ADVERTISEMENT

It's easy to take a lot of things for granted if you never leave your home. One of the first learning moments many kids have is when they visit a friend or relative and realize that people live differently. But travel is the number one educator, a way to see just how differently folks from around the globe get by.
Someone asked “What's a luxury that most Americans don't realize is a luxury?” and netizens from the US shared their thoughts. We also got in touch with the netizen who posted the question. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts and examples in the comments section below.

#1

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To As an American who now lives abroad, air conditioning .

ZeleniChai , varyapigu / Envato Report

#2

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Windows with screens. When I lived in Geneva, I was in a sixth-floor walk-up flat with no A/C. I was in for a very unfortunate surprise when the weather got warm and I opened the windows only for bugs to swarm in. No screens! How was I supposed to sleep in a hot bedroom and I couldn’t even open my tiny window for some air flow?!

emmers28 , felixwong Report

#3

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To The ability to use restrooms without charge.

callipygianvenus , Hafidz Alifuddin / Pexels Report

Bored Panda got in touch with the internet user who posted this question and they were kind enough to share some more details. We wanted to know why they picked this topic in the first place. “My friend traveled to Poland, and she was surprised that drying machines for clothes were a luxury. Hardly anyone had them over there.

We were also curious to hear their thoughts on why the thread had so much engagement. “Popularity in questions asked on that subreddit are just random really. You can ask the same question another day and not get any responses. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they don't,” they shared.

ADVERTISEMENT
#4

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To School facilities. As a rural Canadian, I grew up watching American TV and was always seething with jealousy over American schools. I was especially jealous that Americans could sign up for the school play and meet a teenage heartthrob. We didn’t have school plays, or a theatre in general, or band, or football, or a swimming pool, or art classes.

Crow_away_cawcaw , RDNE Stock project / Pexels Report

Add photo comments
POST
Jan Rosier
Community Member
4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

French situation is pretty much the same as in Belgium. And I consider it an advantage: kids who sign up for extracurricular after school (arts, sports...) tend to be motivated to do so, and more importantly : being good or bad at whatever you choose or donot choose, has absolutely no influence on your school grades.

Kelly Scott
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And if stupid governors of states like Oklahoma and Louisiana start acting like De Santis, you will never see school plays, theater, band, art classes, or a swimming pool in public schools again. Football, though. You'll always have football.

Carbonel
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

UK. We have school plays, school orchestra, multiple sports options and lots of other extra curricular options. State school. It varies from school to school though and is often very dependent on the willingness of staff to give up their time for these activities.

Annik Perrot
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was part of several school plays in my Lycée (French high school) in 1970.

Noname
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In France, schools hours are generally 8h30 to 17h, and there are no extracurricular activities offered. If your child is interested in theater or sports, there are associations that you pay to join. I found this particularly disappointing.

Matthews
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Though not on the same timetables (usually school was part time), the situation was pretty similar to this when I grew up in Brazil. Back then, such activities were fairly expensive for most, and public alternatives (if existing) had few vacancies.

Load More Replies...
Jay Cee
Community Member
2 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"We didn’t have school plays, or a theatre in general, or band, or football, or a swimming pool, or art classes." or high school mass shootings . . . .

Alexandra
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Where I live we have a 'club culture'. No, not night clubs, but children's activities are organised through clubs, such as swimming clubs, sailing clubs, fencing clubs, soccer clubs etc. School has nothing to do with extra-curricular activities. Never missed it. It was actually nice to have different friends to share my 'club life' with.

Julie S
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was in every school play that was put on whilst I was there but to be honest there were hardly any extra curricula activities. Not like the amount that seem to be in American schools sadly.

Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My!
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can only participate in the extracurricular activities if none of the other children have shot you.

Guess Undheit
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because Canadian schools are focused on education, not frivolous garbage. Kids from even the poorest neighborhoods in Canada can get a grade 12 education that will let them succeed in college. The yanks deliberately designed their system so that the poor will fail. I'll take the Canadian system over that every day of the week. The refusal to waste money (and affordable post-secondary education) is why Canada has the world's highest percentage of adults with BA degrees or higher, 62%. Japan is a long way back in second at 56%. [ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1227287/share-of-people-with-tertiary-education-in-oecd-countries-by-country/ ]

Noname
Community Member
4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lol, you keep using the term "yanks" like it's a slur. Oddly, there's a famous song from WWI that reminds the allies that "the Yanks are coming, and we won't stop til it's over overthere". But what's funnier to me is that you're attempting to use statistics to prove your weak argument against extracurricular activities sponsored by schools. Statists are hardly worth noting as any kind of empiracal evidence since they can be manipulated easily by the method of gathering information based on the use of when, where, who and what of the surveys taken. But still-- lmao on the Yanks references. I'm not sure you really know what you think you're saying. Signed, A Connecticut Yankee (a Yankee doodle do or die) 😁😁

Load More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#5

Space. We have so much space. Lived in Japan for 2 years and space is what I missed the most. Bigger cars, houses, trees, cities (more area), businesses, etc… other places mostly seem so cramped. Even bigger cities like Chicago have so much more room comparatively.

jiu_jitsu_ Report

#6

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Our cheap gas.

Amiiboid , Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels Report

We also wanted to hear if this netizen had any examples of their own. “I used to play WOW classic with a person in our guild that lived in Lebanon. He would not always have 24 hour electricity.” We also asked if they had any favorite posts. “I would say the entire thread is my favorite, it's a humbling read for any Americans that don't travel outside the country.”

ADVERTISEMENT
#7

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Excellent water pressure in showers. When abroad, showers are like a flower watering pot. I like to feel my shower. Make the pressure strong enough to tear my skin off, then back it off like 10%.

petertmcqueeny Report

#8

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Great disability access. I can go to any place — theatre, store, office, school, whatever — with confidence that I'll be able to navigate fine in my wheelchair, and they'll have ramps and/or elevators.

5AgainstRhodeIsland , Jakub Pabis / Unsplash Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#9

In the early 2000s I asked a refugee from Somalia what if she liked it here. She said yes. "What's your favorite thing?" I said.

"If my house starts on fire I can call 911 and someone will come put it out."

"Oh. Yeah. That's awesome.".

1block Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#10

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Garbage collection. When I traveled a little bit, one of the things that struck me most was the amount of garbage in the streets and piled in fields. There is no municipal collection in some parts of the world.

universalrefuse , Jack Blueberry / Unsplash Report

#11

Unless you truly live in the middle of nowhere, access to good Mexican food is basically guaranteed.

brief_interviews Report

#12

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To That at school your child can get free services like speech therapy.

1throwawayjustaques , CDC / Pexels Report

#13

Access to all types of climates and natural wonders in a single country. You like mountains? Go west. Beaches? There are lots of American cities located right by the sea. Like the cold? We've got Alaska! Deserts, canyons, waterfalls, geysers, forests? Got you covered all in one country where people speak one language and use one currency.

HrabiaVulpes Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#14

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Controlling the temperature of your home to whatever you want 24/7/365.

Most other developed countries are either good at heating or good at AC, but rarely both.

Joystic , anurag upadhyay / Pexels Report

#15

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Back yards! Even if it’s small, a patch of land attached to your residence that no one but you has access to is something most people in cities in east, southeast, and South Asia can only dream of.

Pemulis_DMZ , Marianne / Pexels Report

#16

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Libraries. The American public library system is very advanced. It's also, general speaking, free to use.

cashmerecat999 , Clay Banks / Unsplash Report

#17

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To We essentially bathe in drinking water.

Mr_Lumbergh , Bluewater Sweden / Unsplash Report

#18

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Regular street-sweeping. You won’t notice it until you go somewhere without it.

emoyer68 , Adit Prabowo / Pexels Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#19

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Dryers that actually dry clothes. I'm American but my new apartment has a European style 2 in 1 washer/dryer which i thought was cool at first until I used it and it takes 4 hours for a dry cycle, is soooo loud, and the clothes still come out a little damp. I miss my American sized washer dryer separate units

sugarface2134 , Max Vakhtbovycn / Pexels Report

#20

Hot water. Grew up off grid, and hot water from the tap meant you had to have the water pump working and you had to have water in the catchment. Plus propane for the water heater, so hot water wasn't a guaranteed thing. Been living in "real" houses for the last 15 years and everytime I turn on a hot shower I'm still thankful .

ChipotleLaw Report

#21

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Owning a separate car for every driver in a household.

AllenRBrady , Adrien Olichon / Pexels Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#22

Drinks with ice ‼️Apparently Europeans don’t like ice. Room temperature drinks don’t quench my thirst.

salonpasss Report

#23

Flushing toilet paper in the actual toilet.

Dr-Mumm-Rah Report

#24

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Vegetarian and vegan options.

smar82 , Lina Kivaka / Pexels Report

#25

The public education system, like having the ability to go to a school that’s covered by taxes; sure, it’s not perfect, and there’s always issues, but there are many people throughout the world that have never had this sort of opportunity that I think we in wealthier nations often take for granted.

chibinoi Report

#26

While it's true that you will have to drive great distances to get where you want to go, the interstate highway system and the rest areas are a unique feature of the American landscape. In other countries they do not exist, or have been replaced by commercial enterprises. A gas station with a donut shop on the side of the road is not the same as a rest stop.

SamanthaSass Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#27

The single family home.

The vast majority of people live in apartments or row houses/townhouses.

hadapurpura Report

#28

Clean drinking water. My folks traveled the world quite a bit and said that they were amazed every time they returned to the US that there is (or was, a couple of decades ago) clean water out of almost every tap or water readily available nearby. We don't realize how incredible and rare this is, and so we take it for granted.

jeremyjava Report

#29

People obeying traffic signals. Guy I used to work with who was from an African country I cannot recall(this was 15+ years ago) said one of the most suprising things he saw when he immigrated was that people actually obeyed traffic lights. He said where he came from they were treated more like mild suggestions.

bigloser42 Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#30

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To The ability to buy anything you can think of and buying online arrives in less than a week...often in two or three days.

A lot of countries just don't have the access to big box stores or infinite option online merchants.

phoenix14830 , Artem Podrez / Pexels Report

#31

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Traveling to other countries without an approved visa.

James_p_hat , nappy / Pexels Report

#32

42 Times Americans Realized Their Everyday Comforts Were Luxuries In Countries They Traveled To Fully stocked grocery stores. Life post-COVID showed me how much of a luxury this actually is. I can so vividly remember driving to the store to pick up some things only to find half-empty shelves.

King_in_a_castle_84 , Hanson Lu / Unsplash Report

#33

Potable tap water.

Whitewineandshrimp Report

#34

Multiples of electronics, i.e., TVs, computers, gaming systems.

ColoTransplant Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#35

The right to protest, hold whatever backwards belief you want, and say whatever you want (of course if it isn’t true threats or fighting words).

youassassin Report

#36

The freedom to speak openly about your political and personal beliefs, no matter how stupid or uninformed they are.

cyn00 Report

#37

Fresh fruit from around the world every day of the year.

killingitsmalls Report

#38

Currency that doesn’t devalue every other month.

OddNefariousness1967 Report

#39

Spices. Less than 100 years ago paprika was as expensive saffron.

xxwerdxx Report

#40

Not caring about customer support. «  ill just buy another one »

They dont understand that once you pay for something, its supposed to work as long as physically possible.

Too many dollars on their hands.

mhdy98 Report

Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#41

This is a hot take but the healthcare. I was born in Europe and have a lot of family still there. In Europe my aunt got cancer. When she needed scans the wait was counted in months. The hospital was terrible, more like a prison with old outdated equipment (this is in a big cosmopolitan European city not some podunk town)

My wife got cancer in the US. When she needed a scan it was ordered by the doctor and she was headed down within the hour. Her room was like a five star hotel.

Sure in Europe it was free, but you get what you pay for. Here my insurance covered all of this amazing care, once I paid the $2500 a year in deductibles everything was free last that point.

My aunt passed, my wife is alive and thriving.

Iamnotthedoctorlove Report

#42

Being able to get insulin. As much as the cost of it sucks, it's still available at all. I haven't missed a single day of taking it in over 41 years. It's why I'm not dead.

Government funded dialysis care. I'm not on dialysis but I used to work in the field for years. If you need it, you get it. Without those 3 3-4 hour treatments a week, those people would die.

Lack of actual wars in our country for over a century has been pretty nice too.

stupididiot78 Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda