I've only been abroad one time, and there were little gecko/lizard things everywhere, climbing up walls and scurrying across roads, and nobody cared. I was constantly fascinated but to the locals they're just kinda there.
Bonus question to anyone who visited the UK - was there anything that fascinated you but I'd be taking for granted?
Pic unrelated.
OP, I want you to know that you are not alone, I am also a Brit who loves seeing all the wee reptiles scooting about when he visits places that have them. We barely have any here and they're fun tiny little dinosaurs!
Edit: actually I do have a proper answer too. I'm in Scotland, which has different trespassing laws to the rest of the UK. In Scotland you have a right to roam under which you can enter any outdoor land, other than that with crops and the immediate surroundings of houses, provided you do so responsibly. There are other reasonable exceptions but the point is that you don't generally need to check for access here. The rest of the UK is far more restrictive and I have found that visitors find it incredibly weird to walk through a field of grazing sheep or similar when trying to get somewhere
I grew up in Portsmouth, England. Some my friends would come to school from the Isle of Wight on the hovercraft service. We all thought the hovercraft was pretty cool, but I only recently found out that it's the only commercially operated hovercraft in the whole world.
I was in pompy 2 years ago and yes i found the hovercrafts cool. I didnt know that fact! Thanks! I wonder if my boyfriend from pompy knows that fact too.
Fratton is quite scary though ngl
Is it still operating? For some reason I thought it stopped quite a while ago. Or maybe that's the one that used to cross the channel.
There is this bridge over a river that people come from all over the world to fuck under.
I have no idea why. It doesn’t even show up in search results for the bridge.
The locations of past atrocities (N. Ireland).
Not even joking. It's a huge part of our tourism industry. It's like those Jack the Ripper tours in Whitechapel. Living here, you barely even think about them, but visitors act like they're meeting Taylor Swift when they spot a bullet hole, bless 'em.
This:
Whitetail dear. Don't stop to look at them. They are dear. Keep moving.
When visiting the UK. Arriving at St. Pancrias International station and needed to get to waterloo. I had no idea how to move about.
But i found it weird how you have the power lines of trains ON THE GROUND and have TV adds of "hey dont get on the rails!". Plus that you cant even get onto the platforms without a ticket. That you cant get into the underground without a ticket!! That there are cameras and cops EVERYWHERE! And i only visited 2 years ago!
Winter. I guess it's different when you only put up with the endless darkness, cold and snow a week once in your life.
I'm originally from Florida and I moved to Minnesota as an adult. It blew my mind when I realized it was colder outside than it was in my freezer. I was in college my first few winters up here and the first good snowfall a group of freshmen from more tropical climates (mostly southern China) wandered outside in awe to play in the snow and even after my first winter I usually joined them because I know when winter stops being magical it starts being miserable and I'd like to put off the misery until February or so.
I don't think I've ever been tired of winter, and I've lived in Ohio most of my life. That said I've never lived somewhere that gets enough snow that it starts crushing the things from the weight of it.
Summer? I'm sick of summer halfway through Spring.
Climate stuff comes to mind. Big storms, it being sunny almost all the time, and -30C. There's other climates that are similar, of course, but I guess most people don't live in them, because visitors remark on it. Europeans tend to be gobsmacked by the amount of empty space there is between human structures, too.
A lot of pests people think are everywhere are just nowhere to be seen because of the cold. That's more something that's missing, though.
Free healthcare and French labeling, for the Americans. I'm not sure if they think the money is cool or just stupid.
If you're in the UK, then here in the US, it's the sounds.
Crickets, frogs, birds, beetles, giant wasps, small mammals. The spring and autumn are wild with sounds.
My partner is a Brit in an industry where many get stationed here, and they all say the same.
Edit: And if you're outdoorsy, the geography, of course.
We took my wife's friend to our camp in the boonies. I think she was from Leeds?
The sounds as the sun started going down, and being in the woods in general, scared the shit out of her. She honestly thought wild animals would come at night and attack us.
Raccoons.
The tourists visiting Mount Royal park in Montréal are often charmed by the raccoons. Enough so that they feed them and some even let the raccoons climb on them. The city tries to warn people but they obviously ignore the signs. So now we have gangs of raccoons begging for food near the two most popular view points.
I go camping in provincial parks and the same seems to happen there. It's obviously also locals doing this but, people feed the raccoons, they come back, they harass you for food, they can carry rabies, and it's annoying as hell. I watch people hiking and camping in other countries, like the UK, and I'm constantly jealous that they can keep their food and cook near their tents. Doing this here will result in frequent annoying visits from raccoons (if not bigger animals).
In Southern California it's got to be the palm trees. Nope, not the ocean, the beaches, the Hollywood sign, iconic neighborhoods and buildings. It's the palm trees. Out of state relatives and coworkers always gawk at and comment on the palm tree lined streets.
For some reason, Japanese tourists go nuts for PEI. Now I've nothing against PEI, it's a nice enough province in the beautiful maritimes. Good potatoes.
But I don't think it deserves THAT much hype.
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
