Final thoughts on the US

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We don't have a lot to compare with yet, since the US is our first country on the trip, if we disregard the few hours in Mexico. Nevertheless, the US gets top marks for nature and friendly people, and so-so for food (hard to find anything that isn't junk within a backpacker budget). People usually say Germans are very well organised, which seems generally true, but, with a few exeptions the Americans are as well. Their national parks, for instance, are very well organised. The entrepreneurial spirit is something that shines through pretty much everywhere. People seem to live by JFK's words: don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country (and yourself). We wish we could see a bit more of the same mentality in Europe.

Now, here's the not so good bit. In this digital age we thought we would be able to do pretty much anything online from an Internet cafe. First of all, they are hard to find. Secondly, when you find one, you can check your e-mails and surf a few sites, but that's pretty much it. Mostly, you can't even read a PDF-file, or any kind of email attachment. Forget trying to connect any USB-devices, do your online banking (as you have no access to the Internet settings) or burn CDs or DVDs. However, if you have a WiFi-enabled laptop, there's WiFi connections on virtually every street corner at a fraction of the cost for ordinary Internet access from a desktop, or even for free. (As a comparison: an hour's Internet usage in the US costs at least $5-6, and in Tijuana only $1.50.) So, next time, we'll definately bring a laptop. In fact it would probably have been a lot cheaper to buy one if we knew about this at the beginning of the trip, and then just binned it when we left the US.

All in all, the US has been a very good experience though and a country we would definitely go back to.

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Vi har inte sa mycket att jamfora med eftersom USA ar det forsta landet pa var resa. om man raknar bort de fa timmarna i Mexiko. Hursomhelst, USA far hogsta betyg for naturen och vanliga manniskor, och njae for maten (inte sa latt att hitta nagot annat an skrap inom en luffar-budget). Tyskar ar ju kanda for att vara organiserade, vilket tycks stamma, men med fa undantag ar amerikaner det ocksa. Naturparker till exempel ar valdigt valorganiserade. Entreprenorandan lyser igenom nastan overallt. Folk tycks leva enligt JFKs motto: fraga inte vad ditt land kan gora for dig, utan vad du kan gora for ditt land (och dig sjalv). Vi onskar vi kunde se lite mer av den mentaliteten i Europa.

Naval, har ar den mindre bra biten. I denna digitala tidsalder trodde vi att vi skulle kunna gora det mesta fran ett internetcafe. Till att borja med ar de svara att hitta. Nar man val hittar ett kan man kolla sin epost och surfa lite, men det ar ungefar allt. Man kan oftast inte oppna en PDF-fil, eller nagon form av epostbilagor. Glom att koppla in en USB-sladd, ga till internetbanken (man kommer inte at installningarna i webblasaren), eller branna CD eller DVD. Men, om man har en laptop med WiFi-anslutning finns det WiFi-anslutningar i varje gathorn till en brakdel av kostnaden for en vanlig ansluten dator, eller till och med gratis. (Som en jamforelse kostar en timmes surf i USA minst $5-6, mot $1,50 for samma tid i Tijuana.) Sa nasta gang tar vi med oss en laptop. Det hade nog faktiskt blivit billigare att kopa en, om vi hade vetat om detta innan var resa, och sen helt enkelt kastat den nar vi lamnade USA.

Sammantaget har USA varit en valdigt bra upplevelse och ett land vi definitivt kan aka tillbaka till.

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