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Rookie Mistakes: UK
We've all made mistakes when planning that first trip (errors in judgement, planned poorly, over-planned, been hit with something unexpected, or just not known about something.) Since others may learn from our rookie mistakes, what were some of the mistakes you made when planning your first trip to the UK?
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A few of the things I learned the hard way...
Don't over-plan your itinerary, be flexible and realize you aren't going to be able to cram everything in. Plan logistically so you're not spending all your time "getting there." The London Tube is great, but don't be afraid to ride the buses. You'll see so much more of London and save wear and tear on your feet. ATM's are everywhere in the UK, including the airports - no need to change your money at home before the trip. Always purchase London travelcards either from the TFL website or at a tube station in London. Everyone else charges more. If you purchase a Great British Heritage Pass in the UK, make sure you have your passport with you to prove you are not a UK resident. Don't be afraid to ask locals for directions - it can save you a lot of walking in the wrong direction. If driving, a good road atlas is essential. And you <i>will</i> get lost and turned about at times so don't get too stressed about it. When approaching roundabouts, know which road number you want, as well as, the next nearest city name you are headed toward. Except for major A roads, you will rarely see directional signs (like north, east, south or west - one look at a UK road map will explain this!) Carry a change purse to keep all the coinage in. The soup is served <i>really</i> hot! The hot tap water is also <i>really</i> hot. Use extreme caution crossing the street. Look both ways <i>twice</i> and over your shoulder at corners. Don't underestimate jet-lag. Keep plans for the day of arrival light. I'm sure I'll think of more... :) |
Kay,
Why not lump France, Germany, Italy, and the UK into one post instead of 4 separate posts? Or, just Europe in general? Having a slow day? This seems silly. ((a)) ((b)) |
Didn't think someone planning their first trip to the UK would get that much out of things to plan/avoid in France, Italy or Germany and vice versa. :)
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You going to start a thread on Moldovia? ((b))
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Budman, Moldovia (or Moldavia) is a country with Kishinev it's capital. It's located south of Ukraine, former Soviet Union republic.
Now fill your glass up with something different and ask for Molvania ;) |
No, I'll let you do that if you want. I just did the top 4. :D
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That you ordered your food at the bar in the pubs and then someone brings it to your table....that first pub trip was a long one...like "oh how rude, no one is paying any attention to us!!!" LOL Ya live and learn.
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And that Brits "queue" when at a bus stop.
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Servers look at you funny in a restaurant when you say "I'm stuffed!"
Shags and bangs are NOT hair styles. When you look at a map, especially if you are from California, realize that it does NOT take three days to get from London to York. |
When you alight from the train in a small town make sure to read the schedule to see when the last train leaves for London.
((I)) |
Not realizing how many Brits smoke like chimneys in pubs, enough to shock even my Italian colleagues.
Or that during a cold snap, it's virtually impossible to be really warm at a pub unless you're dressed in several layers. You will quickly learn to find a table as far from the door as possible, especiall later in the evening, when the binge drinkers forget to close the door properly after they enter/leave. To always carry a few tissues with me when going to the pub loos, as providing toilet paper seems to be a luxury option. |
>When you alight from the train in a small town make sure to read the schedule to see when the last train leaves for London.<
And then expect about a 50% hit rate that the last train will be cancelled. |
<i>"When you look at a map, especially if you are from California, realize that it does NOT take three days to get from London to York."</i>
And of course the inverse is also true. You look at the map and see that it's only 20 miles from point A to point B - but it takes you an hour to get there. :) |
And your first ride in the front seat of the top of a double decker bus is always a bit frightening. We call them the terror seats.
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An hour? Is that ALL?!? New development in Century City and in Playa Vista (home of Hughes Aircraft)has made traffic just a wee bit more excremental.
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It was very difficult for a while to accept the idea of not leaving a tip on the bar in a pub. Twice they came after me because I had left my change.
The first time we went to London we took the underground all the time as we had passes. Sometimes it was only for one stop. It wasn't until our second trip there than I realized how close some of those stops were to each other and that we did more walking to make the trains that if we had just walked above ground. I still remember that we once took the tube from Green Park to Picadilly. |
looking for a trashcan in the tube to put my soda can
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Buying the "cheap seat" tickets at the Candlelight Concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Music was lovely, but we stared at a large pillar the entire concert.
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Taking the Tower Bridge tour & not even realizing I ended on the other side of the river. Walked a good 20 min in the dark looking for a tube stop that never materialized before I realized my mistake.
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Patrick: "I still remember that we once took the tube from Green Park to Picadilly." :)
My first solo trip into London when I was living in Oxfordshire back in the 70's I actually took the tube from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square! Another rookie mistake -- not asking for the bill after finishing your meal. They won't bring it unless you ask for it. I've had friends get really upset because "they know we're finished, where is the d**n check", whereas the waiter was probably thinking "They've been finished for 30 minutes, when are they going to ask for the fr****ng bill" |
Going to London and catching a cold and having to buy the absolutely WORST-tasting cold medicine on the planet!
The cold was preferable to the "remedy." |
Ah, but you don't know that it's doing you any good unless it tastes awful (seriously - this is a well-established British cultural convention).
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- that an old building doesn't mean anything under 100 years old
- Bathrooms are only found in homes and hotels,elsewhere its loo, ladies/gents or toilet. - you can't turn right or left when the traffic lights are red - quarter past/quarter to means the hour plus 15 or 45 - a fortnight is 2 weeks - that there are English,Welsh, Scottish and Irish people in England - Everything in the shops is advertised in kilos/litres but everyone actually uses pounds and pints. - Napkins are serviettes, the bill is the check and its 999 for emergency not 911. |
1. Planning ANYTHING your first day after an overseas trip is just asking for trouble. Plan for nothing and anything you can do is extra fun.
2. In cities other than London (especially small towns) don't expect to get food after 8pm. Everything is closed or only serving drinks. 3. There is a real fun guide to UK pub culture here (especially read the part about tipping!): http://www.fancyapint.com/ 4. In two lane roads, if you feel you are going too slow, pull slightly over to the left... the people behind you will go around, no problem. Also, there are frequent 'stopovers' for cars to pass on really narrow roads. 5. Getting a hotel or B&B with breakfast included will save you LOTS of money, especially in London. 6. Mind the gap! 7. Don't be Chevy Chase... slow down and actually ENJOY the sights you spent so much time, effort, research, and money to come see... 8. Go early to the Tower of London and other sites that have big crowd reputations. |
<i>"Bathrooms are only found in homes and hotels,elsewhere its loo, ladies/gents or toilet.</i>
And in pubs and restaurants, the loo is almost never on the same floor. You have to go up or down stairs to get to it. |
Napkins are only serviettes to the lower middle classes. The same is true of toilet. It's amusing that to a Briton the word toilet is only used by people who want to be rafeened. I've heard that in the US the term is considered crude.
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Kayb95 - the toilets are often on different floors in a pub because the pub was probably built before indoor toilets were common - and CERTAINLY before the pub needed a 'ladies', so they've had to carve the loos out of the basement!
theo is on the nose about toilets - after all, why on earth would you call it a bathroom? You're not seriously going to try and have a bath in there, are you?! |
That what Americans call "Scotch tape" is known as "Sello tape" in the UK, even in Scotland. My sister had quite a time trying to buy "Scotch tape" in Edinburgh and couldn't figure out why they'd never heard of it, finally decided to settle for the offered "sello" tape and realized it was the same thing. "Scotch" tape is an American brand name.
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Now I'm confused, billy goat. What exactly are the class implications of using the word "toilet"? I seem to hear it everywhere in Britain.
It's true that the word is considered crude in the U.S. I always cringe a little when I'm in the UK and hear myself asking where the toilet is. A Canadian friend who spends a lot of time in Britain says she feels the same way (in her part of Canada, at least, it's "the washroom"). |
Actually Daisy, Scotch tape is a well known brand in the UK, so can't think why your sister had so much trouble. Sello Tape is just a different brand - although the name "sello tape" has become a standard term for sticky tape.
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<i>"I've heard that in the US the term is considered crude."</i>
It <i>is</i> a bit difficult for us to ask for the toilet. Here in the US, the toilet is the actual apparatus - not the room in which it is contained. I generally ask for the ladies room when in Britain. The term bathroom probably came about because most of our toilets are in the same room as the bath. UK toilets are also a lot different than ours. Different bowl shape entirely - probably more water efficient than ours. :) |
There are certain words which are used by the Mrs Buckets of this world, people who have risen from the working class and think that they need to use "refined" expressions. Toilet is one of them. You're safer asking for the ladies or gents. Lounge is another used for sitting room. Serviette sounds more "refined" than napkin. Such people say "pardon" when they don't hear what you have said and they don't go to work, they go to business.
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We were in a pub in London a few years ago and I asked the barmaid for a napkin. She gave me this kind of shocked look and I thought "Oh, gawd! They must call it something else." After a few seconds, she said "Oh, a serviette." She handed me a napkin and I slinked back to my table, not knowing what "napkin" meant in English (diaper, sanitary pad????) I'm still not clear on it, so I never ask for a napkin in England. :)
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Ah, here the apparatus is called the lavatory which of course is also used for the room.
In the UK, a bathroom is a room with a bath in it. In some older houses, it won't actually have a lavatory in it. Of course, all the words are euphemisms. Toilet started life as a lady's dressing table, lavatory means a place where you wash. Perhaps we should start saying water closet. I remember when railway platforms had rooms with signs "Ladies waiting room". It actually did have seats in it, but there was also a loo. The Victorians were obviously as coy as modern Americans. |
<i>"The Victorians were obviously as coy as modern Americans."</i>
Where do you think all our sensibilities came from? We're often called the prudes of the world. :) |
It's taken you all a whole day to get to the "toilet" thing?
For the benefit of cuttlefisah, billy goat et al, let's get this straight. The most frequently used term in England (the Scots have their own programmes) is "toilet" (and, BTW, "serviette") . In the mid-1950s, a flat broke toff, Nancy Mitford, invented a fantasy about all these upwardly-mobile Lower Orders using "refined" terms. According to this nonsense, there were a clutch of words fellow-toffs would never use: toilet, serviette, note paper, lounge, mantelpiece and, believe it or not, mirror. The problem with all this was that even she knew it was a load of codswallop, and we now know from her letters that she was bemused this invention of hers was believed. It has, of course, now been accepted by the dimwitted as some kind of Holy Writ: only oiks, it's claimed, talk about mirrors (apparently you're supposed to say "looking glass"). Hogwash. We relieve ourslves in toilets, wipe our lips with serviettes (or, in the case of the Mitford family not at all, since the family banned them), put stiffies* on mantelpieces and stare at ourselves in the mirror. Mitford was joking. *Surely you know what that is? A proper invitation: engraved, not printed, on stiff board. |
OK.. lets but the whole napkin/serviette issue to bed now once and for all!
Serviette = paper Napkin = linen the working classes (such as they exist in that perjorative term) like to use serviette all the time as they believe, being a "foreign" word it sounds classier. Try asking for a serviette in a decent restaurant and you'll get an odd look! Dr D. |
Glad you explained. I was a little curious about "stiffies." :)
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Couldn't put one on a mantlepiece if I tried. I suppose, if you lean it just correctly... |
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