Swimming with Sharks

I’ve missed out on a lot of blogging, so this is a long one, but it really sums up my time so far so stick with it if you can!

In Miami I was enthralled by America. Amazed by the customer service and loving the heat and lifestyle, but the more we have travelled on, the more I have, instead of being captivated by America, felt that America is being held captive. I refer to the sharks of commercialism that circle Americans everywhere they go.

Now I’m not for a moment suggesting that America is the poor helpless victim of corporations, quite the opposite. They love it! They love tackiness, they love commercialism and they will flock in their thousands to pay and see it. Now I don’t want to be thought of as hypocritical as I know I have travelled here at reasonable personal expense to see just such a thing as corporate America, but I find it sad the extent to which America has let this commercial stranglehold reach its world.

In places like Disney and Universal Studios, the commercialism and advertising were all very apparent, but that’s what you expect and in fact, it’s brilliant! I loved it. I loved the theming, the way that nothing was out of place and that everything was there intentionally to make the place magical and had been designed to transport you to new worlds and make you feel like you really were somewhere else. It’s something us Brits just don’t do as well, but also something that we don’t crave like the yanks do. I think partly because we have real castles and real preserved old towns so we don’t feel the need to visit fibreglass ones!

As we entered and exited the Great Smoky Mountains national park (without a doubt one of the most amazingly naturally beautiful places I have ever visited and probably that exists in the world), America decides it needs to put huge streets of neon lights and amusements. We passed signs for Dollywood, for all the fast food chains you can imagine, and not just one of each of these “restaurants” but about five of each in a few mile stretch. It was like America knew it wouldn’t be allowed these places in the national park so it had to get it out of it’s system, or at least get a good dose before it entered the oh so boring “Natural area”!

I predicted as we were driving along that after a few miles it would stop abruptly and there would be darkness, and sure enough that’s what happened. I’m not psychic, this is just how things happen in America. Along all the highways, there is nothing and then suddenly at an intersection, or sometimes for what appears to be no reason at all your are hit by sign after sign, always the same, wendys taco bell, dennys, mcdonalds, burger king, kfc, long john silvers, baskin robbins and then back to nothing again.

The same commercialism is in the cities as well, here America can really go to town! (in every sense of the expression!). The cities are full of these places, neatly dispersed with parks and some nice streets. But as with Disney in cities I can let things pass. But what staggers me is how Americans treat commercialism. We went to the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. Now being a fan of this particular beverage I was very excited! ‘A factory tour!’ I thought. ‘A chance to see where this wonderful drink originated and how it comes to be!’, but I was sorely disappointed. All they did was try and sell me Coca Cola and the other associated products made by Coca Cola. It saddened me. But the Americans lapped it up! They chanted in unison with the tour guide that the best time to enjoy a Coca Cola was, of course: “Any time!” and then applauded themselves for giving the “correct” answer! It beggars belief.

Across the grass from Coca Cola was the Georgia Aquarium and my word capitalism and commercialism won me back! We saw Beluga whales in a giant tank, a Manta ray the size of a car doing back flips, and the most incredible thing I have ever seen: not one, but four whale sharks swimming in the largest tank I have ever seen. Georgia Aquarium is the worlds largest, and after seeing an animal that I have been amazed by a great deal of my life, from an angle I never thought would be possible I was bringing out my commercialism flag and flying it high. The same applied in Typhoon Lagoon a Disney water park where I lived out an ambition of swimming with real sharks and rays. It was incredible and I loved it. But there is always that niggling feeling that you’d rather be experiencing these things in the wild, in their natural environment, and that is where America and I seem to think differently.

My faith in America was restored at the Jack Daniels distillery tour. We got a real family feel about the place, had a free tour from a sweet old Tennessee lady named Bettie, with a wicked sense of humour, and finished up having free lemonade, freshly squeezed and served with ice!

There are a lot of sharks in America. Some just out to make money and eat you, but swimming with some will give you the experience of a lifetime! Swimming with Sharks is never going to be ideal, but when they’re called Bettie and speak with a sweet southern drawl, they can’t be all that bad!