The "I'm Going on Vacation" Thread

[Buffalobiian]

Vacation again, USA for the first time.

Washington DC:



-huge flex in terms of monuments etc to commemorate national history. I guess it's a much bigger deal for the US than it is for Australia.

-Also American flags everywhere. This isn't actually DC exclusive, it's the case all over the place. I've been to Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. Nowhere else hangs out a flag just because.

-Chinese food sucks in Washington DC.

Rhode Island
-It would have been amazing to be rich back in the day. Bloody hell these mansions are big. No internet though.. that's a deal breaker.

NYC:



-Food is better
-Interesting use of basements. We see no basements in AU. Never. It must suck when it rains though.
-Cool streets.
-Your subway stations are really hot and stuffy.
-Revolving doors are still a thing?!?!
-In general, you guys have some cool buildings. I love the way your wooden houses look. Stone buildings are also on another level.

Boston:
-Getting colder. Not much else for me to add.
-On our way up through New Haven, there's a Thai place called September in Bangkok and it's amazing.

New Hampshire:



-cool scenery and autumn leaves.

Maine:



-Lobsters. Oh god they're sweet. Small.. but so so sweet. And for 8.99USD for a pound (+ free cooking) it's a bargain. I used to think that I could never tire of eating lobsters. Having eaten 2 meals of lobster in 2 days I can fathom it to be possible, But still.. I'm accepting sponsors for a challenge.
-You cup noodles are also super cheap as well, but those taste horrendous.
-It's cold. Bloody cold. Canadians much be such nice people because their balls have frozen off or something. I don't know how you do it. Subtropical it is for me.



Overall observations from an Aussie:

-consumer tax there is a pain in the ass. Service charge, tips, sales tax.. I concluded that a part of this comes from giving state governments so much autonomy. In Australia, there's income tax which goes to the federal government, and Goods + Services Tax at a flat rate of 10% which applies to nearly all goods. This tax is included in the price - what's listed is what you pay. Also, no tipping culture here. It just makes paying for stuff so much less of a math exercise.

-Talking about paying for stuff... your currencies are fucked up. Quaters (25c) coins? 1 cent coins? WHY????? 1c is useless man.

-The median US pedestrian is ruder than the median Australian. I didn't think that was possible, but that was. There's a range of course, and I met some amazingly nice people there, but by and large you guys aren't friendly to strangers.
That said, maybe it's that Australia's actually higher on the list than I ought to place it. Hong Kong's actually on par with US if you're talking about off-the-street conversations. As a service industry it does a bit better. Japan's in it's own league of politeness.

-Driving. You guys drive like lunatics. I'm equally amazed that I didn't see a single car crash despite this.

-Shopping malls are very few in the US. By few, I guess I mean I didn't see a single one. They're pretty common over here. Most of your shopping complexes seem to be shops arranged around a car park in the centre.