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Of course people can stereotype US citizens.
What they see on the news is guns and god; rather like Iran.
The vocal get heard; it's not the beauty of the country that gets marred, but the crazies that tend to scare people off.
Stop in small town (less then 5,000,more than 100 miles from a big city), and pull into a service station and get your oil changed. Go and stock up on road food at the grocery store. Browse in a thrift shop or check out a yard sale. Eat at the only pizza shop in town. Go to a high school basketball game. Stay overnight, and in the morning, have breakfast at a place with a lot of pickup trucks parked in front of it. Talk to everyone you see.
You will see an America that most Americans have never seen, except in a hokey movie with fake southern accents.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by stepka
Yes, our reputation isn't too great these days, but America is still beautiful. The main difference that I've noticed between here and Oz, (besides the obvious ones that is) is that in Oz, the scenery changes very quickly. On one single hike there you can go from the rain forest to a dry forest and back to a rain forest again, and it's so odd. Here in the states, if you're on the prairie, you'll be there for hours at least--and that's when you're driving.
Our grocery stores seem to be more convenient to get to--not locked into a mall. Our small towns are deader than Oz's though--Wal-Mart has pretty much run all the small town businesses out of town. Most restaurants here are franchises these days--good luck finding an independently owned mom n' pop diner anymore.
If someone stops you from going to a certain part of town, listen carefully, b/c we have way more gun crimes than Oz, though it's not nearly as bad as the rest of the world thinks--you just know to stay out of certain parts of the city. I live in St. Louis and I can still walk around by myself at night--I just know which neighborhoods to stay out of. TV is not a good way to learn about our culture, though sometimes I think it's shaping it. And I think we may be the world's loneliest people, but I know most of us are kind. Do stop to see the Mississippi River when you cross over.
I see you're from the Midwest because you're probably the only person in the world who would say such a thing. One thing I like more about the US is, acre for acre, it's way more diverse than Australia. Australia is 50% arid/desert, and 75% semi-arid. You probably mainly stuck to the east coast, which is quite diverse with coast, mountain, rainforest, but once you leave the coast it's most barren wilderness: I've travelled around Australia by road and sometimes the scenery doesn't change for over a thousand kilometres.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,060,466 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by zitsky
I've never owned a gun, but I say "Thank goodness for our Constitution that allows gun ownership." (and I'm a liberal)
Trimac20, I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling us what cities and places you will go through? Do you have anything specific from your tour company? It's not to debate your choices. I am happy you are going to finally realize your dream and would be interested to know where you are going.
BTW, I'm from a small town. My mother looks like the woman in the bar scene in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" ('all I can see are female impersonators..') I lived in Chicago for 8 years, and loved every minute of it. Even though I've lived "in the big city", I still find Manhattan absolutely magical. I never get tired of going there. New York City is second only to Paris, France as the best city in the world!
Since my mum is over 38, this looks like a possibility:
Really, I'm equally excited about all the stops on the way. Some of the things I'm really looking forward too including driving down the hilly roads in Beverly Hills, Bel Air etc, camping out in the Mojave desert, Vegas (yes, I'll take it for what it is), the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad caverns in NM, Roswell, just the scenery along the way, Texas, New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville for the music history, the Appalachians, D.C. and of course NYC.
I met an Aussie at a hostel this yr who was doing a round- the-USA via GPS. This guy would NOT deviate 5 miles to go see something unique, and was SCARED to death of going near San Francisco. Throw the GPS away and get a compass and a map and ASK EVERYONE in small towns what to do. Been doing San Francisco nearly annually for 20 + yrs and have never had a crime issue. Plenty to do for FREE. The Hostel @ Ft Mason is a REALLY EZ place and free parking!!!, 5 min Walk to Fisherman's Wharf. Public Transportation is often very poor (DC excluded). But Fuel and rental cars are CHEAP (relative to most destinations). It is EZ to travel for under $100/day all inclusive (even with over 50% of that having to buy fuel). I can travel well for $20 / day lodging and food (I use a couple 'private guest home directories' = $10 / night, but often free). You can get an unlimited mileage rental car on Priceline or Hotwire for $11 - $13 / day.
Isn't The Splendid Table wonderful?
They ha the authors of Road Food on for years. I ate at many a restaurant from that book and was never disappointed.
I've learned not to rely too heavily on guide books. In South America we carried one of those travel-cheap guide books around for two years, and discovered that when we got off the bus, things often no longer resembled what we had read, and it was never hard to find satisfactory accommodations, food and transport. We started wondering why we even carried it, as it had become nothing but a psychological umbilicus.
I traveled overland to almost every country in Africa before there was any such thing as a guide book. A Michelin Map was all there was, but food lodgings and transport are not the kinds of things that are kept secret and hidden. Adventures will patiently sit and wait and then jump out at you when you least expect them---you can't plan them or go and look for them.
One important thing to keep in mind is that there is (I hope) a difference between what you might like to do, and what everybody else has been doing. To quote the famous American philosopher Yogi Berra, "That place is getting so popular, nobody goes there anymore."
Last edited by jtur88; 11-26-2010 at 09:22 AM..
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