Dumbfounded by truths

I’m going to write two blogs about our recent trip to the USA. I use ‘trip’ rather than ‘holiday’ advisedly, as we packed too much in for it to be something that could be defined as rest. That’s not a bad thing by the way.

But yes, two blogs. Neither will be a tedious diary. This one will be about the unexpected contrasts and pleasures we discovered. And the other will be about Las Vegas. 

I hadn’t been to the US since 2001 prior to the last two weeks, and even then it was a only a five day work jaunt to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. In the UK over that time we’ve seen the widespread adoption of American-originating work expressions (“Reach out”? Bugger off more like), the adoption of nauseating mission statements by even public sector bodies for God’s sake, and the over-commercialisation of just about everything. I expected the US to have developed along those lines, but be even more so.

Other expectations or preconceptions: to be regularly irritated by unnecessarily loud Americans, exhortations to “have a nice day” to be manifestly insincere, and to be met with the cold impersonality that characterises just about any big city in our visits to Chicago, San Francisco and so on. Just about all of that proved to be completely and pleasingly wrong.

Some examples to illustrate my points. We took two internal flights in the US, from Kansas City to Las Vegas, and from Vegas to San Francisco, with those well-known airlines, Spirit and Frontier respectively. Both are US budget airlines. The contrast between those experiences, and those  I've had recently on Ryanair, and EasyJet to a lesser extent, couldn’t be greater. At one level, it was the service provided - efficient, pleasant, no-nonsense on the one hand, but on the other no pressure selling, none of the customary brusqueness of the cabin crew, certainly on Ryanair, a decent amount of legroom, and little sense of the airline attempting to screw every last cent out of you. At another level, it was the passengers. Maybe it’s just my recent experiences on Ryanair, but the behaviour and civility levels were markedly better than in the UK. No fighting to get bags in or out of the overhead lockers, no passive-aggressive competition to get on or off the aircraft, and a low level hum of conversation rather than feeling like you’re unwittingly part of an extended stag party.

And then the people. They are, overwhelmingly (in the sense of the great majority rather than I was overwhelmed), lovely. A common-ish language helps of course, but each and every engagement felt warm and genuine. Of course many of the folk we spoke to were in the hospitality or service sectors, where you kind of expect that, but beyond that, state employees like Amtrak employees and lavatory attendants were helpful, often volunteering help and information over and above what was asked and might be reasonably expected of them. One of my favourite moments of the last fortnight was when I checked with a Kansas City bus driver that his wasn’t the right bus to board, which he confirmed and then pulled away. The bus had done no more than 10 yards though when he stopped, beckoned to me, and opened the bus doors. I peered up at him. “You talk funny” he said, and then closed the doors again with a big grin. I don’t think he caught my “No, you talk funny” in response.

And it was the same everywhere we went. Even the slightest effort at real conversation, rather than just pleasantries, was met with smiles and engagement. It was great. Americans are great. It was a pleasure to meet and be among them. 

And I found the general environment surprisingly understated. Logos, announcements, conversations, advertisements, were all just a toned down a notch from where I expected them to be, and arguably, less in-your-face than in the UK these days. The only things that were as large, noisy and powerful in reality as in my mind were their rather fabulous pick-ups and agricultural machinery, particularly in Illinois. Las Vegas was an exception to everything I’ve just said, but I’ll cover that horror show separately, as mentioned.

I’m not going to cover American politics or culture. That’s not what we were there for particularly, though we learned a lot about our host cities by going to museums and on walking tours. But what did come across was a sense of the famed American positivity- have a go, well done you!, what’s the worst than could happen?, etc. There's clearly a much stronger sense of aspiration, and admiration of those who've succeeded, than in the UK. I rather liked all that. If I were 30 years younger etc. Though I’d trade mercilessly on my accent and use far more long words than would be strictly necessary. 

And finally, sorry, can’t avoid it, just a few words on some of our destinations. Chicago - cool, sophisticated, clean, interesting. Would happily live there if it weren’t for their mental winters. St. Louis - bit of a hidden gem. San Francisco - not nearly as afflicted by the homeless problem as I’d be led to believe, laid back (no surprise there), buzzy, architecturally fascinating.  Napa Valley - beautiful, moneyed, wish I’d had my bike there (though a blood-red Ford Mustang wasn’t a bad second choice mode of transport).  Grand Canyon - no words beyond phenomenal, in the original sense.

So there we are; our America outside Las Vegas. More on that story next....