After a very boring flight over, the first USA experience involved the fun that is US Immigration. Having waited in the queue for about half an hour, the first question that the immigration official asked was "Why are you here?". Very welcoming. After answering several inane questions (what job I do, what company I work for, what the company does, when I was last in the US, why did I go to Malaysia 2 years ago, did I have more than $10,000 in cash on me - good god they are stupid), I was allowed into the country. Americans always seem to be amazed that their immigration officials put foreign visitors through such pointless interrogation - but as long as it keeps them safe from terrorists, its all OK of course.
A cab ride into Philadelphia went through some pretty dreary and industrial surroundings, lots of chimneys, and the outskirts looked quite run down all in all. But then, at the end of the journey, we entered a smart city centre, with a familiar grid of streets (in fact, the first city in the world to have a grid layout, so I'm told).
Once in the hotel, I turned on the TV to see what Americans were amusing themselves with. That turned out to be the Switzerland vs Ukraine World Cup game, on ESPN, with some comedy US commentators, and more pop-up stats about the game/players/team than you would ever want to know. Elsewhere, there appeared to be a murderer about to be executed on death row - Fox News helpfully had a countdown clock on the screen, waiting for the big moment, whilst showing reconstructions of his crimes. Only 22 hours to go!
Philadelphia is apparently one of the "fattest" cities in the US (or its inhabitants are), largely attributed to Philly Cheese Steaks, basically a steak and cheese sandwich that seems very popular. There did seem to be a good number of completely obese people around, although of course in America, it is always hard to tell if this is a "normal" city or not. There were however a shocking number of people walking around with Double Gulp drinks in their chubby hands - containing more sugary liquid than anybody ever needs. Attempting to get anything to eat is easy if you just want lots of food, less easy if you have too much concern over how good (or good for you) the food actually is. A classic case of quantity over quality abounds.
Surprisingly, there are lots of tourists in Philadelphia, albeit almost all from other parts of America. Few Europeans go to the city for anything other than work, and with New York, Boston and Washington DC all fairly close by, it isn't too hard to see why. Philly is OK, but it doesn't compete with any of the big-hitting cities nearby. The Americans come for the "history", of which there is more in Philadelphia than in probably any other city in the country. It was the capital whilst Washington was being built, and was at the centre of the American Revolution - nothing more than 250 years old, but for Americans, that is ancient history, and they flock to the city to see it.
It was great to visit the US on a work trip, my previous trips have all been to laze around on holiday, or whilst travelling around the world. Very interesting to see how Americans go about their day, and stationed right in the city centre, I got a great feel for the place. They seem to like their coffee in the US - I often bumped into people carrying those insulated plastic coffee cups, usually in coffee shops in fact, where they were busy buying even more coffee. I learned that "America runs on Dunkin'" too, probably 10% of people at any given time are carrying a Dunkin' Donuts bag.
By the way, this is what a typical American office looks like - high walls, cubicles everywhere, and you get the feeling that you could be laying dead in your cubicle for days before anybody would notice. For anybody that works in a UK open-plan office, this is how the other half live - and it doesn't look very appealing!Since I last visited 5 years ago, a lot has happened in America - 5 more years of George W Bush alienating the country from the rest of the world, for starters. Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock (and others), have also between them raised the attention of the world to some of the less desirable features of the country - like food that kills you, politicians that would if they could get away with it, and a culture that is oblivious to the rest of the world, and that just wants to consume lots. Most of this is of course true, but meeting individual Americans tends to make you forget about all that.
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