Americans probably think their country is perfectly normal.
But expat vlogger Kalyn Franke, from Florida, has some news for them – because after she moved to the UK she realised that there are lots of things about the U.S that are ‘kind of weird’.
In a video for her Girl Gone London YouTube channel she reveals seven things about America that she’d change having lived in the UK.
The list includes bathroom plumbing, food, and fences that make the States ‘look like a prison.’
She told that they are ranked ‘in order of importance’ – scroll down to see if you agree with her suggestions for improving her home country.
Expat vlogger Kalyn Franke, from Florida, after she moved to the UK, realised that there are lots of things about the U.S that are ‘kind of weird’
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Kalyn says: ‘This doesn’t seem like a weird concept when you’re in America, but like many things, you don’t realise they’re strange until you leave.
‘I would say that probably for society as a whole, advertising cheap divorces is not really the way to go.
‘I mean, you’re arguing with your spouse driving along the highway and you see a sign for $90 divorces with a phone number – do we need to tempt people like that?’
AMERICAN SHOWER TAPS
Kalyn says: ‘I literally cannot figure out what to do with American shower taps half the time. You can never figure out which way to turn it. You can never figure out if you’re supposed to pull on something or if you’re supposed to push on something. There’s no standardisation.’
AMERICAN DOMESTIC AIRLINE PRICES
Kalyn points out that flying domestically in the U.S is often more expensive than flying internationally
Kalyn says: ‘It is often cheaper to fly internationally from America, to fly from America to the UK, than to fly to certain places within the U.S.
‘I’m not saying we don’t have cheap deals… but it’s still much more expensive to travel domestically on airlines in America than you might expect.’
BATHROOM STALLS
Mind the gap: Kalyn is not a fan of American public toilets
Kalyn says: ‘The gap in between the floor and the door and also the sides of the doors is insane.’
OREOS
Kalyn says: ‘We don’t really do single-sleeve Oreos like they do in the UK.’ She explains that in America, Oreos tend to be sold in packs of three. ‘I love that for how many Oreos it gives me – however, I’m thinking a single sleeve of Oreos needs to be an option in America,’ she says. ‘It’s easier to transport and an American pack just looks greedy.’
CHAIN-LINK FENCES
America’s abundance of chain-link fencing makes the country ‘look like a prison’
Kalyn says: ‘We have a lot of ugly fences in the U.S. It’s cheap, I guess, and America is often built on cheap and we have fewer existing structures from the past and we’re always building and changing and whatever… but a chain-link fence just doesn’t look good – it looks scary. And not pretty. It makes it look like you’re in a prison.’
READY MEALS
Kalyn says: ‘U.S ready meals are not as good as UK ready meals, which you think would not be the case because you would think that Americans like convenience and therefore frozen meals, but the food is not as good. The UK ready meals are way better.’
Kalyn remarked to Travel that this list entry was a huge surprise.
She added: ‘The quality of UK ready meals surprised me the most, as actually, compared to America, you don’t necessarily think of the UK as being a nation that is that keen on quickly prepared/takeaway-style ready meals, but it’s good that the food quality in the UK (which is better than America) has carried over to the ready-meal sector.’
Are there any UK ready-meal brands that impress her?
She said: ‘I usually get my ready meals from supermarket own brands, and find that these are really good usually. M&S do some great ready meals that I like.’
For more from Kalyn visit www.youtube.com/@GirlGoneLondoofficial and girlgonelondon.com. To see the original YouTube post click here.