When Brits look at the map to see where to travel to, the first decision to make is to either go east or west. The shorter flights to Europe deliver new cultures, cuisines, and often idyllic weather. To the west is the US with all of the grandeur and self-promotion that comes with the continent-sized nation. Going to Europe or the US presents two incredibly different experiences, with James May being sent out to America for a new series to test if everything really is better out west. For those still making their minds up, we’ve boiled down the massively different holiday destinations to some key differences that might sway you to the west or east.
Public transport vs car culture
Transport image creditTamara Garcevic unslash
As should be expected, the UK sways more towards a European persuasion than an American one when it comes to most things, but this is made all the starker when a Brit witnesses car culture in the US. Roads are very wide, people tend to roam around in massive trucks, and in some places, you’ll even be without a pedestrian path. Cities and neighbourhoods are built for cars, and as a result, the public transport systems tend to be far less emphasised or available than in most European countries. So, when comparing the two, you’ll often find that cars or taxis are the main ways of getting around in the US, while in Europe, you can often hop on a cost-effective, more eco-friendly, and reliable tram, train, or bus. By design, public transport just isn’t the American way. If you do want to have good public transport available on your trip west, go a bit further north to Canada, where public transport is almost European in its use and quality.
Entertainment cities have their own quirks
If there’s one city in the world that you could point to as one that’s purely built for entertainment, it has to be Las Vegas, Nevada. America’s Sin City is loaded up with casinos, nightclubs, and music venues, attracting tens of millions of people from around the world every year. Perhaps the closest that Europe has to an entertainment city comes in the form of one of its smallest countries, Monaco, with Monte Carlo being one of the most prestigious places to visit. While both offer a huge range of games, Las Vegas certainly has more venues than Monte Carlo, but European venues, arguably, have the better form of one of the most popular games. Being of a more neutral persuasion than geographically inclined, the range of online roulette variations showcases the distinct differences between the European and American games. While French Roulette has a few more player-friendly features, the biggest distinction comes from the use of two zero pockets in American Roulette, while European and French Roulette only have a single-zero pocket. The absence of this second green pocket cuts the house edge, and makes the roulette better for the player. At one point, there were even triple-zero roulette tables making their way to venues on The Strip!
Tipping to pay the wages
It’s quite well-known that in the US, customers are expected to leave a tip. Across much of Europe, this isn’t required, is kept for exceptional circumstances, or is already added to the bill as gratuity. In the US, tips are what pay a great deal of someone’s wages in the service industry. It’s become so normalised in the massive market that even TikTok is testing tipping in its app. The Federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 (£1.79) per hour, so a great many workers need those tips to survive. Even if the food is poor or just not to your liking, if you bring it up with your waiter or waitress, they’ll work to get it sorted. Suppose you decide to quietly leave a small or no tip at all for the poor service or food without bringing it up – as someone likely would in Europe – you can expect to be confronted on the matter.
A near-non-existent language barrier to the west
For Brits, one of the big benefits of travelling to the US instead of Europe is knowing that everyone will speak English. That said, there are plenty of English speakers in Europe, especially as English-language music is quite popular on the continent. Still, it feels rude to not be able to get by in a conversation with someone in their country, and with 24 official languages knocking about in Europe, for a quick holiday, sometimes the effort just doesn’t seem worthwhile. Helping to ease this worry, though, are the millions of people who can speak English on a conversational level while being from countries where it’s not the native language. Scandinavian nations, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria, and Poland stand out for this, but even in the likes of France, Italy, and Spain, over half of the population is proficient in English. In the US, however, it’s the official language spoken by the vast majority of people, so you’ll never struggle to get help or have a chat.
Of course, there are a great many more differences between an experience in the US and one in Europe, but these are perhaps the more important to consider as they’re more likely to tip the balance.