I thought I might as well make this an “Ask the…” thread.
Last week I returned to my native Edinburgh after an ambitious US trip for just over two weeks. I’ve been to the US before, but not like this. This time it got under my nails, so to speak.
I flew Delta direct Edinburgh to JFK, stayed one night. The next day I got the train to Philadelphia to see Roger Waters. The next day I got the train back to NYC and flew from La Guardia down to New Orleans for three nights. I picked up a rental car and drove as far as Vicksburg for the night, then carried on to Memphis for three nights (which happened to coincide with Elvis week for the 40th anniversary). I then drove to Nashville, where I ditched the car and joined a five night Eclipse chasing package (which took us to Hopkinsville, Kentucky for totality). Next morning, flight back to La Guardia in time for a Broadway show, then the next day I had the best part of the day before a 9.20pm overnight flight back to Edinburgh.
I kept a travel journal, and have observations about many things from driving etiquette to tipping, restrooms to attitudes towards alcohol.
In a thread I started about airport security, I’ve already had a question about tipping, so thought I’d start an “Ask the…” thread.
So, if you want to know how your country looks to these eyes, ask away.
Driving: the speed limit is merely a suggestion, isn’t it? That I could just about deal with, but not in conjunction with the complete lack of stopping distances. I’m used to drivers leaving a “two-second” gap from the vehicle in front. I couldn’t believe the way everyone drives so close together. We call that “tailgating” in the UK, but I know that’s something different in the US, especially after the parking lot for the Roger Waters concert
Tipping: oh boy, where do I start. I knew what I was meant to do, and complied. But a couple of times I got truly appalling service and felt like the server just gave up because they knew they’d already blown any chance of 18%, and knew they would still get 10-15% without even trying. As for La Guardia where you don’t see a server to place your order - you do it yourself at an iPad and they still add 18% - it just seemed strange. Tour guides, tour bus drivers, everyone flat out having signs asking for tips - all alien.
Restrooms: doors that aren’t doors. It feels odd to have the top of my head and the bottom of my legs on show when I’m taking care of business.
Alcohol: Having to produce ID regularly when I’m in my fifties. Folk on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Beale Street in Memphis buying drinks and wandering the streets with it. Folk at the Roger Waters gig being really, really drunk and missing chunks of a $200-a-ticket concert to buy $14 cans of Bud Light.
How’s that for starters. (Or “appetisers”, as you lot say).
Ooh, that’s a tricky one! If I hadn’t been before, I would say the difference between a price advertised and the price you pay, which I still never quite got used to, and must be huge for most first-time visitors. That glass of wine that says $10 on the menu? That’s before taxes and our suggestion of 18% tip. Your $16 a day valet parking? That’s before sales tax, city tax, tourist tax and whatever else. This really nice hippy bag in the store that says “everything $10”? That will be $10.95 please. It even applies when things are free - I spotted folk tipping a dollar a drink at the post-eclipse cocktail reception with open bar, and in the Delta Sky Lounge. I followed suit, but wouldn’t have thought of it.
But I think the single most surprising thing was the sign in the back of the taxi I got into on arrival in New Orleans. “Killing of a taxicab driver may be a First Degree Murder offense in the State of Louisiana, punishable by death”. Talk about culture shock. In Edinburgh they have a sign warning you there’s a £50 fine if you “soil the taxi” (throw up or piss yourself, basically).
Freaking awesome. I saw The Wall tour three times, but it was a first seeing him do Dark Side of the Moon, Animals and Wish You Were Here stuff. Loved the anti-Trump animations. Got a particular kick out of him finishing the main set with Brain Damage/Eclipse, considering what I would see twelve days later. One Of These Days from Meddle was an unexpected buzz.
It was a shame that tracks from his new album were greeted by a mass exodus to the bars. I was kind of shocked at how drunk everyone was, and at the fact folk were blatantly smoking weed at an indoor gig.
Oh, lots! And to be honest, neither of the ones listed there were unpleasant, just different, and a stark reminder of being in another country.
Constantly getting asked for ID in your fifties is actually pleasant.
Crazy one you probably don’t realise - I loved the difference between yellow lines and white lines between lanes on the road! Kept me alive more than once, I’m sure. We only have white lines, and you’re expected to know from other clues whether the adjacent traffic is going in the same direction or not.
And not a huge surprise as such, but I found it surprisingly easy to talk to people. Sit at a bar, buy a drink, someone will hear my Scottish accent and immediately be warmly, genuinely interested in what I’m doing and why I’m there.
Of course. That’s what surprised me - the level of staggering about, out of control drunkenness was up there with the worst I’ve seen in Scotland.
As for the weed, smoking indoors has been banned in Scotland for eleven years, and everyone complies. Hell, I saw Roger Waters doing The Wall in Amsterdam and no-one sparked up a spliff.
Groundhog Day, The Musical. It was fun. The music wasn’t particularly memorable, but it was well put-together and entertaining with quite a few laugh-out-loud moments.
I booked the Eclipse tour in March 2016. Yes, really.
I had no trouble understanding the accents, but I had to really slow down my speech and tone down my accent to make myself understood. I guess I’m used to a lot more American accents - North and South - from film and TV, than folk I was talking to would have heard Scottish accents.
Was this your first time in Kentucky? My mom and her family are all from there and I love how beautiful it is (Outside the crippling and abject poverty in the Appalachian region).
Was there anywhere you wish now you’d scheduled more time? Or less time?
I’m 47 and get carded for alcohol as well; it’s funny to me if a teeny bit annoying. The whole trip sounds wonderful!
I have a book called Let’s Go: California from the '80s. They warn people that drivers in Los Angeles are ‘speedy and confident’. I know that when I lived there, visitors were surprised (frightened?) at how close people drive.
We call it ‘tailgating’ too. Just not in the context of normal traffic.
I was only in Kentucky on a day trip from Nashville for the eclipse - I feel like it barely counts.
The only thing I would change would be to drop Vicksburg. I had this vision of seeing something of the “Old South”, the Gone With The Wind mansions with pillars. I just didn’t plan that part of the trip very well. Actually, this makes me reconsider my “biggest surprise” - that a gleaming hotel I’d picked on booking.com could have no restaurant and no bar! I ended up with beer from the next door gas station and pizza delivery.
I’d wanted to break the journey between New Orleans and Memphis somewhere interesting. I could have chosen better.
And yes, “wonderful” doesn’t come close to describing the whole trip!
