Travel Tips When Visiting the U.S.

[SciFi Chick]

Some of these are hilarious.

I especially like the Australian and Russian travel tips.

[Rommie]

Women should be treated as equals even in business- who knows what crazy stuff those Americans will think up next?!

I also find the speed limit one kinda interesting, clearly they won't tell them to just set the cruise control 8mph over the limit.

Also, I find the one about American Indians to be really quite true. I've heard far too many innocuous comments from Europeans about stereotypes and casual racism (like this example I'm not surprised at at all- people definitely use the n-word a lot).

[Sigma_Orionis]

When it comes to Latin America, it's ALWAYS about the water

[FZR1KG]

I found the Aussie to be pretty spot on for this area.
They always want my opinion on politics.
Then when I don't agree with them (heavily conservative christian right tea baggers) they are shocked. Go figure. lol

I actually found that the USA is broken into two distinct groups.
Extremist republicans and everyone else.

[Rommie]

I found the Aussie to be pretty spot on for this area.
They always want my opinion on politics.
Then when I don't agree with them (heavily conservative christian right tea baggers) they are shocked. Go figure. lol

I actually found that the USA is broken into two distinct groups.
Extremist republicans and everyone else.

In that case you clearly didn't hang out much in San Francisco or NYC or all the other places where the Whole Foods/ anti-vaccination crowds hang out.

[FZR1KG]

Nope, my exposure has been limited to racist redneckville.
I have been to a few other places in the USA and so far I like all of them better than where I've been stuck in.
Found great people in Florida, the Carolina's, in Colonial Beach, DC etc.
But noooo, I had to get stuck here where people that have lived here most of their lives are considered foreigners.
The MIL was born less than a 100 miles, still in this valley.
She's a foreigner too.
God help you if you are a Democrat as well. Democrats that have family which established this community are even worse than foreigners. They are traitors. lol
I'm so happy that my last month in the USA is not going to be in this town.

[Rommie]

Yeah, that's a shame. As I've said, the more time I've spent away from the US the more I think it's not that I'd mind moving back so much as I would be very selective about where I end up. Rural Virginia just isn't one of them (tho the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is headquartered in Charlottesville- I'd need to do some serious research before ending up there).

[FZR1KG]

Charlottesville was better than here, at least from my pov but I was only there a short time.
People seemed a lot more open to the idea that you can be a decent person if you didn't marry your sister. lol

SFC lived there for a longer time, she'd be better able to tell you more.
I do know however that they have a whole foods and a "food of all nations" which was fantastic for getting different types of food.
Even a little Asian store. Much more my style.
Plus the UVA is there so there is a lot more exposure to outsiders.
Pretty expensive though in recent years IIRC.

[Rommie]

Well that's so far theoretical at this stage that it's not even worth mentioning. I think in general places with universities just have a transient population though, so don't get insular community views like that. (I mean, here in the Old World where people are really settled I'm sure there are some small villages in the Netherlands that are insular too, but bigger places certainly aren't like that.)

I always thought it was funny how there's a UVA in the US and I also work at the UvA, except ours ends in uva.nl on the Internet and is pronounced "uh-vah."

[Swift]

Tom Lehrer covered this 50 years ago (for you Mike)