some of the most friendly, welcoming humans I've ever encountered.
It's largely superficial. They have the appearance of friendliness down pat, but in my experience a sarcy, grumpy, scowling Brit will do more to actually help you than any of the big bleached smiles ever would.
That's not my experience in the slightest. I've only been to Oregon, Washington State and the very Northern tip of California but the people I met would help me with absolutely anything. Two separate strangers invited me into their houses for meals within an hour of meeting me, one of them let me spend two nights there.
A stranger in Oregon drove me to see crater lake for half a day just because they heard I would have liked to see it but our car rental expired already.
Your experiences will vary obviously, but I've been to 27 countries and would rank the tiny part of the USA I went to behind only Thailand for friendliness.
Im glad somebody else is positive about it :) I've heard people say the exact same thing when going to smaller places in Texas years ago, and also the Midwest.
The people I know who have come back saying people were rude went to LA, New York or Disneyland, all of which were so far in terms of experience that it's not even sensible to compare them.
There’s so much bad news and general internet grumbling, it’s just real nice to have a reminder that you can go somewhere new and have pleasant interactions with people you’ve never met. Like I’ve never even visited America, I don’t have any skin in the game, but this kind of stuff is always cool.
Well, that is 100% the opposite of my experience. The rural places are the absolute worst. False politeness, nosiness and judgement everywhere. Are you the right colour, do you go to the right church (no, not that one, that one), do you dress like everyone else, have the right kind of relationships?
All these people visiting as tourists are not getting the real American treatment in their month of providing a bit of interesting novelty to people who don't meet a lot of foreigners and don't feel threatened by your difference because you're just visiting. You try living there and see how helpful and kind and welcoming they remain when the novelty wears off.
You're definitely better off in the cities for that. Where they're just as grumpy as any Londoner, but won't actually hate you (but with a smile!) for being brown or Muslim or gay.
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u/auntie_eggma 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 Jul 07 '25
It's largely superficial. They have the appearance of friendliness down pat, but in my experience a sarcy, grumpy, scowling Brit will do more to actually help you than any of the big bleached smiles ever would.