We all have preconceptions, and none more so than about America & Americans (amongst the people I know). I include myself in this statement.
We all comment on how Americans don't really travel the world (in the main), many don't have passports and holiday in the States or countries that don't require a passport.
In a month, we barely scraped the surface of 5 out of the 50 states. Yet what we experienced was both diverse and eye opening.
We travelled through major cities and ghost towns; deserts and snow capped mountain ranges; praries and vast agricultural plains; 9 lane highways and single track roads. We visited 5 diverse national parks, seeing amongst other things volcanoes, geysers, canyons, beaches and tropical rainforests, to name a few. We saw plantations of coffee, pineapples, bananas, citrus fruits and corn. We saw life both beneath and above water, including manta rays, wolves, coyotes, elk, moose and bison.
We travelled through 3 different times zones (in each direction), spent 26 hours flying, drove thousands of miles and never left the States.
With all this diversity, no wonder Americans never leave America. For our next holiday, we are now planning on returning to the States.
Also, prior to this trip the only Americans I had met where those on previous travels or the holiday makers on TCI.
The former I had usually found to be brash, overpowering and opinionated.
The ones at TCI usually where financially well off and had high expectations and demands. Whilst they were friendly, I witnessed amazing changes when things did not go their way.
So ............ I also had preconceptions of Americans.
These were shattered during my month of travels. I have never met such genuinely friendly, helpful and open people. In an entire month I met one unpleasant person and I went away with a new opinion of Americans.
To conclude, few people have America on their list of places to visit, opting for Asia, South America etc. Now America may not have the history of some of these places, but in my opinion its a place that you need to add to your list - you won't be dissapointed.
