Deefstes
Contributor
- Messages
- 1,396
- Reaction score
- 49
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Been traveling to the USA recently and enjoyed the trip tremendously. It has been my third visit to the States and we visited some places that I've seen before and some that were new to me. I have the tendency to constantly strike comparisons with what I see and experience with what I'm used to (although I suspect all world travelers do this). I thought it might be of value to highlight some of the observations that were positive.
WARNING: In the next ten points you may encounter a fair amount of generalisation and inaccurate observations. These are simply my personal observations for whatever it's worth.
1. Choices: If you feel like indulging in fast food you have an endless number of chains to choose from. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Taco Bell and the list never stops. In South Africa you are mostly limited to just a handful of options. The same goes for when you choose a soft drink, a box of cereal or frozen vegetables at the supermarket. It seems that in most everything there is a wide variety to choose from.
2. Can do: Americans seem to have a "yes we can" attitude (predating Obama by many years). They'd look at a string of islands stretching into the ocean for 100 miles off the southern tip of Florida and think "hey, why don't we connect all these with a series of bridges?" - and then promptly go ahead and do it.
3. Space Program: I think, for the very reason given above, the Americans have been dominating the scene of space exploration (after trailing to the Russians perhaps for a very short period during the infancy stages). Reading about how the American space program dashed boldly and daringly into manned spaceflight with the Mercury and Gemini projects just captures my imagination. Not just because space is such an imaginative frontier, but because essentially here were people (I'm thinking Armstrong, Lovell, Schirra etc.) who were pioneers in whatever they did and they did it with the sort of boldness that eventually put America on the forefront of space exploration. I have to say, to me this is one of America's biggest achievements ever and one of the biggest things that I'm jealous of.
4. Politics: I can't say that I'm intimately familiar with American politics but I am impressed when I walk around Washington DC and tour the Capitol and Library of Congress. Ever since the election of George Washington, the political system hasn't changed much. The same constitution is still in place (refined by a number of amendments). The method by which government is elected and the processes by which the political machinery work is all still pretty much the same. This continuity makes me envious. You won't find many monuments in South Africa honouring former presidents. As soon as a new government takes office, the city streets are renamed to reflect the new regime and continuity goes out the window.
5. Morals: This is a funny one, I have always believed South Africa to have a stronger moral fibre than many of the developed countries, including the USA. I measured this against the type of discipline taught to kids, the fact that to a large extent Christianity is still prevalent in schools (I'm a Christian and I do consider this to be a measure of morality but that's perhaps another thread so let's not go into that here). At any rate, I look at the traits that seem to be valued in a president of the United States and it seems that people expect him to be a family man and admire him for good values. People venerate the first lady (as can be seen in their commemoration in the exhibit in the Smithsonian museum of American History). When I returned to South Africa, I came back to a newly elected president who's defense in his rape trial was that the sex was consensual, against whom corruption charges were dropped due to technical discrepancies in the prosecution, and of who's four wives and fiancees I have no idea who the first lady is. Makes it difficult for me to admire either him or the first lady.
6. Public transport: I guess Americans might not agree with me but trust me, your public transport system is fantastic. Sure, there are some systems in Europe that are way better still but compared to South Africa's, yours is champagne. It may be a hassle at times with transfers and less than enjoyable bus journeys but for the most part I think it is accurate to say that you can travel between any two points on the continental USA by using the public transport system only.
7. Scenery: South Africa has a lot to offer and I thoroughly enjoy our diverse natural beauty. I won't say the USA tops that but it may be very close to drawing a par
The Grand Canyon took my breath away, I loved the scenery in Arizona in general, I loved the Florida Keys, the Everglades, the Lousiana swamps and I have not even yet seen Yellowstone, Yosemite and a host of other north American sights. I can easily see myself return for a fourth, fifth or sixth visit.
8. Size: The USA is huge! Not only is the land area huge but the population is huge. This means that there is a lot of everything. There are numerous high standard universities that a student can choose from (I guess this is related to point 2 then), there are lots of scuba shops (we stopped counting at 20 before we've even driven halfway down the Keys and those are only the ones we could see from the main road). I think the size of the USA makes for a very strong free market economy and, while it might be taking some shots at the moment, the USA still has an unbelievably strong economy.
9. The customer is king: Every retailer in every part of the world will chant this mantra but it is not as commonly adhered to everywhere as I've seen in the States. If you are unhappy with a product or with service and you make your dissatisfaction known, most retailers or service providers in the States will make a significant effort to allay your misgivings, whether by improving the service, offering a voucher or simply apologising profusely. In South Africa you see some of that but not to the degree that you do in the States. The result is, and it's perhaps a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, that consumers expect more so they get more. I can imagine that this also has something to do with the fact that there is a healthy free enterprise where customer satisfaction relates to return business which is what will give you the edge over your competitors.
10. Beer: Who'd a thunk? I used to live in Dublin where the undisputed best beer in the world is brewed
. I've visited Holland and Belgium where exceptional beers are too many to count and here I am raving about American beer!? But seriously, as much as I dislike the Budweisers, Coors and Millers, there seem to be a host of local breweries and microbreweries of which the beers more often than not end up being surprisingly good. I thought Abita Amber in New Orleans was quite good, Oak Creek in Sedona, Sunset Ale in south Florida and many others which I can't even remember the names of. While not a small brewery I also think Sam Adams is pretty good. I guess what I really like is the fact that anywhere you go, you are likely to find a locally brewed beer and in most cases they are quite good.
OK, that's me. I hope this will have offset this thread to some degree
WARNING: In the next ten points you may encounter a fair amount of generalisation and inaccurate observations. These are simply my personal observations for whatever it's worth.
1. Choices: If you feel like indulging in fast food you have an endless number of chains to choose from. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Taco Bell and the list never stops. In South Africa you are mostly limited to just a handful of options. The same goes for when you choose a soft drink, a box of cereal or frozen vegetables at the supermarket. It seems that in most everything there is a wide variety to choose from.
2. Can do: Americans seem to have a "yes we can" attitude (predating Obama by many years). They'd look at a string of islands stretching into the ocean for 100 miles off the southern tip of Florida and think "hey, why don't we connect all these with a series of bridges?" - and then promptly go ahead and do it.
3. Space Program: I think, for the very reason given above, the Americans have been dominating the scene of space exploration (after trailing to the Russians perhaps for a very short period during the infancy stages). Reading about how the American space program dashed boldly and daringly into manned spaceflight with the Mercury and Gemini projects just captures my imagination. Not just because space is such an imaginative frontier, but because essentially here were people (I'm thinking Armstrong, Lovell, Schirra etc.) who were pioneers in whatever they did and they did it with the sort of boldness that eventually put America on the forefront of space exploration. I have to say, to me this is one of America's biggest achievements ever and one of the biggest things that I'm jealous of.
4. Politics: I can't say that I'm intimately familiar with American politics but I am impressed when I walk around Washington DC and tour the Capitol and Library of Congress. Ever since the election of George Washington, the political system hasn't changed much. The same constitution is still in place (refined by a number of amendments). The method by which government is elected and the processes by which the political machinery work is all still pretty much the same. This continuity makes me envious. You won't find many monuments in South Africa honouring former presidents. As soon as a new government takes office, the city streets are renamed to reflect the new regime and continuity goes out the window.
5. Morals: This is a funny one, I have always believed South Africa to have a stronger moral fibre than many of the developed countries, including the USA. I measured this against the type of discipline taught to kids, the fact that to a large extent Christianity is still prevalent in schools (I'm a Christian and I do consider this to be a measure of morality but that's perhaps another thread so let's not go into that here). At any rate, I look at the traits that seem to be valued in a president of the United States and it seems that people expect him to be a family man and admire him for good values. People venerate the first lady (as can be seen in their commemoration in the exhibit in the Smithsonian museum of American History). When I returned to South Africa, I came back to a newly elected president who's defense in his rape trial was that the sex was consensual, against whom corruption charges were dropped due to technical discrepancies in the prosecution, and of who's four wives and fiancees I have no idea who the first lady is. Makes it difficult for me to admire either him or the first lady.
6. Public transport: I guess Americans might not agree with me but trust me, your public transport system is fantastic. Sure, there are some systems in Europe that are way better still but compared to South Africa's, yours is champagne. It may be a hassle at times with transfers and less than enjoyable bus journeys but for the most part I think it is accurate to say that you can travel between any two points on the continental USA by using the public transport system only.
7. Scenery: South Africa has a lot to offer and I thoroughly enjoy our diverse natural beauty. I won't say the USA tops that but it may be very close to drawing a par
The Grand Canyon took my breath away, I loved the scenery in Arizona in general, I loved the Florida Keys, the Everglades, the Lousiana swamps and I have not even yet seen Yellowstone, Yosemite and a host of other north American sights. I can easily see myself return for a fourth, fifth or sixth visit.8. Size: The USA is huge! Not only is the land area huge but the population is huge. This means that there is a lot of everything. There are numerous high standard universities that a student can choose from (I guess this is related to point 2 then), there are lots of scuba shops (we stopped counting at 20 before we've even driven halfway down the Keys and those are only the ones we could see from the main road). I think the size of the USA makes for a very strong free market economy and, while it might be taking some shots at the moment, the USA still has an unbelievably strong economy.
9. The customer is king: Every retailer in every part of the world will chant this mantra but it is not as commonly adhered to everywhere as I've seen in the States. If you are unhappy with a product or with service and you make your dissatisfaction known, most retailers or service providers in the States will make a significant effort to allay your misgivings, whether by improving the service, offering a voucher or simply apologising profusely. In South Africa you see some of that but not to the degree that you do in the States. The result is, and it's perhaps a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, that consumers expect more so they get more. I can imagine that this also has something to do with the fact that there is a healthy free enterprise where customer satisfaction relates to return business which is what will give you the edge over your competitors.
10. Beer: Who'd a thunk? I used to live in Dublin where the undisputed best beer in the world is brewed
. I've visited Holland and Belgium where exceptional beers are too many to count and here I am raving about American beer!? But seriously, as much as I dislike the Budweisers, Coors and Millers, there seem to be a host of local breweries and microbreweries of which the beers more often than not end up being surprisingly good. I thought Abita Amber in New Orleans was quite good, Oak Creek in Sedona, Sunset Ale in south Florida and many others which I can't even remember the names of. While not a small brewery I also think Sam Adams is pretty good. I guess what I really like is the fact that anywhere you go, you are likely to find a locally brewed beer and in most cases they are quite good.OK, that's me. I hope this will have offset this thread to some degree
You keep a can in your pocket to attract fish! THEY think it's edible! 
