What in your country/area is totally normal but visitors get excited for?
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This is what I was going to say.
In the late 1800s when Jasper Cropsey was exhibiting landscape paintings in the UK, folks didn't believe that his colour palette was accurate
https://collections.brandywine.org/objects/2656/autumn-on-the-brandywine-river
wrote last edited by [email protected]Wait hang on, the UK has heaps of trees that go that colour every year
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I'm in the USA, OP appears to be in the UK.
Anecdotally, UK wildlife does generally seem to be quite quiet compared to other countries. We've got talktative birds and the odd cricket and such, but that's about it. Everything else is in stealth mode
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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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]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).
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Painting is of a river in Pennsylvania. The artist painted it while there, then displayed it in the UK. Many who saw it, not being familiar with the fall colors of the northeast US, thought it was fake.
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The possums even more so I'd say, especially in the cities.
I'm actually not sure I've ever seen a wild platypus, and I haven't seen a wombat since I was very young, but I don't think I've ever lived in an area with them. Kangaroos were everywhere growing up in the bush though, in the backyard, school car park, sharp bend around a dark corner...
I've been lucky enough to see a lot of animals in the wild, but platypuses always evaded me. I even lived by a river for a year, where everyone else saw them.
About a week ago I finally spotted one in a nearby lake while going for a run. It was just happily swimming, diving, surfacing, repeat. I watched it for ages.
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The first time my cousins from FL visited Canada, it was July. They were surprised there was no snow. So, we took them over to the rec centre and they saw a small pile of snow out back. They were thrilled.
It was dumped out of a Zamboni.
Grew up in Ontario and it was always fun as a kid to grab some of the shaved ice behind rec centres to throw at your friends when it was like 33C out
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Honestly this needs to be more of things in the States. And the deposit cost needs to go up.
If companies were forced to retake their garbage, we'd see far less pollution.
It's not just that, they wash and reuse the bottles (without melting them down or anything)! Amazing stuff.
They're finally starting to put more stuff in them here opposed to plastic bottles, and I'm so glad for it.
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When I visited the US I was excited to see squirrels running around. We don't have squirrels where I'm from. We took pictures.
It must have looked like we were excited to witness a cloud in the sky.
Chipmunks did it for me. They look and act so much like cartoon critters I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
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Painting is of a river in Pennsylvania. The artist painted it while there, then displayed it in the UK. Many who saw it, not being familiar with the fall colors of the northeast US, thought it was fake.
I know, I'm saying that the UK gets the same colours at the same time of year. It should not have been weird to that audience
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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.
I'm in Tennessee. The smokey mountains. They are wonderful... But pigeon forge / Sevierville/ Gatlinburg is just a touristy blight now.
There's much better places to go than there.
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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.
Outsiders are blown away when they see cattle/horses right along the highway and roads.
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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.
The Henrik Ibsen statue near my home, and also just about all street-facing buildings built before like 1960. People stop to take pictures but I’m just like, people live there. It’s a pretty row of houses, but have some respect. See also, Bryggen.
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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.
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Whitetail dear. Don't stop to look at them. They are dear. Keep moving.
Deer are just giant, deadly vermin.
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I moved to the midwest USA 15 years ago and I still can't get over the trees screaming at me. It's deafening but no one seems to care.
The trees are silent where I come from
wrote last edited by [email protected]I live in Cincinnati and I care. I find the cicadas incredibly annoying. Not only the noise, they also leave their shells all over the place and walking down the sidewalk creeps me out. crunch crunch crunch
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Leaves.
Yes, tree leaves.
Each fall when they start changing color flocks of tourists come up to gawk at them.
Man.. I'm in east Tennessee.
Folks just roll up to look at the leaves.. and I'm like.
Eh. Not much rain this year so they are pretty drab looking currently..
But you still see tons of people taking photos on their phones that they'll never look at again. Haha
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Leaves.
Yes, tree leaves.
Each fall when they start changing color flocks of tourists come up to gawk at them.
Every region is different in that regard.
Maybe youre just numb to the view. -
When I was a kid we hosted two Trinidadians as part of an exchange in the Autumn and they'd never seen the leaves falling - they were worried that all the trees were dying off. This isn't a "stupid foreigner" gag, it was probably just the thing that shocked them the most. They loved the trains and the narrowboats.
They probably have foliage that always stays green until it dies.
So I can kinda understand where that sentiment is coming from. -
Only some metro systems, like the tube, have third rail - standard railways have overhead power. But since a lot of metro trains run outside tunnels as well it's not always obvious which rails are and aren't electrified.
The whole thing with gates is because the UK train system is privately run for profit and so respecting human dignity is less important than making sure every individual adequately prostates themselves before the company decides to provide service. Even TfL, the council-owned operator of the tube, is forbidden by law from receiving any taxpayer subsidy so must run at a profit.
I wish it were more obvious what the system is, or at least that every metro system ran similarly. The only thing about international travel that stresses me the fuck out is figuring out what app I need to make my way through town, or if I need a paper ticket, etc. Not even language barriers give me as much stress as landing and having to spend 30 min figuring out the best method for transits when I’m tired and just want to relax.
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I grew up near Oceana Naval Air Base. Only tourists look up when they hear jet noise.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I've never not lived near an airbase, it'll be so weird to someday not hear planes overhead on a day to day basis
Hell, I briefly worked in a building directly next to a flight line, you could feel it rattle the whole building
