I just got back from vacation.

[nemo1ner]

Today was my first day back at work from my vacation in Portugal. It only took 5 minutes into my commute to realize that Americans have no clue how to drive.

Driving in Europe was a dream. All of the 20th century roads and highways were smooth. People stayed to the right, passed on left, used their turn signals, and slowed down on small country roads to allow you to go by. You never saw someone on their phone, reading a newspaper or had a purse dog on their lap.

I get home and people don't yield when they should, left blinker on to make a right hand turn, speed on the right, cut you off to be one car ahead, only to slow down and exit. I even had a guy cut me off into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot and take up two spots in his SUV just so he can be ahead of me to get his coffee.

Please explain to me how I can drive through narrow busy city streets in Lisbon and Cascais and not curse for 10 days, but within 5 minutes of driving in suburban America, I feel like spider monkey slapping a baby panda?

People bitch and complain about gas prices here. It took 90.00€ to fill up my Fiat Punto. That's almost $118. Maybe raising gas prices will keep some of these jackasses off the road.

Europe had speed controlled areas that trigger red lights if you go too fast, circles to eliminate unnecessary lights and traffic, smooth roads even in rural areas and responsible and alert drivers. How is it that this country, with all of the brightest people at its disposal, can't even do one of those things?

/rant

[GahannaKid]

You drive in New Jersey. That's like comparing toaster studels to poptarts.

[nopal 6.0]

You are from New Jersey.

[Dave Zero]

Why don't you move there Johnny Depp?

Some things Urope don't have buddy:

V8 pickup trucks for 20 grand.

Your pick of three 300hp muscle cars for less than 25K

No checkpoints between countries.

No speed cameras.

Interstate highway system so you can transverse the country without getting stuck behind someone on a surface street.

Our women shave thier pits.

We don't use the stupid metric system.

Room to build suburbs and not pack into crowded, old buildings.

“America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed.” -Eleanor Roosevelt


That's all I got.

[weakshht]

All is good up here.

[Sledge]

People bitch and complain about gas prices here. It took 90.00€ to fill up my Fiat Punto. That's almost $118. Maybe raising gas prices will keep some of these jackasses off the road.

Well lookie here. We got ourselves one of them there commie socialist marxists. Son, whah duh yuh hate Murica?

[2VWatatime]

Let's see - tourist on holiday time vs. having to get places in a timely fashion along w/the rest of society....

As far as lane discipline - you need to have a run in w/the denizens of the old East...

oh, and

driving into the Netherlands (Holland) from Germany

Heh.

[Dave Zero]

There are no checkpoints unless you leave the EU into Russia. It's all open borders, driving into the Netherlands (Holland) from Germany is like driving from Georgia into Tennessee.

Metric works because everything is closer together, imperial works in the USA because everything is soo damn spread apart and desolate compared to Europe.

Europe's highway networks ****'s all over our Interstate system, most of which is the same piece of engineering from the 60's. Just like most of our infrastructure is just constantly patched and repaired, but built nearly 70 years ago or more.

These colors don't run buddy.

Merica is the best at war.

What have you got to say to that?

[VadGTI]

Why don't you move there Johnny Depp?

Some things Urope don't have buddy:

V8 pickup trucks for 20 grand.

Your pick of three 300hp muscle cars for less than 25K

No checkpoints between countries.

No speed cameras.

Interstate highway system so you can transverse the country without getting stuck behind someone on a surface street.

Our women shave thier pits.

We don't use the stupid metric system.

Room to build suburbs and not pack into crowded, old buildings.

“America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed.” -Eleanor Roosevelt


That's all I got.

[VadGTI]

Best at war you say? Is that why we left Iraq, and the Taliban is winning in Afghanistan because our own gov't gives them the weapons to fight against our soldiers so some douchebags that own stock in companies involved in the military-industrial complex can sleep soundly knowing their shares are appreciating in value? At the expense of our crumbling infrastructure, at the expense of the poor working class having to deal with no health care, at the expense of tarnishing our image around the world? You must be a conservative.

[teutonicgoodness]

Oh, another "I just came back from Europe and I am going to rant and complain" thread. Lucky us.

[Dave Zero]

Best at war you say? Is that why we left Iraq, and the Taliban is winning in Afghanistan because our own gov't gives them the weapons to fight against our soldiers so some douchebags that own stock in companies involved in the military-industrial complex can sleep soundly knowing their shares are appreciating in value? At the expense of our crumbling infrastructure, at the expense of the poor working class having to deal with no health care, at the expense of tarnishing our image around the world? You must be a conservative.

Whats the combined deathcount of soldiers/enemy forces in those two theaters?

That's what I thought. They can't even face us on the battlefield. These two "wars" are more police actions than anything.

I'm totally joking by the way. We do kick ass at war though, even the ones we lose.

[nemo1ner]

By the way, if you are ever in Portugal, I suggest renting a car (with a bit more power than a Punto) and enjoy these routes:


Cascais to Sintra



And if you feel like driving off of a cliff, then this one is for you.

Marvao

[nemo1ner]

Let's see - tourist on holiday time vs. having to get places in a timely fashion along w/the rest of society....

Heh.

Except, I drove during rush hour and everything rolled much smoother than our rush hour. I am always in a rush...even when on holiday.

[Dave Zero]

You'd think we would be the best when all our generation does is play Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, etc. all day long.

They cutback the F22 raptor program because it was concluded that there were no other aircraft on the battlefield that could match it.

Simulations between five F15 Eagles vs. 1 F22 Raptor had the raptor winning.

The F15 Eagle is already considered superior to other first world front line fighters.

To paraphrase, "Merica is so bad assed, we just cancelled our most badass weapon because it had no natural enemy"

Alpha predator. That is America, we are the alpha predators.

[RQ1]

What part of the trip did you enjoy the most, and I have to ask how was the food ?

[PsyberVW]

Like we really needed to waste billions on technology to kill people when our predecessors made sufficient tools to do so. Also what a juvenile way of thinking the country is soo great, just because it possesses superior weapons to cause mass death.

The Hell You Say?!

[2VWatatime]

Except, I drove during rush hour and everything rolled much smoother than our rush hour. I am always in a rush...even when on holiday.

Which rush? Morning? Mid day? Afternoon? Evening?

Point is - try some other areas at different times - try driving South to the Med in say, late July or early August. I promise a very different perspective...

[Dave Zero]

Like we really needed to waste billions on technology to kill people when our predecessors made sufficient tools to do so. Also what a juvenile way of thinking the country is soo great, just because it possesses superior weapons to cause mass death.

Would you rather a .22 pistol revolver or a mossburg pump if somebody invades your house?

Walk quietly, but carry a big stick. Somebody famous said that.

That's how we roll.

Also, constantly preparing for war is the best way to ensure peace. -Another famous person said this too.

[adrew]

I feel like that coming back from any other country (except maybe Canada).

Even Mexico has a kind of aggressive but respectful organized chaos that makes sense.

I've found that driving slow cars really helps here in the US and A.

[nemo1ner]

What part of the trip did you enjoy the most, and I have to ask how was the food ?

Spending time with my family was probably the best part. As for the food, I was staying with my parents in a small village, so everything was fresh. The eggs were from the ducks and chickens next door, bread was delivered daily and OJ came from the orange trees in the yard.

And as for anyone ing about me complaining. Explain to me how a continent that was a mess in the 40's; who requires archeologist staffing to do almost any construction, can accommodate modern transportation through 700 year old cities and manages to have a road system 10 times more sophisticated and maintained than the US?

[PsyberVW]

Explain to me how a continent that was a mess in the 40's; who requires archeologist staffing to do almost any construction, can accommodate modern transportation through 700 year old cities and manages to have a road system 10 times more sophisticated and maintained than the US?

Better public transportation, more opportunities to walk / devoid of suburban sprawl, and fewer drivers per capita.

[2.0T_Convert]

And as for anyone ing about me complaining. Explain to me how a continent that was a mess in the 40's; who requires archeologist staffing to do almost any construction, can accommodate modern transportation through 700 year old cities and manages to have a road system 10 times more sophisticated and maintained than the US?

Because in Europe if your a dumb f*ck with a minimum wage job you take the tube, bus, walk, etc..

In USA if your a dumb f*ck you drive a beat up old Buick in NJ or finance a Dodge V8 pickup for 84 months.

[Dave Zero]

Spending time with my family was probably the best part. As for the food, I was staying with my parents in a small village, so everything was fresh. The eggs were from the ducks and chickens next door, bread was delivered daily and OJ came from the orange trees in the yard.

And as for anyone ing about me complaining. Explain to me how a continent that was a mess in the 40's; who requires archeologist staffing to do almost any construction, can accommodate modern transportation through 700 year old cities and manages to have a road system 10 times more sophisticated and maintained than the US?

Easy, I'll field this question.

You see, they are all packed in that little mass of land like dogs in a kennel. Over here, we have so much room between cities that there is naturally more roads to maintain.

If you have more people using less roads, those roads will require more maintenance. If you are facing space requirements because of old infrastructure, the design will have to be more inclusive instead of the long straight stretches over here in North America.

Lastly, America relies more heavily on trucking. Trucking destroys roadways faster than passenger cars.

So if we had less roads, they would be more crowded, but better maintained. No thank you to that proposition sir.

[MonsterM]

Europe's highway networks ****'s all over our Interstate system.

Logged in just to laugh at this post. I was born and raised in Europe and I hope you are kidding. LOL, logging out.

[2VWatatime]

Go driving in Paris or another large European city and then come back here saying on how nice and wonderful the drivers in Europe are.

Explain to me how a continent that was a mess in the 40's

To someone who's probably never heard of the Marshall Plan? Right.

[Wanganrunner]

Stupid swear filter

[Dave Zero]

To someone who's probably never heard of the Marshall Plan? Right.

No doubt, also Japan.

They got a bad-assed constitution gauranteeing education and the country rebuilt by the best in Washington while soldiers came home and had to create their own destinies here in America.

Same thing with Urope. England pretty much rebuilt VW for Germany didn't they?

[RQ1]

Spending time with my family was probably the best part. As for the food, I was staying with my parents in a small village, so everything was fresh. The eggs were from the ducks and chickens next door, bread was delivered daily and OJ came from the orange trees in the yard.

Sounds like a relaxing vacation. I could use a vacation like that to get away from the daily grind.

[2VWatatime]

I was staying with my parents in a small village

That clears things up.

FWIW, these "OMG Urup's so wonnerful" threads remind me of my wife... allow me to explain: early on she spoke of Florida in the most glowing terms - somewhere between 1st class on a 747 - 400 & Paradise - which puzzled me until I realized her Florida experience was limited to the Disney area, Atlantic Coast, and the Don CeSar. Took her on one business trip in some not so nice areas & never heard @ Fl. again.

[Hogan]

Well, as far as road quality goes, the US has over 4 millions miles of roadway to take care of. The entire EU on the other hand, has only about 3 million miles of road. Portugal probably has about 12 miles of roadway.

We also have more drivers, heavier cars, and in many cases, bigger fluctuations in temperature from summer to winter, which causes more stress on the roads.

But whatever, you can have your Fiat Punto that costs $120 to fill up... I'll take a Mustang GT that costs about $80 to fill up, even with gas at more than $4.00/gallon.

'MURICA!



(I found that when I googled "American Flag", and it was either the flag with an eagle, or the flag with a Celica... I think I made the right choice.)

[FoleE]

I always enjoy these type of threads.