On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:30:33 +0100, Frank Slootweg wrote:

1. American rental car rates are a steal.

We payed only 22 Euro - about 28 US$ - per day for a 'compact' car,
including full insurance. Are you kidding me!? For that kind of
money, why would you want to buy/own/maintain a car?

Because $28*365 = $10,000+ ?

3. American cars have built-in invisible nice-ladies....

Some American cities, like Las Vegas, are chock full of "nice-ladies" willing to
hop into your car.

4. American petrol/gas stations charge what they bloody well like.

While American petrol/gas prices are still ridiculously low compared
to Oz/Europe, prices vary by upto a *factor* of two within a short
distance, sometimes even a few miles or even less....

It doesn't, anywhere. You must have misread the signs (or been looking at rental
car company top-off rates).

5. Americans don't quite grasp what the 'G' in GSM stands for.

They apparently think it means 'the whole world except us', so they
use a different, incompatible frequency....

And non-Americans don't generally realize that the US has two competing cell
phone technologies. And that the non-GSM technology actually has significant
advantages under some conditions, and offers generally better coverage in the
US. It's not just the frequency that is different.

6. Americans don't quite grasp that SIMs can be put in *other* phones.

That's because our GSM carriers are allowed to sell their phones "locked" to
their system only. Sad.

8. Americans don't realize that salt-lakes don't need mobile-phone
coverage, but that towns *do*.

.... by stunning engineering the network people
managed to fully cover the big salt-lake to the south-east of the
town, while completely evading the town itself. No mean feat!

This is probably not the fault of the network people. In the US, some towns have
actually decided that they do not want cell phone coverage, and refuse to allow
the installation of cell phone towers/antennae.

9. Americans can't drive.

Agreed, in general. However, some of use thrive quite nicely on your
autobahns/motorways.

10. Americans don't have coffee.

We do; we just don't believe that real coffee is for just anyone. Hence we
created these "Charbucks" places to service desperate foreigners. It's a
"balance-of-payments" thing.

N.B. Of course the Americans also do not have beer, but that fact is
so indisputable, I won't have to get into *that* one.

Good, because you're wrong. The US these days has a greater variety of
outstanding beer -- including ales -- than any other nation on earth. OTOH, on
my visits to A+NZ, I have never once encountered a beer with any character. I
suspect that Fosters and the like are fronts for repackaged Budweiser.

11. Americans don't realize that you don't *have* to 'deep' fry fish.

Americans do, however, realize that if you don't want fried fish, you shouldn't
seek out resturants that sell only fried fish.

13. The American all-way stop system on road-crossings is nice.

Not really. Most Americans are too dumb and poorly trained to execute the "yield
to the right" theory behind all-way stops.

If anyone has any doubts, we *loved* our trip and would do something
similar again in a flash, so you Seppos aren't all that bad!

Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Come again. 8

-- Larry