The Bold & the Beautiful

Skyscrapers, roadtrips, cowboys and surfers – the land of the free is as eclectic as it is vast. Enormous and staggeringly diverse, America (or the USA) is a collection of natural and new age wonders, from teeming city streets to mountains, plains and stunningly beautiful national parks. Lauded as a beacon of freedom, reviled at times for its bent on global domination, the United States has many faces, and leaves no one short of opinions. The country’s emblems are so familiar that they constitute as much a part of the world’s culture as its own – Lady Liberty, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, the US Capitol, the "Hollywood” sign…the list goes on. The cities of the US are where foreign visitors often spend the majority of their time, soaking up the high-rise energy of Chicago and New York, the political fervour of Washington DC or the bayside tranquility of San Francisco. Each brimming metropolis conjures a million different notions of culture, cuisine and entertainment. For all of its pride and bluster, USA is more than the sum of its urban landscapes. While spending time in the cities can be fun, it’s seldom as fulfilling as taking a deeper journey into the heart of the continent and its scenic splendours from the wilds of Alaska to snow falling on a country lane in Vermont. There is, quite simply, much more to America than meets the eye.