And what have you heard from the people around you?
I cancelled a Florida cruise with my parents and sister.
To be fair, I don’t find the US that appealing. Politics is one thing, the car culture is another that really puts me off.
Don’t you love having to rent a car to get anywhere in the US? Yeah, me.neither. Best part of tourism in EU for me is certainly the trains, can just hop in and enjoy the view, no worries about parking, going over the speed limit or missing an exit
I visited for a work meeting. The hotel, grocery store and shopping plaza were on the 4 corners of an intersection, but they had no sidewalks to get from one to the other. The one road was highway, and the cross road had water runoff ditches immediately after the edge of road. Like who plans this garbage. It forces you to go find your car to drive across the street from hotel to restaurant.
The American West has some of the most beautiful and unique landscapes on the globe. Get out of a city and go to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Arches or Zion National Parks. Better yet, go to all 4. Unless you’re boycotting the US, which is totally a valid thing to do.
For my kind of traveling it just isn’t enough. I want to be on my bike in nature, explore historic city center, I just travel through everything. So even in Europe it is sometimes rough (I am looking at you EV 8/1 route to Huelva) and in US it seems borderline impossible.
I may change my mind someday but for now there are different places I want to go.
I was planning to go to California this month. That is now cancelled and other US trips are off the table. Mexico sounds like a more interesting place to spend my time.
I cancelled my trip to Florida. Fuck Florida.
Have been. Never want to go again, especially in these years. Never visited a country that has an aura of dread and anxiety projected off of everyone you walk past—hard to explain, but it’s there. They are very friendly though. But I got the impression it’s because they’re so interested in where you’re from and it’s a breath of fresh air almost. Eyes light up and moods pick up, lots of chatting and rarely need to buy a round yourself or feel alone in a foreign place. It’s a shame.
They might triangulate me from my Fediverse or Facebook comments and detain me. I haven’t said anything terrible but I don’t trust that it’ll be safe any more.
Had a nice visit there 15 years ago. Watched the weird Ohio sky where the clouds circle overhead. Visited friends. Went to the Pizza Hut in the middle of nowhere.
Got harranged at LA airport because we were late walking through a tunnel. (weird when the doors lock at both ends and a PA tells you to stand still.)
No plans to return. It’s not safe. It doesn’t want visitors.
Yeah, stayed with a friend. He was on edge about leaving his house unlocked when we went from his side door driveway to the garage about 20 feet back. I’m like what are you doing? He said they have people sneak into your house and terrorize the family for cash, etc. So he had to lock it every time, even though we could see the door.
It was same vibe in the other areas, people eyeball you skeptically like they are sizing up a threat at every passing.
(I’m a very generic looking white guy, which doesn’t provoke this reaction in Canada or other countries)
