I just had 2 lovely young ladies from Switzerland check out of the hotel where I work.

[glowing]

They spoke English better than most Murkins. AND they were just the nicest 2 people. They left with beautiful tans and thanked me for helping them with all the information I assisted them with on their vacation. Its really hard for these young people to fathom what a nightmare it is for us with our non-existent public transportation outside of our mega-cities. Florida is definately not a friendly tourist traveling state. For a state that relies on tourists for its revenue, it ought to have the most excellent travel friendly public transportation. Anyway, with Europeans, they really don't understand how dependent we have to be on our own private vehicles until they visit our United States and get to experience what a nightmare it really is. Our leaders have provided the worst type of city planning and transportation needs for the modern century. At least they can go home and explain that we don't have much choices, but they will still scratch their heads because they cannot understand why we don't place leaders with a brain in the proper seats to help us create a well developed nation.

Anyway, they were charming.. and unlike the Murkins travelling abroad, they put on nice clothing and won of them put on her "pearl set".. nothing like Barbara Bush wears, to travel home in. So classy and beautiful and really charming. I wish our young people could be more like these young confident, classy ladies.

[Squatch]

1. Were they hot?

[sharp_stick]

3. The first thing I thought too

at least age isn't improving my lack of a PC gene.

[Squatch]

4. Well, the OP made it easy...2 Swiss women with beach-bodies, tans and pearl necklaces

:evilgrin:

[raccoon]

2. You'd think so, wouldn't you?

"Florida is definately not a friendly tourist traveling state. For a state that relies on tourists for its revenue, it ought to have the most excellent travel friendly public transportation. "

And it's not just FL--other states rely on tourism too.

[truedelphi]

5. I would credit much of what you saw in those lovely young women with upbringing

When European kids are born, their parents both plug into the lives of the kids. In many European countries, you are given a child subsidy check (I forget what it is called) so that one parent can be with the babies for the first two years. (Our politicians reaction to this: "Horrors! Why that's socialism.")

And parents stay plugged into their children. Affluent Europeans are not afraid of saying "No" to their kids. Instead, parents firmly discipline their children of all ages. Also, the social network is such that poorer Europeans do not have both parents working four jobs between them and smoking crack. (A call in radio show regarding the awful experiences of Oakland CA teachers resulted in at least three people calling in to say that many lower income teenagers in Oakland never SEE their parents - the gang has become the substitute.)

This started back in the late seventies. I was in my mid twenties and at times I opened my house to the local teens. These were all at least middle income kids - some were far more affluent than that. But when one teen crashed the family car because they were drunk, they weren't grounded - they were BOUGHT a new car of their own - Mommy and Daddy didn't want anyone in the family to know first hand the experience of humiliation.

In another family, the mother was in an asylum for the mentally ill, and all of the kids needed some intervention. But we don't have social workers who routinely check in on families in such a situation as they would do in Europe. One of the kids would probably have to murder one of the others before there would be any intervention. (In that family, the kids all got along very well. But the father was a bully, and someone in authority ought to have been involved in helping with the psychological mess that was occurring with the "good" parent being in an institution, and the abusive parent being home raising the kids.)

[leftofthedial]

6. why do you hate Amurka?

or yew one a them soshalists?