Worldwide Picks: What Non-Americans Love About Life in the USA

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Miles of Smiles

The vast, beautiful nature with national parks and the journey to get to them. We, a European couple, were going for a camping trip starting in SF and visiting all the beautiful sites along the way through Arizona and Nevada. I now get the “freedom” feeling of going for hours in a van and seeing the horizon everywhere. Coming from Germany, we have the autobahn, of course, but that’s all you see for hours straight, asphalt, cars, and trees directly on the sides.

Most memorable for me was going from Death Valley with overheating brakes at 40°C to Yosemite in one day with snow on the mountains.

Camping was really easy anywhere. We even stayed overnight in Walmart parking lots with other campers and trucks. Might have to do with the sheer massive space you guys have, but that would also never happen in my country.

Also, the kindness of people, as Europeans, we sometimes have the cliche of Americans fake kindness, but it was really not the case. One time in Yosemite, I needed cash for the campsite, and there wasn’t any working ATM, so the cashier at the nearest gas station offered to just buy a small snack for 100 bucks with a card and get the “change” as cash. That would never happen here 😅

All the NPS rangers were the nicest folks ever. In the big cities, it was a mixed bag. We stayed at an Airbnb with a young couple in SF, and they came home late at 3 pm, continuing to party as we tried to sleep in the next room, and they didn’t apologize the next day. but that could happen anywhere in the world.