Las Vegas. A short plane ride away from LA is the surrealistic landscape of Las Vegas. Forget faux wood in cars; this place has a faux Eiffel Tower, New York City, Venice, Camelot, Starship Enterprise, Egypt, all within a few minutes walking distance. 

Most at home in the outlandish surroundings are equally outlandish cars. Dodge Vipers and Prowlers circled the city. Indeed, you could easily rent one for your day on the town—it would cost you, though. They're perhaps the only two (car) models that will get noticed in Vegas. 

Offered as prizes in slot machines were BMW Z3, Jaguar XK8—and a PT Cruiser?! Even if the top Chrysler PT Cruiser costs only $19000, less than a third of the Jag’s price, it was still worth perching on top of the slot machines because it is one hot car. 

For people who wanted to go the dignified route, mainstay choices were Cadillac de Ville and Mercedes S500 sedans. These got the premium parking valet spaces right beside the main entrances of the expensive hotels. 

Stretch limos, derived from de Villes or Lincoln Town Cars, were available almost anywhere, for just a little more than what you’d pay for an ordinary cab.

Walking is the easiest way to tour Vegas, as you get to take your pictures and let the surrealistic landscape disorient you in the most pleasant way. New (and free!) electric monorails connecting some of the hotels are a good alternative when you’ve seen and walked enough. Still, if you’ve just won a lot of bucks in the Casino and want to get noticed while driving around, better head for the nearest Dodge dealer.

Philadelphia. From the newest and wildest landscape to the most historic and dignified—the city of Philadelphia, where the U.S.A. itself was born. Surrounding the Liberty Bell in the downtown area were massive buildings dating back to the 19^th century.

It’s no surprise that some neighborhoods in the city also date back to that period. For me it was simply historic but it wouldn’t take a big leap of the imagination to suddenly feel creepy in those surroundings. We drove by the streets where The Sixth Sense was filmed. We did not see any dead people, but we did spot plenty of sensible cars. Low profile, practical cars like the Ford Taurus and Toyota Camry. 

With their soft suspensions, these cars do a good job of absorbing the bumps of the older parts of the city, which remain paved in brick or cobblestones. Still, they are firm enough if you do want to take a drive to any of the neighboring states, like Delaware, New York, DC or Virginia.

Which is exactly what we did—320 km to Virginia in less than 3 hours. That's about the distance to Baguio already. That was in the midst of afternoon traffic, including rush hour. The fast flow of traffic was slowed only near tollbooths or major exits. Signs posted required a 55 mph (88 km/h) maximum speed, 65 mph (104 km/h) in some areas. However, it would have been dangerous to travel those speeds because it was too slow! The slowest traffic was traveling at 65, and if you want to stay in the leftmost lane, you’d better be running at least 75 (120 km/h). Our 8-year-old, 120,000-km Accord was up to task—no problem. We probably could have run with the odd BMW or Porsche zooming past at about 150 km/h, but didn’t want to land in jail or pay a huge fine.