I LOVE to travel

Things that caught their attention and got a reaction

• First it was the basic things, like revolving doors – we nearly lost arms – colors of fire trucks, the sound of sirens, motorbike cops, police cars that looked like Transformers, yellow school buses, fire hydrants, etc…. Naturally, vehicles will always play a part in US travel, as they really do know how to make ‘em big over there. Additionally, after being raised in Singapore, with cars rarely older than 10 years, the diversity of cars or trucks were always going to be high on the attention scale, They were excited to see cars from the 1920s on the road. They saw big cars, massive cars, small cars, old cars, fancy cars, limos that stretched for miles, shitty cars, teeny tiny cars, wrecked cars, colorful cars, and big, sparkly trucks too – lots of them!! Not only cars, they got to fill up the petrol tank – well they would if their dad let them. Not all rules must be followed love…. The excitement around the petrol pump – why? Because in Asia, there are people who do that for you!
• Fashion too – of course – they got to see young men in real life walking around with undies showing above their jeans! They loved it and no boys, you will not be wearing your jeans that way… Of course, it’s America, so nutty humans were everywhere – the sort that talk to themselves, wear weird clothes and accessories (mask and snorkel anyone), and more. For me, people like this bring color to the world and I love them. It was fascinating watching the boy’s reactions too. Sometimes you don’t realize they’re missing these normal day-to-day things until you see how they respond. What the boys don’t see is skin colour. They are just oblivious to it – which makes me happy
• More fashion and arse cheeks – being pre-teen/pre-puberty, girls are starting to become interesting in different ways, so the swim suit style in the South caught their attention. I’ve never seen so many arse cheeks on display – all shapes and sizes
• Talking about arse cheeks, this trip also provided opportunities for education on butt implants. Now remembering we live in Phuket where medical tourism is a thing, means plastic boobs and Botox lips isn’t new! Plastic butts though (AKA butt implants) – yes that is new, for me too, in real-life at least. I personally find this whole aspect of the beauty industry depressing. Too many women distorting themselves and I just don’t find it beautiful. A small amount – fine, an improvement to feel comfortable in your own skin – fine, but the inhuman distortions we saw… it makes me feel sad women continue to think they need to do this to appear beautiful. Painful beauty is part of human history (foot binding, removing ribs for smaller wastes, etc…) but I really wish we could move beyond it and focus on beauty within…. Anyhoo I digress
• To more specific new things, like gum ball machines – remembering they grew up in Singapore where restrictions on chewing gum still exist – a restriction I fully support. Not to mention, Jax and I both stepped in gum too, much to their amusement and revulsion. You can’t get the full experience of gum until you step in it, right?
• Graffiti in public toilets – oh we had some interesting conversations about the expletives and creative diagrams on display. Let’s just say there were education opportunities everywhere on this trip
• People sleeping on the streets. Obviously, there are people living on the streets in every country, but in the US, the sheer scale of humanity living on the streets – with their trolleys full of stuff, pets, etc… – right in the center of cities, caught the boys by surprise. They just haven’t seen it like that before, not to mention, it seems a lot worse these days. Yes, the US is changing a lot. We also witnessed the growing drug challenge as well. Yes, that was obvious and even frightening a few times. It meant Steve and I had to always be switched on to potential problems, as we guided the boys through some rather hairy places
• Food in the US is always a massive part of the experience, from the size of dishes to obsessing over shitty, nasty food seen on YouTube. That obsession did our heads in, especially as there were periods of the trip we had limited access to good food and were craving living, real food. We resorted to sliced apple cups at Disney, but even then, they came with dipping caramel sauce…. Why? When we got out of theme park hell, we all guzzled salads and vegetables – the boys too
• Physical geography and history – they got to witness spectacular geography – from deserts, to lush farmland, oceans, rivers, The Grand Canyon from the air, and more. Even better was the chance for Steve to teach them all he knew – he’s a geotechnical engineer, so he knows some stuff. Lucky boys, but I loved it too. The history was wonderful as well. Not as old as our experiences in Sri Lanka last year and Vietnam the year before, but still, we witnessed some amazing US history, including the Kennedy Space Station – awesome
• LGBTIQ education – the boys have certainly been exposed to a lot already, but a transvestite in Asia is much more delicate than a 6ft5 lady boy in Key West wearing taffeta. It blew the boys minds meeting them (I made sure they did) but was a wonderful opportunity to talk about it with them too. We had so many of those moments on this trip and I hope it’s the beginning of them accepting all flavors of humanity, because that’s what makes the world magnificent – celebrating all flavors
• Paranormal experiences – Lex really wanted to meet Robert the Doll – so we did. Steve and Jax were scared of Robert, so it was just the two of us. It was a bit overwhelming I have to admit, but Lex handled himself beautifully. He’s got a real thing for the paranormal these days, and as I’ve explored this myself, I’d rather go on that journey with him, hoping it means I don’t find him running seances as a teenager with his mates… yes, something I did, and it freaked a lot of us out. I also like the fact we can do this together, and it provides an opportunity to keep him safe in his explorations
• American TV and the shopping channels – we have protected the boys, as much as we can, from crappy TV, advertising and shopping channels. Alas that ability to control is gone now, but it’s in your face in the US. The boys loved the shopping channels, and as TVs filled the restaurants, we couldn’t escape it! Doesn’t anyone appreciate the value and beauty of silence anymore, or even the ability to have a conversation? I have to admit that, towards the end, we didn’t care so much anymore. We were done-in a week before the end…
• Hotels were obviously a big part of the experience, especially as we were moving every day a lot of the time – my word it was exhausting. Every new room was inspected top to bottom, the fridge and items for sale fully explored (no we cannot have the Oreo cookies, the chocolate, the soft drinks, the …..) it was never ending!! We stayed mostly in Marriott’s – Steve is high status, so it has benefits and consistently excellent mattresses – but I got to say, coming home to separate bedrooms, multiple toilets to choose from, and not stepping on each other’s toes, shouting at the boys to move, packing and unpacking the cases, etc…. well it was a relief for me. I take on the packing role (Steve is rubbish at it) but glad not to be living out of suitcases for a while

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