After the pandemic, we decided with the family (the family in question being me, my partner J and our daughter L who is 15) to try and undertake one longer trip together every year. Last spring, we did Japan and this August, we went to the US. I confess that the States aren’t necessary my dream destination, but L wanted to go, J wanted to see the Grand Canyon and I had only been across the Atlantic for work, so a decision was made.

As I posted my pictures from the trip on Facebook and Instagram, a surprising number of people asked me about the details – where exactly did we go, where did we stay, what did we eat. I was frankly not expecting that (see above for US not being a dream), but doing the math, it seemed reasonable to try to write it all down in one place where everyone can access it. To do the trip any justice, I have to break it down into chunks, otherwise the post will be entirely unmanageable and probably also useless. In the end of this entry, I will set out our day-by-day trajectory, to give you a sense of the visit and a way to gauge which bits might interest you.

I must warn you immediately that everything here is going to be rather basic: you will not discover any hidden gems or be exposed to in-depth exploration of anything. As I said, I have not properly travelled in the US before (I was in Atlanta years ago when I was still working for Coca-Cola and pretty soon after that I visited NYC, where I spent six hours queueing for my UN climate summit badge in Manhattan and had to literally run to have an hour in MoMa) and had lots of basic stuff to see. Travelling with a teenager also means some compromises, although L is an excellent and engaged travel buddy.

Overall, I enjoyed these three weeks more than I expected – and despite my cynicism towards the US, I DID expect to enjoy them quite a bit. Perhaps because I have read so much recently about American problems, it was somehow surprising to have such an easy, joyful visit. Of course, tourists are always shielded from the reality of a place to a significant degree and our destinations were obviously picked for their beauty and cultural richness. But still.

I will come back to specific observations and recommendations in future posts, but there are a few things that apply to the entire three weeks, so I’ll get them out of the way here:

• Make sure that you have offline maps. Not only because being online can be expensive (on this note: also make sure you have a phone/data plan that will not bankrupt you), but even more so because no network may be available at all. In the mountains, in the desert, in the less populated places in general, this was almost always the case. Honestly, I don’t know how they communicate in Yosemite. Anyway, we simply downloaded from the Google Maps what we needed and that worked reasonably well – I’m sure there are more sophisticated options out there and you can of course have an actual paper map, too.
• Everything will be more expensive than you think. I KNEW that I would need to tip everywhere, which adds about 20% one’s meals, but also an additional ten or twenty bucks to any tours you might be participating in and an unpredictable sum to your hotel stays. I also knew that sales tax exists and that is not shown on the labels. And that while gas is relatively cheap, American cars use a lot of it. Anyway, even if you know these things, being constantly aware and factoring them in can be a challenge. So budget carefully not to be unpleasantly surprised.
• This is not specific to this trip, but I will mention it anyway: do your research and do it early. I love to plan trips and I love to read about places I intend to visit and list things I am going to do. I feel I did a decent amount of preparation, but it would not have hurt to have done some more. In a couple of cases I was just lucky that things had not been sold out yet or that I happened to be online on the first day of the month, when the bookings for certain restaurants opened. It can be very frustrating if you travel all this way and something you really want to see or do is inaccessible for you. (Also, these NYC hotels will not be getting cheaper, trust me.)
• If you can, upgrade on your way there. I am fully aware that this is not possible for everyone and if it’s not, try to leave sufficient time to recover and adjust after the arrival. But being able to lie down on the plane considerably improves your chances of getting some sleep, which in turn makes it easier to adjust to the time difference. If you are starting from Europe, it’s more relevant for the West Coast than it is for NYC, where the flight is shorter and the time difference smaller.
• Do not kill yourself. Leave some time to rest and do not over-schedule, especially if it’s a long trip. Leave some buffers, in case something goes wrong (more on that in a future post). Schedule in time where nothing is scheduled. Three weeks was close to our limit physically, mentally and financially and I’m very glad we did the road trip part first.
• Bring an additional foldable bag. Even if you are not planning to buy anything, you will buy something.
• Adjust your expectations regarding food and coffee. This of course depends on where you are – you can have some of the world’s best food in the States. You can also end up in a place where it’s impossible to find a meat-free dish in the entire city (I exaggerate, but only slightly). My Eurocentric world view was also exposed when I was expecting – unrealistically, it turned out – cappuccinos to be available across the federation.
• No matter how desperate you are, do not drink coffee from Wendy’s.

Travelling in the time of war, climate crisis and late-stage capitalism is not a straightforward thing. It’s self-indulgent and selfish, no way around that. Some of us have the luxury of switching off, drinking a cocktail by the pool, buying books and marvelling at the golden hills of California. Others… do not. But despite all this, travelling also remains one of the best – sometimes only – ways to know different people and places. And to expand ourselves towards something better, hopefully.

Let me know if there is anything you’re specifically interested in and I will try to cover it as I go on.

AGENDA

10 August: flights from Tallinn to Copenhagen and from Copenhagen to San Francisco

11 August: San Francisco

12 August: Muir Woods, drive to Mariposa

13 August: Yosemite

14 August: Mono Lake, drive to Bishop

15 August: Death Valley, drive to Las Vegas

16 August: Grand Canyon (with a helicopter from Vegas), drive to the border of Utah and Arizona

17 August: Antelope Canyon, drive to Phoenix

18 August: Taliesin West, flight to New Orleans

19-22 August: New Orleans

23 August: flight to New York

24-30 August: New York

31 August: flight from JFK to Copenhagen

1 September: flights from Copenhagen to Oslo and from Oslo to Luxembourg (honestly, pro tip – try to not live in Luxembourg)

Image by J, taken somewhere in Arizona.