Back home after a mandatory work meeting in the United States. I thought the United States was a meme lately. But it's like traveling to the third world. Those who haven't left the United States live in a sack of shit they think is wonderful, but damn, I have a hard time thinking about countries that seemed so third-world to me. Fat people gasping for air in every store. Homeless people on every corner.
It's like visiting a deceptive world where people who've only seen their own neighborhood still believe they're the envy of others. In a few days I have to return to the United Kingdom, which until recently I considered the dunghill of Europe, and now I feel like I'm going to travel to the future.
I think one of the things that surprised me the most was the infrastructure. I only remember seeing such deplorable infrastructure on trips to Eastern Europe or to Portugal in the 1980s.
The roads are rubbish, and the trains are from the last century. I returned from the United States feeling overwhelmed, overwhelmed, and almost depressed.
Much encouragement and good luck to any North American reading this. You'll need it the day you can truly compare the country you live in.
Btw. I know they're almost always a frustrating mechanical disappointment, but I love pre-90s American cars. The 70s and 80s saw some of the most beautiful bodies ever seen on 4 wheels, and I don't think we'll ever see anything that beautiful again.
A sincere hug.