Arriving America, Aloha Waikiki

After winning accommodation and tours to Hawaii at our jtb Christmas party last year, me and the family are finally starting our kitch American holiday to the 50th state of sun and sand.

In the race to hit 30 countries by 30 years old, I was very keen to go on this holiday as I've never been to America, and Hawaii seems like a good soft introduction. As we also won this holiday, it's been odd travelling and having little initial interest in the destination and no real plans or expectations on what to see. The first plan was to just relax by the beach and do some shopping. Now I want to see lava and eat a heap of American and Hawaiian food. We have had one full day in Hawaii and it has been a wonderful, extremely cliche but also very surprising experience.

I've got a little older and have let the theories on cultural studies and anthropology settle from uni, and now have a string of countries travelled to under my belt along with time 'selling' countries in the travel industry. Experiencing a new culture can be compared more to my own and others I've experienced. Like when reading academic texts on cultural studies, the first lesson is to find out where the author is from, because we only ever experience a culture through the lens of our own upbringing. So reader, remember that I am a millennial Aussie of communist roots.

Japan is always called the 'land of contradictions' or the 'country of old and new'. You can understand why, with their clash of ancient culture which is still so entrenched in their temples, tatami rooms and honorific language. It juxtaposes their hyper modern cities, high tech toilets, bullet trains and vending machines. Most cultures are a juxtaposition in themselves though, it's because cultures are made up of individuals and not everyone follows the same 'rules' as a culture should. A culture can also be very old, so has many different conflicting influences. The only culture that wasn't a contradiction was probably England, which was 100% what I expected it to be like, as grey and grumpy but delightful as you'd expect. Also a contradiction perhaps, but one that I was expecting.

America is a contradiction. The contradiction of America is what's messing up the world. A country of people whos president has unfathomable power, who's pop culture is insidious, it's weapons kill so many but perhaps it's lie of an achievable 'American dream' kills more, and kills its own people. America has more debt (credit card debt, loan repayments, university costs, ect) than all of the African countries combined, apparently. It has less movement between its socio-economic classes than any other first world country, and yet its people still believe that if you work hard, you can be rich. Their society is a perfect example of how that isn't the case. And yet American culture is exported to the rest of the western world. Would it be a shock to visit the country itself? How much is Australia like America?

Before coming I was so nervous I would insult someone because I don't naturally think of tipping on a bill. I read articles and have downloaded apps to help. I also assumed that since a waiter has to work so hard for a tip, or in some cases are only paid in tips then the customer service here would be contrived. Their customer service has been impeccable. But not only for people serving you, also for local Americans on the street, they seem so genuinely friendly. When we arrived at the airport we were trying to figure out the best way to get to our hotel. I asked a man near the info booth if there was a shuttle or if taxi was best, and he went on about how wonderful it is that we were in Hawaii and how he hoped we have a good time and we have to see the sunsets. He seemed so genuine I was grinning ear to ear by the end of the conversation. You'd never get a conversation like that with an Aussie. Australia's contradiction is that we are told culturally that we are laid back and are brimming with 'mateship', but in reality we are weary of strangers and quite cold. The Americans I've met in Hawaii have been so happy and friendly they almost seem infantile in it, but you can't help but grin along with them.

Waikiki is very touristy that there are a few times when the niceness of the Americans and their customer service can lure you into a false sense of security and suddenly you are knee deep into a scam or time-share promo. Like travelling anywhere, you need to keep your wits about you a bit. I had been told that Waikiki was a bit tacky since it's so filled with tourists, but I've found it really beautiful and fun. As an Australian who has visited the Gold Coast, this is nowhere near as tacky as that. The streets are so clean, the shops are high end, the beach is beautiful. No meter maids or puking drunks at night.

The way money works here is quite confusing and has been one of the biggest adjustments. It really is a 'user pays' society. There is no tax on the items in a shop, so when you get to the front counter you pay more than you calculated in the aisles. This annoys me because I like to count up my change first so I can unload some of my coins, but so far I've been paying in notes and have a small fortune in dimes now. You also tip 15% or tip on the first drink so you get good service for the next one. I've been tipping more than I should so am also going through my dollars a little quicker than expected. There are also parts of the hotel that you pay for additionally. By the pool there are cabana sitting areas. When I went down there with mum most of them were free which seemed strange as they were obviously the best place to sit. I asked at the front counter and they cost you $175usd for 5 hours. There was no sign or anything and for something that cost so much, we are nervous to sit anywhere in case we have just waltzed into a paid area. Also for some bars you have to pay to get in, then have to buy a certain amount once you are in the bar to earn your keep. And you tip on top of that. It really is a money society.

This is disgustingly apparent in their TV ads. Did you know America has multiple cures for cancer? Seems a bit unfair that these cures haven't spread across the world. What I think they are is an alternative to chemo, which is such a strain on your body and probably costs more than the majority of Americans here can afford with their lack of healthcare that there are these snake oil companies that advertise their alternatives. It makes my heart ache. The ad for the alternative to late stage lung cancer breaks my heart as it's selling point is that you can 'extend your time with your family without feeling sick from chemo'. Yet across the puddle between north America and Central America is Cuba, who has discovered a preventative medicine for lung cancer. Their fear of government, tax run healthcare is killing them in the most devistating way. It isn't choice, it's crooks making money off poor people at the hardest time of their life.

These ads were broken up by short bursts of fox news (the ad breaks are so often in American TV). I was excited to see the infamous fox news. I didn't think it would anger - or perhaps scare? - me as much as it did. I watched a show called 'the revolution' which is hosted by an English man who has recently moved to this beautiful country America - which is something he continually tells you - and talks about American politics from a slight outsider perspective. He was questioning this democrat Jewish man who was commenting on the supreme court system. Or more, he was trying to comment, because the scum English man kept cutting him off, scoffing at him and yelling over him that he was pushing his 'liberal agenda'. The democrat couldn't have been left wing at all. There is no way anyone liberal would go on this show, he must've been a plant to use as a punching bag to show what the republican ultra conservatives could do to a democrat's opinion. I watched fox news for maybe 20 minutes and it made me feel dirty, scared and I had to push myself to go outside into the Hawaiian night life, scared that there could've been people out there that believe so wholly that Trump and Kavanaugh could be a good choice in leaders.

I've seen very little pro-Trump propaganda on the street. It took us a full day to find a newspaper, and though this newspaper was only 6 pages long (the rest was sport), the handful of articles were suggestive of being against Trump, in a newspaper 'unbiased' way. We saw a 'dump trump' poster hanging from someone's window. They have joke Trump souvenirs that make fun of his small hands and angry orange face. Besides fox news, the rest of America seem to be riding his presidency as the rest of us are: hesitantly, but with a big box of popcorn, awaiting his impeachment.

Having said that, I did see a big American truck Ute thing with a bald eagle sticker covering their rear window with 'God bless America' plastered across the back. I guess you don't need to look in your rear view mirror when you have such trust in 'murica!

Walking down Kuhio Avenue main strip, we passed multiple picket line protests from hotel staff. They were protesting their low wage and how they need a second job to supliment their income, protesting their employer healthcare insurance, and protesting the use of robots, taking over the jobs of the hotel staff. We went and chatted to the protesters, and they were protesting all through the hot day and into the night. Note that striking and picket lines are near impossible in Australia. People working in hospo also can barely get by on a single job, particularly now they don't get the same penalty rates on weekends. Let's not get to the same state as America, this land of the free but off track and impoverished. Though we could learn a lot from their friendliness and openness to talk to strangers.Read more