white trash boat people!
The first thing Roz and her husband, Don, wanted to do when the last of their three children left home was to take a long, leisurely cruise. As they were both senior public servants they had to carefully coincide their long-service leave entitlements so that they could travel together, and the last thing they expected was to be treated like white trash boat people when they arrived at the first USA port - Fort Lauderdale!
"We would have loved to have taken a slow boat to China," laughs Roz, "but none were operating. Instead, we opted for a round the world cruise on a luxury liner."
"When the kids were home either Don or I would take them away for holidays," confides Roz. "Because of work commitments, we rarely had a holiday as a family, and we postponed our long-service leaves for years so that we could go away together when the kids grew up."
"After the 9/11 tragedy we didn't want to risk flying anywhere," says Roz, "and we didn't fancy a land tour so a cruise was our best bet."
Living in a sleepy little village, Roz and Don hadn't done much traveling outside Europe so booking passage on a luxury ocean liner with exciting ports of call around the world was going to be a trip of a lifetime for them.
One of the exciting ports of call was Ford Lauderdale in Florida, USA, and it remains in Roz's memory for all the wrong reasons.
Before visiting Florida, Roz had never heard the term 'white trash'. It was not a term the locals use where she lives, and the concept of calling anyone trash, white or black, appalled her.
So, it was most unfortunate that the first words Roz and Don heard from an American person on American soil were scurrilous remarks directed at a boatload of people who were on a world trip.
"He was a big, gruff man with a ruddy complexion, a loud, barking voice and a mean tone," says Roz. "And to make matters worse he was a customs official."
If Roz were ever to use that scurrilous expression herself, it would be to someone like that customs official that she would apply it.
"He was the epitome of what human beings, especially government officials, should not be," she laughs.
It was about 8 p.m. and Roz and Don and their fellow travelers had been cooped up for hours on the ship waiting to get ashore.
"Had we been on a sampan from Vietnam - or a rowboat from Cuba - and were trying to enter the country illegally, that guy's anger might have been excused," says Roz, "but even so I felt that federal customs officials should be courteous at all times to all people."
"Okay," admits Roz, "he probably wanted to get home to his wife and kids and was as tired as everyone else was with the endless disembarkation process - but what a welcome to America!"
When Roz and Don heard him call her fellow travelers 'white trash' they looked around at anybody who could possibly meet that criteria and apart from a few young men who had downed a few drinks too many - but were otherwise rich kids on a world trip during university vacation - the passengers were as far removed from 'white trash' as any other type of trash.
Thankfully, the rest of Roz and Don's visit to Florida was not marred by any more Ugly Americans.
Unfortunately, though, it is this guy - and it is this incident - that has been indelibly imprinted on her mind as her first impression of the USA and its people.
Brushing the Ugly American aside, Roz was delighted to meet a Bronx taxi driver on the trip into town.
"He seemed amazed that I knew where he was from by his accent," laughs Roz. "It just goes to show that being raised on American films and television was not altogether wasted on me!"
The Bronx cabby's mission was to find Roz and Don the very best restaurant in town, and he did well. After days of ship cuisine, Roz was desperate for something different to eat and the Hawaiian Inn at Ford Lauderdale was not only a feast for sore bellies but sore eyes, too.
"It was a beautifully decorated restaurant with a fine ambiance, superb cuisine and gracious hosts," says Roz. "The food they served us did a great deal to take away the nasty taste that the customs official had left with us."
The rest of Roz and Don's first day in the USA was spent riding around in taxis and visiting all-night shopping complexes in Ford Lauderdale. It puzzled them that there seemed to be no city centre, per se, just wide expanses of freeway with huge shopping complexes dotted almost in nowhere.
"Were we live they just don't have mammoth freeways and restaurants and shopping complexes situated in nowhere land," laughs Roz. "I wondered if all the taxi drivers in Ford Lauderdale had been warned to keep the 'white trash' - the boat people - from the civilized part of town!"
"I'm sure there must have been a city center somewhere in Ford Lauderdale," laughs Roz, "but we never saw it and I'm glad we took the trip while we were free of the kids because they would have been bored out of their brains most of the time."
"Our next port of call after Fort Lauderdale was Mexico," says Roz, "so Fort Lauderdale in Florida was the only part of the USA we were able to visit and for this reason it's memorable and in no way do I judge the whole of the nation by our experiences there.
"We would have loved to have taken a slow boat to China," laughs Roz, "but none were operating. Instead, we opted for a round the world cruise on a luxury liner."
"When the kids were home either Don or I would take them away for holidays," confides Roz. "Because of work commitments, we rarely had a holiday as a family, and we postponed our long-service leaves for years so that we could go away together when the kids grew up."
"After the 9/11 tragedy we didn't want to risk flying anywhere," says Roz, "and we didn't fancy a land tour so a cruise was our best bet."
Living in a sleepy little village, Roz and Don hadn't done much traveling outside Europe so booking passage on a luxury ocean liner with exciting ports of call around the world was going to be a trip of a lifetime for them.
One of the exciting ports of call was Ford Lauderdale in Florida, USA, and it remains in Roz's memory for all the wrong reasons.
Before visiting Florida, Roz had never heard the term 'white trash'. It was not a term the locals use where she lives, and the concept of calling anyone trash, white or black, appalled her.
So, it was most unfortunate that the first words Roz and Don heard from an American person on American soil were scurrilous remarks directed at a boatload of people who were on a world trip.
"He was a big, gruff man with a ruddy complexion, a loud, barking voice and a mean tone," says Roz. "And to make matters worse he was a customs official."
If Roz were ever to use that scurrilous expression herself, it would be to someone like that customs official that she would apply it.
"He was the epitome of what human beings, especially government officials, should not be," she laughs.
It was about 8 p.m. and Roz and Don and their fellow travelers had been cooped up for hours on the ship waiting to get ashore.
"Had we been on a sampan from Vietnam - or a rowboat from Cuba - and were trying to enter the country illegally, that guy's anger might have been excused," says Roz, "but even so I felt that federal customs officials should be courteous at all times to all people."
"Okay," admits Roz, "he probably wanted to get home to his wife and kids and was as tired as everyone else was with the endless disembarkation process - but what a welcome to America!"
When Roz and Don heard him call her fellow travelers 'white trash' they looked around at anybody who could possibly meet that criteria and apart from a few young men who had downed a few drinks too many - but were otherwise rich kids on a world trip during university vacation - the passengers were as far removed from 'white trash' as any other type of trash.
Thankfully, the rest of Roz and Don's visit to Florida was not marred by any more Ugly Americans.
Unfortunately, though, it is this guy - and it is this incident - that has been indelibly imprinted on her mind as her first impression of the USA and its people.
Brushing the Ugly American aside, Roz was delighted to meet a Bronx taxi driver on the trip into town.
"He seemed amazed that I knew where he was from by his accent," laughs Roz. "It just goes to show that being raised on American films and television was not altogether wasted on me!"
The Bronx cabby's mission was to find Roz and Don the very best restaurant in town, and he did well. After days of ship cuisine, Roz was desperate for something different to eat and the Hawaiian Inn at Ford Lauderdale was not only a feast for sore bellies but sore eyes, too.
"It was a beautifully decorated restaurant with a fine ambiance, superb cuisine and gracious hosts," says Roz. "The food they served us did a great deal to take away the nasty taste that the customs official had left with us."
The rest of Roz and Don's first day in the USA was spent riding around in taxis and visiting all-night shopping complexes in Ford Lauderdale. It puzzled them that there seemed to be no city centre, per se, just wide expanses of freeway with huge shopping complexes dotted almost in nowhere.
"Were we live they just don't have mammoth freeways and restaurants and shopping complexes situated in nowhere land," laughs Roz. "I wondered if all the taxi drivers in Ford Lauderdale had been warned to keep the 'white trash' - the boat people - from the civilized part of town!"
"I'm sure there must have been a city center somewhere in Ford Lauderdale," laughs Roz, "but we never saw it and I'm glad we took the trip while we were free of the kids because they would have been bored out of their brains most of the time."
"Our next port of call after Fort Lauderdale was Mexico," says Roz, "so Fort Lauderdale in Florida was the only part of the USA we were able to visit and for this reason it's memorable and in no way do I judge the whole of the nation by our experiences there.
Labels: boat people, cruise liner, white trash
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