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Knipex
29th August 2004, 13:15
Returned from my visit to the US and have some thaughts to share.

Its been a few years since my last visit to the US and this was actually my first visit to Detroit so I was expecting a few surprises.

1) What fucktard decided to ban smoking in the ENTIRE of Newark airport. After an 6 hours flight and a previous hour sitting on the runway and having spent the entire trip sitting between a loud overweight overfriendly woman and her loud obnoxious spawn who just had to have the asil seat while she just had to have a windows seat I needed a cigarette. Not just wanted one I NEEDED one.:rant: :rant:

The fact that I had to exit the airport and then when returning through security was subject to a 45 Queue did nothing to make my introduction to the US an enjoyable one.:rant:

At least in Detroit airport they have a dedicated smoking area that happens to be a bar. If you dont smoke thre are 5 other bars you can visit. (all of which were nearly deserted while the smoking one was packed)

2) I arrived in Detroit early on Saturday afternoon with the plan of getting an early night but upon traveling into town for something to eat discovered woodward. Why oh why didnt someone tell me about this before. An entire weekend of American muscle cars (with some European elagance thrown in). Using my best Irish blarney I managed to talk myself into a spin in a 67 Corvette and a 59 Camaro :wub: :wub: . (its easy really just start telling the owners that american cars cannot corner and they will go out of their way to prove you wrong....:lol: :lol: (and then blame the tyres when a guy in a jetta proves me right) No I have no pics, because I didnt know it was on I didnt bring a camera.

3) Who said americans arent nice to foreigners ?? I spent a very interesting evening in a guys workshop looking at his 11 (yes 11) project cars including 3 corvetts (one stingray included) and 4 camaros, getting the tour and meeting his dogs while drinking his beer and eating his bbq steaks :cool:

4) A car does not need to be 22' long and weigh 4 tons to be safe. Jeez guys go easy with the trucks and SUZ's. The company I was visiting provided me with a pickup for my visit. When I saw it I remeber thinking how huge it was but on the roads it felt small. Oh and 30mpg is NOT good gas milage.

5) Food portions :blink: (I must have gained 12 pounds in a week)

6) CompUSA is not evil. Seriously its not. In comparison to what we have over here the staff are well trained and prices are cheap. I mean dirt cheap. I visited radioshacks, circuit city, best buy and CompUSA and found CompUSA the best. I was looking at a PDA and one guy in Circuit city tried to convinve me that there was no charger that would work with either 110V or 230V. He called me a liar when I said my laptop and cell phone both had chargers that worked with either voltage and when I asked him to show me a charger so I could prove him wrong he called security. In compUSA the guy just said he didnt know and offered to get a charger so we could check. Guess who got my business.

7) There is such a thing as too much ice in a drink...

8) Do not try drinking whiskey with an Irish man (After I explained to the bar man that 3 cubes of ice and a drop of coke was enough in my crown.) You will be sorry. :p

9) American draft beer SUCKS. (although I must admit a fondness for bottled Samuall Adams.)

10) Now I know why Budwiser is reffered to as the king of piss in the US. (I will ship you a case of the stuff we drink, here its much nicer)

11) Not all Irish people drink Guiness and see little people. Darby O Gill was an American invention.


Oh and if anyone can recomend good software for an IPAQ1045 let me know.

fillip
29th August 2004, 14:59
Can't sympathize with the 'no smoking in the airport' thing, sorry mate.

I'm all for a ban on smoking in public places, can't stand the smoke, but those who don't wanna poison themselves are forced to inhale it in restaurants, pubs etc. anyway.
[/rant]

Apart from that and the lack of a decent pint i hope you enjoyed ur trip!

Knipex
29th August 2004, 15:13
At least in Detroit airport they have a dedicated smoking area that happens to be a bar. If you dont smoke thre are 5 other bars you can visit. (all of which were nearly deserted while the smoking one was packed)

Not looking for the entire airport just one place where I can smoke, a corner of a little room even.

Starbuck3733T
29th August 2004, 16:51
About your horrendous beer experiences: you visited detroit, not pennsylvania. PA is the state with the wierdest liquor laws and the best microbrewing culture. You might have had a chance to hit the 'Yuengling' line of beers. Due to the fact that they're nearly local to us where I live they're dirt cheap. They're also the oldest brewery in america, second only to molson in the whole of north america AFAIK. Hit the lager. Hit the porter, both pretty darn good for commercial beers. Nothing compared to boddington's or harp (fairly common over there) but not bad for 'us yanks'

no, 30MPG is fairly good, or is thought to be. Im quite pleased to say i've tweaked my jetta thru mods and driving conservatively to do 35 to 37MPG.

And you didn't the see the abomination that are the cars that diamler-chrylser shoves on the american public.

And you mean to tell me you didn't go to a gun club to rattle off a few rounds in some gold old fashioned semi-automatic fun? Find an excuse to visit state college, we'll have a good time. and there's no way i'll try to outdrink you.

scopEDog
29th August 2004, 17:50
Hey Knipex...its good you didn't come around nyc caused they banned smoking in almost all public places including bars, clubs, and resturants. Good for me...bad for everyone else :) But we have so many good bars in the city, so many to choose from. Sorry about your Bud experience...what horrible beer it is..

I hear ya on the trucks and SUV's...ridiculous machines. Hopefully the trend will change soon ^_^ And I would kill for 30mpg! I'm lucky if i get 20mpg on my car :(

And compusa is ok..but the mecca of electronics shops HAS to be Fry's. We don't have any around here, but when i travelled to texas i had the opportunity to visit one. Wow, that place has everything!

Oh and welcome back B)

dutchcedar
29th August 2004, 19:41
HAH!!! Thanks for sharing your story... I got a big kick out of it. ^_^


Oh, and there ain't no such thing as a truck too big... :rant:

Knipex
29th August 2004, 20:41
And you mean to tell me you didn't go to a gun club to rattle off a few rounds in some gold old fashioned semi-automatic fun? Find an excuse to visit state college, we'll have a good time. and there's no way i'll try to outdrink you.
I tried. I really did. I actually rang 3 different places and none of them provided guns. It was bring your own and shoot. I even asked a few people at the company I was visiting.


And you didn't the see the abomination that are the cars that diamler-chrylser shoves on the american public.

That I did see. BUT for the love of god what were ford thinking with the new Thunderbird ??? First impression was that some ricer had attacked an old DB6. Then I saw the side profile.... :eek: :eek:

On the micro brewrey I visited 2. A poor attempt at German beer but I will take your word for it that things are better in pennsylvania.


Hey Knipex...its good you didn't come around nyc caused they banned smoking in almost all public places including bars, clubs, and resturants.
Thats why I am in no hurry to revisit NYC or California and my 8 year laps from the US.


Oh and welcome back B)
TY

Starbuck3733T
30th August 2004, 02:11
Ah yes im glad someone else finds them fscking hideous... its no wonder they haven't sold more of them: they're fugly!m You didn't happen to see an H2 (hummer for street use) or Hummer Sport-Truck (ack!)

no soccer mom needs a 8.6L diesel V8.

toby
30th August 2004, 09:14
glad you had a good time, welcome back!

mnpctech
30th August 2004, 13:09
I've never been to Detroit, but heard the Woodward Dream Classic (http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/2004/), is pretty awesome.

I managed to talk myself into a spin in a 67 Corvette and a 59 CamaroYou mean 69? First year of Camaro was 1967

30 MPG?!.. that sounds like a "girlie girl" truck to me. On a good day, my employer's `88 Suburban could do 18 MPG HWY.

They're trying to ban smoking in ALL businesses/buildings including restaurants bars in Minneapolis. It will suck, cause it will probally go through.

Glad to see youre back home safe! :)

Da_Rude_Baboon
30th August 2004, 14:21
lol my Type-R does 32MPG @ 56mph but at the speeds i go on the country roads its a lot less than that. :D At 86.9p a litre for Optimax atm too :rant:

Nearly got done for speeding on Sunday but luckily the cops had already pulled some one over so i got away with it. 8 years with a clean licence then to get caught twice in 1 month would be pretty shitty. At least it wasnt in a transit van this time. :rolleyes:

Theres a Hummer, GMC truck and a big dodge pick-up thing going around Aberdeen at the moment. That damn hummer takes up 1.5 lanes of the road :eek: so the roads in the US must be pretty wide!

Starbuck3733T
30th August 2004, 14:36
It depends on the area, but our streets (on average) are probably wider than yours. There are several streets where I live I wouldn't dare try to have a passing of a hummer and say, a focus/golf pass eachother.

Knipex
30th August 2004, 19:03
You mean 69? First year of Camaro was 1967

:)
Correct....

My bad..

fillip
30th August 2004, 19:23
H2's are pretty big with the London elite and a large number of footballer's over here. (dickhead's like Beckham own 'em)

I've come to the conclusion they have them simply because non of 'em can drive properly and at least if they're in a military vehicle they're not gonna come off worst in a head on with a (*delete as applicable*) small child/OAP/lamp post/brick wall/people carrier/tank/boeing 747

Not as if they dont already do enough damage in a merc' as proved by Mr Lee Hughes.