Subject:
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Re: Recreational vehicles and more questions about the US
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Tue, 18 Apr 2000 17:42:10 GMT
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Viewed:
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426 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Fredrik Glöckner writes:
> But those RV's were extraordinarily large. Can you
> drive such a vehicle with a normal license?
As far as I know, yes. There are some variations, though. My grandparents
bought a bus (a Greyhound) and had it converted into an RV/Mobile home, and I'm
pretty sure they had to have a different license for it.
> And what puzzled me the most was the cars being towed by the RV. How
> can you negotiate a turn with a vehicle hanging behind? And why don't
> all the rubber on the car hanging behind get torn off at every turn?
> Or is there some kind of "magic" which turns the front wheels of the
> car at the turns?
It's just the same as a big truck with a trailer. Nothing turns the wheels on
the thing being towed, it just follows the thing pulling it.
> We ordered the smallest and cheapest car we could get, and were
> somewhat surprised to find a brand new Sunfire waiting when we
> arrived. This would have been a medium large (non-family) car in
> Norway, but when we hit the highway, we soon realized that we were
> indeed in a small car. I really wonder why people need to drive
> around in oversized trucks all the time. Do you normally haul large
> items?
I don't think most people usually do, no. I did notice when I was in Europe
that all the cars are smaller, all the houses are smaller... everything,
really, is smaller. I think Americans like to spread out because, let's face
it, we do have a lot of room over here. :D
> And the gas prices. There were lot of moaning over the recent raise
> in gas prices, but please keep in mind that home where I live, gas
> prices are _still_ much more than twice as steep!
We're just spoiled.
> Oh, and the tipping system had me a bit puzzled too. This varies a
> bit in Europe as well, but mostly you get away with a small (10% or
> even less) tip if you find the service good. Normally it's not
> obligatory. In the US, you're supposed to tip in non-fast food
> places, right? So how about Pizza Hut, which is basically a fast food
> restaurant in my opinion? We tipped, but judging from the reaction of
> the staff, they don't normally get much tip?
I don't know. I tip wherever I have a waiter or waitress. 15% is a good tip
here, if the service is adequate. I personally tend to be a very actve tipper-
if somone is especially good I'll leave up to 20%, but if they are poor I'll
leave 10%, or nothing at all if they are really really bad.
> All in all, we had a very nice trip around in Florida and the Deep
> South, but we had a tad bit too much driving and fast food in my
> opinion. But both were quite hard to avoid, it seemed.
The driving comes from us being all spread out, again. As for the fast food...
well, I don't know where in Florida you were but I lived in Orlando for three
years, and it's pretty much bereft of anything resembling culture (in the local
color sense of the word). It's a perfect example of what some people call
"Generica", a term for how you can find the same things in all parts of the
US. You can shop in a Gap and eat in a McDonald's in pretty much any city in
America. Personally, I hate it.
eric
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