What in your country/area is totally normal but visitors get excited for?
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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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]There used to be one across the channel but it was discontinued some time ago. I took it once. It was cramped and noisy, but fast.
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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.
My aunt is a teacher at one of the poorer schools in LA. She says every once in a while they'll arrange a plow to bring a load of snow down from the mountains and dump it in the parking lot for the kids to play in it for the afternoon until it melts
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I love when people see deer here in North America. You'd think they're seeing a unicorn, when it's just some plain ol' mule deer.
I've seen deer just wander through my yard in town
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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.
Haha I backpack/camp, too, and have seen that experience firsthand as well.
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Leaves.
Yes, tree leaves.
Each fall when they start changing color flocks of tourists come up to gawk at them.
Michigan, or New York? -
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.
Norwegian fjords. I live here, and to me it's mundane landscape.
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Everything. I live in Orlando.
Hey, that souvenir shop with the giant wizard head over the door is totally worth getting excited about.
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I haven't seen fireflies in YEARS, but I was recently in Astoria, Queens, NYC, and there were fireflies all over the place! NYC would have been the last place I would have expected to see them.
I heard that there was a firefly boom this year, I can't remember the cause though. It sure is nice though, reminds me of when I was a kid.
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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 find the old and historical buildings in the center of other countries' cities very fascinating. I live in a city where all the old buildings were demolished to build newer style ones, so I don't see a lot of them in my everyday life.
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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.
Czech beer....
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A little less, less speed means less energy and more time for others to react
You're failing to account for the fact that this would seemingly cause more crashes per distance driven...
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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 Redlight district. Every city has/had them and for us it's just normal.
As a kid I had to pass some of those windows to get to school. -
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]Penguins, the biggest desert on the planet, snow blindness
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My parents' neighborhood is ALL black squirrels. I thought they were rare until they moved (only 30 minutes from where I group up) so I was quite surprised to see dozens in their yard
It’s funny what people notice. I have a friend who grew up in the American Southwest, and her wildlife culture shock when she moved away from there came from wild rabbits.
The Southwest is populated by jackrabbits, so after they encountered an eastern cottontail, they were genuinely concerned some malady had befallen it to cause it to have such small ears. She thought maybe someone was torturing the local wildlife and cutting off its ears. -
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.
Mirroring what others have said - at a nearby university that has (had? sigh) a large foreign student population, some folks actively feed the squirrels. For several weeks at the beginning of the school year, you could very easily spot new students by who was out taking photos and getting mobbed by these squirrels that are way, way too comfortable getting close to humans.
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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.
Not my country, but something that fascinated me in Greece. Greece is a land of honey...and marble rock. Beautiful, swirling, sparkly rock in all different shades. It is so terribly abundant that they use marble in place of concrete.
To the Greeks, it is normal to use marble literally everywhere. They disrespect the beautiful stone, turning it into a curb on the street & slathering it in yellow paint. I saw a yellow curb that was cracked open - exposing the glittering marble rock inside. I found it so funny & sad that I took a picture. We love marble, we think it's so decadent & fancy, it's flooring in the finest hotels, businesses, and homes. These people just use marble everywhere; it's just a rock to them.
It really puts things into perspective.
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Norwegian fjords. I live here, and to me it's mundane landscape.
Must be nice taking that beautiful scenery in for granted
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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]-Gem show
-Rodeo week
I personally couldn’t be bothered for either, but it’s cool that people like them.
Yes I understand the irony that “Horsey” doesn’t like rodeos, lol. Eventing in the horse world is just too damn expensive for me to want to compete.
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Penguins, the biggest desert on the planet, snow blindness
Whatcha doing in Antarctica?
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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.
Dude, they're frickin' tall. Those Southern California trees are something else.
I was also fascinated by your beach-squirrels. I've lived near the ocean most of my life and I never saw beach-squirrels til I went to Ventura.
