A trip to the USA which finally confirmed why this destination is no longer at the top of my list, or even on my list at all: even places I loved enormously in the past struggled to stir any emotion and as for the travel experience as such, there wasn’t much fun to be had either.
There was a time when my holidays would always take me to North America, but that time seems far away now, and it’s not hard to see why. While at the time I felt, and rightly so, that the hospitality sector there had a lot to teach Europeans, over time I saw things gradually deteriorate until I reached the following conclusion: everything was becoming more and more expensive and the quality was in free fall.
But sometimes preconceptions are misleading and I told myself that the opportunity I had to join friends for ten days or so might be a chance to prove to myself that I was wrong and had been too radical. In the end it wasn’t like that at all and I was lucky that the satisfaction of spending time with them was my main motivation, which helped to limit the disappointment.
But a little debriefing is always useful….
You will find the summary of the articles on this trip to Boston, New York and New Orleans at the bottom of the page.
The destination
I have known Boston and New York for over 20 years, but New Orleans was a destination that had long appealed to me but that I had never managed to include in my itinerary.
Boston was, unsurprisingly, a pleasant city, easy to visit with a certain cultural and historical heritage, even if you can quickly tour it. On the other hand, it is a city that I have always found a little too quiet for my taste and you can tour it quite quickly.
No need to introduce New York, which has always been and remains my favourite city in the United States. On the other hand, one thing amazed me this summer: the ‘calm’ of the city. Of course, it’s a relative notion when talking about a city like this, but compared to my many past experiences, I found it silent, even almost empty of tourists. No queues at the Top of the Rock, the Empire State Building or the World Trade Center, hardly any languages other than English audible in the streets, very easy to book a restaurant, whatever the range, at the last minute at the weekend…. This really left us with a surprising impression. Not unpleasant for strolling in peace but really surprising.
As for New Orleans, I’ll go as far as to say it was a disappointment. Yes, the city has its charm and style, but you can’t really speak of a first-rate cultural heritage. And as for the atmosphere… I found the city very quiet during the day, moderately lively in the evening and in the end I didn’t really get into it. It was nice to be there but I’m not going to say that I remember much about it and even less that it made me want to go back.
Paradoxically, I have excellent memories of the climate. Summer is often synonymous with heatwaves and humidity in the various cities I have visited, and for once I had rather pleasant temperatures and rather dry weather compared to normal. This was appreciated during long tourist walks.
Flights
If I have to find something positive, it will certainly be with regard to flights.
On the long-haul part, SAS confirmed the excellent impression we have always had of the airline. It was the sure bet of this trip and certainly the greatest satisfaction to remember in the end.
Then if I must admit that I am not a fan of what the US airlines offer on domestic flights, particularly the commercial practices and the treatment of passengers, I must say that I found nothing to criticise about Delta’s domestic first, whether in terms of hard product, service or catering.
As for United, the shortness of the flight didn’t help me form an opinion, even if I found the service a bit light for the class of travel. But, and this is perhaps the most important thing, I would like to congratulate the airline for not cancelling its flights en masse due to the global network outage, unlike others.
Hotels
Let’s put it simply: generally speaking, hotels in the USA are expensive for a very average product, with increasingly poor service and extreme stinginess in the application of loyalty programs.
In this game, New York and Boston are practically on a par. You might as well take a really mid-range hotel or even below that, because even a 5* hotel gives you no guarantee in terms of experience and quality of service.
Lower and more affordable prices in New Orleans, but neither of the two hotels I visited really took my fancy.
I think that this is the first time that I have stayed in 5 hotels and not one of them left a special memory, and I can’t find a single photo in my albums that might give me even the slightest desire to return.
Catering
I am not going to get into the debate about food in the USA, about which many people have an opinion based on preconceptions without ever having set foot there. You can eat well, even very well, and in fact I had no complaints about any of the restaurants I tried during this trip. I would even go so far as to say that the Creole and Cajun cuisines of New Orleans were a real pleasure for me.
On the other hand, let’s talk about the prices. If you find Paris expensive, you should know that you will pay almost double or triple once once the service and various taxes and fees are added to equal or even inferior quality, even if it is of course to be tempered according to the cities. In this regard, New Orleans was ‘less worse’ than the others.
Bottom line
When I write articles about a trip and look back at my notes and photo albums, it always brings back memories and makes me relive the trip. I’m often even eager to get started, precisely because of the Proustian ‘madeleine’ aspect of the exercise.
If we leave out the flights, I can’t remember ever having enjoyed immersing myself in a trip and writing articles so much less. It’s a bit like a punishment, a chore that I can’t wait to see the end of.
No memorable experience, no photos to tempt you, few memories, the impression of a long, flavourless dinner.
In the end, I only remember the moments spent with my friends, and that’s what matters.
So if you’re wondering what I think of the USA as a destination now, you have your answer, but at least I have the memory of when it was really good. Better than nothing.
So here ends the most negative debriefing of the most disappointing trip in the history of TravelGuys.
A few days after my return to France, I flew to Asia for a trip that we will talk about in the coming days… and I can’t wait to dive back into that one. A bit like a reward for having survived this one.
The articles about this trip to Boston, New York and New Orleans
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