08/25 return flight

Today it's back! Unbelievable how short 25 days can be! We are all a bit wistful, somehow we have learned to love the country and its people despite all the "impossibilities". But we're looking forward to going home again.

The plane leaves at 3:05 p.m. Before that, you have to return the rental car and check in. When checking in our luggage we have a bit of a stomach ache (is that okay?), but our two largest pieces of luggage make it through the weight check (Weight Watchers?) with 22.4 and exactly 23kg. lucky. (By the way, we have 5 pieces of luggage with a whopping 99kg in total). By the way, the luggage drop-off is done by a real person (see our first blog entry).

After almost four weeks, 2800 miles (approx. 4500km) driving distance through 4 states and 200 gallons (approx. 750 liters) unleaded gasoline we are back on the plane back to Vienna (11 hours duration) and write these lines.

Finally, a few facts and experiences that we made during our almost four-week stay in the USA:

- Recycling and environmental protection are (except to some extent in California) pretty bad. There is hardly any waste separation and a lot is still made of plastic. The purchases in the supermarket are put into what feels like hundreds of small plastic bags without being asked, which then have to go somewhere.

- The toilet paper is a maximum of two layers. There is a reason for this: the toilets all tend to clog, which we also had to learn first. A hotel employee can take care of that (sorry for that!), because there are no toilet brooms anywhere.

- Before you can pay with the card at the supermarket, in the shop or at the snack stand, you first have to dig through a gibberish of questions at the payment machine ("Do you want a bonus program?" "What is your email address?" "Enter your postcode “) or large buttons are displayed to give a tip (18% upwards). We almost booked a car wash at the gas station.

- In the restaurant, the service is overly friendly (even submissive at times) and if you don't order anything, the waiter comes immediately with the bill to prompt you to leave.

- Gasoline costs vary greatly by state. In California you are at high 5.00 - 5.50 dollars per gallon (approx. €1.34 per liter), in Arizona we also paid under 4.00 dollars (approx. €0.97 per liter).

- You can buy weapons in the supermarket. We haven't tried it, but it seems fairly easy to buy a double-barreled shotgun. What we have dared, however, is to buy alcohol. That's fine, but you have to show your ID at the cash desk. (I'm not sure if this is the same for weapons)

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who followed us and read the sometimes meaningless texts to the end. See you next time!