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People might not fully understand how deeply rooted some cultural things are until they submerge themselves in a completely different environment. Whether it’s something they miss about home when being abroad or something they wish home had, it only accentuates that no two places in the world are the same.

Both cases were discussed by redditors who revealed things they only realized were very American after going abroad. Their answers covered everything from sugar consumption to healthcare, cars, restaurant service, and everything in between; scroll down to find them below and get acquainted with what some US citizens consider typically American.

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#1

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad In Ireland right now, it’s cruel that we force our grocery store clerks to stand up for their entire shift. They are allowed to sit in Ireland when scanning items, and I don’t see any good reason why we don’t allow that back home.

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Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, they sit in my country as well. Seems like the natural thing to do, considering how long shifts are.

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#2

Ketchup. There's only one bottle of ketchup in France. They pass it around from restaurant to restaurant when an American requests it.

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#3

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad The walk-ability of non-American cities is something out of a utopian dream.

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Sue Denham
Sue Denham
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've noticed American people wanting to drive from one shop to another even when they're 100m or less away, where Kiwis (and , I assume, most nationalities) will park in one place and walk from shop to shop before returning to their car to drive home.

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#4

I have dual nationality and live in the USA, but I still travel a lot to Europe.
Why the hell do we pixel women’s nipples on TV? It is a f*****g nipple. We sell arms to kids, and we have violent movies, but we pixel a nipple.

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Ak_Teren
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thats because your baptist taliban gets outraged at everything remotely connected to sexuality

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#5

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Paying for ambulances and health care…

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Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is something very dystopian about being afraid to call an ambulance because you would get in crippling debt.

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#6

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Sugar. When I visited Japan, even some of their sweetest desserts pale in comparison to how much sugar is in American food.

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Jrog
Jrog
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Quantity of sugar -or corn syrup- in american food is disgusting for anyone not used to it. On sweets, it's way too much. On the rest of the food, it should not even be there, so why the hell do you put it in? Your breakfast yogurt is sweeter than our cream desserts. Ketchup, BBQ sauce and even tomato sauces taste like candy. Breakfast cereals taste like sugar. Iced tea is basically syrup without any taste of tea. Even canned beans commonly have sugar on the ingredient list.

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#7

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad When I traveled overseas I was surprised at how the public bathroom stalls gave so much more privacy. Like a full door to the floor in most places.

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#8

The fact that tax is calculated on top of the price on the tag. I'd assume that every foreigner would think they're getting ripped off at the register because it costs more than the price tag. Every other place I've been, the price is the price. (And coins have numbers on them!).

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#9

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Tipping. I had a waitress in Okinawa chase me into the parking lot with some change I left on the table.

sunlover010:

Went to Europe and tipped 20% and the servers acted extremely grateful. Like, a weird amount. After a while we finally asked a server what was up with that, and they said that in their country they are paid a living wage so tips don’t really mean much for them. They were very happy even with 10%.

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Winnie the Moo
Winnie the Moo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Inhumane to do work like in the service industry (where customers can be very rude and demanding) and not get paid a living wage…

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#10

A bizarre obsession with the national flag.

It’s not like countries dislike their own flags—you’ll see plenty of them at political events or international sporting events like the World Cup or Olympics—but they don’t typically fly a 6-foot flag from their trucks or hang them up in their churches. I don’t think most of them have a big national anthem ceremony at their domestic sporting events or have the military jets fly over them.

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Winnie the Moo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This. America needs to chill with this. It seems so over the top. 😂

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#11

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Obesity.

There are obese people everywhere and obesity is unfortunately apparently on the rise in most Western countries at least, but the obesity rate in the US is particularly remarkable, and not in a good way. I've had the good fortune of traveling to Europe three times in the last three years and I've gone to Brazil every year since 2010 to visit my in-laws. Do I see obese people in Europe and in Brazil? Absolutely, but they are often Americans visiting. And it's interesting because I never really seem to notice all the fit people in Europe and Brazil when I arrive there, but I do notice all the obese people when I return to the US. Very striking.

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Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This corresponds to the one about having too much sugar in American food. Carbs are the fastest route to being overweight.

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#12

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Lived abroad 7 years. We're LOUD. I can hear my countrymen coming up the street going on about how they just had to pay to use the RESTROOM. :D

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Corvus
Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't worry, you are hardly the only ones. From my experience, Greeks and Albanians can be pretty loud as well.

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#13

How ignorant we are, particularly of world history and geography.

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Timbob
Timbob
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also: Was involved hosting foreign exchange students at one time. Teen girl from Spain was attending the top academic high school in Chicago for a year. Local boy said to her,”You’re Anna from Spain. They speak Mexican there, right ?”

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#14

Minimum parking laws and garbage public transportation.

Going to Japan and seeing how accessible everything is made me question my whole life. Bikes and trains are just the better option and I'll resent oil executives for the rest of my life for the way they sabotaged the US transportation system.

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Sum Guy
Sum Guy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The funny thing is that they still do this... remember when California announced plans for a high-speed rail and immediately had Elon talk about the Hyperloop and it being faster and more "cleaner"... California has been struggling to get funding since car companies also wanted funding for their vanity projects which will never be implemented...

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#15

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad When I moved to the UK, my flatmates asked how in movies people would stick their hands in the sink drain and it be ripped apart. I told them about sink garbage disposals and they were very weirded out.

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Winnie the Moo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honest question here: why would you not just throw your leftovers in the trash?

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#16

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Ranch dressing. I guess I was vaguely aware that it was American, but I hadn't realized how much.

If you want to hear a whole pub stop and glare at you, go to Ireland and ask for ranch for your fries.

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sbj
sbj
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ranch Flavour Doritos=Cool American in Europe, we don't know what the hell Ranch dressing is

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#17

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad I remember the Germans all being shocked that to do anything like drinking or smoking you needed to be 21 but to buy a rifle you only need to be 18. Well they were also just shocked you can just go buy a gun in most places here whenever you like pretty much.

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Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The whole notion of students going to school with bulletproof backpacks and having "shooter drills" is also pretty shocking to us...

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#18

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Eating so damn fast. It seemed in Europe it’s normal to spend 2 hours at a restaurant, at least every time we sat down it took 2-2.5 hours. In America you’re rushed out of your table as fast as possible so the waiter can make more tips.

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#19

Went to Mexico. It was a hot day so we stopped at a bar to grab some cold sodas. They came in glass bottles, so we paid and just left the bar to continue walking. About 5 minutes later, the bartender chased us down and made us pour the soda into paper cups and he took the bottles to return for a deposit.

Realized how much America is a throwaway society.

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RavenTheCat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually i love Mexico's glass bottle sodas and that's super cool, i really wish we recycled like that ourselves

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#20

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Pharmaceutical commercials.

Murbella0909:

It scared me so much when I was in the USA for the first time! Is like those happy people doing happy things while someone described the most terrifying side effects ever!

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The Scout
The Scout
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never understood the rationale behind "Please tell your doctor what he should prescribe, after all you know better than he does after seeing a twenty second commercial." Those are medical professionals. They should assign medication by what is needed, not what you saw on TV last night. Ads for prescription drugs simply do not make any sense.

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#21

I was born in America, then we moved to Japan from the time I was 4 until I was 8 (my dad was military) when we moved back to America, the first place we went was Dennys. I vividly remember asking my parents why the waitress kept coming to check on us, and if she thought we were doing something wrong because she seemed suspicious of us. As far as I'm aware, most countries outside of the US just leave you be and let you eat in peace. You get them when you're ready. America is very pushy because they survive on tips and need the next table to come along to make sure they can have a livelihood.

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#22

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Our portion sizes in restaurants.

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Jrog
Jrog
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was shocked when in a burger joint on the US-Canadian border I found the "quadruple half pounder" burger. That's 1 kg of meat, plus bacon, condiments, and about 1 kg of fries and free drinks.

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#23

Air conditioning so cold in public spaces that you need a jacket. It’s one example of how wasteful we are with electricity.

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#24

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Yellow school buses. They are all over the US and Canada, but apparently not in the rest of the world.

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Corvus
Corvus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most students around here use the public transportation buses to go to school. Several private schools do have their own buses, but it's a rarity.

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#25

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad I didn’t realize how much less common baseball hats were, I studied abroad in Prague and my teacher said that’s a good way to spot an American.

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Becky Samuel
Becky Samuel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They're only really worn in the UK in a uniform dark colour and in combination with a hoodie. This provides instant protection against being identified by cameras in case of an 'opportunity' presenting itself.

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#26

Lack of personal space. I was in India and when lineing /queuing up people were so close I thought they were trying to pick poket me. Then I saw they did that to everyone. I'm used to my bubble of space in America.

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#27

Constant competition. I realize that competition exists around the world in one form or another, but the concept of “best vs worst”, or “good, better, best” is deeply engrained in the American psyche. Things can’t be simply different, there must be good vs bad.

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Bernd Herbert
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a very good point! Watching all these Highschool Movies as a kid I always wondered, why they had that weird Prom King/Queen thing? At my end of school party we simply got drunk and had a great time.

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#28

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Whenever I order a soda in Europe and it arrives with no ice in it, a bald eagle dies.

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Winnie the Moo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugg, I hate it when restaurants put ice in my drinks! It waters the taste down, come on!

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#29

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Hearing gunshots all the time. My wife and I were in the UK, and there was a holiday happening in one of the boroughs in London (can't remember which one). We were staying in an Airbnb and we asked our host if it was a dangerous neighborhood . We got a look as if we were aliens and she said something along the lines of, "are you scared of fireworks?" My wife and I laughed saying, "we thought they were gunshots." Our poor host looked so horrified at how cavalier we were about how many "gunshots" there were (it was not a lot of fireworks, maybe a bang every 10-20 seconds). We had to explain that it's not out of the ordinary to hear gunshots most days where we live in the US. I hope she's ok and we didn't cause her any permanent damage. She may never visit the US though.... 

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FeelingFrisky
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Where do you live in the US that you commonly hear gunshots‽

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#30

Feeling unsafe when you went outside. deep in germany, even during the anti-american protests, i felt way safer than i ever have in America. I know there are other turbulent places of course, but living here you worry about what unhinged a*****e has a gun and wants to f**k s**t up today. just a few weeks ago my sister was at work at chapel hill in NC when someone went and shot up the science center and she was on lockdown, f****n hiding and just hoping she would make it out to pick her daughter up from school. F**K that s**t.

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oktopus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have literally been in one supermarket in the US, and a while back I was reading the news in my country, and one of the headlines was a shooting in a supermarket in the only town I've been to in the US, and yes it was that same supermarket.

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#31

Is no one talking about health insurance yet? It blew my mind coming to the UK and people go to the same doctor every time. I don't think I ever went to the same doctor twice in the US because of changing insurance so often working various jobs.

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Bernd Herbert
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't even understand that. Why would you change insurances for different jobs? Why would you change doctors for different insurances?

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#32

The cost of medication and how easily accessible it is.
The stupid hoops I had to go through to get my prescription in America is so frustrating. I've been on the same medication for well over a decade, and my last refill, my insurance decided to deny it for some stupid reason. Took 3 weeks for them to refill it.

When I was in South Korea, took less than an hour.

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Katy Thomason-Stewart
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have certain life long medical conditions - in the UK this makes me exempt from paying prescription charges. I would have been bankrupt and dead long ago if I lived in America!

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#33

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Free refills on soft drinks. On our study abroad trip to Italy we jokingly called Hard Rock Cafe the US Embassy because that was the only place for it.

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Donkeywheel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You went to Italy of all places to go to hard rock cafe ? What’s wrong with these people..?

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#34

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Eye contact while speaking to people. Americans don't break eye contact easily so depending where you go, I've been told it comes off as aggressive.

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James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I REALLY struggle to keep eye contact for any amount of time, I feel like I am glaring at someone.

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#35

I didn’t go abroad to learn this, but I worked on staff for a Very Big International Sporting Event (but not the one with the rings) and we provided lockers with built in combination locks like you’d see in any American public school for journalists to store equipment (computers, cameras etc.) in.

What no one realized was that if you didn’t attend public school in North America, you’ve apparently never seen such a thing before, and the whole “go three times past zero to the right and stop on the first number, turn past zero once to the left and stop in the second number, then back to the right immediately to the third number” is an incomprehensible system.

After a few days of hearing cursing in every language you can imagine, and seeing grown adults brought to tears or rage or both, we ended up assigning a troop of volunteers whose entire job for two weeks was opening lockers for non-North Americans.

Lesson learned!

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arthbach
arthbach
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've read the instructions three times, and it's still incomprehensible! If I had the instructions in front of me as I was doing it, I'd manage, but just being expected to be able to do this.... yoicks!

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#36

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Root beer is apparently disgusting and an offense to most of the world's palate.

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#37

Not american but I'm surprised to not see americans mention going outside dressed like s**t... In France it may take 20 minutes to get ready to go grab something for breakfast or walk the dog, but nobody would go out in PJs or kinda-workout clothes...

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Bernd Herbert
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For a more detailed study I recommend visiting the breakfast at any large chain hotel in the US.

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#38

I was in Germany and had people asking how far I lived from certain American landmarks. They would get a strange, kind of “wow” expression on their face when I told them.

Turns out they were just getting a kick out of the fact I was explaining it by time and not distance.

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John Harrison
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It makes sense to describe it by time. Ten miles in the city is entirely different than ten miles in the country.

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#39

I learned that American fast food is disgusting and way overpriced.

Out in Seoul you can almost guarantee that you'll find a fried chicken and beer place, and barely pay anything for a delicious meal. Korea changed my world on food.

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PhaseWitFact
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

TBF I've been in McDonald's in Spain. It was as gross as the McDonalds here in the US.

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#40

Half and half. I watched an American family try to order coffee in London with half and half and the server just kept saying “half what?” and neither side understood what was happening.

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Landithy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one that really messed me up was sticks of butter. Butter doesn't come divided in sticks where I'm from and until I moved to the US, I thought a "stick" was an entire 500g block of butter. I messed up so many American recipes.

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#41

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad In America , we’ve normalized bad restaurants. For example, when I go to a restaurant in the US, I do so with the expectation that there’s at least a 50% chance it will suck. I’ve been to Italy and Japan. In both places I could go to restaurants expecting them to be good nearly 100% of the time. American restaurants on the whole just take food less seriously.

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#42

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Peanut butter is in the international foods section, and many people don't like it. It also amazes me how much American culture is all over the world. Like our movies and TV shows.

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#43

To-go cups and coffee. It's EVERYWHERE in the states... but after a red-eye to Barcelona I just wanted to get a huge coffee and walk around. Wrong. Get a table at a cafe.. order a tiny coffee and a croissant, and relax for an hour. This is the Spanish way. The only place I ever saw 'to-go' like I was used to is Costa Cofee and Starbucks, which were only in a few touristy areas (thankfully).


Also drive-thru. Apparently it's not a thing most places in Europe (obviously driving for everything is less common). One person we met said that after they had lived in the states for 20 years and moved back to Europe they were spotted eating in their car. Apparently this was such a rare sight that a total stranger stopped to ask if she was OK. When she replied 'yes' the only response was "wow, you must have been REALLY hungry to eat in your car".

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#44

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad How trustworthy they are in places like Iceland. My buddy and I went to Iceland and he left his ATM card on top of the ATM when we first got there because it was a redeye flight and we hadn’t really slept. We went to get our car from the car rental place realize he didn’t have it, went back, and despite being in a public place for about an hour no one had touched it.

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PhaseWitFact
PhaseWitFact
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not an American thing. I've traveled a lot and I'm most countries I have to carry my money and passport in a tight fitting bag under my shirt so it won't get stolen.

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#45

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad This probably isn't exclusive to America, just places with certain plumbing, but I took it for granted that we can flush our toilet paper. Going to Ecuador it was a shock to see that they had trash cans in each stall for throwing it away. Definitely smelled terrible.

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James016
James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A lot of places don't have the plumbing to handle toilet paper.

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#46

I have no idea how to ride a train.

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ToGo
ToGo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You have to let it smell your hand first. Gently pet it and when it finally trusts you it will open it's door and let you hop on.

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#47

Right turn on red. (In places like the UK, Australia, and Japan, the equivalent would be left turn on red.)

I thought turning on a red light (unless a sign says its forbidden) was normal. Being pulled over by a cop in Taiwan, followed by online discussions about my experience, showed me that it's a very American thing.

Most other countries either forbid it altogether or allow it only when there's a sign or light saying you can. Apparently South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines are among the few countries that follow the American model (turns on red permitted unless otherwise indicated).

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arthbach
arthbach
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To put it bluntly, turning on a red light is dangerous to pedestrians. In other parts of the world, we expect pedestrians to have a basic level of safety when crossing the roads.

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#48

Red Solo Cups.

I went to an American themed party once and the hostess was super excited that she was able to order the cups off of Amazon for the party.

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Bernd Herbert
Bernd Herbert
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Been to lots of parties here (Germany). We simply used glasses and plates or drank beer out of the bottle. Not really a need for single use plastic c**p

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#49

Ads for lawyers. Attorneys if you are highbrow. We have so many on TV yelling about being hit by a truck and CALL ME RIGHT NOW or dial a single digit multiple times or “I am a multimillionaire corporation that sues companies since they have gobs of liquid cash”.

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James016
James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I saw an amazing amount of billboard advertising lawyers when in Florida

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#50

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Free public toilets everywhere you go. I cannot believe the rest of the world is a “pay to pee” society.

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Thom Cornell
Thom Cornell
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Australia has free public toilets and it amazingly is a part of the rest of the world.

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#51

Having coin money with NO value written on it in numerals. Also the dime looks insanely small compared to most coins.

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#52

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Bumper stickers.

sumosloths:


Any kind of car customization in general, even down to license plate frames. Pretty much every car I saw in Europe looked super generic.

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#53

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Sit-down bookstores.

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Scrappychick
Scrappychick
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My local second hand Bookshop is huge and has sofas for people to take a pew and read.

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#54

Escalator Etiquette.
I cannot speak for every country, but in the UK, it's strongly frowned upon to stand in the middle or left side of the escalator; that side is meant for walkers only. Think of it as a fast lane. Supposedly, if you stand in the way, you're liable to get pushed aside or exaggeratingly huffed at.

I pride myself on a high social IQ so if this is common sense in America and I just didn't know about it I apologize!

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pep Ito
pep Ito
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Spain it is normal for people to stand on the right side of the escalator and the left side is used by people walking up.

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#55

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Large parking lots and always having guaranteed free parking available wherever you go.

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Laugh or not
Laugh or not
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Given that many cities in Europe are actively trying to make themselves unfriendly to cars, there will only be less and less parking lots. Public transport all the way!

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#56

SUVs. I only saw three in France, and one had Florida tags.

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Jrog
Jrog
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

SUVs are common, but are generally smaller than the american ones. Pickup trucks are not common at all. The most common american SUV in 2023 is the Ford Expedition, that is 564 cm long, 237 cm wide, 194 cm high. The most common European SUV in 2023 is the Dacia Duster, that is 434 x 180 x 169 cm. That's about 50% less volume. Oh, and the Duster is only the 10th most sold car in Europe, the rest are compacts

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#57

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Accessibility of public places. ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is incredible.

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#58

To go bags after dinner!

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James016
James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Get this in the UK. Not a bad thing. It means the food is not wasted

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#59

Clothing dryer machines. Outside of the US, most dryers in many countries are very weak. They tumble with gentle heat to get most of the moisture out but they don't dry clothes completely to "dry", they're still damp. Usually after "drying" one finishes them on a clothes line. Many view the kind of full dryers we have in America to be extremely wasteful of electricity.

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Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Slightly puzzled by this one. Of course, our dryers will completely dry our clothes. But we only use ours when the weather isn't suitable for line drying, whatever the time of year.

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#60

I doubt this is restricted to America in any way, but when I studied abroad in the UK, the lack of public drinking laws was a bit of a culture shock. Being able to walk outside with a bottle of beer was very freeing.

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Roan The Demon Kitty
Roan The Demon Kitty
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can drink out if you want but if you get drunk and start being a nuisance THEN the law comes into play.

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#61

Also, leaning. I lean on everything.

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#62

Fashion. When I visited China for the first time as a 13 year old on vacation, I was dumbfounded by the sight of men wearing capris.

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Roan The Demon Kitty
Roan The Demon Kitty
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

China is a weird place, it's either high end fashion, or.. as you say, capris and polo shirts. No inbetween. (but to be fair, afaik there's still a huge wealth gap in China, especially between the cities and more rural areas)

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#63

We refrigerate a lot more things than in the Caribbean and UK. It was surprising to see things like yogurt & freshly squeezed fruit juices simply on ice on Barbados instead of a proper refrigerator.

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StumblingThroughLife
StumblingThroughLife
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No need to refrigerate in the UK: Eggs; fruit; long-life/Alt milk; bread (unless it's REALLY hot weather, and we want it to last its proper sell-by-date (- edited to add, due to plastic packaging and heat = mould), but we definitely refrigerate dairy products and fresh fruit juice - and fizzy pop before we drink it.

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#64

This is about 25 years ago, but when i lived in South Korea, i was once asked if i wanted some dessert. My options was cola or cider (like sprite). As an American i never thought of soda as a dessert.

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#65

Screens on windows!

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#66

Construction safety. Walking around cities in France, I’d often find that building construction work would just spill out into the sidewalk, with nothing done to steer pedestrians away. You have to be a lot more mindful about not getting something dropped on your head, tools littering the sidewalk, sparks from welding, etc.

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Jan Rosier
Jan Rosier
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Definitely not the case in Belgium, where you have to apply for permits and put up fences and warning signs if you are doing something which might take space from the sidewalk. Unless off course you own a cafe and want to set up tables outside... :-)

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#67

Easy access to drinking water. I once asked for a cup of water at a coffee shop and they acted like I’d asked to eat their garbage. Also in a restaurant I asked for just plain tap water and they kept saying no we don’t have that. I know damn well you have running water, just put some in a glass, jeez.

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Little but Fierce
Little but Fierce
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've travelled to almost every country in Europe and never found this, except in Germany. The places I've been to that don't have drinkable tap water are mainly in South America.

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#68

Dive bars, sports bars and wings. For example I’m currently in Argentina, I’m not saying American food is better by any means. But a regular bar is not as common here. Most places are cafes/restaurants which are great but sometimes I just want to hang out at a good neighborhood dive bar, I don’t always want to sit down at a table and it be like a dining atmosphere/experience if that makes sense with waiters and food menus, etc. There are regular bars and sports bars here but they are not as prevelant and common and because of that they are usually only in the main part of the city. Where as in Florida and a lot of other states there is always at least a few good sports bars in town.

I guess they could also be categorized as a pub, but not an English pub because the bar food there sucks. Sports bars have great happy hour deals on pitchers of beers, wings and other good bar eats. They are also great places to get work done, if you go to one during the day and there’s no major game on they usually are pretty quiet and a great place to hook up to Wi-Fi and get work done, spend a lengthy lay over in, or kill time at, if you make use of the happy hour menu you can eat actually pretty good and not break the bank. I always find myself looking for the closest thing to a sports bar when I travel. So far most the Irish pubs I’ve come across in South America are pretty good, but the wings and sliders just aren’t the same.

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