I'm European. I visited the USA. Here are some of my observations

I visited LA as a 22 y.o. backpacker last January. It was my first time in the USA. I grew up in the north of Spain but live in London now. I've traveled extensively in Europe and South America but not much outside of that. Here are my observations:<br><br>Generally speaking: I liked the vibe of the city very much. Very chill people. I also had a very good feeling about it. It's a very busy city but somehow the vibe is more relaxed than in New York or London, somewhere you can definitely do everything at a chill pace.<br><br>Drugs and Alcohol: Smoking weed is basically legal? I had no idea. It's insane. I'm very much against legalising any other stimulant but weed but I guess it's working in the USA as I didn't see any problems related to it while I was there. On the flips side, I was surprised by how difficult it was to buy alcohol. In Spain you can buy booze anywhere at any time. In the UK basically as well. In LA I would sometimes look to buy some wine and not be able to because the shops had already stopped selling alcohol.<br><br>Food: It's just not good. I had high expectations because it's 2023 and I follow a bunch of LA restaurants on Instagram. It's just...not good. The food. My theory is that because USA has historically been a country of immigrants the cuisine is a melting pot that has no substance, no soul of its own. I will eat a mythical Spanish tortilla any day. Or an Argentine asado. Or pizza from the over in southern Italy.<br><br>Food II: It's just not healthy. Fresh food is expensive. Junk food is cheap. There are fast food places everywhere. If you use a delivery app you can filter by which restaurants are taking less than 10 minutes to get you food, which was just insane for me. Food stamps should not be allowed to be used in fast food chains.<br><br>Food III: the tip culture is a fucking scam. I was waiting for my food at a pretty fancy restaurant to go and the employee at the bar told me " presets are before tips". I'm from Europe. I didn't know that. I would regularly give a 10-15% tips because I thought that was the norm. For a 150$ meal 40$ tips are expected. Insane.<br><br>Food IV: it's so hard to eat on a budget! A fast food meal will cost you around 15$. A normal sit down meal at a normal restaurant will cost you 40$ and a nice restaurant will cost you north of 100$. And that's before tips. Triple that for a full three meals a day and it's just unattainable. When I was staying in Miami a few days later a breakfast at a shitey diner was 30$. Insane.<br><br>Food V: I paid 8$ for a small bottle of water at a restaurant. Insane.<br><br>Homelessness: I've seen a lot of posts lately on Chambers blaming the homeless and the Democrats for the situation. It's just vouchers. The homeless issue in LA is crazy. There are tent cities everywhere. People literally live in tents. Near my airbnb there was a homeless Encampment that was about 40 people. The homeless situation in the USA is completely insane to an outsider. I'm not from an educated enough background to have an informed opinion on what to blame. But blaming the homeless is just...I have no words. They're human beings.<br><br>I saw a documentary on Netflix a few years ago about the homeless situation in New York and how a lot of them are simply people that were let out of private prisons and had no place to go to. I'm sure a big part of the problem is that. I think the USA has the largest prison capacity in the world, right? Insane.<br><br>Public Transport: non existent. I spent 3 days in Miami and having no transport I had to rely on public transport. It was ok. Buses and trains every 30 minutes or so. LA was different though. The buses took so long it was insane. More than an hour for a ride that would be 15 minutes by car. Insane. The city needs public transport so badly. I lived a short walk from a metro station but the lines don't go anywhere. I would need to take 3 lines to get to most places.<br><br>Cash: a lot of places don't take cash anymore! Insane. I buy a coffee I try to give them cash as a tip and they tell me they don't take cash. Just send me your Venmo I say. No. Zel. I have no clue what that is. Is that like Revolut? In Europe everyone uses cash.<br><br>Safety: The amount of times I was stopped by police was crazy. I'm walking down the street. Cop stops me. Why are you walking down this street? Where are you going? Yes sir.<br><br>Walkability: this was a big shock for me. I'm European. I walk everywhere. I have a very strong opinion that cities should be built for people, not cars. For example, in London or Madrid the centre of the city is closed to traffic. In LA you can walk but sometimes the sidewalks just... end. The whole city is built for cars. You can't go anywhere walking. There just isn't infrastructure. I was near a river and wanted to walk along the river but the path just ended. Insane.<br><br>Traffic: it's crazy. The traffic is crazy. I have no idea how people can live like that. I had a 9am breakfast in Beverly Hills. The restaurant was 10 minutes walk from my airbnb but we decided to Uber for some reason. 10 mins and a 10$ Uber later we were there. Insane. I would never live like that.<br><br>Uber prices: they're insane. It's triple what it is in Europe. Insane. Triple.<br><br>A lot: there's a lot of everything. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of cars. There are huge buildings. Lots and lots of food. Everything is just a lot. I went to a Walmart to buy a few things and it was huge. Insane. I saw a documentary recently on how Walmart has been buying local farmers and that's why produce in the USA is of such poor quality. It was insane seeing the quality firsthand. I went to a farmers market and it was nowhere near the quality we have in Europe.<br><br>Service: service in general was fantastic. I went to a pharmacy. The employee at the till smiled at me. I smiled back. I was like WOW. This doesn't happen in Europe. Then the next morning at the same pharmacy someone else smiled at me and I was like this isn't real, right? I went to a restaurant. I asked the waiter for recommendations. He was like "well I highly recommend our \_$50 wagyu burger, but you must know we have an even more premium option that's \_$80 and it comes with truffles. Or, if you want something more affordable, you can go for our \_$30 cheeseburger". I was like WOW. Is this real? I went to a restaurant at 3pm. I asked for a late brunch. The employee at the door was like "well, I have some bad news. Brunch ends at 11am. But I'll let you know that you can choose from our lunch menu, and there are a lot of healthy options. For example, \_$40 eggs. Or \_$30 smoked salmon. If you want something more premium you can go for our \_$60 eggs, which comes with a complimentary glass of champagne". I swear to god this happened. The guy was dead serious too. I was in shock. I asked him if he was being sarcastic and he wasn't. I was very hungry and I was like FINE. \_$60 EGGS PLEASE. And I paid a 40$ tip and left.<br><br>Service II: I went to a restaurant. The employee at the till asked me if I had any allergies. I said no. He was like "well, you know that our food contains nuts, right?" I had just ordered a simple veggieburger. It was insane. I've never been asked that in my life. Has someone ever died from eating too many nuts?<br><br>TV: I would say half the advertising was for medicines. Insane. I saw an ad for something like "Cures cancer, may cause ulcers, insomnia, dandruff, heartburn, loss of hair and stomach problems". I'm not even joking. I saw an ad for something like "if you drink Pepsi and get stomach problems, drink this and it will cure it". I shit you not. I saw another ad for something like "are you a man and are you losing hair? Did you know it may be due to your medicine for cancer? Try this other medicine instead, it will cure your cancer, hair loss, AND do your laundry while giving you a blow job". I shit you not.<br><br>Lastly, something that shocked me to the bones was the lack of public restrooms. I'm walking in the street, I want to go to the loo, where can I go? Insane. I saw a post recently on Chambers joking about Europe and how we have sex booths on the streets. Well at least we have public toilets. Insane.<br><br>EDIT: Jesus this went straight to r/all. I'll try to answer as many comments as possible but I won't be able to reply to everyone. Thanks guys