Australia: Where The American Dream is Still Alive.
At first glance, America and Australia are very similar countries. But the little things make a big difference.
I first arrived in Australia back in 2004.
After flying in from Boston, my body and mind exhausted and weary from 20 hours of travel, I finally got to my Sydney hotel and called my future wife Holly — the woman I was madly in love with & traveled halfway around the world to see.
Me: “Here I am. I made it!”
Holly: “So, what do you think so far?!”
Me: “Pretty cool so. But let me get this straight… Down here, Burger King is called ‘Hungry Jacks’? What the hell is up with that?”
And that, my friends, is the perfect metaphor to sum up the differences between Australia and The United States of America. The two cultures are just a little bit different; but these differences are big enough that you definitely notice them.
The fact is, when I first arrived, I was struck at how similar it was to the US. It’s not like I had never been outside of America — far from it. And it’s not like I expected to to see kangaroos riding emus or anything like that.
It was just that, after months of anticipation and 24 straight hours of travel, I just expected Australia to be, well…different. After all, I was on the other side of the freaking world! (Not to mention in a different hemisphere.)
But from what I could tell, there really weren’t any major cultural differences between Aussies and Americans; at least not at first glance.
Sydney was a clean, bustling city. Not unlike Manhattan, Chicago, or San Francisco. People looked the same. They moved the same. They acted the same. They talked a bit different, but hell, it was still English. Maybe it was the jet lag, but I remember thinking I had traveled all this way for a slightly friendlier & warmer version of the US.
What I quickly came to realize, however, is all the little things that make Australia such a special place.
NOTE: As of June 11, 2020, I’ve moved this full essay as a guest post on amaryroad.com. Finish Reading my Ode to Australia.
