Mistakes American Tourist Make in England

Another benefit of getting the short-period membership of the National Trust ( and English Heritage ) is the free use of car parks. In some places, such as the Lake District, car parking is difficult but the parking passes are a great help. Another thing to be aware of is the length of daylight hours. In summer, specially in the north of England or Scotland, we have very long days and short nights. Some friends newly arrived from the US woke up, showered and dressed before noticing it was 4:30 AM.

Don’t drink the tap water. Bottled water only

And English Heritage

You missed turning on the plug switches 😂

Another driving tip. As americans you will have the overwhelming urge to want to rent a 7 ton, ford F-950 super truck so that you an drive around the UK with room for your stuff. THIS IS A GOOD IDEA and you will not at all get stuck in every single lane.

.That is a really nice and , as an English person I'd say , a very helpful guide. Thank you for helping American tourists to make the best of their visit. I am hosting a conference this summer where there are a number of Americans coming so some of yuor advice is useful to me when I am briefing them and hoping to help them-enjoy themselves without making "mistakes".

The point about the England football team is so right on and it's the first I've heard somebody mention it from outside of England. I'm a supporter of a lower league club team so my expectations are already tempered (we celebrated a throw in once...) so when England lose I'm over it pretty quickly.

Fantastic review of my country my friend

It might sound obvious, but if you want to avoid rain, then come in the summer. We can and usually do have unbroken sun with temps reaching 33C between May and September. If you like it raining and freezing, then come in October through to March.

when you realize you're staying in an inn that's about twice as old as america

I'm always surprised by how many foreign tourists don't even think about coming to the beaches here. It is the staple holiday over here, and anyone who's ever grown up here will be fond of them. Once over people went to places like Blackpool, or Clacton-on-Sea which are admittedly run down these days, but there are loads of much better kept places for beach holidays like Ilfracombe in North Devon.

Why would you think half seven means eight thirty?

Don't think that you can 'do', England, or Britain, in a week or a fortnight (two weeks). You won't!
It's not possible.

Great advice BTW.

Oh, I'm a Brit who's travelled to some 31 different countries.

Great tips

In the Winter it WILL rain in the summer it WONT rain. If you come back i would definately suggest the new forrest

Speaking as a native Brit, thank you for making this video🥰

Mistakes American Tourist Make in England...





COMING...

"Travelling by train is super easy to do" lmao

Also remember: British trains are absolutely APPALLING for timekeeping. So bake in at least 20 minutes extra into your travel plans.
I'm literally typing this sat waiting for a delayed train in the North. 😅

Little tip amigos, dont go to London or Birmingham. Rest of it is OK. Also flying is often cheaper than getting a train

Im actually a decendant of Alice Nutter, who was hanged during the pendle witch trials. Theres a statue of her in Roughlee in Lancashire.

I just feel bad for tourists because theyre probably gonna bump into a chav or 10.

When the weather says 85% rain. It means that 85% of the area will experience rainfall.

Im 24 and was born in Salford. Ive been to London once in my life. I enjoyed myself but i much prefer the country side as apposed to the bustle of the city.

From Manchester here.

More than ever, being smart with travel/train tickets is a must. You can pay eye-wateringly high prices for travel if not careful and there's nothing worse than having a holiday limited by such costs.

The comment on football shirts..... PLEASE take it to heart and maybe hold off on wearing them at all. Some of the most intense rivalries are within cities (Manchester United and Manchester City and multiple london-based teams) and weekends are likely to have at least one team playing at home.... please be carefull.

When ordering any beer, lager or ale, and you see a lot of confusing beer pumps and names, just admit to the barman you are a bit lost and ask what they have thats like your favourite brand.... unless they are super busy, most barmen will happily run through what they have.... after all, many Brits will do the same when going to a new pub/area.

Like any country, we have certain areas more prone to rain, with Manchester one of the dampest tourist spots.... there is a reason that parkas are associated with the area. Even if its a sunny day, have a lightweight waterproof packed and ready to use.

Manor

Also britain will vary a lot because a lot of the houses were built 100+ years ago to 200+ years ago so they were built with local materials so you have the famous bath stone, or Cotswold stone or red brick etc

The UK has very low driver fatality and accident rates, even among other developed countries, so driving should not be too scary. Do be careful on country roads though, hedges block vision and there isn't always room to pass other cars, so get as small a car that you can get away with. Almost all rural roads are paved so you don't need a 4x4 or similar if you're travelling in the countryside (unless there's an ice risk naturally)

In the UK, companies are given franchises to operate parts of the network. For instance, GWR run trains to Wales and the south west. As we have a tory government who sold the railways to private operators to run.

Visit Norwich!! It’s my hometown and I’d definitely recommend. York vibes but in my opinion, much better 😉😊😊

Queue culture? Obviously you've never used public transport in London. You're lucky if you can even get off the train before everyone just rushes in.

Tip for Americans visiting the UK: lower your volume. You may not realise it, but we can hear American tourists from the next street along. Depending on where you are, this can be a real problem. In galleries and museums, the european standard of behaviour is to keep volume to an almost whisper, depending on how busy the space is. I've been in galleries where everyone is in absolute silence, apart from a group of American tourists who literally yell across the hall to one another.

Another thing is pavements (sidewalks). American tourists tend not to have the same spatial awareness as Brits, and can be prone to taking up entire walkways which can cause people to get very frustrated. We tend to have an urgency hierarchy, so if someone behind you is in a rush, be prepared to move out of the way.

if you like beers like coors, budweiser, etc. then instead of asking for an ale, ask for a lager (pronounced - laa·guh)

Big supermarkets will usually be open 24 hours - but those kind are outside the city centre in retail parks and the like

On being scared about driving, I would say one place to avoid when unfamiliar with driving in the UK is Swindon, and its magic roundabout.

You can drive in London!!!!!!

News to me!

I'm from Cornwall in England. I'm 38 and never been to London unless it's straight to Gatwick Airport. The whole idea is just not appealing to me.

I can't believe haw many of you are saying tips aren't expected.
Our tipping culture is not as extreme as the US but you should absolutely tip your servers if you go out for a meal. They are on minimum wage.
Also tipping your window cleaner, postman and garbage men at Christmas always has been a thing.
Builders and others get paid properly, so just get tea on demand 😂

60mph, narrow, winding, sometimes single track rural roads, hidden behind stone walls and hedgerows should scare you.

When my father in law came to visit and rented a car, he proceeded to go in the verge and wreck a wheel after hitting a rock. This is a man who probably drives 100k km a year, all over the world. If you're not a good, confident driver who understands how wide his car is, do us all a favour and don't clog up the roads.

I live in a coastal town (south) and they are usually as expensive or sometimes more expensive than London. Especially where I live it’s daylight robbery but there so much to see and do for a tourist.

Do say PLEASE and THANK YOU and do make sure to get in line too (Queue up).

Yep. As an Englishman who loves the rain, it doesn't rain ENOUGH for me!

As an Englishman, I can confirm that everything this man said is completely spot on.

Im surprised so many people are saying that they don’t tip? Everyone in my family and when we go out with friends, everyone contributes to a tip.

It's only good manners to wait in a queue!