I think more than anything it’s the lack of transparency that irks most tourists when they visit the US, but once you get the hang of it, and don’t ‘over think it’, as others have said, you’ll have a ball!
Fair point, I have had many great trips to the USA from the 1990s onwards - big cities, deserts, national parks - and probably tipped "OK", around 20% in restaurants, but the big uncertainty was what to do in fast food outlets, ice cream parlours, hotel rooms, coffee shops, bars, the person who shows you to your seat on Amtrak ....I probably got a lot of it wrong. Plus I don't quite understand why the tip should be bigger if I order and the server uncorks a $60 bottle of wine instead of a $30 one. And do I hammer on the cockpit door and tip the airline pilot as a reward for not killing me and the other passengers? At least tipping is sort of transparent, unlike say the car hire agent who needs their bonus from upselling you extra insurance or a bigger car just to get a living wage.
This whole topic might have been especially relevant to me 2 years ago but now it's not. It is merely 'interesting'.
Even after all those trips, all those canyon and desert landscapes, weeks of driving through what looked like movie sets, National Parks, NY jazz clubs, the Smithsonian museums, autumn in New Hampshire, 110 degrees in Zion and -20 in Rocky Mountain NP, and so on, some brilliant, good and interesting people and some great service, I won't be back. Not for at least 3 years, if ever.
The country that was a model of statesmanship and political checks and balances is a distant memory. The USA is of course free to do as it pleases, over 70million voters chose the current leadership as is their right, I'm not judging that nor challenging it, I'm simply exercising my choice and not going there. You can't threaten my country with trade sanctions, insult my government, accude our military of cowardice, insult my religious leaders, demonise those who disagree, and still expect me to spend my vacation money with you.
You won't notice of course, it is trivial in the scheme of things. Just one tourist couple, flights, a car hire, some hotel nights, some reastaurant meals, some theatre tickets, National Park passes, some gallery and museum visits .... but maybe one day you will: the football world cup will mask the 2026 data but in normal years there are plenty of people who won't be visiting.
So if you, or a son or daughter saving for college, are a waiter or waitress in a tourist area, my tip this year will be zero - I won't be there.
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