American Hospitality

It actually happened. It took until the 7th week to occur and only happened once on the whole trip but we finally endured an example of poor American hospitality.

It was an absolute stand out for repeated rudeness, callousness and went on for an entire week at every interaction. Sadly on reflection it was the kind of lip and attitude I’d expect to receive weekly in Australia, but not so here in the USA. Which is what made it so startling for the comparative examples we have enjoyed at every turn, on every occasion, everywhere else we have travelled throughout this country, people have been courteous, gracious, kind, apologetic, and helpful to a fault. Sure there have been hundreds of examples of normal interactions in shops and toll booths and crowds and so on. Yet whenever we have had reason to ask for particular help or have been guests (paying or free loading) the hospitality we have received has been amazingly good.

For the record then, and so that we never forget them, it is time to mention some people and the kind of wonderful things they have done to care for us:

~ The Parrish Family – Chuck who drove to the airport, waited forever and then escorted us safely on our first drive in a strange country. Wonderful Connie also who together with Chuck gave us their bedrooms, food and the run of their house
~ The Toyashiba Family – Joey, Minda, Briar-Rose, Brienne & Baylee who tooks us to Knotts Berry Farm & Hollywood, even taking the girls out of school so we could spend two wonderful days together
~ The Parish-Wishart Family – Kelly & Jeff, Wyatt & Stuey the dog who made our visit to Universal (including Harry Potter World) brilliant with Fast Passes. Add to that an airport pick-up, Cape Canaveral, & days of driveway lodging
~ The maid at Disney Fort Wilderness – how exciting it was each day to see what she had done to welcome us home (once the TV was left on and the teddies were all lined up watching it with remote in-paw)
~ The Disney World street cleaner – who used his broom and a bucket of water to “paint” characters for us on the pavement when Aidan was having a hard time, it worked and drew a crowd too
~ Walt Disney World – who named a street after us just to make us feel welcome
The rental car lady in Orlando – who put us into the brand new Chrysler Town & Country – very swish!
~ The old people in Florida swimming pools – who did not complain when that wild Aussie family jumped into the pool
~ Bonnie – our guide in Savannah Georgia who went the extra mile to care for us and made a beautiful new city really interesting
~ Johnny Peebles – who adopted us in South Carolina and made our Civil War experience unforgettable
~ RV park in Asheville North Carolina – the lady who gave us copious maps, a discount and even offered me a job
~ K Robins – unbelievable hospitality in Virginia – her car, her time, her driveway, her washing machine & her house in Richmond. What would we have done without K?! Certainly not as much as we did. Thanks should also go to K’s daughter Leila who lined it all up for us.
~ Paul the Ski Tube attendant – who engaged us, advised us and kept the ride open for us when all the other staff wanted to close early because of the rain, fog and lack of customers
~ Doug the train attendant at Richmond Staples Mills – helpful, funny, informative and greeted us on our return journey with pennies he squashed under our train as a souvenir!
~ Washington D.C. – the lady we never met who gave us a password to use her internet connection & the guy at Safeway who used his discount card to reduce the price on our groceries
~ The Fresh Family in Pennsylvania – who gave up ½ their house for a Willo raid lasting a whole week, their time, their dog, their food, their transport, their love
~ Two ladies in D.C. – who teamed up and ensured I made it to Union Station after I got on the wrong train
~ Susan & Bruce – who gave me a room and breakfast every day in D.C. open for food and a chat at all hours of the day and night
~ 9 Marks staff at Capitol Hill Baptist Church – who bent over backwards and then some to make my conference there an unforgettable experience
~ Derek the tour guide – who for a “tip” gave us 8 hours of his life so we could experience & understand NYC
~ The Boston train man – not only shared his life experiences in the Episcopal Church of the USA also ensured we went the right direction, found bathrooms and saved us a train fare or two
~ The office staff at Circle Ranch RV M.A. – who took on all our second hand RV equipment and old clothes to “re-purpose” them at the local thrift shop.

Countless ticket sellers, train attendants, strangers on platforms, street corners and shops who never failed to help us with generous and accurate advice.

Writing on the eve of our departure I can happily say that the USA has been a truly wonderful place to visit particularly because of all these people God graciously placed in our path. Even that lady in New Jersey, for without her showing us what it could have been like, we would never have been so thankful for all those who were so kind.

God bless America!

Michael