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Editor's Note: 250 Years of Firsts

By Cameron Sperance Sep 1, 2026 9:30pm

To quote our patron saint of millennial chanteuses, aka Miley Cyrus: It’s a party in the U.S.A.

America’s 250th birthday is a year-long affair, and putting this issue together has had me thinking about what’s uniquely American in travel.

Cameron Sperance
Content Director, Travel Group
csperance@questex.com (Luxury Travel Advisor)

The country has been glowing after weeks of endearing social media posts from international visitors who came for the World Cup and stayed for the fountain sodas. Watching someone discover unlimited free refills, or walk into a Waffle House for the first time, or attempt to comprehend the scale of a Buc-ee’s, is its own small pleasure — and don’t get me started on central air conditioning, a genuinely bragworthy slice of Americana while Europe sweats through another brutal heat wave. Travelers got the lighter side of America, the one that doesn’t always crack through the negative headlines.

The country’s role in travel runs deeper than a viral clip, though. Your first stop this issue should be Rob Schneider’s piece on American travel firsts, where he makes the case that the jumbo jet and the atrium hotel lobby — two things travel aficionados move through without a second thought — got their start on these shores. Quiet luxury belongs on that list, too, and you can trace it to a particular California ease. I found it at Hotel Bel-Air, and again in the quieter register of wellness at Miraval Berkshires, which feels well timed with August arriving as National Wellness Month.

Two hundred fifty years in, forget the monuments and the anthems. The American contribution to travel is the free refill, the 3 a.m. hash browns, and a hotel that knows exactly when to leave you alone — or when to leave you a little more at peace than it found you. Happy birthday to us.

Editor's Note: 250 Years of Firsts

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