"Page preview" United States of America by matcrazy1

United States of America Travel Guide: 339,526 reviews and 622,419 photos

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA - United States of America

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ON COMMON PREJUDICES ON THE USA
My second trip to the USA consisted of 30 great days of driving and sight-seeing around the South (in October - November 2004). After my first US trip (38 days around the western part of the USA a year before) which was an absolute blast (!) I was a little bit afraid of being disappointed in the South. I was afraid to see worse face of the USA which I usually see on many Hollywood pictures (who makes them?): crowded, ugly and dirty cities with never ending traffic jams, extremely high crime rate and a lot of drug addicts, alcoholics, homeless beggars, strangers, that awfull fast food etc. etc. Being Eastern or rather Central/New (and barbarian, crazy, proud, wonderful - choose what you want) European and hearing from time to time horrible things on Poland, I am over-sensitive for wrong prejudicial comments on various countries and their citizens.

I was afraid of being disappointed even more because my wife and I had worked so hard for so many hours to bear the cost of that trip which was finally possible thanks to very weak US dollar. Ha ha, thank you, US and Polish Secretary of Treausury and others, please don't do anything about that, I am going to come back. :-)

Surely I knew that this Hollywood image of America was false but... in contrast to my first US trip I was going to visit many more cities and almost no National Parks which I loved so much in the West. Well, we visited a few cities in the West like San Diego (great), Las Vegas (this is NOT America but... a must), Seattle (my favourite), San Francisco (my wife's top), Los Angeles (we didn't like its ugly downtown but some neughbourhoods were interesting), Hollywood (totally disappointing) but we didn't find the worst face of America there, although it must exist somewhere, right? Simply I was afraid to see that face in quite many Southern cities. During our first trip due to lack of time, and even more due to low budget after very expensive car hire, we mostly could't enjoy the best of each city we visited sych as good food and museums (add shopping or window shopping for Urszula). And we didn't have a good guide in the cities we visited. But I can't complain. The first US trip inspired me to work hard to be able to come back to the USA as soon as possible.

FIRST US CAPITOL, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

MESA ARCH, CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

Pros and Cons

Pros:Variety, safety, hospitality, tourist facilities, prejudicies of some folks are completely wrong
Cons:NONE!
In a nutshell:Big country for big travelers!

Last visit to United States of America: Oct 2004
Intro Updated Feb 28, 2005
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Reviews (20)

ME AND MY BUICK CENTURY IN UTAH - United States of America

Driving American car (part 3/3) Transportation (19)

Continued MY DANGEROUS MISTAKE Once I made a mistake. Driving steep downhill I change gear to 1. When the downhill... more travel advice

MY BUICK CENTURY IN EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA MTS, CA - United States of America

Driving American car (part 2/3) Transportation (19)

Continued DRIVING WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION There is no clutch pedal on the left but a comfortable place to keep your... more travel advice

ME & BUICK CENTURY (SEQUOIA NP IN MAY 2003) - United States of America

Driving American car (part 1/3) Transportation (19)

I was afraid very much of driving unknown car in San Diego when I finally hired it. Why? For the two reasons: 1.... more travel advice

BUDGET COURTESU BUS STOP AT LAX - United States of America

At car rental (part 3/3) Transportation (19)

Continued DRIVING LICENCE My national Polish driving licence issued surely in Polish language was enough at Budget.... more travel advice

Restaurants (1)
American beer in... Poland

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Comments (97)

Waalewiener Apr 3, 2010 at 5:51 AM Report Abuse

I think it's about time I looked at this eh Matt .My very first thing at VT I had just joined VT in October I think That was very cool Matt See you soon
jgemini65 Sep 7, 2008 at 3:18 PM Report Abuse

Still haven't made it to Idaho? Come visit...if you like outdoor sports you will love it!
JLBG Feb 13, 2006 at 2:00 PM Report Abuse

I completely agree with you for the reasons to drive a car in the US but I had a better option. I bought for 3,500$ an old and large Buick and after 15,000 km sold it for 3,300$, haha! The drawback is that you need a few days to sell it!
deecat Oct 14, 2005 at 7:29 PM Report Abuse

What a wealth of knowledge for foreign travels in the USA. I found it so funny that you would be a little afraid of automatic when most Americans are afraid of shift cars in Europe. My husband loves shift cars (he drives one here in USA) Super job.
Maillekeukeul Jun 22, 2005 at 2:11 AM Report Abuse

Well... and... how can I rent a bike ?? :-D
easyoar Jun 5, 2005 at 1:01 PM Report Abuse

Not quite what I was expecting, I have to admit! Still it is true that if you don't have a car in the US, it makes life very tough...
lmkluque Feb 28, 2005 at 9:45 AM Report Abuse

You are welcome for the help Matt! I couldn't reply to your e-mail because it is not working right now. Later, Linda
aaaarrgh Feb 25, 2005 at 6:58 PM Report Abuse

Honestly, do you think VT is the best place to teach people how to drive?!
craic Apr 12, 2004 at 1:40 PM Report Abuse

Cannot believe how many car rental places you checked out! I will be in America in July but not driving.
Yaqui Oct 22, 2003 at 1:43 PM Report Abuse

Wonderful page as usual Mat. Thanks for the heartfelt tribute to 911. Much appreciated from one of your fellow VTer's. Thanks!;-)