When Andy Malone, 30, and Rebecca Grixti landed in New York on June 22nd, they had no itinerary planned for their trip across America. “We want to do what the Americans do on normal days and normal weekend” said Malone, who is from Dublin, Ireland.
6月22日，当30岁的安迪•马龙和丽贝卡•格里斯蒂到达纽约时，他们压根儿没有为横跨美国的旅程计划好路线。“我们想做美国人在平时及普通周末时所做的事情，”来自爱尔兰都柏林的马龙说。

纽约
And what better way to do that than to leave all of the planning and travel decisions to the American people? “We're putting the faith of our trip in other peoples' hand and it's worked out amazingly so far,” Malone said. Malone and Grixti, who are friends and work as travel consultant came up with the concept that's guiding them from their starting point in New York to their final destination in Nevada at the end of August. “Ten week two people, one direction: You Decide Where,” said Grixti, of Melbourne, Australia.
还有什么其他方式比把所有的计划及旅游决定留给美国人自己去做更好呢？“我们把旅行的决定权交到其他人手里，到目前为止，效果非常不错，”马龙说。既是朋友，又同为旅游顾问的马龙和格里斯蒂一起想到了这个主意。就是这个主意指引他们以纽约作为出发点，然后于8月底到达位于内华达州的最终目的地。“十个星期，两个人，一个方向：‘你来决定去哪里’，”来自澳大利亚墨尔本的格里斯蒂说道。

You Decide Where, www.youdecidewhere.com, is a social networking experiment Malone and Grixti set up before coming to the United States using websites such as CouchSurfing.org, Facebook and Google Buzz. The site allow followers to suggest and/or invite the pair to U.S. cities and towns. People often offer free places to crash or advice on where to go, what to eat and what to do. “It's different than planning your hostels and planning where you're going to go—it's just a complete adventure, and we've met some brilliant people doing it,” Malone said.
“你决定去哪里”（www.youdecidewhere.com）是马龙和格里斯蒂在来美国之前，利用诸如CouchSurfing.org, 脸谱网以及Google Buzz这些网站建立起来的一个试验性社交网络。这些网站，允许关注者建议以及/或者邀请这对同伴到美国的一些市镇去旅游。人们通常会提供免费住宿的地方或者提供有关去哪里，吃什么，做什么的建议。“这跟那种一早计划好住宿以及去哪里的经历很不同——这完全就是一次冒险，我们遇到了很多很不错的人也在这么做，”马龙说。

The adventure has so far led the friends to Harlem, N.Y., where, a woman suggested they go see Shakespeare in the Park. That led to seven hours of camping out to get free tickets to Merchants of Venice, starring Al Pacino. Then it was on to Times Square. “Someone got in touch with us and said to show up at 6 p.m. in Times Square and to bring bubble gun you know, like the bubble guns you get when you're a kid,” Malone said. “We arrived there, got off the subway and about 100 people flashmobbed in for this bubble party, and we got to be five years old again.”
目前，这次冒险已引领这对朋友去了纽约的哈莱姆区。在那里，一位女士建议他们去看公园里上演的莎士比亚戏剧。最终，他们通宵露营排了七个小时的队才拿到阿尔•帕西诺主演的《威尼斯商人》的免费门票。然后他们又来到时代广场。“有人与我们联系，告诉我们下午6点在时代广场出现，还要带上泡泡枪，就是你还是小孩时拿的那种泡泡枪，”马龙说道，“我们到达那里，出了地铁就发现有100人涌到那里上演了一幕泡泡枪‘快闪’派对。我们仿佛又重回到了五岁。”

From New York they headed to Boston, where they stayed with a young woman, and found themselves at a Red Sox game, befriending a group of men sitting in front of them. The men taught Malone and Grixti not only the rules of baseball but the songs and chants throughout the game. “By the end of it we were Red Sox fan” Malone and Grixti said.
从纽约出发，他们前往波士顿。在那里，他们与一名年轻女士一块去看了场红袜队的比赛，并且与坐在他们前面的一群男士攀谈起来。那群男士不但教会马龙和格里斯蒂棒球的比赛规则，还教会他们比赛上所唱的 歌曲。“到比赛结束后，我们都变成红袜队的‘粉丝’了，”马龙和格里斯蒂说。

内华达
One of the men, a guy named Brian, suggested they go to Cape Cod for Fourth of July and spend the day with his family in Provincetown. So that's what they did. “[Cape Codders] are just so amazing and friendly...they're strangers who are welcoming us into their home on their boat to their family barbecue to watch a parade,” Grixti said. “(They are) strangers who don't know us but want to get to know us.” The entire weekend on the Cape was like a weekend hanging out with family and friends they've known for year Malone said. “By staying at other people's house we got to do and see things we never would have been able to find ourselves.” The pair left Cape Cod and headed to Newport, R.I., where a Matthew Valetta had an over stuffed L-shaped couch waiting for them.
那群男士中有一个叫布莱恩的，他建议他们7月4日那天去科德角，并且与他家人一起在普罗温斯顿度过那一天。他们真的这么做了。“（科德角的人们）是那么棒，那么友善……作为陌生人，他们邀请我们到他们家里，到他们的船上，参加他们的家庭烧烤聚会，去看巡游表演，”格里斯蒂说，“作为陌生人，他们不认识我们，但是想要去了解我们。”在科德角度过的整个周末就像与他们认识多年的家人和朋友度过的周末一样，马龙说，“通过呆在其他人的家里，我们可以见识到许多东西，而这单靠我们自己肯定是不可能见识到的。”这对伙伴离开科德角后就前往罗得岛的纽波特市。在那里，一个名叫马修•瓦莱塔的人已经为他们准备了一张超级舒适的L形沙发，等候他们的到来。

The You Decide Where trip across America is a completely different kind of experience than either Grixti or Malone has had before. In the past, they would plan their trip, stay in hostels and meet people from their own countries. CouchSurfing on the Cape, in Boston and New York has really opened their mind allowed for them to meet new people and truly experience American life, Grixti said.
这次“你决定去哪里”的美国之旅是格里斯蒂和马龙他们之前没有尝试过的一次完全不同的经历。过去，他们会计划好行程，呆在旅店，遇见的是来自他们自己国家的人。而在科德角，波士顿以及纽约的沙发旅行经历则真正地开拓了他们的视野，让他们结识了新朋友，并且真正地体验到美国生活，格里斯蒂说道。

“We've met people of all different age and all different backgrounds and different types of housing and job so it's been a complete diverse experience,” Malone said. “We've gotten to see a country in a way that allows us to see it through (Americans') eye in a day-to-day experience.”
“我们遇到不同年龄、不同背景，住在不同类型的房子里，拥有不同工作的人们，所以这完全是一次丰富多样的经历，”马龙说，“我们得以用一种通过（美国人的）眼睛的方式，逐日地去体验和了解一个国家。”