We’re Americans who visited the UK – and these are the 10 things in Britain that surprised us the most, from the service to the toilets (and the VERY narrow roads)

An American couple who visited Britain extensively have revealed the 10 things that surprised them most about the country.

And the list contains some entries that may also raise some eyebrows among the native British population. It turns out that they can be proud of the quality of their public toilets, for example.

Cara Atwell and Jeremy Davis – currently in Portland, Oregon – posted a video on their ‘Magic Geekdom’ YouTube channel in which they loosely list the 10 surprising things, from least to most surprising. The video has been viewed more than 300,000 times so far.

Read on for the full rankings – and vote for the item on the list you think is the worst thing about Britain in our poll at the bottom.

10. No car needed

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Cara says in the video: ‘I assumed you needed a car in the UK. And that is not the case. It’s so much easier to get around in the UK on public transport than in the US. You don’t need a car – we learned that the second time. We didn’t rent a car at all and it was wonderful to travel everywhere by train.’

9. Narrow roads and parking lots

“They can be quite scary and intimidating,” says Cara, “compared to our big, wide roads in America. I was also surprised at how difficult parking can be.”

Jeremy added: ‘There’s not much free parking at all.’

8. Many people go to London alone

Jeremy says: ‘Most international travelers only go to London. We love London, but there is so much more to see. Some of our favorite places are smaller towns and villages.”

Cara adds: ‘And we’ve had people in the UK tell us that we’ve been to places they’ve never been before.’

7. Footpaths

Cara says: ‘British footpaths form an extensive network… allowing you to walk across private land and enjoy all different types of landscapes. One of my favorite memories… I cherish the fact that we got to walk through a field of cows in Dorset. It was so great.’

The site was especially interesting to the couple because there are dinosaur footprints embedded in an area of ​​rock.

6. Being treated decently like Americans

Jeremy says, “People told us that people in certain cities wouldn’t be nice to Americans, but I feel like we had a positive experience everywhere we went.”

Cara adds, “Yes, Americans traveling internationally can be a precarious affair. We are not liked in many places.”

5. Hot and cold taps

The couple reveals that they have rarely encountered separate hot and cold taps in America. Cara admits that when she first encountered hot and cold taps, she wasn’t sure how to use them. She wondered whether she should “quickly move her hands back and forth from one to the other” or “just use the hot tap and hope that wouldn’t be the case.” get too hot’.

4. Service levels and billing

Jeremy reveals that the first time they went to a non-fast food restaurant in Britain, they were baffled by the fact that the bill wasn’t presented to them automatically.

He says, “We finished what we ordered and we were just waiting and waiting….”

Cara adds, “It was alarmingly weird. It was like, “Where is everyone? Where did our server go?” We spent 30 or 40 minutes there waiting for them to bring the bill. Because that’s what they do in the US

3. Portion sizes

Jeremy says: ‘Portion sizes in the UK can be drastically different to those in the US, in a healthier way.’

Cara adds: ‘When we arrived in the UK it was a bit surprising to see a set serving of food. And not that huge plate of food that you don’t actually need to eat. It was quite shocking at first.”

2. Efficiency

Cara explains that Britain has “little things” that “make me, as an American, feel like we’re a little bit behind the rest of the world.”

One example is contactless payment, another example: the trains. Cara was impressed by how you can just step on it and ‘nothing happens’.

She adds, “In the US, we have to make things more complicated than they need to be.”

1. Public bathrooms/toilets

America’s public restrooms are labeled as sad and “thin,” says Cara, with doors that you can often see through.

She adds: ‘I mean, you can see someone doing business if you want to, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that in Britain.’

Cara told MailOnline Travel: ‘The public toilets were the most shocking thing from the moment we arrived in Britain. After spending most of our lives using the thin, exposed partitions common in the US, it was so refreshing to experience a higher level of privacy.’

Is there anything in Britain that she would like to see in the US?

Cara said, “I wish the US had better public transportation and walkability, which would reduce the need for cars, especially in cities.

‘I also wish we could implement contactless payments in more places. In the US, it is very common to hand employees your credit card in restaurants and in many other situations. I would like to see an end to that.’

And are there areas where Britain has room for improvement?

Cara said: ‘The main thing I had to get used to was the style of service in the restaurant and having to ask for the bill. At first it felt strange compared to the more attentive American style service. But over time we came to appreciate the British approach as it allowed for a more relaxed, relaxed meal.”

Cara and Jeremy post on social media as The Magic Geekdom. They can be found at www.instagram.com/themagicgeekdom; twitter.com/magicgeekdom; www.tiktok.com/@themagicgeekdom; wwww.youtube.com/@TheMagicGeekdom And www.facebook.com/themagicgeekdom.