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I'm sure that's true for many people. When European tourists visit the US, however, how many are actually going deep into the interior of the US? Most tourists, I'd imagine, would be staying somewhat near one of the coasts and mainly sticking to the major cities. I doubt many Europeans have anywhere in Nebraska on their itineraries. Probably not a ton of European tourists in the US right now anyway, but I mean in the recent past at times of relative political normalcy.
It makes sense, though. Most people who are travelling don't have the time or money to spend months seeing all the highlights of a place as large as Europe or the US. Even just these countries offer a ton to see, whether its the cities or the countryside. I can't speak for how well-traveled Europeans are, but very few people in the US, even those who have lived long lives here, are able to say they've even visited every state, let alone seen the whole country. I bet that's probably true of Europe for Europeans, too.
I myself don't have much money for travelling, so I've only been to 11 states (and never even left the country), and I certainly did not see everything those states had to offer. Some states are often called "fly-over" states and, frankly, aren't usually considered worthwhile places to visit anyway (even by Americans), so you can be forgiven for skipping those. I'm sure Europe has its equivalents, too.
This was my first thought when I saw your meme lol. Only other major destination might be Chicago
Orlando for Disney world
Orlando for
Disney worldGatorlandFTFY
Woo Gatorland! Best school field trip ever! (Okay but riding Space Mountain with the lights on was still neat...)
But fuck Florida on principle.
Maybe a coma might help you somewhere there... unless, that's what you are into, in which case I won't judge you
To be fair, it'd be a lot more difficult to comment if he was in a coma.
Lol, fair point
What about some of the famous national parks. I’ve seen a lot of europeans at places like Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone
That was the other thing I had considered. I ultimately figured those tourists were in the minority, though, but I could be wrong. Visiting National parks will definitely lead to seeing more of the country seeing as most aren't that close to a major airport, but at the same time, it's a specific destination in the same way a major city is, in that many will come just for the park and then leave. Maybe that doesn't matter, though.
Also popular is renting a car in CA and then driving around there, to Vegas and some other national parks (a la Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Utah’s).
I mean, Americans do the same thing.
Those are called flyover states for a reason.
Tbh I would hardly give a fuck for any large city after New York. I'd much rather travel through rural areas.
I've been to many small places around Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota etc (that middle part full of nothing), voluntarily. Trying to do a road trip "Supernatural style" (the TV show, with burgers but without the monsters). I really liked that but I wanted to see real normal America, not the bells and whistles TV front.
Not to be rude but your huge cities (mostly NY and LA) sucks as a European. It's not even the lack of public transport, it's just that they are way too huge. Paris, London, Madrid, Warsaw etc are big, but not THAT big.
My plan for the next trip was to do rural Texas, I wanted to see real rednecks with my own eyes.
But... That was before the fire nation attacked. Now I'm staying in Europe, plenty of things to see here.
I'm surprised your main gripe with places like LA or NY are that they're too big and sprawling and not that they're dirty and full of unseemly things like homelessness and drug use (though I feel those issues are blown out of proportion by the culture war and deserve actual help). That's par for the course for many big cities, though.
I'd agree that most large cities have the same problem with travelling any large area in that you could live there for years and still not see everything. Any big city will have cool places to check out, but you'll definitely get an authentic USA experience visiting places like the ones you've been: blue-collar workers enjoying a beer after their shift at the local dive bar; small town events and celebrations; regional gatherings like rodeos, etc.; tiny, greasy, 50-year-old eateries with the best burgers or BBQ around, etc. Simple living. It's not all so romantic, though. There's a fair amount of poverty in those parts of the country and substance-abuse is quite common in some parts, too. People tend to be very friendly, though, which isn't always the case in larger cities.
Appalachia ought to be on your list for seeing rednecks as well. It has the same problems, but also many of the same kinds of draws. It also has a lot of natural beauty. Totally different kind of redneck. Another kind still, are the bayou rednecks.
Can't blame you for wanting to stay away at this point, though.
I'm surprised your main gripe with places like LA or NY are that they're too big and sprawling and not that they're dirty and full of unseemly things like homelessness and drug use
Oh it is as well but I was trying to be somewhat positive.
I think my real main gripe with LA is the immense social fracture between rich and poor. You can see an homeless man with his feet turned black for not having shoes and right next to him a fucker trying to impress girls with his Lamborghini.
Getting to the country side to see normal life and normal people was exactly my goal, just getting to a bar in a small town and making friends because of my obvious French accent. I was there for the social part and the nature sighting (and it was very nice!)
And pie.
As someone who grew up in Texas, if you plan on visiting to see real Texas(sometime in the future of course) then I'd say come for the tex-mex food. Austin and surrounding areas would be good to visit.
The US is not a continent though. You can say, you went to Italy and France. No one expects you to specify the states and say "I went to Lazio, Tuscany, Lombardy and Rhône-Alpes".
Yeah, but in the same sense that when one says they've "travelled" the US, chances are they've only actually seen a small portion of the country, just like it's a little dubious when US tourists claim to have "travelled" Europe and only actually seen a small portion of the continent. The contiguous US is only a little bigger than Europe, most US states rival European countries in terms of size, and many European countries have administrative regions (using whatever term they prefer) that are also roughly the size of many US state counties, so I feel it's actually a pretty apt comparison all the way down. San Bernardino County, CA, for example, is about the size of Tuscany.
A lot of the big European metros are outside the 3 countries listed in the meme though.
As a European my lifelong dream is to visit Hot Springs, Arkansas.
But calling Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium etc. the equivalent of Nebraska is just wrong.
Of course, and that's not what I had in mind, either. All of those places are most certainly worth making trips to. I'm just assuming there are some countries even most Europeans don't bother visiting. Maybe Moldova (sorry Moldovans)? Again, I don't really know, though.