American & British Living: Some Notable Differences

I’m very lucky to have been given this opportunity to live abroad through marrying my husband (lol took the easy way clearly).  Ever since I was little, I’d always dreamed of visiting, and eventually, living abroad.  When you’re growing up, you have no idea where life will take you, and I’m so blessed it’s taken me to where I am right now.  Although I haven’t been living here very long (cumulatively about 12 months between 2017 and 2018), I absolutely love living in the U.K.  That being said, there are some differences between American and British living that I’ve definitely picked up on since moving here.  I’m sure as the years go by, that I’ll come across more and more variances in American and British living.  But for now, we’ll start with these little tidbits (in no specific order).

Ya better learn to parallel park if you want to live in the U.K.

Literally almost EVERY aspect of driving is different between the two countries.  Yes, there’s the obvious “driving on the other side of the road” thing, but it goes much further than that.  For one, America’s roads (and cars) are bigger.  Everyone here believes that old adage “Everything is bigger in America”, and when you look at this aspect of life…you kind of see why.  The U.K. is a much older country than the U.S. – their roads and infrastructure date back to Roman times in most areas.  Literally – most of the streets here are older than the U.S.!  These roads, when built, were long before the invention of the car was even an idea, so they’re much smaller than the roads in America.  So, tiny roads means tiny cars.  You do see the odd large car, but even when you do it’s in more rural areas.  Most of the population in the U.K. drive manual cars, and go through very rigorous training to do so – hours upon hours, and hundreds of pounds go into it.  Most people fail their tests the first few times apparently.  Much more difficult than our measly 6 hours of driving lessons!  Also…it’s petrol, not gas.

Weather is quite possibly the most talked about subject of conversation.

The Brits love their weather.  Or, love to hate it, I would say.  If it’s cold, they complain about it, asking where the warm weather is at.  The warm weather comes, and then they complain it’s too hot.  Although, some people go crazy when the warm weather comes out.  I recall being in the car and listening to a radio show, and the temperature hit maybe 65 (18-20c) or 70 degrees one day, and people were acting like it was a heatwave, walking around shirtless, tanning in the garden, etc.  It’s like they’ve never seen the sun sometimes (which, I guess I get, because the weather does tend to be dreary here a lot!).  Regardless of whether it’s negative or positive, they love to talk about the weather here.  I do have ONE personal complaint in regards to weather here: they don’t have air conditioning!  Coming from America, I’m so spoiled because pretty much everyone has central air systems or at least window units.  But in the U.K. central air is non-existent (the buildings are usually too old to install), and window units are far and few in between, due to it being so expensive.

“The customer is always right” in America…not so much in the U.K.

The U.S. is known all across the world for it’s hospitality services.  In the service industry, the customer really IS “always right”.  Customers are greeted with charm, and employees go out of their way to accommodate them.  Take it from someone who works in the customer service sector.  The last thing Americans want is an unhappy customer.  This is especially true for people that work in the service industry (i.e. servers, hairdressers, shop workers, etc.).  For them, their wage literally depends on a happy customer, because of the fact they make a pittance and essentially live off of their tips.  This is in stark contrast to the U.K., where tipping is not a necessity (it’s only offered if exceptional service is given, and even then no one really tips).  It’s also not a necessity to give exceptional customer service.  In fact, I’ve probably come across some of the rudest people when being served at restaurants or shops.  They don’t need to rely on being pleasant to customers to earn their wages, so why bother?

International travel happens more in the U.K. than in the U.S.

With almost the entire population holding a passport, and multiple countries within a 2 hour trip from the U.K., it’s easy to see why Brits flit off to places like Spain or France at every opportunity they get.  In fact, many Brits own summer properties and retire to other countries like this.  The ease of access to multiple countries is what makes it so easy to travel internationally (well… Brexit).  Not only that, but it’s extremely cheap to do so (just look at all the places we were able to go on our honeymoon).  Sadly, for a lot of Americans, it’s just not feasible.  It’s a long and expensive trip if you wish to go abroad, which is why a lot of Americans don’t bother – in fact, it’s said that only something like 42% of Americans hold passports.  Also, the U.S. is one of the largest and most geologically diverse nations in the world – we have loads of beaches, mountains, deserts, etc.  It is actually possible to travel within the U.S. to an area that is vastly different from where you are from, while the U.K. is pretty much the same everywhere you go (it’s a tiny island, after all).  Many Americans are quite happy to stay within their comfort zone and travel domestically if it means less travel time (for the most part) and lower costs.

Healthcare: the U.K. is doing it right.

One of the biggest perks about living here is the healthcare – that’s right, I’m talking free healthcare, people!  No monthly premiums to pay, no being turned away or slapped with huge medical bills, and no fines for not having it!  The NHS is publicly funded (through things like taxes), so when you go to the doctor, or have to have a procedure done, you pay nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  Okay well technically on my visa I had to pay about £800 to be eligible for the NHS, but that will cover the next 2.5 years; and once I get citizenship, I won’t have to pay a thing.  You pay for prescriptions and that’s it (and even then they’re cheaper than they are in America).  They do offer private healthcare, which you can OPT to use if you wish.  The only real “downside” to the NHS, is that they usually have a long wait time to get an appointment, but I’d gladly take that over not being able to afford being seen!  Plus, if you do not wish to wait to be seen on the NHS, you can choose to go private and pay.  For example, I had an infection in my gum and rang up the local dentist’s office.  On the NHS, they would not have been able to see me until a month or two later, but I could go private and be seen immediately.  It only cost me £50 and I was seen that day.  So even when you do pay, it’s not as much as in the U.S.!  This is one of the most important differences between American and British living in my opinion.

These aren’t the ONLY differences between American and British living, but they are definitely some of the most notable.  Have you noticed any differences between the two?  If so, definitely let me know in the comments below!  I’d love to chat about everyone’s thoughts on this!

xx Lauren