[Drew]

On my bucketlist is a roadtrip from Pennsylvania to Alabama along the Great Smoky Mountains.

https://wvtourism.com/things-to-do/arts-...ic-routes/

https://www.roadtripusa.com/blog/scenic-...onal-park/

Thanks everybody for these awesome links. Am a bit overwhelmed.

[bash42]

WOW! Bash that is highly informative and quite impressive. I would have never considered New York as I only see it on Television as big and bad city where horrible things may happen. Now am really confused as to where I should go, my thoughts were initially Alabama but thats only because I like the song. But thanks, you have sold me can't wait for covid to end and my covid, am in week 2,  and travel. You have seriously taken some time and thought into that post and I do appreciate it very much. Thanks

Yeah, thanks to TV and movies everyone thinks New York starts and ends with the city. NY State is drastically different than NY City.

A good start point to see NY would be to fly into Syracuse NY. It's dead center of the state and fairly easy access to everywhere. If your more inclined to check out the Adirondack mountains, Albany NY would be a good starting point.

Other locations around the USA have some really cool stuff, but NY (IMO), can offer a nice compact vacation. There is a wide variety of things to do, and most are free and not a ton of driving between things. (Well not much driving by US standards :-) )

Yeah driving that's a bit of a problem, I believe you have astonishingly strict speed limits something quite low?  We have no limit on the motorway, there are ofc restrictions in some areas but generally you can go as fast as you like in some areas. Okay I'm not a speed freik hardly ever exceed about 180 km/h unless I'm blue lighting but I think you can't go over 50mp/h if I remember rightly.....that's very slow. 180 think that's 110 in mp/h is my mororway cruise speed that may sound fast but it's actually pretty grandpa slow and I get overtaken quite a lot!

Most Interstate Highways(on the east coast), speed is at least 65mph(~105kmh), but you can do 70mph(~112kmh) without worry about getting a ticket usually. Secondary roads are limited to 55mph(88kmh), but again, +5mph is usually acceptable. The more west you go, they raise the limits to 70mph, 75mph, and in Montana their highway hits 100mph, but I've heard most people go "fuck all".

But yeah, we don't have any of those speed signs with the pretty three gray slanted lines signs anywhere.

[Drew]

WOW! Bash that is highly informative and quite impressive. I would have never considered New York as I only see it on Television as big and bad city where horrible things may happen. Now am really confused as to where I should go, my thoughts were initially Alabama but thats only because I like the song. But thanks, you have sold me can't wait for covid to end and my covid, am in week 2,  and travel. You have seriously taken some time and thought into that post and I do appreciate it very much. Thanks

Yeah, thanks to TV and movies everyone thinks New York starts and ends with the city. NY State is drastically different than NY City.

A good start point to see NY would be to fly into Syracuse NY. It's dead center of the state and fairly easy access to everywhere. If your more inclined to check out the Adirondack mountains, Albany NY would be a good starting point.

Other locations around the USA have some really cool stuff, but NY (IMO), can offer a nice compact vacation. There is a wide variety of things to do, and most are free and not a ton of driving between things. (Well not much driving by US standards :-) )

Yeah driving that's a bit of a problem, I believe you have astonishingly strict speed limits something quite low?  We have no limit on the motorway, there are ofc restrictions in some areas but generally you can go as fast as you like in some areas. Okay I'm not a speed freik hardly ever exceed about 180 km/h unless I'm blue lighting but I think you can't go over 50mp/h if I remember rightly.....that's very slow. 180 think that's 110 in mp/h is my mororway cruise speed that may sound fast but it's actually pretty grandpa slow and I get overtaken quite a lot!

Most Interstate Highways(on the east coast), speed is at least 65mph(~105kmh), but you can do 70mph(~112kmh) without worry about getting a ticket usually. Secondary roads are limited to 55mph(88kmh), but again, +5mph is usually acceptable. The more west you go, they raise the limits to 70mph, 75mph, and in Montana their highway hits 100mph, but I've heard most people go "fuck all".

But yeah, we don't have any of those speed signs with the pretty three gray slanted lines signs anywhere.

That sounds reasonable and sensible. Yes those signs with the lines saying go as fast as you like now, nobody cares, well the Green party cares and are trying to set a national speed limit. Actually thinking about it now I need to find out where a person called Kevin Hill lives and go there, just to do an oil painting. Is one of the many people who has inspired me and amazed me with artistic talent. Would love to paint alongside one of my idols.

[Drew]

WOW! You are all so very inormative and helpful I wasn't expecting this but I have a ton of links to follow and study. My stereotype of what the US has to offer from TV and film seems absurd now. Have never imagined visiting as it seems very .
...well idk???  Don't want to be obnoxious.But now getting a bit well more than a bit curious. Thanks for those links.

Las Vegas, not a gambler but they have impressive structure's I would like to see. Not thinking entirely of myself here,if I told my team I'm thinking of a couple of weeks over the pond there is absolutely no way they will let me go alone. Not everybody is bi or tri lingual and the opportunity of visiting a country where you don't understand the language but have your own free and personanal translator. ...yeah some of them will be coming and won't let me go alone.

[Drew]

WOW! You are all so very inormative and helpful I wasn't expecting this but I have a ton of links to follow and study. My stereotype of what the US has to offer from TV and film seems absurd now. Have never imagined visiting as it seems very .
...well idk???  Don't want to be obnoxious.But now getting a bit well more than a bit curious. Thanks for those links.

Las Vegas, not a gambler but they have impressive structure's I would like to see.  Not thinking entirely of myself here,if I told my team I'm thinking of a couple of weeks over the pond there is absolutely no way they will let me go alone.  Not everybody is bi or tri lingual and the opportunity of visiting a country where you don't understand the language but have your own free and personanal translator. ...yeah some of them will be coming and won't let me go alone.

Thanks for all of the valuable advice. It's decided now.
2 of my team are going to New York next year, the 2 who speak no English whatsoever and I can't let them go alone. But one wants to stand on top of a skyscraper and look down, the other doesn't like that idea at all but wants to visit the Statue of Liberty but the other is terrified of getting seasick on the ferry.
This is my life......what I deal with every day.
I run an armed kindergarten

[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?

[Drew]

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?

WOW you put a lot of thought and effort into that post thanks so much, and i laughed probably too much. Unfortunately my guys are just interested in big city life and my job will be to keep them from getting into trouble. I would prefer to get out into the country but will be busy stopping my guys from causing trouble. They are harmless enough but don't know how to integrate. ..I think I may be overprotective of my guys and underestimating their social skills in a foreign language. 
Okay don't go to the Pacific Northwest!!! Definitely got that, we are white and German so people will automatically think we are nazis, though we actually arrest them quite often here for misbehaving but we are seen as such elsewhere . WOW nipply, very informative am touched by your thoughtfulness and taking the time. Actually to everybody who has answered this post,  you have all been surprisingly informative, wasn't expecting this at all. Thanks so very much.

[Nipply Russel]

You're welcome.

Okay don't go to the Pacific Northwest!!! Definitely got that, we are white and German so people will automatically think we are nazis, though we actually arrest them quite often here for misbehaving but we are seen as such elsewhere

Gosh, no...I didn't mean it that way. The "problem" is that the non-city areas of the PNW are not diverse enough (look into Oregon's racist history of exclusion) so pretty much everyone is white. There are a lot of stupid people who are white and racist, but not everyone who is white is racist. Yeah, I guess you might run into a couple of "skinheads" who stupidly think "hey, they're German - they're 'real' Nazis", but generally it won't be an issue. And you could visit the cities and you'll find they are among the most liberal places in this country.

But anyway, visiting NYC is fine, I guess, but it's like visiting the biggest city in any country - it presents only one facet of the culture/landscape. And I'm not fond of cities in general.

[VergeOfDiscovery]

Will chime in say I've been to at least 45 of the US states and would say the corners are the best part (I'm partial to coastal areas). With the exception of Florida, lol. To appreciate Florida, you need to get in the water, and by that I mean John Pennakamp Reef in the Keys.

Coastal New England is lovely, especially southern Maine. The Mount Washington area in New Hampshire is lovely. For coastal California, Big Sur is incredible. 

Manhattan is definitely worth a visit. I've lived there most of my adult life. There's a bar on the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it's a good additional stop on a Friday or Saturday early evening to enjoy the art (The MET is the largest art museum in the western hemisphere) and the rooftop overlooks Central Park and the city.

One of the only places I've ever felt like I had to be careful about snakes was in the Badlands in the Dakotas. That is a really colorful area (said to at one time to be the hideout of Jessie James) and quite a trek but very cool to see a landscape that doesn't appear to belong on Earth. There are several places like that to research and explore if you love nature and are willing to go a bit off the beaten path.

I believe someone mentioned the Redwoods and Sequoia national park. That is definitely worth checking out. You'll feel like you walked into the land of the giants when dinosaurs roamed the Earth (or perhaps the Nephilim from Genesis 6!).

There are a myriad of options well worth a bit of research to find and discover things that will interest you personally.

Have fun.

[Sashaj]

I have visited the US quite a few times, and for a Brit I have probably seen more of the States than a lot of Americans.

I had a road trip all planned and paid for in May of last year. I was planning to drive from Washington DC to Atlanta via Nashville. It would have taken me down the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virgina and Carolina. Sadly Covid came along and I had to cancel it.