For the worldly American, the summer Eurotrip is practically a rite of passage. While much connects the US and Europe, the two entities are different enough that American travelers often experience culture shock when they visit different European countries for the first time. One person on Reddit asked American travelers to share what struck them the most when they visited and got a ton of great responses.
The two continents’ histories, both separate and intertwined, make for an interesting opportunitY to compare and contrast how they’ve found different solutions to similar problems. While some of the comments shared were lighthearted and fun, others pointed to interesting differences in perspective.
#1
Restaurants paying employees a fair wage and not expecting the customer to make up for low wages.
Image source: deadevilmonkey, Brooke Cagle
#2
Universal healthcare
Image source: Feisty_Affect_7487, Karolina Grabowska
#3
Good bread.
Image source: thegreatgatsB70, Pixabay
#4
Walkable towns
Image source: Mustang46L, Lisa Fotios
#5
Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance.
Image source: DaddyHojo
#6
Bars older than the US
Image source: ncopp, Victor Clime
#7
I think as a whole, it’s there attitude towards work.
The vibe I get when visiting most European countries is most people seem to work only to live. While in the states, it feels we live to work. The most common thing out of an American’s mouth when meeting someone new is what do you do? I did not find this to be the case in Europe, and I am super jealous.
Image source: hurtmore, Chahriar Hariri
#8
Getting sick without going bankrupt
Image source: CancerBee69
#9
Infrastructure built around walking, bicycles, and busses. Not just exclusively built around personal vehicles.
Image source: Cassandra_Canmore
#10
900 year old universities
Image source: Lazy-Ad-770, Molnár Tamás Photography™
#11
Everyone is bilingual or multilingual.
Image source: Royal_Acanthisitta51, Diva Plavalaguna
#12
maternity leave
Image source: urallclapped, Toa Heftiba
#13
Tiny city streets.
Image source: SuperstitiousPigeon5, Caleb Maxwell
#14
The sirens that go BEEE booo BEEE booo BEEE booo BEEE booo
Image source: TrueReplayJay, camilo jimenez
#15
Drinking cappuccino on a cobblestone street outside of a cafe, which is hundreds of years old.
Image source: vetheros37, Dustin Bowdige
#16
Sitting at a restaurant for hours talking. Half an hour of conversation with anybody and I am done. For the month.
Image source: svladcjelli2001, ELEVATE
#17
Eurovision.
Image source: Neferknitti, alterna2
#18
Paid time off.
Image source: Transvaal_Kampioen
#19
Gothic Architecture
Image source: SpaceGhostBurp, Kateryna Naidenko
#20
Castles
Image source: Money-Bear7166
#21
Electric kettle
Image source: majesticalexis, ready made
#22
Functional transit, carrying a beer outside at night, and post dinner coffee is super common
Image source: StabbyPants, Yannis Papanastasopoulos
#23
Going for a stroll in somewhere like Northumberland you can pass buildings castles and hill forts covering over three thousand years.
Image source: ledgerdemaine
#24
Roundabouts.
Image source: lordmarksman
#25
Thinking 100 miles is a long distance. I talked a brit once who said they hadn’t seen their parents in two years because its a far trip… it was 2 hours away….
Image source: hellotrrespie
#26
Pay to use a restroom.
Image source: birdsarntreal1, Sung Jin Cho
#27
Men wearing speedos at the beach or in a pool. The ones you do see in the US are usually Europeans on vacation
Image source: Ro7ard, Kindel Media
#28
No ac by choice
Image source: greenwobbles
#29
€10 flights to nearby countries. The US could never.
Image source: pastajewelry
#30
Complaining about Americans.
Image source: EatLard
#31
Flying into Florida and thinking you can drive to Los Angeles, NYC, and Chicago easily.
Image source: lazyhazyeye, Andre Tan
#32
Titles – Lord Humpty Dump or Countess Beaverhousen who are just related, distantly, to some ancestor who did some favor for a king somewhere.
Image source: Maxwyfe
#33
Vespas
Image source: CaptStegs
#34
The Euro
Image source: CT_7
#35
Calling arkansas arKANSAS
Image source: Similar-Sector-5801
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