Will be travelling coast to coast in the US later in the year, if you've been before, would love some advice. Ive been to NY and LA plenty of times, it's the stuff in the middle I have no clue about, so if you could share your experiences of the US, what things were fun, what to avoid, which little towns are a must.
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Your favourite things in the US
- Thread starter VicO
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If you like the snow then hit up Aspen. if it's not snow season yet then you still have to check out the Rockys and the national parks. Yosemite and Yellowstone are the obvious ones. But i'm sure there are a fair few other amazing parks out there
bigange
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Check this thread mate. A fair bit is covered.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=650019
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=650019
raskolnikov
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I dont know what it's like post-Katrina but my favourite city in the US, along with New York, is New Orleans. Pittsburgh is also very underrated.
Plugger35
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Spent several months living in San Diego, great city, very similar to Perth. Best spot is the Pacific Beach/La Jolla area where there are heaps of great bars and clubs.
Also spent some time in Washington DC/Virginia. DC is a pretty cool place with heaps of historic buildings and museums to visit. Georgetown is a great place to go out too. There are some pretty dodgy areas there though that you need to avoid, heard from someone it is the murder capital of America. Virginia Beach a few hours drive south of DC is also pretty good fun with a heap of great bars along the beachfront.
Hard to beat New York though, amazing place.
Also spent some time in Washington DC/Virginia. DC is a pretty cool place with heaps of historic buildings and museums to visit. Georgetown is a great place to go out too. There are some pretty dodgy areas there though that you need to avoid, heard from someone it is the murder capital of America. Virginia Beach a few hours drive south of DC is also pretty good fun with a heap of great bars along the beachfront.
Hard to beat New York though, amazing place.
Timeframe? LA- SF - Yosemite - Death Valley - Las Vegas - GC - Zion,Bryce- monument valley - San juan mountains - tetons/Yellowstone/sawtooth mountains - Deadwood - chicago then onto NY would be a good route if you like scenery/natural stuff. If you are more interested in cities/towns then perhaps going through the south?
Start in La then head east/south to places like memphis/New orleans through the old south and up to new york ?
Start in La then head east/south to places like memphis/New orleans through the old south and up to new york ?
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As already mentioned a lot is covered in the other thread.
The Canyon is a must and if its winter Colorado is awesome.
The Canyon is a must and if its winter Colorado is awesome.
I have driven from Florida to California zig zagging for about 3 months.
I loved the desserts big cactus in flower ,animals,bugs.
Best part are all the national parks,Vegas, NY,New Orleans.
Florida ,Arizona, Louisiana,California and New Mexico for scenery
Do the tacky stuff. theme parks elvis etc.
Prepare to eat the worst food in the universe.
Tip:Stick to Mexican where possible
I loved the desserts big cactus in flower ,animals,bugs.
Best part are all the national parks,Vegas, NY,New Orleans.
Florida ,Arizona, Louisiana,California and New Mexico for scenery
Do the tacky stuff. theme parks elvis etc.
Prepare to eat the worst food in the universe.
Tip:Stick to Mexican where possible
Shell
Premium Platinum
My favourite things in the US:
(just a random list in no particular order)
- Target
- the massive size portions they serve you in restraunts
- free refills
- Chicago (best city ever!!!!!)
- Islands of Adventure (theme park in Orlando)
- the people (they are really nice, dont believe all the sterotypes)
Things i didnt like
- the people
(they are really ignorant- think USA is the centre of the universe)
- tipping. ****ing hated it, annoying, if they paid people a decent wage there would be no tipping...
Lol, thats about all I can think of.
(just a random list in no particular order)
- Target
- the massive size portions they serve you in restraunts
- free refills
- Chicago (best city ever!!!!!)
- Islands of Adventure (theme park in Orlando)
- the people (they are really nice, dont believe all the sterotypes)
Things i didnt like
- the people
(they are really ignorant- think USA is the centre of the universe)- tipping. ****ing hated it, annoying, if they paid people a decent wage there would be no tipping...
Lol, thats about all I can think of.
My favourite things in the US:
- the people (they are really nice, dont believe all the sterotypes)
Things i didnt like
- the people
Contradiction much?
Shell
Premium Platinum
That and I was joking about disliking them. Trust me they're awesome people, very friendly. 
Oh heres another things I bloody hated- the money!!! Pennies, nickles, dimes.. all bullshit.
We are lucky to have 5 cent peices and higher. And I only ever saw $20 notes- no $50s. Very annoying when drawing out largeish amounts from the ATM.
Oh heres another things I bloody hated- the money!!! Pennies, nickles, dimes.. all bullshit.
We are lucky to have 5 cent peices and higher. And I only ever saw $20 notes- no $50s. Very annoying when drawing out largeish amounts from the ATM.
That and I was joking about disliking them. Trust me they're awesome people, very friendly.
Oh heres another things I bloody hated- the money!!! Pennies, nickles, dimes.. all bullshit.
Same thing in the UK. In OZ, I was so used to getting 2 pineapples for $100.... in London, I take out 100 quid and end up getting 4 20quids and 2 10quids... I only ever saw a 50quid once after doing currency exchange, and its big and ugly looking compared to the flashy purple 20 quid note... still, hated the fact that they were bigger than the Aussie notes, so they always stuck out of my wallet.
Here in the States, I do miss the colours... I have to actually look at the number on the note. And agree on that copper shrapnel... useless little things.
Shell
Premium Platinum
Hey you live in Chicago? Cool.
And yeah the notes in America were annoying for me too. Just could not get rid of those $1 bills, sometimes couldnt shut my wallet I had so many lol.
Hey you live in Chicago? Cool.
And yeah the notes in America were annoying for me too. Just could not get rid of those $1 bills, sometimes couldnt shut my wallet I had so many lol.
Hey Shell. I moved back a few months ago. We did talk about Chicago in another thread a while back.
Overall, I handle less coins than I did in OZ/UK... dollar coins here have been tried but have never caught on, so cuts down on shrapnell, downside is, you look at your wallet, see all that cash, only to realize they are mostly just singles.
Shell
Premium Platinum
Lol whoops. I have the worst memory.
Chi-town would be fantastic right now.. was over there in 2001 for the 4th of July long weekend. Weather, city, etc etc were all awesome. Will go back one day for sure.
HBK619
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Pretty much all good now. The city itself is basically back to what it was apart from a few cracks here and there. Some of the outer areas are still a bit dilapidated and abandoned, but for the most part New Orleans is back to normal (I was there in April).
The notes and coins were friggen annoying. Ended up having a really full wallet with coins and notes all up. Ended up having to leave a lot of the stuff back at the hotel just so my wallet wasn't bulging and breaking. Gave about $2 worth of 1c coins to some charity on the plane back.
WhyAlwaysMe
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Milwaukee was a pretty nice city. The people there were awesome and they love to drink as it is a brewing city. I don't think there's a heap of activities to do there, maybe see Bougut, some baseball, go up to Green Bay to see some NFL. There's also the Miller Brewing factory and the tours are free with free tasting samples afterward. There's a bar called Mo's as well if anyone ever decides to go (not likely) and it's fantastic.
camsmith
Brownlow Medallist
Things i didnt like
- the people
- tipping. ****ing hated it, annoying, if they paid people a decent wage there would be no tipping...
Lol, thats about all I can think of.
They are the center
p) of the universe. I hated tipping in the start, but after a while I thought it was pretty good as it encouraged those serving us to put in an effort.
Plugger35
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Yeah it takes a while to get the hang of the whole tipping thing. At first I just thought it was optional like here but you soon realise it is pretty much compulsory. I noticed the attitude of waitresses or bartenders would change completely if you didn't tip them or tip them enough, they'd go from super friendly to ice cold. Not surprising I guess when their wages depend on tips.
Once you get the hang of it all it's not too bad and when you think that food and drinks are generally cheaper in the US than here, paying extra for tips isn't really a big deal and generally ensures you'll get good service.
Once you get the hang of it all it's not too bad and when you think that food and drinks are generally cheaper in the US than here, paying extra for tips isn't really a big deal and generally ensures you'll get good service.
The burgers. Diners, restaurants, bars, wherever. The burgers rock. God I love those burgers.
Tipping. Most people complain about getting their heads around it, but look at the bright side, it certainly contributes to the ripper service you get at most places. NY cabbies excepted.
One of the ones some people have disagreed with, but the level of the water in the toilets. Saves cleaning. Only the nastiest of the nasty leaves bark on the bowl.
Tipping. Most people complain about getting their heads around it, but look at the bright side, it certainly contributes to the ripper service you get at most places. NY cabbies excepted.
One of the ones some people have disagreed with, but the level of the water in the toilets. Saves cleaning. Only the nastiest of the nasty leaves bark on the bowl.
Toilets seem to get clogged easily here though, hole is usually smaller than the toilets in Oz.
Shell
Premium Platinum
Hell yeah. We had lunch in this cafe in New Orleans and the people I was with paid the bill. I dont think they tipped cause the guy yelled abuse at us as we walked out!
Oh, also couldnt stand tipping a bartender for like taking the lid off a beer ffs. Like less than 2 seconds work for a dollar or two.
Plugger35
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Hell yeah. We had lunch in this cafe in New Orleans and the people I was with paid the bill. I dont think they tipped cause the guy yelled abuse at us as we walked out!
Oh, also couldnt stand tipping a bartender for like taking the lid off a beer ffs. Like less than 2 seconds work for a dollar or two.
Yeah I was always confused about how to tip bartenders there, whether to tip them everytime you got a drink or just at the end of the night. I think most times if you were just sitting at a bar getting served by the same bartender all night you'd leave a tip when you left. If you were just going up to the bar getting served by different people each time it was a bit more difficult to know when and who to tip.
