The USA - and why I'm not going back

I've been lucky enough to travel a lot in my lifetime. Mostly, I've been made welcome. Just a few places have made me feel unwelcome as a tourist.

Places I've been closely questioned about 'the reasons for my journey': the old USSR and the USA.

In both cases, I had visas issued by the embassy of the country. Doesn't matter. I was still questioned about why I was there, what I planned to do, where I was going to stay, who had invited me and who I knew there. The first questions were answered on the visa application. The last question was pure nosiness. At least, the USSR had a reason: all visitors were potential enemies out to destroy the USSR. But I thought the UK and the USA were buddies.

Places I've been made to wait for a long time to get through 'security' and immigration: the old USSR, the USA and the UK.

I'm thinking of hours of my life shuffling forward in security queues at Heathrow. On one occasion behind two Polish women who had been told they couldn't take their bottle of Bailey's on the plane and were drinking it as they waited. Well, they had time. Then there was the man who put his very expensive watch in a tray at security and didn't get it back. That stooshie entertained us all for a while. Not to mention waiting in motionless immigration queues in San Francisco, Chicago and New York while the counter staff argued with their bosses over whether they would get paid extra for overtime. On one occasion in the USA, I was behind a young guy who confessed to us all he had marijuana in his hand luggage and didn't know what to do. We didn't either and we all had plenty of time to think about it. At least in the USSR, I had no expectation that I'd be dealt with efficiently and I wasn't disappointed.

Places I've felt scared in the airport: the USA.

I got caught up in a 'lock-down' at JFK. Lots of security people shouting and running around, while large numbers of passengers stood still, as ordered, on the concourse for nearly an hour. No explanation was ever given. If there was a loony wielding an AK47, I got the impression the security people didn't have my safety as a passenger as their number one priority.

Places where I felt I was not welcome and have decided never to go back to: the USA.

It's a shame. The USA is a lovely country but the officials - police, security officers, immigration people - are totally out of  control. They carry guns and seem ready to use them and that doesn't inspire confidence among us pathetic, peaceful Europeans. They also seem to have no idea that tourism is a major employer in the USA. They want jobs brought back to the USA, but in tourism they already have the jobs - I've been to lovely places in Kentucky and Georgia - and could have more if they could only treat tourists better. Like not telling people on bus tours repeatedly they have to put in a 30% tip. Or stopping a phone conversation in a shop when you're serving a customer. Or telling people on tours to Alcatraz where to line up instead of letting them mill around like fools. Or shouting at tourists who don't put the shopping carts back in the right place. Like they would know.

I have been to places where I've been wonderfully looked after as a tourist: India, Singapore, Hong Kong, anywhere in Japan!, Nepal, Swaziland, Chile, Germany, Belgium. Even the French, dammit, have a better idea of how to look after visitors.