Visiting New York was surprisingly disappointing

I’ve never been to the US and was never curious to travel there, but an opportunity arose as we could stay at a family member in New Jersey. We did not know when we would have the chance again, and we definitely wanted to go without spending a fortune on a hotel, so we went.

The first culture shock was straight out of the airplane. After being in Changi Airport a week ago and departing from Incheon, New York's JFK was old, badly designed and inefficient. Getting through security in Changi or Incheon took 10 minutes, while in JFK we waited for an hour. I was also taken aside by security to answer the same questions I already filled out in my immigration application.

We got picked up and drove for 2 hours to our place in New Jersey. We made a quick stop though, because my wife had to throw up from the airplane food.

I lived in Germany most my life, so when we arrived and experienced the pure nature around us: trees, forests, grass and clean air, our mood immediately lifted. As the US is a huge country, this piece of nature felt way more tangible than anything I've experienced in Europe. It felt more like you lived in the nature than near or with nature.

Having our base in New Jersey for the 2 weeks we stayed was incredibly refreshing. After commuting to New York every day, we were embraced by nature and could recharge our energy.

But of course, you can't walk anywhere in the US, so the nature is pretty much limited to your backyard. Regardless, we often walked the 30 minutes from the train station to our home, always slightly nervous that someone is going to drive us over.

We got a sneak peak into Ping Zheng’s Art at the Kirsten Loretto Gallery. Vibrant and powerful plus cute doggo.

The two weeks were packed with foodie spots and museums. Frieze Art Fair, MOMA, Guggenheim, the MET, Met Cloister, Dia Beacon, Whitney, and many more. Surprisingly, most were underwhelming.

MOMA was only interesting on the top floors with the permanent collection, and the others only occasionally had something we could connect to. We were surprised how many exhibitions in Seoul were more appealing than most in New York, despite the 25$ ticket price.

Some museums like the Guggenheim or Whitney have happy hours where the plebs can enter at a discounted 1$ ticket price. They are limited though and go on sale a week before, so set an alarm at midnight Eastern Time and buy them as soon as they come online.

The Frieze Art Fair had the most renowned galleries present, which also meant that most work was mainstream and commercialized, with only few emerging artists.

However, the Dia Beacon was a true gem. 2 hours north of New York, in an old factory, the exhibition was only using natural light for its contemporary artwork. The space itself was already worth visiting.

The basement level of the Dia Beacon was exceptionally used. Amazing lightwork and art pieces made it a memorable experience.

We traveled through New York mostly by subway which was another infrastructure shock: here is the richest city in the world with an absolutely disgusting subway. Dirty, smelly, looking like it has never been modernized since first in operation. Our host explained it the following way: In America, if it does not make money, nobody will improve it.

I wonder how many million rats live in the train tracks.

We also stayed a weekend in Washington DC, a strong break from the busy New York, with many buildings from centuries past. It felt like a European city, but stretched out and slightly different. A weekend here was more than enough though.

A sunny day at the National Mall. Unfortunately there is not much to do besides looking at a large phallic object.

We visited the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and the Botanical Garden in Washington. They all had free entry.

What we enjoyed the most on our trip was the time in our base in New Jersey. New York was way too loud and trashy for us, and we could not imagine living there unless we had well-paying jobs or were super rich.

It made me understand where the inspiration for Gotham City in the Batman Universe comes from; Whoever lives there must be either rich, crazy, or too poor to leave.

And after visiting Museums and galleries it hit us; the US has no true identity because it destroyed the indigenous culture it had. Now everything is copied in some way from Europe and other cultures while being related to genocide or oppression. A melting pot unified under extreme forms of capitalism.

Something that I can even less identify with is the absurd tipping culture. A store that can't pay their employees properly should not exist. Offloading the responsibility to customers via tips is just appalling. Especially since the "recommended" (mandatory) tip is at least 15% of the bill.

You have a country that hides the value added tax until you get the bill, requires you to tip another 15% so the staff can survive, and where inflation is skyrocketing. I was glad when we left to not deal with this nonsense anymore. And I did not even mention how politically and ideologically charged people can be when they are not saying "sorry" and "thank you" on every occasion they can. lol

But seriously, New York and the US are great in advertising themselves, but you can only truly enjoy their freedom if you are rich, else you are just a cog in a machine: used until you break. Would I visit New York again? No. And I would not advise anyone else to visit either. Unless you really love a busy, noisy, expensive city.

That said, I don't hate the US or its people. It’s a big country and I’ve only seen a small part of it. I am just surprised how far it has regressed while still shouting that it's the best country in the world. It's kinda sad.

We made our way back to Seoul, only to pack our things again, but this time permanently.