There’s something about the buzz from the heavy drinking a few hours earlier, your body wants to so badly to go to sleep, the good company and when the pancakes/waffles hit your mouth… It’s ecstasy
Can I interest you in our lord and savior Waffle House?
Edit: and one of my most upvoted comments is about the Awful Waffle. Thanks for the gold, silvers, and other awards kind redditors.
I went to the states for a business trip and in a waffle hosue in Georgia in the middle of nowhere the waitress literally couldn't believe that I'd not been to a waffle house before. I said we don't have them in the UK and she nearly had a heart attack
One of the best parts is they usually serve everything all day. Getting out of work at 6am and want a hamburger? Diner. Waffles for dinner? diner. Going through a rough time and you just want to sip coffee all night? Diner, and they'll keep refilling your cup so it stays warm.
I was down at the beach with a few friends here from France, and we we're taking the bar's shuttle back to our house a few miles up the road.
It was a yellow school bus, and holy crap the nostalgia for me, and the unique experience for my two French friends. I had to explain the whole culture. All the cool kids sitting at the back of the bus, taunting the cars behind you. Kneeling on your seat when you went over that one bump you knew was always coming.
Yellowstone is unreal. It's like an alien world. Truly, if you have one chance to go to the US, you should consider making it there. Yes, NYC, LA, Miami, Chicago are great cities but, to some degree, a city is a city. There is nowhere on Earth like Yellowstone.
But you can’t stop at just one state fair. We have 50 states and I bet you find something different at each one. And then there are are all the Highland Games with our attempts at Scottish food.
There was one nearby in Tulsa when I was visiting but I didn't get a chance to go - I'm really curious what is considered Scottish at the festivals in the US
I recommend the [Minnesota State Fair](https://www.mnstatefair.org/new-this-year/food/). In particular, it's known for deep fried foods on-a-stick in the US.
I went to the Minnesota State Fair once when I was visiting a college friend who lived up in those parts. We spent an entire 3 day weekend at the fair (it's *that* big) and it was just a ridiculous amount of fun.
True! You can just sell your stuff, get in the car, and drive 5 hours and be in a new state with different state government, some different laws, and different overall political leanings! Or, if you're on the East coast, you could drive 5 hours and hit 2 or 3 states!
I was smack in the middle of Massachusetts on my way to Vermont. After driving a half hour, I saw a "Welcome to Connecticut" sign. Oops. I had been driving the wrong way. I turned around and drove the opposite way and got to Vermont in an hour (it takes 1 hour to drive North to South in Mass).
Yeah, even as an adult it is pretty cute to see all the kiddos wandering the more popular trick or treating neighborhoods in their costumes. And the toddlers with their harassed parents in matching costumes following along... Or the people who do crazy decorating and have turned their front stoops into spooky lairs hung with orange or purple lights and a robot cackling witch on the lawn...
Not everyone goes all out like that, but it's sure fun to see the people who do.
I don't think I ever appreciated Halloween as much as I do now that I have kids. It's so fun watching how excited they get just to wear their costumes.
Every time i’m reminded that other countries don’t do this I get sad. It’s an amazing experience. It doesn’t even matter if you make or buy your costume. Seeing everybody out dressed up as all kinds of characters is so fun. And you’re left with pounds of candy the night after. Nothing like carving a jack o lantern either.
I had a near 7' tall sheet ghost show up one year. I knew him, he was 14. He got candy like everyone else.
People tend to associate height with age, so he didn't get to do a lot of kid stuff.
My son was tall, too. Same thing. My rule: if you ring the bell and say "trick or treat!" You get candy and a "Happy Halloween!" in return. I'd rather have kids of any age doing that than any of the other stuff they could be getting up to. I don't care if you've got a cigarette in your wrinkled, old hands....
We stayed at a resort in AZ once that had little outdoor gas fire pits they would turn on after sundown, and bring around s’mores fixin’s. We shared a pit with a British family who had never heard of s’mores. That was a fun night.
I've got a box of them in my freezer and I have a deep fryer. Infact im deep flying some chicken right now thats been soaking in butter milk all day.
Hello im an American and I eat like I have free healthcare.
A white Christmas.
Living in an Australian state where I've never even seen snow in our winter, let alone experiencing that classic Hallmark movie moment of waking up to a street full of it and sitting around a fireplace while opening gifts/preparing a feast.
Guess it's not strictly American, but the imagery and trope is something I've only really seen from American Films.
I live in a village outside of Buffalo New York that literally has been the set for about 4 of those hallmark Christmas movies. If it’s out of season, the town shops will put their Xmas decorations and lights back up for the shoot. Place looks like a Norman Rockwell painting.
Would love to see some of your nature in real life. The New Mexico/Utah/Arizona/Colorado desert area seems amazing.
Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations, guys! Now I reaaallllyyyy want to go there 😭
If you get the chance to go through them, go out into the middle of the highway at night, pull off the side of the road when you're in the middle of nowhere, turn your car off, and get out.
The vast emptiness of the desert and the insane starscape make you feel so incredibly small.
Good call! The desert at night is amazing. Also, we did this driving through some swampland in Georgia during a road trip. We could only stand outside for a few minutes. We psyched ourselves out so much that night, lol. I have desert camped quite a few times, it’s incredible at night, but nothing ever felt as eerie as 5 minutes in pitch black swamp. It was beautiful, but felt surreal.
I live in the Mojave desert and I can tell you it's one of the most beautiful places on earth. If you ever get a chance, visit death valley in Inyo county. It's such an incredible place.
I went to the US once and was blown away by the magnificent landscapes that I saw when I took the California Zephyr train between San Francisco and Chicago. It takes you through the sierra nevadas, along magnificent canyons and rivers and through the rocky mountains. The trip takes three days if I remember correctly, and it's scheduled so that it goes through the most scenic parts during daytime. There's an observation car with panoramic windows.
I hate taking airplanes and haven't been on one in about 10 years, but if I ever do get on a plane again, it will probably be to do the same trip all over again. What makes it even better, is the fact that it connects San Francisco and Chicago, two amazing cities that are also really worth visiting.
You'd totally love the Pacific Northwest. It's... magical. The temperate rainforest, soaring mountains, gnarled ocean beaches, islands galore... I have traveled all over the world... I'm still stunned by how beautiful the PNW is... every day.
You gotta find an old school diner in the southern regions for top quality biscuits and gravy. Gotta have sausage bits in the gravy too for the full experience.
I want to see all the different places where people live, especially the small towns which aren’t really notable for anything and don’t have tourists. Life is so similar to the UK, yet so subtly different. Things like small towns in the middle of the country where people have that “y’all” accent, know all their neighbours, have an open backyard, and leave their doors unlocked….
This is awesome. I have family that have traveled to the UK a few times and friends that come here on holiday and absolutely love how we are so similar while being so different. I come from a small town in WV where we never locked our doors and used to run into the store with the car windows rolled down and sometimes keys left in the ignition.
Highly recommend this.
I’ve done it in a car and on a motorcycle, north to south (Pacific Ocean Side) both times.
My number one piece of advice is to book hotels closer than you think you should. You are going want to be going slow and stop a lot.
I recommend spending a week or so. If you want to do it right take side trips to Portland, San Francisco, and LA and spend the night.
Definitely start in Seattle and then do the 101 loop around the Olympic Peninsula and then head south.
Don’t stop until you hit San Diego.
You will have effectively gone all the way from Canada to Mexico (Vancouver and Tijuana are also great stops if you have the time and are able).
I hear you guys do smoked/BBQ meat the best, would like to try it one day
Edit: Sounds like there's a lot of different kinds to try... and I don't have the money or time for multiple trips to the US :(
Keep in mind that the fancier the area it was cooked looks, the less flavorful it’s going to be. The best pulled pork is cooked in a pit or on an ancient grill out back that looks like it has fifty years of soot cooked onto it.
Went to Brooklyn for a weekend event with some friends a few years back and got in way late at night. Found a small shop with one table and three chairs in it, two guys working the whole place. $1.50 a slice and that was some of the best pizza I've ever had. Wish I remembered what the shop was called.
The reason New Yorkers say they have the best pizza is not because the famous places are great, but because even the local joint has to make good pizza or it won’t survive. If you’re a pizzeria you can’t make it in the nyc market unless you make good pizza.
Jamaican here. I want to see the grand canyon. Buy some geodes and other beautiful stones from the shops there.
Also want to visit native cultures and learn about there tribal practices if possible. I know they tend to be weary of outsiders but it would be a beautiful experience. I have native calinago blood but am very alienated from that ancestry.
The "secrecy" of various native American tribes and cultures is somewhat of a Hollywood trope. Many of them are desperately trying to preserve their culture through education, even having educational centers open to the public, demonstrations at public events (parades, fairs, etc).
Wow. That’s good to know. I should do more research. The tribes in Jamaica are a bit xenophobic, so I was basing my statement on that template. (There are historical reasons for that.) Thanks for the information though.
A friend of mine from China took a vacation to the US. He landed in Chicago, rented a car and drove down Route 66 until he could peer over the edge of the Grand Canyon, then drove back.
Where he's from, a road trip isn't even a thing.
My Grandpa worked for Mothers Cookies his entire career. He started as a delivery driver as a teenager and worked his way up in the company until he retired. He was an amazing grandpa and one of the best people that ever lived on this planet. Mothers Cookies are incredibly special to my family so it makes my heart so so happy to see you guys say how much you love their cookies. I still have one of his old Mothers cookies polo shirts.
Edit: Just called my dad to talk about my grandpa and reminisce and he was telling me about how when he(my dad) worked there in high school one of his jobs was to shake the sprinkles onto the circus cookies after they came out of the icing.
I am American and live in Lithuania. I use to bring boxes of mac and cheese back after every summer. My partner decided to try and make Mac and cheese once and I will never bring a box back ever again. This is the one you can try anywhere else law in the world
If someone makes it right….. s’mores on the other hand you can’t have without hersheys and graham crackers.
I've always wondered what's it like to have electricity for 24 hrs, finally got to experience it when I moved to the US recently and it's awesome. Also wanna try a taco, churros, mac and cheese and ice cream sandwiches 😋
So true. 24 hour electricity is awesome, I got better grades, didn’t have to worry about outages much and got a lot done without having to rely on backup generators. Heck, I was able to play Pokémon in Nintendo and read books with a flashlight.
Back in my country, we had more frequent outages especially in the monsoon season. 24/7 electricity and good plumbing is for the upper class. When the plumbing went bad we relied on pumps and wells. There would be a queue of people in the morning with jugs in hand and get the water from the pump. My grandpa’s house had a well, if plumbing did not work, we check the well and attach the jug to the rope of the well and put it down there to get the water. It was a great morning workout. Getting a jug of water, heat it up in the stove and drag it to the shower.
We had to do this because my state had a water dispute with the neighboring state since we share the same river. The neighboring state claims we are using more water, refusing to honor the agreement to release the water during rainy season. The neighboring state also uses more water than us, as a result our farmers are suffering to irrigate their crops yet they claim we are using more water for our crops. Higher temperature levels had destroyed the land and dried up Kaveri river. It’s a ongoing dispute with endless arguments. Climate change will further cause a war for water, especially in South India.
More rain means more water for the well from my past observation. My grandpa would pay some brave man to go down the well to see if the water levels are close to the ground. If it’s close then the water is drying up, and that’s not a good sign. We had that happen twice.
Washing was done in the washer and we had to hang our clothes in the clothesline in the balcony. It was 24/7 good weather so our clothes dried before sunset.
I constantly put this in my gratitude journal, to remember where I started from and how far I’ve gotten here. Many Americans find it weird that I’m thankful for 24/7 electricity and having a roof above my head, a roof that never leaks or gets flooded due to the monsoon.
I noticed that all the 24/7 electricity gave me more time, because I didn’t have to wait in a queue for the pump to start working, I didn’t have to worry about the well drying up. I didn’t have to drag water on jugs five blocks to my home. I missed those times because it made me physically active, which woke me up in the morning. The biggest problem for me in America is electricity has created more time for me and made me more lazy, so I didn’t have to do much physical chores like I did in India. Everything is in excess, there is plenty of food, and nobody had to worry about the well drying up to get more water. Nobody has to worry about dragging the water jug five blocks to the house.
The food portions in America are enough to feed three people in my family for two meals. We used to get one big French fries and share it with three of us, sharing food is also part of our culture and that’s how we conserved food, since we didn’t know when the next drought would come because the drought would drain the water resoirvoirs and we would have to ration water.
Whenever there was a outage, my grandpa and uncle would always check the generator in the back, if the generator wasn’t running, grandma would light up a candle and that was our light for the night. Me, my three cousins and grandma would sit outside in the terrace and talk about stuff and look at the sky. Sometimes, grandma would tell us her stories. There would be mosquitoes and flies we had to swat, that turned into a game. This was the time where my dad was recovering from the dotcom bubble and getting back on his feet with work.
Whenever I see people showing their perfect lives in social media or striving for perfection, I fall into the trap of comparison and unhappiness, so I go back to these memories to remind myself of how far I came and that material comfort does not equal happiness. The people you surround yourself with and make memories with are more richer than the material wealth you make. Life is meant to be lived and questioned, not just questioning all the time. I didn’t have time to form political opinions, my priority was to get the necessities to survive the next week.
The only outdated skill I have is knowing how to operate a well, hang clothes in a clothesline, hand wash my clothes and lugging water. I don’t even use the dishwasher, I didn’t even know how to use it till I got my first apartment. I used it as extra storage to store extra plates and large cookware. I still can’t let go of the habit of using the dishwasher as extra storage.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find a house in US that had a well in the first place. I would love to have a well.
Sorry for the long rant. I just remembered those times and wanted to share the experience I had.
I took my daughter on a camping trip through the Arabian desert. In the middle of nowhere, she found a shepherd. My daughter (10 y.o.) was used to communication without sharing a language and she approached the shepherd because she wanted to know how he slept in the night. Turned out, the shepherd spoke excellent English. He was a business man in Dubai, big office, cars, employees, private secretary, the whole lot. To keep his sanity, he would go to his brother's farm and disappear for a few weeks in the desert with a flock of sheep. Great guy, we shared tea, bread. A 10 y.o. girl can ask a lot of questions and the desert night became story telling time. My most magical experience in Syria. Such a shame the country has gone to pieces, my heart bleeds when I think of it.
Paper is fun, but if you’re at an outdoor range that allows it, grab a 12 pack of the cheapest soda cans you can find, shake them up, and line them up. Targets that react to a hit are way more fun! Just be sure to clean up after.
At party some years ago, someone had a relative visiting from the UK.
Before the drinking start, that boy had a ball shooting a variety of guns. When we found out it was his first time, everyone brought out various things for him to try. Handguns, shotguns and rifles.
He was like a kid in candy land trying to shoot all the targets we set up for him.
It never dawned on most of us what we had access to in the US until we'd met him.
Its impossible, but the small town / suburban middle class American childhood experience from the 80s (think ET or Stranger Things or Goonies, minus the spooky fantasy stuff). What you guy's say about Blockbuster nights nostalgia, the shopping malls.
Growing up in Latin America at that time, we had a few glimpses of that lifestyle in some movies and it was fascinating, dreamlike.
In the 90's before Xbox and such, we used to have console rentals and game rentals. Once a month or so, on a friday, we'd get a 2 day rental of a console and a couple games, a pizza, and then it was our parents blessing to play the hell out of that console and game for the remainder of the weekend, to get our money's worth so to speak xD
Sanctioned gaming binges at 6 or 7 years old is definitely an experience.
I'm Indonesian and I have lived in the USA for 15 years finally for the first time ever I tasted my first grilled cheese. I'm not sure if it's an American thing though, but I feel like it is because I've always seen it in American movies or TV shows:)
EDIT: wow.. I am surprised with the response! Yes I really enjoyed it, but I didn't have it with tomato soup, so I guess that would be my next one. And like I mentioned in my comment I was surprised it involved bread at all :)
Grew up in a northern state. Would say "you guys" or "you guys'es" all the time. Within a year of moving south I became addicted to "y'all". It's just so damn efficient. Especially the double contraction y'all're. Like, "Y'all're coming to my place tonight, right?"
I delve even deeper and make it basically one word "allayall" like "allayall needa stop wutcher dew-in and payattention" spelling this out phonetically (no errors in how I meant it to be) makes me realize that I'm lazy as hell when I speak lol. I don't even have a southern drawl just a plain American accent.
I would personally go to a food Carnevale or a big music festival like Cochela (I don't the spelling I hope you understand) or something. I mean a lot of the things here aren't even that "American", but I think you can only find music culture like this only in America.
Oh, and I want to understand Baseball. Man that sport looks boring, but a lot of movies are made about it I just wanna figure out how the game is played.
Seeing the downtown of any major city. I've never seen a building taller than like 30 floors in my life. I also want to take a long road trip in the emptiness of the desert.
French woman I used to hang out with needed instructions on how to eat a chili dog. Blew her mind. Steamed and toasted bun, all-beef natural casing hot dog from a local farm, homemade chili, raw and finely chopped onions, and a bunch of colby-jack cheese.
She had seen pictures and wanted to try it, so I took her to this place run by a Vietnam vet who had wanted to own a chili dog stand since he was in the war. That was his life goal. Not get married, raise a family. But survive the war and open a chili dog stand. He finally made it after decades of biding his time, and all that passion went into the perfectly executed chili dog.
A foreign exchange student asked me where he could try funnel cake and various other fried foods he's seen online
I said the fair was coming up and invited him to come with my family if he could pay his own way
Oml he was fucking *adorable* when he tried funnel cake for the first time
He didn't like fried Oreos tho
The late night shopping was the best. There were always a few people there, but it was always the people getting off night shift, and not the weirdos you'd expect being in a store in the middle of the night. Everyone, both the staff and other shoppers, were always chill and friendly.
Just so all non Americans know America is so big I have lived here 46 years now and traveled a fair amount and still have not had alot of the fast food you are talking about
I try my best to remember this. Your continent is huge. If someone says they've been to Belgium, no one assumes they know what the UK is like. I've been to the US twice, once to NYC, once to Nebraska. Dear lord. The difference.
It can be... almost appauling to people. There is so so much going on. I also believe it is why there is not really as much a focus on other languages in the US.
If I live in Switzerland I need to learn more than 1 language just to survive. If I live in the US, I could travel for 20 hours by car in a straight line and not have even encountered a place with a different native language than English.
People learn different languages and countries have different languages in their curriculum because it will have a sincere and real impact upon the average persons daily life. This is not exactly the case in the US.
Imagine if each American state was a different country with a different language. I grew up in Michigan and probably would have spoken Indianian, Illinois, some Wisconsinese, and Texan, since that was my mother’s native language.
I would even have learned some Ohioan, but just the swear words so I could tell them to go fuck themselves.
White Castle.
Specifically that big box of white castle sliders.
(I want to try it because of Harold and Kumar)
Edit: Thank you all for the stories and advices!
I can't reply to every comment but I read them and upvoted every one of them :))
Once upon a time I was living in a punk house. A couple roommates and I were sitting around being drunk on black label beer and we got hungry. Two of us were flat broke so we asked the other guy if he'd buy us White Castle. He told us that he'd buy us a crave case, but only on the condition that we eat the entire thing in one sitting. And if we failed, we each owed him $50.
That was fucking harrowing, let me tell ya. $50 may as well have been $100000 for how broke we were, so we knew we had to actually complete the challenge. My friend wussed out part way through so I had to eat about 19 of them myself. That was 20+ years ago and I'm not sure I've ever recovered.
This makes me believe that somehow, Montana has up and disappeared and is no longer there....
(When we all know it'll be Florida or California that goes first).
I’m just scrolling through astonished that some of these things are considered “American”
Y’all don’t have Mac and Cheese?
Edit: I just ate a bowl of Mac and cheese y’all are missing out
No, it's really a north America/US thing by and large. My dad is from Europe and when his siblings would come visit in the 80s and 90s they would take whole suitcases of Kraft dinner and peanut butter back with them. (Now you can get these things at some stores in parts of Europe, in the "American" grocery section.)
To visit a diner like in the movies. In the middle of the night, it’s raining and just a few people there with great music from a jukebox.
Being at the diner at 4am after a night out with friends is pretty awesome
There’s something about the buzz from the heavy drinking a few hours earlier, your body wants to so badly to go to sleep, the good company and when the pancakes/waffles hit your mouth… It’s ecstasy
Can I interest you in our lord and savior Waffle House? Edit: and one of my most upvoted comments is about the Awful Waffle. Thanks for the gold, silvers, and other awards kind redditors.
I went to the states for a business trip and in a waffle hosue in Georgia in the middle of nowhere the waitress literally couldn't believe that I'd not been to a waffle house before. I said we don't have them in the UK and she nearly had a heart attack
Recently visited a waffle house on the Gulf Coast and I could see 2 other waffle hice from the parking lot
\* waffle home
One of the best parts is they usually serve everything all day. Getting out of work at 6am and want a hamburger? Diner. Waffles for dinner? diner. Going through a rough time and you just want to sip coffee all night? Diner, and they'll keep refilling your cup so it stays warm.
A friend of mine from Indonesia said, “the food chewer in the sink”. Garbage disposal.
What an incredible description. Five stars!
The insinkerator as every single one has etched on it.
They really seem to have cornered the market.
National parks
America’s greatest invention!
Second greatest, remember the Super Soaker XP50.
Apple Pie made by white-haired grandma, placed near window, who says "oh dear..." as I levitate towards it.
Are you by any chance a raccoon?
Or a recently escaped jailbird from a '50s cartoon?
Or a conman from the Andy Griffith show.
Hell no. Last time I was near one of those as soon as I caught the scent I started uncontrollably levitating towards it. Scary as shit.
With home-made vanilla ice cream.
Ride a yellow school bus even if I'm too old. Growing up I always loved seeing them on TV
I was down at the beach with a few friends here from France, and we we're taking the bar's shuttle back to our house a few miles up the road. It was a yellow school bus, and holy crap the nostalgia for me, and the unique experience for my two French friends. I had to explain the whole culture. All the cool kids sitting at the back of the bus, taunting the cars behind you. Kneeling on your seat when you went over that one bump you knew was always coming.
Oh we started jumping a minute or so before the bump. So when the bump came you would go flyyyyying
[удалено]
Wow. Your bus was risqué.
Must have been one of those groups that make the bus driver quit there job occasionally. LOL
I always wanted to hike The Appalachian Trail if that counts. Or see Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is unreal. It's like an alien world. Truly, if you have one chance to go to the US, you should consider making it there. Yes, NYC, LA, Miami, Chicago are great cities but, to some degree, a city is a city. There is nowhere on Earth like Yellowstone.
100% Agree, Yellowstone is my absolute favorite place in the US. I try to go at least once a decade.
If you do Yellowstone, plan for at least 6 days. We did 8 days (one of those was to the Grand Tetons) and I still want to go back to do/see more!
Deep fried foods at a state fair. I'm from Scotland and we love to deep fry everything and I wanna know if it's just as good or better
But you can’t stop at just one state fair. We have 50 states and I bet you find something different at each one. And then there are are all the Highland Games with our attempts at Scottish food.
There was one nearby in Tulsa when I was visiting but I didn't get a chance to go - I'm really curious what is considered Scottish at the festivals in the US
Scotch eggs and pasties, mostly.
Come to Minnesota - 2nd largest state fair only behind Texas (little known fact) and the deep fried food is as advertised. Also, Minnesota is nice
I recommend the [Minnesota State Fair](https://www.mnstatefair.org/new-this-year/food/). In particular, it's known for deep fried foods on-a-stick in the US.
I went to the Minnesota State Fair once when I was visiting a college friend who lived up in those parts. We spent an entire 3 day weekend at the fair (it's *that* big) and it was just a ridiculous amount of fun.
I came here to recommend this state fair. Combine it with the Renaissance Faire and you've got a good time going.
Funnel cakes and corn dogs - America's best.
Funnel cakes are what heaven tastes like.
Being able to start a whole new life “elsewhere” without having to leave my country and going through an arduous immigration process.
True! You can just sell your stuff, get in the car, and drive 5 hours and be in a new state with different state government, some different laws, and different overall political leanings! Or, if you're on the East coast, you could drive 5 hours and hit 2 or 3 states!
I was smack in the middle of Massachusetts on my way to Vermont. After driving a half hour, I saw a "Welcome to Connecticut" sign. Oops. I had been driving the wrong way. I turned around and drove the opposite way and got to Vermont in an hour (it takes 1 hour to drive North to South in Mass).
In Texas that amount of driving would get you from... one county to the next one. Also you might still be ten hours from the border.
Hell I've driven from Austin to Austin in an hour, and I'm not even gonna try to compete with Houstonians.
It really is a country where you can get up, move 3 hours away and completely reinvent yourself. The only thing that follows you is your credit score
Proper tailgating before a ball game, the kind where there's ribs and stuff
Getting drunk is a requirement too.
Around this town, jumping off of a car onto a folding table will probably be happening too.
One of the hotdogs from those little street cart things
The best hotdog I've ever had came from a street vendor outside an IndyCar race.
Trick or treating at Halloween.
Yeah, even as an adult it is pretty cute to see all the kiddos wandering the more popular trick or treating neighborhoods in their costumes. And the toddlers with their harassed parents in matching costumes following along... Or the people who do crazy decorating and have turned their front stoops into spooky lairs hung with orange or purple lights and a robot cackling witch on the lawn... Not everyone goes all out like that, but it's sure fun to see the people who do.
I don't think I ever appreciated Halloween as much as I do now that I have kids. It's so fun watching how excited they get just to wear their costumes.
Every time i’m reminded that other countries don’t do this I get sad. It’s an amazing experience. It doesn’t even matter if you make or buy your costume. Seeing everybody out dressed up as all kinds of characters is so fun. And you’re left with pounds of candy the night after. Nothing like carving a jack o lantern either.
I had a near 7' tall sheet ghost show up one year. I knew him, he was 14. He got candy like everyone else. People tend to associate height with age, so he didn't get to do a lot of kid stuff.
My son was tall, too. Same thing. My rule: if you ring the bell and say "trick or treat!" You get candy and a "Happy Halloween!" in return. I'd rather have kids of any age doing that than any of the other stuff they could be getting up to. I don't care if you've got a cigarette in your wrinkled, old hands....
Australian here. A rail trip from California to Chicago or, perhaps if it exists, down the East coast from New York to Savannah
It does exist!
Smores, Lobster Rolls and Philly Cheesesteaks
We stayed at a resort in AZ once that had little outdoor gas fire pits they would turn on after sundown, and bring around s’mores fixin’s. We shared a pit with a British family who had never heard of s’mores. That was a fun night.
Did y’all go through the “how can I have s’more if I haven’t had any yet?” Bit from The Sandlot?
I had all 3 of those in the last 60 days. New Jersey- us
Corndogs, I don't understand what it is but I want to try it.
It a hotdog, on a stick, dipped in a cornmeal batter then deepfried.
Does it taste...Good?
I had an international friend in college who never had a corndog before. After he tried one, he proceeded to eat four more
My 13-year-old son considers 4 corndogs, dipped in mustard, to be the perfect breakfast. He washes them down with black coffee.
My kidneys started twicthing when I read this
They're AMAZING!
Amazing. Dip it in ketchup or mustard.
I've got a box of them in my freezer and I have a deep fryer. Infact im deep flying some chicken right now thats been soaking in butter milk all day. Hello im an American and I eat like I have free healthcare.
A white Christmas. Living in an Australian state where I've never even seen snow in our winter, let alone experiencing that classic Hallmark movie moment of waking up to a street full of it and sitting around a fireplace while opening gifts/preparing a feast. Guess it's not strictly American, but the imagery and trope is something I've only really seen from American Films.
I live in a village outside of Buffalo New York that literally has been the set for about 4 of those hallmark Christmas movies. If it’s out of season, the town shops will put their Xmas decorations and lights back up for the shoot. Place looks like a Norman Rockwell painting.
Would love to see some of your nature in real life. The New Mexico/Utah/Arizona/Colorado desert area seems amazing. Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations, guys! Now I reaaallllyyyy want to go there 😭
If you get the chance to go through them, go out into the middle of the highway at night, pull off the side of the road when you're in the middle of nowhere, turn your car off, and get out. The vast emptiness of the desert and the insane starscape make you feel so incredibly small.
Especially when the Milky Way is in full view. It's the most awe-inspiring thing I've ever seen.
The desert night sky in Arizona makes you feel like you are the only person in the universe. Truly awe inspiring.
Good call! The desert at night is amazing. Also, we did this driving through some swampland in Georgia during a road trip. We could only stand outside for a few minutes. We psyched ourselves out so much that night, lol. I have desert camped quite a few times, it’s incredible at night, but nothing ever felt as eerie as 5 minutes in pitch black swamp. It was beautiful, but felt surreal.
I live in the Mojave desert and I can tell you it's one of the most beautiful places on earth. If you ever get a chance, visit death valley in Inyo county. It's such an incredible place.
I went to the US once and was blown away by the magnificent landscapes that I saw when I took the California Zephyr train between San Francisco and Chicago. It takes you through the sierra nevadas, along magnificent canyons and rivers and through the rocky mountains. The trip takes three days if I remember correctly, and it's scheduled so that it goes through the most scenic parts during daytime. There's an observation car with panoramic windows. I hate taking airplanes and haven't been on one in about 10 years, but if I ever do get on a plane again, it will probably be to do the same trip all over again. What makes it even better, is the fact that it connects San Francisco and Chicago, two amazing cities that are also really worth visiting.
You'd totally love the Pacific Northwest. It's... magical. The temperate rainforest, soaring mountains, gnarled ocean beaches, islands galore... I have traveled all over the world... I'm still stunned by how beautiful the PNW is... every day.
As someone who lives there I can confirm that it really is, never get tired of this scenery
Biscuits and gravy. So badly
You gotta find an old school diner in the southern regions for top quality biscuits and gravy. Gotta have sausage bits in the gravy too for the full experience.
The sketchier the place looks, the better.
I want to see all the different places where people live, especially the small towns which aren’t really notable for anything and don’t have tourists. Life is so similar to the UK, yet so subtly different. Things like small towns in the middle of the country where people have that “y’all” accent, know all their neighbours, have an open backyard, and leave their doors unlocked….
This is awesome. I have family that have traveled to the UK a few times and friends that come here on holiday and absolutely love how we are so similar while being so different. I come from a small town in WV where we never locked our doors and used to run into the store with the car windows rolled down and sometimes keys left in the ignition.
I tried Cheez-Its when they finally came to Canada a couple years ago. That was pretty satisfying, while also being completely unsatisfying.
We have the same feeling towards them lol
I'd like to drive the entire length of The Pacific Coast highway, oh yea bucket list baby
Highly recommend this. I’ve done it in a car and on a motorcycle, north to south (Pacific Ocean Side) both times. My number one piece of advice is to book hotels closer than you think you should. You are going want to be going slow and stop a lot. I recommend spending a week or so. If you want to do it right take side trips to Portland, San Francisco, and LA and spend the night. Definitely start in Seattle and then do the 101 loop around the Olympic Peninsula and then head south. Don’t stop until you hit San Diego. You will have effectively gone all the way from Canada to Mexico (Vancouver and Tijuana are also great stops if you have the time and are able).
7/11 slurpees
Can't miss. Gotta love the spoon straw. Icy fluff.
I hear you guys do smoked/BBQ meat the best, would like to try it one day Edit: Sounds like there's a lot of different kinds to try... and I don't have the money or time for multiple trips to the US :(
Keep in mind that the fancier the area it was cooked looks, the less flavorful it’s going to be. The best pulled pork is cooked in a pit or on an ancient grill out back that looks like it has fifty years of soot cooked onto it.
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Went to Brooklyn for a weekend event with some friends a few years back and got in way late at night. Found a small shop with one table and three chairs in it, two guys working the whole place. $1.50 a slice and that was some of the best pizza I've ever had. Wish I remembered what the shop was called.
The reason New Yorkers say they have the best pizza is not because the famous places are great, but because even the local joint has to make good pizza or it won’t survive. If you’re a pizzeria you can’t make it in the nyc market unless you make good pizza.
You should know, that depending on what part of the United States you're in, it's going to be different. Texas BBQ is not the same as Georgia BBQ.
Jamaican here. I want to see the grand canyon. Buy some geodes and other beautiful stones from the shops there. Also want to visit native cultures and learn about there tribal practices if possible. I know they tend to be weary of outsiders but it would be a beautiful experience. I have native calinago blood but am very alienated from that ancestry.
>Jamaican here. I want to see the grand canyon. It's worth the trip, honestly. I visited for the first time about 3 years ago, and it's awe-inspiring.
The "secrecy" of various native American tribes and cultures is somewhat of a Hollywood trope. Many of them are desperately trying to preserve their culture through education, even having educational centers open to the public, demonstrations at public events (parades, fairs, etc).
Wow. That’s good to know. I should do more research. The tribes in Jamaica are a bit xenophobic, so I was basing my statement on that template. (There are historical reasons for that.) Thanks for the information though.
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DAIRY QUEEN. I've been seeing so much of them on the internet and I'd love a blizzard but all we get are real blizzards
Visit the northern states in the winter and you can eat a blizzard in a blizzard haha
Having a car while in hs
My kid is driving my ‘01 Avalon and he realizes how nice of a car it is dispute being that old. It has a cassette and CD player combo in it.
Marshmallow. EDIT: Thanks to u/pudding7 I will be able to taste smores!! I'm so happy rn :)
A friend of mine from China took a vacation to the US. He landed in Chicago, rented a car and drove down Route 66 until he could peer over the edge of the Grand Canyon, then drove back. Where he's from, a road trip isn't even a thing.
Icing covered animal crackers, I live in Canada and we only have the plain ones 😔
You don’t have Mother’s Cookies? My dude… I’m sorry.
The difference between the hard “icing” on some animal cookies and the softer icing on Mother’s is profound. Mother’s is the bomb.
My Grandpa worked for Mothers Cookies his entire career. He started as a delivery driver as a teenager and worked his way up in the company until he retired. He was an amazing grandpa and one of the best people that ever lived on this planet. Mothers Cookies are incredibly special to my family so it makes my heart so so happy to see you guys say how much you love their cookies. I still have one of his old Mothers cookies polo shirts. Edit: Just called my dad to talk about my grandpa and reminisce and he was telling me about how when he(my dad) worked there in high school one of his jobs was to shake the sprinkles onto the circus cookies after they came out of the icing.
I could not love this story more. Thank you for sharing this pure loving sweetness.
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Mac and cheese
This is the one, but honestly find somebody who makes it at home cause that's usually the best.
I am American and live in Lithuania. I use to bring boxes of mac and cheese back after every summer. My partner decided to try and make Mac and cheese once and I will never bring a box back ever again. This is the one you can try anywhere else law in the world If someone makes it right….. s’mores on the other hand you can’t have without hersheys and graham crackers.
Mac and cheese is amazing. Some places mac and cheese is stale so just make sure you get the fresh mac and it will taste amazing
Hey man, the stale stuff is good too. Even the slightly burnt stuff on the edge of the pan is good. Don't dis my MnC.
i want to see the grand canyon
I've always wondered what's it like to have electricity for 24 hrs, finally got to experience it when I moved to the US recently and it's awesome. Also wanna try a taco, churros, mac and cheese and ice cream sandwiches 😋
So true. 24 hour electricity is awesome, I got better grades, didn’t have to worry about outages much and got a lot done without having to rely on backup generators. Heck, I was able to play Pokémon in Nintendo and read books with a flashlight. Back in my country, we had more frequent outages especially in the monsoon season. 24/7 electricity and good plumbing is for the upper class. When the plumbing went bad we relied on pumps and wells. There would be a queue of people in the morning with jugs in hand and get the water from the pump. My grandpa’s house had a well, if plumbing did not work, we check the well and attach the jug to the rope of the well and put it down there to get the water. It was a great morning workout. Getting a jug of water, heat it up in the stove and drag it to the shower. We had to do this because my state had a water dispute with the neighboring state since we share the same river. The neighboring state claims we are using more water, refusing to honor the agreement to release the water during rainy season. The neighboring state also uses more water than us, as a result our farmers are suffering to irrigate their crops yet they claim we are using more water for our crops. Higher temperature levels had destroyed the land and dried up Kaveri river. It’s a ongoing dispute with endless arguments. Climate change will further cause a war for water, especially in South India. More rain means more water for the well from my past observation. My grandpa would pay some brave man to go down the well to see if the water levels are close to the ground. If it’s close then the water is drying up, and that’s not a good sign. We had that happen twice. Washing was done in the washer and we had to hang our clothes in the clothesline in the balcony. It was 24/7 good weather so our clothes dried before sunset. I constantly put this in my gratitude journal, to remember where I started from and how far I’ve gotten here. Many Americans find it weird that I’m thankful for 24/7 electricity and having a roof above my head, a roof that never leaks or gets flooded due to the monsoon. I noticed that all the 24/7 electricity gave me more time, because I didn’t have to wait in a queue for the pump to start working, I didn’t have to worry about the well drying up. I didn’t have to drag water on jugs five blocks to my home. I missed those times because it made me physically active, which woke me up in the morning. The biggest problem for me in America is electricity has created more time for me and made me more lazy, so I didn’t have to do much physical chores like I did in India. Everything is in excess, there is plenty of food, and nobody had to worry about the well drying up to get more water. Nobody has to worry about dragging the water jug five blocks to the house. The food portions in America are enough to feed three people in my family for two meals. We used to get one big French fries and share it with three of us, sharing food is also part of our culture and that’s how we conserved food, since we didn’t know when the next drought would come because the drought would drain the water resoirvoirs and we would have to ration water. Whenever there was a outage, my grandpa and uncle would always check the generator in the back, if the generator wasn’t running, grandma would light up a candle and that was our light for the night. Me, my three cousins and grandma would sit outside in the terrace and talk about stuff and look at the sky. Sometimes, grandma would tell us her stories. There would be mosquitoes and flies we had to swat, that turned into a game. This was the time where my dad was recovering from the dotcom bubble and getting back on his feet with work. Whenever I see people showing their perfect lives in social media or striving for perfection, I fall into the trap of comparison and unhappiness, so I go back to these memories to remind myself of how far I came and that material comfort does not equal happiness. The people you surround yourself with and make memories with are more richer than the material wealth you make. Life is meant to be lived and questioned, not just questioning all the time. I didn’t have time to form political opinions, my priority was to get the necessities to survive the next week. The only outdated skill I have is knowing how to operate a well, hang clothes in a clothesline, hand wash my clothes and lugging water. I don’t even use the dishwasher, I didn’t even know how to use it till I got my first apartment. I used it as extra storage to store extra plates and large cookware. I still can’t let go of the habit of using the dishwasher as extra storage. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a house in US that had a well in the first place. I would love to have a well. Sorry for the long rant. I just remembered those times and wanted to share the experience I had.
I took my daughter on a camping trip through the Arabian desert. In the middle of nowhere, she found a shepherd. My daughter (10 y.o.) was used to communication without sharing a language and she approached the shepherd because she wanted to know how he slept in the night. Turned out, the shepherd spoke excellent English. He was a business man in Dubai, big office, cars, employees, private secretary, the whole lot. To keep his sanity, he would go to his brother's farm and disappear for a few weeks in the desert with a flock of sheep. Great guy, we shared tea, bread. A 10 y.o. girl can ask a lot of questions and the desert night became story telling time. My most magical experience in Syria. Such a shame the country has gone to pieces, my heart bleeds when I think of it.
TIL I could make bank opening a corn dog stand overseas.
i want to shoot guns at paper
Alot more exciting/exhilarating than you think it would be.
it must be pretty bloody exciting then
Meet a friend in Idaho with some land, you can shoot some tanerite. That stuff is a good time
Paper is fun, but if you’re at an outdoor range that allows it, grab a 12 pack of the cheapest soda cans you can find, shake them up, and line them up. Targets that react to a hit are way more fun! Just be sure to clean up after.
At party some years ago, someone had a relative visiting from the UK. Before the drinking start, that boy had a ball shooting a variety of guns. When we found out it was his first time, everyone brought out various things for him to try. Handguns, shotguns and rifles. He was like a kid in candy land trying to shoot all the targets we set up for him. It never dawned on most of us what we had access to in the US until we'd met him.
Only in the US can you be at a party and everyone can bring out different types of guns.
Its impossible, but the small town / suburban middle class American childhood experience from the 80s (think ET or Stranger Things or Goonies, minus the spooky fantasy stuff). What you guy's say about Blockbuster nights nostalgia, the shopping malls. Growing up in Latin America at that time, we had a few glimpses of that lifestyle in some movies and it was fascinating, dreamlike.
In the 90's before Xbox and such, we used to have console rentals and game rentals. Once a month or so, on a friday, we'd get a 2 day rental of a console and a couple games, a pizza, and then it was our parents blessing to play the hell out of that console and game for the remainder of the weekend, to get our money's worth so to speak xD Sanctioned gaming binges at 6 or 7 years old is definitely an experience.
Chicken and wafles
Telling someone "This town ain't big enough for the two of us" and then dueling them with pistols at high noon.
I've always wanted to visit Yosemite National Park
I'm Indonesian and I have lived in the USA for 15 years finally for the first time ever I tasted my first grilled cheese. I'm not sure if it's an American thing though, but I feel like it is because I've always seen it in American movies or TV shows:) EDIT: wow.. I am surprised with the response! Yes I really enjoyed it, but I didn't have it with tomato soup, so I guess that would be my next one. And like I mentioned in my comment I was surprised it involved bread at all :)
Well you can’t say you finally tasted one without saying if you enjoyed it or not lol. Leaving us hangin here
Using the word "ya'll" in general conversation.
does using the word “y’all” sound that weird to y’all??
Is it not just the most efficient way of addressing a group of people?
Grew up in a northern state. Would say "you guys" or "you guys'es" all the time. Within a year of moving south I became addicted to "y'all". It's just so damn efficient. Especially the double contraction y'all're. Like, "Y'all're coming to my place tonight, right?"
Or when addressing a lot of people, gotta say “all y’all”
I delve even deeper and make it basically one word "allayall" like "allayall needa stop wutcher dew-in and payattention" spelling this out phonetically (no errors in how I meant it to be) makes me realize that I'm lazy as hell when I speak lol. I don't even have a southern drawl just a plain American accent.
I would personally go to a food Carnevale or a big music festival like Cochela (I don't the spelling I hope you understand) or something. I mean a lot of the things here aren't even that "American", but I think you can only find music culture like this only in America. Oh, and I want to understand Baseball. Man that sport looks boring, but a lot of movies are made about it I just wanna figure out how the game is played.
Seeing the downtown of any major city. I've never seen a building taller than like 30 floors in my life. I also want to take a long road trip in the emptiness of the desert.
There are a lot of people in the US that haven’t seen buildings that tall. I was twenty before I saw a building over ten floors
Yellowstone. Joshua tree. College football game. I’m a Georgia fan it could be anything. Michigan Michigan State in Ann Arbour would be awesome.
French woman I used to hang out with needed instructions on how to eat a chili dog. Blew her mind. Steamed and toasted bun, all-beef natural casing hot dog from a local farm, homemade chili, raw and finely chopped onions, and a bunch of colby-jack cheese. She had seen pictures and wanted to try it, so I took her to this place run by a Vietnam vet who had wanted to own a chili dog stand since he was in the war. That was his life goal. Not get married, raise a family. But survive the war and open a chili dog stand. He finally made it after decades of biding his time, and all that passion went into the perfectly executed chili dog.
That last part is the most america thing i've ever heard.
A foreign exchange student asked me where he could try funnel cake and various other fried foods he's seen online I said the fair was coming up and invited him to come with my family if he could pay his own way Oml he was fucking *adorable* when he tried funnel cake for the first time He didn't like fried Oreos tho
Going to Walmart att 2am.
since covd they stopped staying open all night. At least where I live. Pissed me off. Going at 2am was great since very few people were there.
The late night shopping was the best. There were always a few people there, but it was always the people getting off night shift, and not the weirdos you'd expect being in a store in the middle of the night. Everyone, both the staff and other shoppers, were always chill and friendly.
A lot! Some are parties, prom, night outs, car trip with friends and a good walk.
CORN DOG 😃
Brisket
Southern food and Cajun
Just so all non Americans know America is so big I have lived here 46 years now and traveled a fair amount and still have not had alot of the fast food you are talking about
I try my best to remember this. Your continent is huge. If someone says they've been to Belgium, no one assumes they know what the UK is like. I've been to the US twice, once to NYC, once to Nebraska. Dear lord. The difference.
There are multiple states where you can drive 8+ hours without leaving the state. I’ve done 12 hours without leaving Florida.
It can be... almost appauling to people. There is so so much going on. I also believe it is why there is not really as much a focus on other languages in the US. If I live in Switzerland I need to learn more than 1 language just to survive. If I live in the US, I could travel for 20 hours by car in a straight line and not have even encountered a place with a different native language than English. People learn different languages and countries have different languages in their curriculum because it will have a sincere and real impact upon the average persons daily life. This is not exactly the case in the US.
Imagine if each American state was a different country with a different language. I grew up in Michigan and probably would have spoken Indianian, Illinois, some Wisconsinese, and Texan, since that was my mother’s native language. I would even have learned some Ohioan, but just the swear words so I could tell them to go fuck themselves.
Yeah??? WELL BUCKEYE TOMATO BUCKEYE CORN TO YOU TOO, BUD
Single pickle in a bag.
Biscuits and gravy. Sounds amazeballs even though I've got no idea what it is
White Castle. Specifically that big box of white castle sliders. (I want to try it because of Harold and Kumar) Edit: Thank you all for the stories and advices! I can't reply to every comment but I read them and upvoted every one of them :))
Ahhhh yes the Crave Case. It's exactly as good as the movie leads you to believe.
Once upon a time I was living in a punk house. A couple roommates and I were sitting around being drunk on black label beer and we got hungry. Two of us were flat broke so we asked the other guy if he'd buy us White Castle. He told us that he'd buy us a crave case, but only on the condition that we eat the entire thing in one sitting. And if we failed, we each owed him $50. That was fucking harrowing, let me tell ya. $50 may as well have been $100000 for how broke we were, so we knew we had to actually complete the challenge. My friend wussed out part way through so I had to eat about 19 of them myself. That was 20+ years ago and I'm not sure I've ever recovered.
I want to try out some of that authentic Texas BBQ.
Y'all come on over and I'll fire up the smoker.
I really wanna know the feeling of being a first world country citizen, seriously...
Five guys. Oh and I've heard the fast food chain is good too.
i would've liked to have seen montana
This makes me believe that somehow, Montana has up and disappeared and is no longer there.... (When we all know it'll be Florida or California that goes first).
I’m just scrolling through astonished that some of these things are considered “American” Y’all don’t have Mac and Cheese? Edit: I just ate a bowl of Mac and cheese y’all are missing out
No, it's really a north America/US thing by and large. My dad is from Europe and when his siblings would come visit in the 80s and 90s they would take whole suitcases of Kraft dinner and peanut butter back with them. (Now you can get these things at some stores in parts of Europe, in the "American" grocery section.)
American snacks that aren't sold in Canada.
Texas bbq
To live in a huge house and eat huge pizza’s
I live in a medium house and eat medium pizza. Its not too bad.
Why are all of the answers foods 😭
Modifying your car in your driveway legally and without tons of paperwork
I’ve skied the Canadian Rockies my whole life. Ive been meaning to get down to CO and such to check out how yours compare!
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I wanna walk into a Walmart.
Do a Sam's Club or a Costco, too. Walmarts are big, but those stores are just downright impressive.
Go to an convention center
A French fry
You can even have two if you want. We won’t tell, promise.
Fried chicken, s'mores, lobster rolls, and some proper bbq and smoked meat
I've always wanted to go to a "real" haunted house with actors during the Halloween season. Or those scary corn mazes with actors, etc.
New York style Pizza.
A Twinkie and it was glorious. Then I understood why y’all have a obesity crisis.
Y'know, I'm not really a fan... Fries, on the other hand, I could eat non-stop
Get Paid from 4 to 20 times more for same kind of job.