent a year at The University of Colorado in Boulder. I did not like the university. It was a sprawling school on a 500 acre campus with 20,000 other students. I did not do well there, so when I came back to Chicago I had to repeat my sophmore(2nd) year at the Chicago City College. Years later in 1978 and in 1983 I spent two weeks each in Hawaii for vacation. In 1978 I spent the time in Waikiki on the island of Oahu, and in 1983 I stayed at this resort called Haiku Gardens on the north shore of Oahu in the city of Kaneohe. I really loved Hawaii even though it became so commercialized. At that time the other islands were just being developed for tourism. Now all of Hawaii is all the time extremely crowded.

I have never visited any of the southern states except for that time my late father took our family to Houston, Texas. I have never been to the west coast of the country or to what used to be called "The thirteen colonies" now called the upper northeastern states. The thing about the U.S. is that it has so many diverse environments: the great plains states like Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, the great desert states like Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, the southern part of California and parts of southern Texas. Then there are the states which have the majestic Rocky Mountains: Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of New Mexico.

On the other side of the country is the Appalachian Mountain states:Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and North Carolina. The U.S. has great mountain roads that stretch for almost 1,000 miles. There is also the Appalachian trail which is a 1,000 mile hiking trail. This is what is so good about the internet. I can see any part of the country using the internet. Yes, it's not as good as actually going there, but as I said I don't enjoy traveling.

My late father after the end of World War 2 stayed in Paris, France for 2 weeks. He also visited London and said he liked London very much.

[Brecht]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

But the South That's another world. we had no real plans on our trip, some maps, drive and find a motel for a night or 2. Could have been in Mississippi or one of the States next to it, Alabama maybe Pulled into a motor inn, lady at reception wouldn't give us a room for the night thinking us 2 were Gay So, I asked for 2 seperate rooms ... still no was the answer, she just didn't want 2 men who she thought might be gay in her motel

She could have been worried about her business as Mississippi had a sodomy law until 2003, so she didn't want to take any risks. The fact that the sodomy law itself is ridiculous is another topic.

There are a couple of other places in the US I'd like to visit like the Yosemite National Park and some cities like Boston, Detroit, New Orleans or Chicago.

I had an opportunity to visit Arizona a couple of years ago when my cousin lived in Scottsdale. He invited me but I couldn't go due to work and university.

Well, maybe I'll have another opportunity in the future.

[Greenman]

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

Worse than VEF wrist ?

No idea😀 🇬🇧British tourists go down well in the USA because they love our accent, think you might be related to the Queen, and we are a also polite to a fault, saying please and thank you.

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by Brecht

I had an opportunity to visit Arizona a couple of years ago when my cousin lived in Scottsdale.

Well, maybe I'll have another opportunity in the future.

Well, If you ever do make it back to the US and go to Arizona, make sure you go a little East of there also, for a real interesting time

[nudgenudge]

Spent a month there in early 80s,flew to LA then drove up 101 to San Francisco then onto Yosemite via Reno.From there through Death Valley (car overheated ) to Vegas visiting Grand Canyon,flew to San Diego then drove back up to LA.

[Mal Hombre]

Originally Posted by Greenman

Unfortunately the first two days were agony as I had developed what I called ' Vegas finger '

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

Worse than VEF wrist ?

You mean Thanker's Cramp ?..

[palo5]

Originally Posted by bowlinggreen

What the hell were you doing in Mississippi? Even us real Americans know to stay out of that place...

I was told Missouri and Alabama are worse. Full of Klansmen and Rebels, armed to the teeth, Confederate flags and Bibles everywhere. But to me that sounded like an exaggeration or 100 years out of date. Can it be true today?

One day I made a joke about Minnesota here on VEF. Can't remember what it was. But I'd forgotten that's where my boss comes from, and you should have seen his reply