American Notes

I don't claim to write like Mr Dickens, but here are some thoughts on the trip to the US these past two weeks or so.

1. I tried to write about what we did each day, the day it happened, so nothing, or as little as possible was not forgotten. All good in theory, but factor in jeg lag, flu and allergies and some nights my accounts, especially in New York were sparse to say the least. So, it is my intention, as I did with the Japan trip, to go back and add some flesh to the bones to these posts in the weeks ahead, as I edit shots from each day, and more memories are triggered.

Most people we met were very friendly and open minded. We no one who were openly Trump supports, though I am sure there were some, but we did meet many who were very anti-Trump, including the guy pumping gas who asked us to take Trump with us.

The quality of the beer was very high, like in Wyoming last year, very few drinking the traditional big brand beers like Bud and the rest, with "craft beers" being really really popular.

Food portions were either large or huge, meaning that just one and a bit meals was usually needed, but into the second week we were up to the full three, will do us good to come home and get away from burger, ribs and maple syrup.

Road signs were sometimes confusing, at worse; useless. As we sailed by poorly marked junctions time and time again.

Travelling by rail between NY and Boston was fine, although a mad scramble to get on the train in the two minutes it was in the station. Seats lined up with the windows, and announcements for stations were clear and broadcast in time.

Petrol is cheap and plentiful as ever, with gas stations apparently every few miles, marking it out, like Denmark, in stark contrast to UK where mostly fuel only available in supermarkets.

Tipping is getting out of control, with most credit card terminals offering a 25% tip as a minimum option unless you put in your own figure, though on some machines that was difficult to do. My friend Marcy once told me; 5% for breakfast, 10% for lunch and 15% for dinner. For tipping a taxi driver 25% for doing his job, not speaking to us the whole trip, seems that 25% tip for not being involved in an accident seems a bit rich.

The price of food seemed to have increased much more than we had expected, a simple breakfast of fruit, bagel and coffees for two came to roughly twenty five bucks, with lunch and inner costing up to seventy. I know we could have eaten at Subway of Burger King, but sometimes you just want to sit at a table and be waited on.

Mostly, people were warm, friendly and helpful, nothing was too much trouble to help s simple Brits out, making the whole experience so very enjoyable.