10 Differences Between England and U.S.

I'm currently on my way to the airport to hop on a plane to England and thought it would be fun to share a quick run down of a few things I encountered that were different customs or terminology in the U.K. than in the United States. You may or may not already know some of these, but here are 10 things (well a bit more than 10, but organized into 10 bullet points) that I found were different when I first visited in 2016, and here are my travel diaries from my past U.K. trips:

1. Lift = Elevator

2. "WC" Water Closet = Restroom/Bathroom

3. Fag = Cigarette

4. Takeaway = To-Go (however takeaway as leftovers is not common - a server at a restaurant I ate at looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for my meal to-go, this is due to the fact that they brought out my meal extremely late and Scott had already finished his meal so I didn't want to bother sitting in the restaurant finishing up my meal).

5. Iced Tea is non existent unless it's available bottled, and usually it's a Lipton Ice Tea; also drinks in restaurants are usually not refillable and you'll be charged 35p or so for condiments. But, everyone does seem to drink tea, a "cuppa" as they like to call it. I love when Scott's nan always makes me a cup of tea whenever I see her; and I take mine with milk and sugar for sure. I also found a love, or perhaps an addiction to Ribena, a black currant based fruit drink as well as Mr. Whippy soft serve that comes in a cone topped with a chocolate flake (it's an English seaside staple).

6. Chips= Fries, Crisps=Chips, Biscuits=Cookies, Sweets=Candies, Ice Lollies= Popsicles

7. It's perfectly acceptable to go to the pub at different hours of the day; the pub will serve breakfast-dinner meals, and it won't really be frowned upon if you're enjoying a pint at some point in the morning (I mean, it is kind of like, America's brunch time with mimosas and bloody marys right?)

8. Lorry = Truck, and automobiles in general are manual cars, and the driver is located on the right side of the car, driving on the left side of the road, so you could imagine my senses were in overload getting used to the motorways when Scott was driving us around.

9. Don't Say Fanny, it's not short for fanny pack or referring to someone's backside - but it does refer to a lady's private area and not in a nice way

10. I found myself saying "cheers" (which people say out of politeness to others or as a greeting), "quite" (ex. I'm feeling quite excited about today's events), "knackered" (exhausted).