America’s Birthday Is Pretty Much Celebrated Only In America
It was the 4th of July and I was not in America, but abroad on the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini.
A friend I were there on a PubClub.com holiday – which meant researching the destination as well as the pubs and clubs – and in preparation for the big day, we put on red-white-and-blue clothes, American flag bandanas and headed out the door.
We were expecting to be greeted with cheerful “Happy 4th Of July to you,!” words from the people we knew, namely the bartenders and the crepe guy in Fira’s town square.
We envisioned fellow travelers to give us high-fives, raise glasses in cheers or to make some other positive acknowledgement about America’s birthday.
But we got more odd looks than we did high-fives and cheers. And soon we came to the realization that they don’t care about the 4th of July in Santorini and, probably, in the rest of the world.
The Fourth of July is America’s holiday and it is celebrated pretty much only in America. I’ve been in Toronto for the 4th as well and it’s an odd feeling there, too. There’s no holiday, people go work, the banks are open and there are no parades. In fact, most people are just getting back to their normal routine after celebrating their national holiday, Canada Day.
On Santorini, as soon as my friend and I settled down at the prospect of having an all-American day in the Greek Islands, we went back to our daily routine.
And that involved taking an afternoon moped ride to either Kamari Beach or Amoudi, watching a spectacular sunset from Tropical Bar and then later that night returning to the Tropical Bar to start our evening of PubClubbing, which always included dancing on the bar at Two Brothers Bar, one of the most fun bars I’ve ever been to anywhere on the planet.
America celebrated the 4th without us, but we had our own celebration. And it was great.
Cheers!
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