차에서 살며 미국을 횡단한 부부의 생존 영어표현 | 12년차 국제커플의 자연스러운 영어회화

I was holding a big knife.

It was terrifying.

I'm happy we're alive still.

I feel like most people visit New York or LA. Actually, I recommend— We packed our bags and went to Michigan to borrow my dad's car and prepare for the trip of a lifetime.

We start from Michigan and then going down to California and up to Seattle and then back to Michigan. I remember we drove 16 15,000 kilometers.

Rest in peace, Dad's car.

I'm so sorry. You know how to shoot a gun, son.

That was really so generous of him. We got the car back in one piece, so it all worked out.

It was very last-minute planning, a very spontaneous trip, because there's no J in this house. P, P. Nobody's very organized.

It makes for an exciting life, I'll say. Actually, even where we slept was quite unplanned.

Yeah, we were just sleeping at the Walmart parking lot because it's free.

So for the majority of our trip, we slept in the back of the van and would just lay down some blankets, pillows. We would feed the blankets through the window and roll up the windows so that we had some makeshift curtains for privacy.

Oh my God, that was so hot though.

It was summer and we went to the desert a lot. Like, we were in Arizona, in Utah, Nevada. We just had a battery-operated fan And that's what kept us alive, I think.

Could almost die by sweating so much.

Right, yeah, actually staying in the Walmart parking lot was very helpful. We were able to use the bathrooms there, we could get food if we needed anything, brush our teeth in the bathrooms. There's kind of a culture in the US of people sleeping in the Walmart parking lots.

Really?

I think it's because it's 24/7. Usually Supercenters. Got to make sure it's a Supercenter. Those are 24/7. Sometimes they'll even have security. It felt a little bit more safe. Yeah, it's kind of odd, but I guess it's convenient and it worked out well for us. Once in a while we also stayed at campsites, like in an actual campground.

That's when we really want shower.

Yeah, we were desperate. But most of the time we would just park anywhere that we could find. Actually, we parked some crazy places as well. I'll never forget when we stayed in San Francisco. We parked on the side of the streets in downtown San Francisco and we slept there.

Don't do it. I think we're just lucky, especially in San Francisco nowadays.

No, I think when I was young, it just felt untouchable. I think we were both fearless at the time.

I mean, she was more because she was sleeping at the back of the van peacefully. I was holding a big knife on my right hand and then holding my handle. If something happened, I'm ready to, you know, escape or run.

That probably scared me more, waking up in the middle of the night and seeing my boyfriend with a knife in his hand. My dad would have been so proud though. Yeah, the reason why we stayed in the back of the van was because we were broke.

We didn't have any money.

We really had to do this on a budget.

This is my actual screenshot of my app, Citibank. While driving, Citibank called me.

You never told me that.

I told you.

Oh, okay, maybe I blocked that part out. We survived on PBJs. It's just 2 pieces of bread, peanut butter on one side, jelly on the other, put it together. It is delicious and cheap.

We eat like 3 times a day.

On the days where we were really sick of PBJs, we'd go to Taco Bell and order off their like dollar menu.

Luxury. 1.5. I was like, wow, this is amazing taste.

That was like chef's kiss to us at that time.

Michelin star.

We went to so many different places and didn't eat a lot of the local food because we We were just eating PBJ.

We watched a lot of good sightseeing.

We did, we did.

The national parks were amazing. I mean, we do have a lot of mountains in Korea, but I didn't experience that nature. Wow, this is Earth!

No, me too. I'm from Michigan and it's very flat there. So when we started heading west, I was like, is this my country? If you ever go to the national parks in the US, you can get a pass. It's called America the Beautiful Pass. Gives you a discount to some of the parks. So we bought that pass, and in the end it did save us a bit of money.

Which state surprised you the most?

Probably out west, I'd say Utah. I had never really seen the mountains, I had never really seen the desert, and Utah was just gorgeous. But I never heard much talk about Utah, so I was very pleasantly surprised by that. Also Montana. No one is ever like, let's go to Montana. They had so many beautiful bodies of water, very relaxing, gorgeous scenery. I think those were two places I went with zero expectations, it just blew it out of the water for me. What was your favorite national park that we visited?

For me was Yellowstone.

And what did you like about Yellowstone?

It looks like a different planet. We were watching the volcano and we swam in a hot spring there.

Oh yes, it's where like a hot spring meets the colder water, so you can actually get in the water. I think for me each national park has its own selling point, I guess.

Sell it.

Okay, the most beautiful national park was Glacier. The mountains I think Glacier was the most picturesque. The most fun national park was Zion by far. If you like hiking, you must go to Zion. He does not like hiking, but he enjoyed the hikes there. We did Angels Landing.

Angels Landing.

Hong was wearing his loafers and we made it to the top all the way.

Holding my selfie stick with the GoPro.

Yeah, he's giving me a heart attack on the very top. Of the rock, and then also the Narrows in Zion. So this hike is through water. It was very cool, and it was summertime, so it was a good way to cool off. Oh, one more, the most exotic one in my opinion: Bryce Canyon in Utah. It looked like Mars or something. The rock formations there were just unreal. I think you got to go to all of them. Buy America the Beautiful Pass and just hit up all the national parks. I feel like most people visit New York or LA when they visit the US, Actually, I recommend visiting Utah, Arizona, Nevada. They're all close by each other, so you can easily go to all 3 states, and you can visit Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, but then you can also go to Vegas and experience city life. You can have some adventurous things and then also visit a major city in the US.

What's your best memory of the trip?

Oh, I always think of us jumping into Crater Lake. I think it's the deepest lake in the US, possibly the world, I don't know.

Is it still available?

I don't think people are allowed to swim there now. When we went there, you were allowed to swim, but I think it's prohibited now. It was the bluest water I've ever seen. I also remember doing that in Montana. We had a full day of driving, we were exhausted. We finally got to the city that we planned on staying in The sun was going down. It was like the sky was purple, one of those nights. And we just heard people shouting and we looked out and there was like a dock. And people were jumping off the dock into a lake. And then we said, "We pull over, jump in." And we did. It was just such a memorable moment. Also driving out in the middle of nowhere. I remember you saying, "Oh, when I think of the US, I just think of one car going down like an open road, no other cars." And I told him, I said, "That doesn't actually happen in the US." just in the movies. And then it happened. I was really shocked. There was, I think, in Arizona. It was actually kind of jarring because there were no stores, gas stations, people, no other signs of life because there was no cell service either.

You cannot call anybody.

It was terrifying. It was like in the movies.

GPS in US sucks. It's not like Kakao or Naver.

This was years ago. We're just driving and suddenly we're going up this very steep mountain, very narrow lanes. I was like white knuckles on the steering wheel. Then we got to the top and I was in shorts because it was hot, and then there was snow and I was like, how the hell did this happen?

I was scared because your dad's car was a little old. Oh, are we gonna make it?

Yeah, I had the pedal to the ground, you know, chugging up that mountain. What's one of your most memorable experiences?

Maybe people. Of course, we were living in New York, but New Yorkers are careful.

Watch your mouth.

I mean, they are busy, you know. Yeah, they even cross the street without looking. Life starts slow there, and people are super kind, like super, super kind. And I remember in Chicago, and we didn't have anywhere to park, and a lady, I said, here, this is our house parking lot. Come over. That would never happen in New York.

Also, you know who I'm gonna talk about, right?

Yeah.

So we're gonna tell the whole story in the next episode, but we got in a little accident.

Little, yes.

Little fender bender.

And you know why? Because you were, "I have to go to bathroom." Wow, okay, I sense some resentment here.

The woman whose car we hit, she ended up hugging us. "They're okay." Yeah, I was really shocked. We just hit your car. And she was like, "Oh, don't worry about it. It's okay. Good luck on your trip." Portland people were kind.

Very kind.

Sometimes it's easy to complain about your own country. I don't know if it's like this in Korea, but—

Oh, I do complain a lot.

Yeah, like I'm American, so it just makes sense to complain about America. So then when we went on this trip and I saw all the crazy scenery and people were nice and I had such an amazing experience, I felt proud to be an American. I was very patriotic after that trip. Can you imagine me like waving my flag? USA, USA. Okay, done.

Trip of a lifetime.

You must do it once in your life.

But don't sleep on the street.

Those were some of the most unforgettable moments of our American road trip. But we did have some disasters strike, which we'll talk about in our next video. So stay tuned for that one.

I'm happy we're alive still.

Please check out the pinned comment below and we will see you next time. Bye!