Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Architecturally there isn’t much older than 300 years. Everyone says what the US really has going for it is natural scenery. Wouldn't architecture and natural scenery in other countries make the US less exciting or fascinating?
I've also come across these comments while searching thru the City Data forum:
Quote:
Personally, I find the US (except for its scenic wonders) to be quite boring. Same shops, same restaurants, same foods, etc.
Quote:
As a non American who has travelled extensively it is quite amusing to see Americans on here talking about how much there is to see in the US. The BULK of the US (I have travelled to several states that were all widely dispersed geographically) consists of vastly similar cultures. I would even lump Canada in with the US in terms of sameness. I genuinely feel sorry for Americans who feel content to just travel in their country. Every single place in the US I have been to has a pretty vapid culture full of lots of shallow attractions (New York may be the closest to an exception). Which makes the US a perfect vacation spot for a child...an adult ehhhh not so much. I need my vacations with a little cultural depth.
Quote:
I have since been to all the continents (excluding Australia and Antarctica) and the contrast between the places I've been in the last 10 years and the US/Canada is vast. It honestly made me regret all those trips to the States that have been the bulk of my travels. I've been to quite scenic parts of the US and Canada but I find that there is almost always a packaged feel to attractions there. Everything is soo slickly packaged. There is often style with no substance, no layers.I have found I have seen as much if not more beauty in other parts of the world, without the packaged American blandness. I now reserve the US/Canada for more "fluff" trips such as amusement parks, shopping, eating out. Americans/Canadians do fluff very very well and I can enjoy those trips very much in their own way. It's like I wouldn't go to Italy or Kenya expecting to have a great time at amusement parks there lol....But yes, the vacations I really look forward to are always outside of the US/Canada. I take America for what it is and can enjoy it once I'm aware of its limitations.
Ignorant comments IMO. Just take the cities of NYC, Miami, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Francisco and LA,compare how different those cities cultures are and lets see if you really find them boring. Each one of those cities provides a complete different culture and experience. How many other countries can say they have such diversity in their major cities? And this is just a few, I didn't include Chicago, Seattle, Boston, DC, etc. and this is just cities. Natural wonders the U.S. has plenty of.
You don't have to like the U.S. but it's far from being mediocre in the experience it gives you.
Besides you can't of unrealistic expectations of a country that's only been around for a few hundred years when compared to places that have been around for 600+ years. You are a fool if you do that. If anything I think the U.S. excels in this for being such a young country and for having such an impact and culture that has been spread globally.
From your previous posts I also see you have a strong dislike for the U.S. andCanada......
The US isn't mediocre at all. There's some incredible scenery here, hundreds of miles of true wilderness, just about every type of climate on earth and easy to drive around. It's a truly vast country and I've barely scratched the surface in terms of seeing it.
Of course, it cannot compete with European nations when it comes to history, but that's a no brainer. Nobody comes to the US searching for Roman ruins or Norman castles. It's a new country.
Of course, it cannot compete with European nations when it comes to history, but that's a no brainer. Nobody comes to the US searching for Roman ruins or Norman castles. It's a new country.
Don't forget the 5-story apartment buildings built by the pre-Columbian Anasazi in Arizona and NM, and the monumental mounds built by the Mississippian peoples. There's a ton of history if you know where to look.
Honestly, small US cities are less accessible for tourists than small European ones in my opinion, but the big US cities that aren't too autocentric are very comparable to explore and enjoy. Everyone knows NY, but San Francisco, Boston, Miami, DC and New Orleans measure up nicely as tourist destinations to the Amsterdams, Munichs, and Madrids of the world. They're just less interesting if they aren't that foreign to you because you're from a related culture. But the US and Europe need to be enjoyed differently because you explore them differently. In Europe, you can get around by train and you explore on cities and towns on foot and with public transit. In the US, you travel by car or taxi and you explore nature, road stops, non-urban tourist attractions, and sometimes you explore cities on foot. So you see the continents differently as a tourist.
The Gran Canyon
The Everglades and other bayou areas in LA and MS.
The Painted Desert
The Rocky Mountains
Yellow Stone National Park
The Great Lakes.
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The temperate rain forests of the Pacific North West.
I can look out my window and see Lake Michigan that is really an inland sea. It's spectacular all year round.
I would say that the views expressed in the original post betray the shallow vapidity of the travelers, moreso than the United States.
If architecture older than 300 years and a foreign language are necessary to get one's travel thrills, then sure, the States is not for them. But if they cannot see beyond the big box stores and chain restaurants, then they are not getting off the interstate. They are the equivalent of the American who takes a bus tour across England and sees nothing but crowded touristy castles and eat stale Yorkshire puddings in their coach seats.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
