American tourists visiting the EU, what do you think of it?
is it poorer? richer? better? worse? Is European internet cheaper? are EU food prices outrageous? Is European healthcare better? Is Europe safer?
Boring. Got into cab at Heathrow and wasn't given a firearm for protection by the driver for whatever reason. Rented a car later and they didn't have any lifted trucks. None of the cars could even roll coal!
I went to go and insult random teachers on the street, and people didn't join in with me and threaten their lives. They even defended them! Needles to say that made me even angrier I wasn't issued my standard citizen firearm.
In France, no one spoke English even though I spoke loudly and slowly. Naturally, I told them to go back where they're from. I poured oil on the ground and lit it on fire as a signal for other patriots, but sadly I was alone.
The one thing I liked about Europe was how they talked about and treated immigrants. Closest to home I felt during the whole trip. How disgusting and evil immigrants are was the one conversation where I could see who the real Americans are over there.
In France, no one spoke English even though I spoke loudly and slowly
Haha, reminds me of a holiday ages ago in France.
Someone left their handbag behind or something, and my friend said "I'll sort it out, I know French". To be fair, he did. But when I went back to tell him where we ended up, he was speaking slowly and loudly to the poor french person.
Which reminds me of another time in France, having breakfast. I ordered "orange juice" and the waiter looked confused. So I said it again slower, and his face lit up and said "ah, jus d'orange".
It is easier to understand a foreign language when it's spoken slowly (well, not too slowly).
The loud part is just for the benefit of the speaker.
Do those things actually happen on the US? Because they all look like things that happened once and the media run away with them.
There are for more guns than people in the United States. I had someone "roll coal" on me a few weeks ago while riding my bike. It was as awful as you'd expect. People are awful to teachers and we pay them very little. And anti-immigrant sentiment is pretty strong at the moment. So, yes, basically everything referenced occurs in the US. Unless I'm missing something in particular you're talking about.
We don't usually pour oil on the ground and try to light it though. That's pretty hard, we usually just use gasoline.
I didn't feel particularly safer in Europe... About the same... Watch your wallet, don't go down dark alleys alone, etc.
Some things definitely felt more grandiose, but on average things felt like they could be in an American city if not for their vintage.
Public transportation was definitely the biggest difference I observed, trains in Germany were an all but fantastic experience.
I was surprised how heavy German food was and how much smoking folks in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria do. It seemed elevated compared to the average US city.
I love Europe. It's my favourite country. I'm currently learning European so I can speak to Europeans more and enjoy European culture and European food. I love the policies enacted by the European government and I think Europe has a good head of state. I hope to be a European citizen someday and get a European passport. Then I'll start to learn African and see if the African government will give me a visa to visit Africa
I love Europe. It's my favourite country.
Is your one in the southern or northern parts of England?
I like the European parts of Europe
By the same token, people shouldn’t over-generalize about the US either. It’s a big place with massive differences from place to place.
Poorer? No. Richer? Also no. Cheaper? Some things, like housing and wine. Other things, same or more expensive (such as electronics) Healthcare was at least as good but easier to get into.
I was constantly surprised just how normal/at home I felt. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I'm from California, been on various trips around Spain, and France, with under a week spent in both Italy and Switzerland.
I love everywhere I've been. I'd be happy to live somewhere in western Europe.
I don't know if European healthcare is better, but it's far more civilized in its availability. I haven't seen much difference between EU and USA for equivalent-quality grocery prices, with the exception of Zurich. I've found Europe to be generally safe. There seems to be more "sneaky" crime, whereas the States has more confrontational crime.
Freeway etiquette is far better in France and Spain than California. Trains, of course, are better too.
One major difference is labor laws. The EU has far more protection, but far less mobility. I remember telling a German friend that I had gotten a new job operating a fairly large power system, after working in a tangentially related field, without any additional study or licenses, and his response was "Only in America!" I hadn't even considered that this move would be far more difficult in other countries.
Your last paragraph is a good one. I fell in love with Sweden when I was there. Then I talked to some teenagers and they said they really wanted to live in America. It caught me off guard. I didn't understand why they would want to leave a place that seemed so safe, secure, and comfortable. They said they wanted more flexibility and opportunity. Sure, they could get a stable living-wage job and keep it for their whole career, but in America they thought they would have more chances to try new things and reinvent themselves.
Whether our perceptions of each other's countries are correct or not, for all of us the grass certainly looked greener on the other side of the fence.
One major difference is labor laws. The EU has far more protection, but far less mobility. I remember telling a German friend that I had gotten a new job operating a fairly large power system, after working in a tangentially related field, without any additional study or licenses, and his response was “Only in America!” I hadn’t even considered that this move would be far more difficult in other countries.
Also very German to rely a lot of degrees and certifications. Other countries like the UK (European still even after Brexit) would care more about experience than degrees.
Certainly. Germany is an extreme example.
Depends where you go.
Western Europe is pretty safe tourism wise.
Further south you go cheaper things are.
internet, food, and healthcare is also per country.
Western Europe is pretty safe tourism wise.
Also, if you avoid tourist hotspots. Amsterdam and Paris are much less safe for tourists, namely thanks to pickpockets, than a random village or nature area is.
Once again, Europe is not a single country so all these things vary wildly from country to country.
As an American who has been to the EU I can say with certainty that each one of those factors changes within an hour drive from my home. Making them a US v EU debate on an individual scale is meaningless. There's nice parts and bad parts of both.
Comm'on bringing reasonable and moderate argument on an internet discussion :) You're supposed to bring strong troll-like arguments about one of them being a worst place than best Korea either because you couldn't bring your god given car in the pedestrian centre of a European city, or that you fell threatened by the idea of everyone being a gun carrying psycho, even that a guy from the US office of your company brought you to a shooting range
On top of that we’re asking a random assortment of Americans to compare where they live with the places they visit on vacation. Watch your wallet in Europe, people are saying. Duh, yeah, when you are a tourist in a tourist area. That’s universal, folks.
Europeans seem to be happier, healthier, and to have a generally better standard of living than Americans. Small towns in Europe have much more personality than US suburbs, which largely consist of strip mall after strip mall. Food in Europe is focused on quality, whereas in the US the focus is on quantity.
Food in Europe is focused on quality, whereas in the US the focus is on quantity.
Not so much in Netherlands, at least. The portions are huge, and as a Dutch person I like to cook more because I cook better than most “restaurant” “cooks” here.
Better - I don't give a shit about richer/poorer because the quality of life is clearly higher and that's the only reason to care about wealth.
Food prices are extremely reasonable and often below American prices.
European cities are also safer not because there isn't crime but because the design creates a lot more continuous safe spaces where there are plenty of witnesses and other folks.
Lastly, European Healthcare is much better in terms of cost and quality but if you need something that you can't get done or done in a timely fashion it's harder to afford health care tourism.
Afaik if you actually need something you will get it fairly quickly.
That's why the healthcare system can be slow. We use triage heavily.
Not really a tourist but...
Netherlands, Ireland, and denmark on par for restaurants and bar pricing. Good sourcing is ubiquitously higher quality. Norway expensive restaurants and bars. In general US has better small/micro-breweries.
In EU, women don't seem as wary of being alone in public or in the presence of masc presenting people. People seem to care less how others present themselves(they're not offended by eccentric styles). I feel safer in general. America has a bunch of creeps who care that your shirt is pink or your hair is too long for a good Christian.
Healthcare exists. That's $3k-$10k+ you don't have to worry about every year.
Public transit exists. Like good public transit. The best systems in the US are garbage in comparison with the exception maybe of NYC. Though US public transit tends to be cheaper.
Can't speak for Mediterranean or eastern Europe.
Norway .... Brewery
What about distillery?
Are you one of those guys that would insist on ham and eggs brekkie even in Israel?
Actually the liquor is quite high quality, almost certainly better in general. My favorites are Irish and Scottish. But i don't drink much liquor for safety reasons.
Norway has excellent pilsners and ciders. Ireland has a good brewery in dingle (i think) can't remember name, was in Gaelic. The Finns have mastered the seltzer.
I think the micro brew culture in the US, PNW specifically, just beats the selection available in any one particular region i've visited in EU. I'm sure in aggregate EU has a larger selection. I mean, i haven't been to Germany yet so...
But for example, it's common to find only 1-2 smaller breweries on tap where I've been in EU, but in US it's common to have several micro brews in any restaurant. Larger breweries are often mid anywhere you go in the world.
I had a friend who explored every single country in Europe for several years. He very much liked the EU. He never did come back to the United States except when he had to renew his work visa. He liked Prague the best when he was younger, but ended up staying in Israel for a long time when he got older.
He didn't really have any complaints about any of the countries in the EU. He said food is much cheaper in Eastern Europe, and you can live there pretty comfortably on the cheap.
Healthcare is not better than healthcare in the States if you have money, but if you don't, then it's a lot better. He was injured during some Spanish riots and walked into a hospital and got care despite being a foreigner, and it didn't bury him in debt, so that's pretty neat.
My friend was a bit of a rebel and a daredevil, so he was in a lot of areas that were definitely less safe than where we lived in the United States. He was jumped a few times, robbed a few times, and got into a few fights. But this is true of just about any first world nation, if you want to be safe, stick to areas known for safety.
Definitely go spend some time anywhere in Europe if you have the opportunity!
Really depends on where you go! Certain parts feel safer, other parts feel less safe (or less comfortable to walk through safely). I'm not going to name names, as I've only been to various countries for a bit at a time, it would be unfair to pass judgement on entire nations based off a small experience.
The public transit is usually a cut above. Some of the driving feels dangerous. The food prices are somewhat expensive, but the food is generally less UPF-laced.
The more relaxed culture around nudity is refreshing. The lack of large, wild parks is a bit disappointing (or perhaps we missed these entirely), but various nations seem to be catching on to rewilding. The history is fascinating, and europeans generally think much more long-term than Americans, but the bad blood also runs deep, which is a little worrying. I'm glad the EU keeps everyone together.
Overall, it's fun to visit, it generally feels safe, cultured, and the transit is very great, particularly the train systems. It has it's problems just like other places in Africa, North America, and Central America.
If I had to live in a non-english speaking country, I'd probably pick Spain. Wonderful people, great transit, a relaxed culture, and excellent food, though France and Germany give Spain a run for their money on several of these points.
Went to Iceland a few years ago and the biggest thing I noticed was how clean everything was. In the US, at least where I am, trash is literally part of the street. Little black “gum” streaks, random paper flying about…
I don’t remember ever seeing any litter of any kind anywhere we went on the island.
I do remember seeing a random piece of raw meat on a meadow but that was it and I’m not sure I’d call that litter.
If you’re from the west coast of the US that seems to be a more West Coast thing. I recently went to Chicago and was amazed at how clean it was. The Lyft driver told me it was the cleanest city in the country (and possibly the world since he grew up outside of the states) but I wasn’t prepared for it. I walked everywhere in the city and there just wasn’t a single piece of trash anywhere. We actively looked too.
The public spaces seem better maintained than in the USA. Mass transit is also better in general to equivalent American cities. A lot of it feels driven by a relative lack of homelessness in tourist areas combined with continued post war investment in urban areas.
Food seems more expensive in general, but it depends on the country/region.
I've never had to deal with EU healthcare besides Covid testing. Turkey is really great for medical tourism.
Europe felt safe in general, but then I feel safe in where I travel in the USA.
I like the usually-better public transit systems. You have an advantage over us in that many of your biggest cities were established long before cars even came about, so they are not planned out as car-cities first and foremost. I’m in California where the automobile was a reality by the time most everything was being built. And in those days, people were excited by cars and the liberty they brought. Cars are much more fun when there aren’t too many of them and you have the open landscape before you. So the region I live in was planned as a love letter to cars and now we are living with all the downsides of that model being overloaded.
Obviously the whole picture is more complex than this - European cities have been rebuilt and replanned, sometimes after WW2 mass destruction. But still I think the effect of having an earlier establishment does make a difference in this way.
This is impossible to answer. In one small city (pop c. quarter million) accommodation ranges from about 65k to a couple of million. Ostentatious opulence walks past homeless beggars. Some places have a choice of fibre optic networks whilst others are still using copper wire. (I pay approximately $13 a month for 100gb untethered 5g access, reasonably unlimited fixed access is probably c.$40 p.m.) There’s a choice of food at all qualities and prices. A choice of free public hospitals as well as a private fee-paying one too. There are areas where you can leave your bag on the table as you go to the bar and there are places that not even locals willingly choose to go. A massively mixed bag. The only major difference between Europe and the US (in cities) is that we can walk across ours, in any direction, crossing roads wherever and whenever we want to.
You know that all these things are vastly different in different countries.
Switzerland is very different to Slovenia and Iceland is not comparable with Italy. Every one has their own healthcare system, police, internet providers.
And while the US is also big and diverse, you still can't compare one federated country with a Union of independent countries.
The EU is big and varied so I think that's a pretty broad question. I did visit a few countries but was too poor as a young adult to move to any. I moved to Japan later in life. If I had it to do again, I would probably pick Norway or maybe Finland.
Poorer? Some countries. Richer? Some countries. Better? What do you define as better? Worse? Idem. Is European internet cheaper? In some countries. Are EU food prices outrageous? In some countries. Is European healthcare better? Usually, from what I've heard. Is Europe safer? In some cities.
I loved seeing all the bike paths, but then on the other hand there weren't any mountain biking or dirt bike trails that I could see. Beer was cheaper than water, so that was cool too.
Try tap water, it's even cheaper
Worse, often felt dangerous. One of my friends got pickpocketed, police did nothing. Made the entire trip hard to enjoy when you knew that someone was looking for an opening to steal your phone or wallet.
If it wasn't for that, I'd probably had liked it, but I just felt like a target.
In the end, big waste of money. 1/10 would not do again.
Where did you go?