11-08-2021, 11:35 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-08-2021, 11:37 PM by Nipply Russel.)
At the risk of continuing to pile on the overwhelming amount of info you have to deal with, I'll throw out a few bullets for you to consider and we can take it from there.
During times when I've worked in Europe, people have asked me "What's America like?" to which I reply "It's like everything. There's just about every type of landscape/climate available and a huge range of attitudes."
Some attitudes:
NY City: busy. Lots of money and commerce. Poor people. The occasional smell of urine. Broadway and expensive clothing. Food. Food. Food. Crowded at times. Horrible for driving, worse for parking. Lots of music - some of it very good.
NY State/northern NJ, MA, CT, VT, ME,: lots of trees, lakes and hills. Some cities. Big parks...with lots of trees and lakes
"The South" (pretty much everything south of Delaware and every across the country to Texas): More racism, more Donald Trump fans who believe the election was stolen and there is no pandemic. Less tolerance. White men with smoky diesel pickup trucks. Hot. Humid. Bugs.
Asheville and Charlotte, NC, New Orleans (LA), Charleston (SC), Austin (TX): "The South" but more progressive and diverse. History of US slavery
The Pacific Northwest cities: Seattle, Portland: lots of coffee. Some rain. A shocking amount of trans people. Lots of homeless people. Majestic, giant mountains and volcanoes within a day's drive
The Pacific Northwest (not cities): endless woods or high desert: not progressive. Actual Nazis in some places, but you won't have to deal with any particular weirdness if you're white.
The Pacific Northwest shoreline: beautiful, rocky. Fabulous roads. Rugged beaches. Cold ocean ("sea")
The NJ, DE, MD shoreline: lots of sand and people. Water you can swim in. Many places to eat fish/crustaceans, etc. ("seafood"). Crowded until the Labor Day holiday.
California: vast. expensive. hot but dry. Some shockingly ignorant/stupid people. Fresh fruit. Hollywood. San Francisco is nice and full of LGBTQ people.
The US in general: you might be surprised out how long it takes to get around - at the massive number of miles and hours between things you might be interested in. Without a high speed rail network (or lots of cash for plane flights and car rentals), you have to drive. And drive. You can't be sitting in Greenwich Village, NYC and say "I think I'll check out Alabama" without allowing 90 minutes to get your car and actually get out of the city plus 1000 miles/15 hours of nonstop driving (2 days) to get there.
Some thoughts:
You'll find large semi trucks (tractor trailers) on all of the interstate highways everywhere. Can be daunting during heavy traffic times if you're not used to it.
Food stops adjacent to interstates tend to all have the same chain restaurants (such as Cracker Barrel). They're consistent and reliable, which is why they have driven all of the non-chain places out of business. Head a couple of miles away from the interstate and your dining options increase significantly.
Generally good roads everywhere. Driver skill varies greatly.
Driving in the US: you will not be able to drive less than 5 mph *over* any posted speed limit without causing problems, as no one really drives at or below. I've been driving at about 10 over for my entire life, with the exception being neighborhoods and towns.
You *must* bring a mobile phone and use Google Maps or similar to get around, find food, deal with traffic. Verizon has the best network in most of the country. This is of particular importance in hilly areas with lots of trees.
You should definitely approach a trip here with either a lot of cash and time or a focussed plan to visit a couple of highlights with the understanding that you'll just be getting a taste.
We can discuss further if you tell me what you're looking for: history? bustling cities? wide open spaces? a sunny holiday in a warm place? colorful people? a mountain getaway?
During times when I've worked in Europe, people have asked me "What's America like?" to which I reply "It's like everything. There's just about every type of landscape/climate available and a huge range of attitudes."
Some attitudes:
NY City: busy. Lots of money and commerce. Poor people. The occasional smell of urine. Broadway and expensive clothing. Food. Food. Food. Crowded at times. Horrible for driving, worse for parking. Lots of music - some of it very good.
NY State/northern NJ, MA, CT, VT, ME,: lots of trees, lakes and hills. Some cities. Big parks...with lots of trees and lakes
"The South" (pretty much everything south of Delaware and every across the country to Texas): More racism, more Donald Trump fans who believe the election was stolen and there is no pandemic. Less tolerance. White men with smoky diesel pickup trucks. Hot. Humid. Bugs.
Asheville and Charlotte, NC, New Orleans (LA), Charleston (SC), Austin (TX): "The South" but more progressive and diverse. History of US slavery
The Pacific Northwest cities: Seattle, Portland: lots of coffee. Some rain. A shocking amount of trans people. Lots of homeless people. Majestic, giant mountains and volcanoes within a day's drive
The Pacific Northwest (not cities): endless woods or high desert: not progressive. Actual Nazis in some places, but you won't have to deal with any particular weirdness if you're white.
The Pacific Northwest shoreline: beautiful, rocky. Fabulous roads. Rugged beaches. Cold ocean ("sea")
The NJ, DE, MD shoreline: lots of sand and people. Water you can swim in. Many places to eat fish/crustaceans, etc. ("seafood"). Crowded until the Labor Day holiday.
California: vast. expensive. hot but dry. Some shockingly ignorant/stupid people. Fresh fruit. Hollywood. San Francisco is nice and full of LGBTQ people.
The US in general: you might be surprised out how long it takes to get around - at the massive number of miles and hours between things you might be interested in. Without a high speed rail network (or lots of cash for plane flights and car rentals), you have to drive. And drive. You can't be sitting in Greenwich Village, NYC and say "I think I'll check out Alabama" without allowing 90 minutes to get your car and actually get out of the city plus 1000 miles/15 hours of nonstop driving (2 days) to get there.
Some thoughts:
You'll find large semi trucks (tractor trailers) on all of the interstate highways everywhere. Can be daunting during heavy traffic times if you're not used to it.
Food stops adjacent to interstates tend to all have the same chain restaurants (such as Cracker Barrel). They're consistent and reliable, which is why they have driven all of the non-chain places out of business. Head a couple of miles away from the interstate and your dining options increase significantly.
Generally good roads everywhere. Driver skill varies greatly.
Driving in the US: you will not be able to drive less than 5 mph *over* any posted speed limit without causing problems, as no one really drives at or below. I've been driving at about 10 over for my entire life, with the exception being neighborhoods and towns.
You *must* bring a mobile phone and use Google Maps or similar to get around, find food, deal with traffic. Verizon has the best network in most of the country. This is of particular importance in hilly areas with lots of trees.
You should definitely approach a trip here with either a lot of cash and time or a focussed plan to visit a couple of highlights with the understanding that you'll just be getting a taste.
We can discuss further if you tell me what you're looking for: history? bustling cities? wide open spaces? a sunny holiday in a warm place? colorful people? a mountain getaway?