UK Travel Tips for Americans

This is a list of some of the things an American traveler may find strange when visiting the UK. It is also full of tips on how to fit in and not stand out as tourists. There is also a lot of good practical advice in here as well. This list was written by 3 Americans with help from some of their British co-workers. It is purely from an American perspective and was written for an appreciation of the differences between our cultures and not as a criticism. We have tried to put Britishisms in Italics so you can start to recognize them.

Money

• There is no need to load up on foreign cash before leaving. There are ATMs at most airports in the UK and many motorway services. Popular banks are Barclays, Lloyds, and Nat West. Just make sure you have a debit card (check card/Visa symbol on it) or credit card and pin number. Using an ATM will save you money in commission fees and a poor exchange rate you would get from a bank.
• If you cannot find an ATM you can always take your credit or debit card to a Bank and get a cash advance at the window. The only problem is most debit/credit cards have a daily limit as to how much cash you can get. If you limit is set low such as $200 you will only be able to get a little over 100 pounds.
• The money in the UK is based on a decimal system (since the early 1970s) just like the US dollar. Just think of pounds as dollars and pence as cents and you will do fine.
• In England you won't find 1 pound notes, they use coins for the 1 pound denomination. I should also mention that you could get a 1 pound note in Scotland.
• I should mention that England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland print their own currency and although English pounds are accepted in Scotland that Scottish notes are sometimes not accepted in England although they should be.
• The paper notes come in 5, 10, 20, and 50 pound notes. I don't believe that you can get paper notes any larger. And I should mention that the bigger the denomination, the larger the paper.
• The coins are called pence and they are in 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, and 50p sizes. You can call a 1p a penny but you call a 2p tuppence, 5p is 5 pence, and 50p is 50 'p'. The pound coin is large and hefty and unmistakable. Now in 1998 the 2 pound coins are turning up in circulation quite frequently and they too are unmistakable.
• Typically the exchange rate is about $1.65-$1.75 for £1.00. So when you are out shopping the real price is usually 1.7 times greater than the price tag. This hurts most when you get your credit card bill and that great £550 gift is over $900!
• The prices are typically the same units between the USA and UK. If you expect to pay $15 for something you will probably pay £15 for it. But remember multiply by 1.7!
• What we call sales tax in the United States is called VAT (value added tax) in the UK. In the UK it is 17.5% and you pay for it in most things (except groceries, books, and medicines). If you are going back to the USA after your trip you can claim this VAT back if you get the proper receipts and you must typically spend at least £30 on each receipt. You do this at the airport after passport control, just ask for the VAT back location and someone will point you in the right direction.
• Some slang terms for money that are common is a pound is often called a quid. Five pounds is called a fiver and ten pounds is called a tenner. There are also some strange words for money such as ponies, monkeys, etc. that even most British don't understand.
• You can use your Visa, MasterCard, and American Express in most places (except the American Embassy in London does not accept American Express and Marks & Spencers [M&S] only accept debit cards). You will also notice that Debit Cards are often called Delta and Switch cards.

The Flight to the UK

• The best fight against Jet Lag is to put yourself into your target time zone immediately. This means that if you land at 8:00 AM you should try to stay awake until 9 or 10 PM and then go to bed as normal. The trips from the USA to the UK are always the hardest for this reason. The good news is the return trip to the USA is usually an easy one to get back into your own time zone.
• One tip I read on a British Airways flight was to take a hot bath before going to sleep after a day of travel. I have been using that tip with great success over the last few months.
• There are two philosophies to drinking on the long haul flights. Some will tell you that only water should be consumed because the body dehydrates. Others swear that 4 Jack and Cokes to 'knock you out' after take off is a better method, despite the adverse health effects. We make no recommendation.

Telling Time

• The UK and most of Europe uses 24-hour or military time. You may want to familiarize yourself with this system since most clocks, tickets, schedules, etc. will be posted in 24-hour time.
• One possible reason for Europe using 24-hour time is that AM and PM do not translate well into many of the European languages.
• If it is 09:30 and you ask someone what time it is you may here it is half nine. If it is 09:15 and you ask someone what time it is you may here fifteen past nine. So we call this half time and it is very confusing at first. In addition in other parts of Europe such as Germany half nine is actually 08:30.

Driving

• Try to remember that the drivers seat is on the right-hand (near-side) side of the car, with the passenger on the left (off-side)…you will walk to the wrong side of the car at first.
• Stay on the left side of the road!
• While driving and turning right onto a road at a T intersection, make sure you look for traffic coming from the right, and left!
• The British do not believe in 4 way intersections. They are not very common and I have only seen 4 stop signs in the UK in the last 2 years. The British way is the round-a-bout and they can be very intimidating at first. One trick of a round-a-bout is when you are not sure which exit you need go to the inside (right). You can then circle around a couple of times until you are sure which exit is yours. You tend to navigate in a British round-a-bout with blinders on and you don't worry about drivers behind you, only in front of you. It takes a while to get use to but once you are use to the round-a-bout you tend to like them.
• You don't rent a car in the UK, you hire a car. The major rental car companies are Europcar, National, Hertz, and Avis.
• You may want to hire a full-size car because it will be like a mid-sized car in America. A small compact car will usually be a box on wheels with a 1.0l engine.
• You don't put gas in your car you put petrol in your car. Diesel is still diesel however.
• The hood is the bonnet and the trunk is the boot.
• If you cannot drive a manual transmission (gearbox) you will need to request an automatic in advance. Just like 90% of all American cars are automatics, 90% of all European cars are manuals. I think the Europeans think Americans are a very lazy lot since they don't even shift their own cars.
• Another thing you will notice about driving in Britain is the roads are very narrow compared to roads in the USA. Also there is typically no shoulder or verge as you would expect on roads in America.
• Distance in the UK is measured in Miles and speed is measured in Miles/Hour just like in America. However you buy gasoline or petrol in liters. Warning: if you see gallons in the UK be careful because the US gallon is smaller than the UK Imperial gallon and makes cars look like they are getting better gas mileage than their US equivalent models.
• Here is a translation of the types of roads. The Motorway is what we would call an interstate road and they are all numbered starting with a M with the exception of a A class road that has been upgraded such as the A309(M) which will then have the (M) at the end. The next type of road is an A Class dual carriageway, which is like our divided highway. Then you have the standard A Class road like a state highway. Then we get into the B Class road, which is very much like a county road. And finally unlike anything you see in American, except a few farmers field roads, is the Single Track Road which is only wide enough for one car at a time. On a Single Track Road you will find small laybys (areas to pull over) that you can use to let another car by if you meet. In the more mountainous regions like the Lake District there is a rule as to which car is suppose to back up but I do not remember exactly how the rule works and it may very well be a regional rule.
• The speeds driven on the roads in the UK are much faster than the speeds driven on similar roads in America. It is surprising that there seem to be fewer accidents. On a Motorway the speed limit is 70mph, however the rule of thumb is stay under 90mph and you probably won't get a ticket. Speed limit on a dual carriageway is also 70mph. Speed on a single carriageway is limited to 60mph as well as most A and B Class roads. Typically in town or built up areas the speed is lowered to 30 or 40mph. The speed sign in the UK is a white sign with a red circle around it with the speed limit in black letters. Don't get caught doing over 100mph since that is banning speed and not looked at very kindly by the police.
• One thing I quite like in the UK is the excellent road signs. It is a paradigm shift to go from navigation by road names such as I94 to using directions of a near buy City. But typically if you are going to drive somewhere it is easier to navigate by the name of a town or city you need to go to rather than the name of the road.
• The British are probably the most courteous drivers in the world. You don't ever undertake (what we would call "passing on the right" in America but it is passing on the left in the UK), drive slow in the fast lane (the right lane), and you yield or give way to other people out of kindness. The British are very forgiving to you if you are trying to maneuver in traffic and they will usually flash their lights you and let you go. The British rely heavily on flashing of the headlights to indicate they are going to yield to you and let you do something.
• Something to look out for is Speed Cameras. They take a picture of the back of your car and you get a ticket in the post (mail). The good news is they always post signs in areas where there are speed cameras and most of them run out of film shortly after being changed. However there will soon be digital cameras that will be capable of storing thousands of photos of speeders. They look like a gray box on a pole on the side of the road and you will see hash marks painted in the road.

Transportation

• A Round-Trip is a "Return" and a One Way is a "Single"
• Pedestrians do not have the right of way except in a Zebra crossing and they have belisha becons (flashing yellow lights on top of a poll).
• Train travel in the UK is the most expensive in Europe and perhaps the world. Look for discount plans and if you can travel off peak, after 10am to save. If you want to work or want to make sure you get a seat you may want to travel 1^st class.

Your American Accent

• You can use your accent to your advantage based on the situation. Some times it helps to play the dumb tourist to help you get away with things.

Electricity

• The UK and continental Europe operate on a 220-250 VAC at 50 Hz frequency. The USA operates on 117 VAC at 60 Hz frequency. The bottom line is you must be careful with electrical items.
• If the item you have uses a motor, such as a hair dryer, and it is compatible at 117 VAC or 240 VAC it will run slower in the UK at 50 Hz.
• Most hotels have 110 and 220 V electric shaver outlets.
• Also, in Europe, hotel hair dryers are frequently in the room and most bathrooms use hand dryers (made by World Dryer of Berkley IL).
• A 110 V device will function differently under 220-240V of power! Most laptops can take 220, look at the rating on the power supply before plugging it in. Also if the power supply has a switch make sure to switch it!
• The best place to buy a plug converter is usually at the airport. The ones that stores like Radio Shack sell are not very good quality and they try to tell you that the UK can use 3 or 4 different types of plugs. Well 99.9% of all the outlets will be the standard 3-prong UK type and they look 5 times larger than a USA style 3 prong plug.
• In the UK you will also find switches on all outlets and fuses not only on the breaker box but also in the power cords and in the item itself.
• The power converters you get at places like Radio Shack tend to not be very stable and they do not take a large load. I have measured these types of power converters putting out 135 VAC, which is too much for most 117 VAC devices. Better are the expensive ones that look and feel like a big brick. They will also step the voltage the reverse way. Remember you can change voltage with these but not frequency (Hz) of the current.
• If you really need to change both voltage and frequency for a device one inefficient method that works is to first convert 220 VAC to 12 VDC. Then get a DC to AC power inverter to step back up to 117 VAC at 60 Hz.

The Pub

• The English Pub is not at all like an American Bar. The Pub is a social place where families can go to enjoy themselves. Most pubs serve food, have gardens, and many now serve Real Ale.
• Beer comes in two basic types in England, bitter, and lager. Lager is the fizzy stuff you are use to in America and bitter is an Ale. If you order a bitter and they don't "pull" it you are not getting a real ale. I should also mention you will see a lot of cider drinks as well and they are worth a try.
• There is a subtle difference in how you order in an English pub from an American bar. In American you would say "yes… I need two beers". In England you would say, "could I have a pint of lager please". Basically the British do not like demanding statements such as the phrase "I need". We have also discovered that in some European countries such as Holland it helps to say "Hello" to the bartender before placing an order. This clues him in that you speak English and they just consider it friendly.
• You can order a beer in a pint or a half-pint. Don’t bother ordering a half pint of beer when you first get here. With your American accent you will not pronounce ‘half’ correctly and you will probably receive a full pint anyway. You need to say the 'a' in half with an ah sound to be understood.
• In the UK the British take a lot of pride in their weights and measures act which was a way of regulating the amount of liquid you are served. I actually saw in a museum in Nottingham the old official city weights and measures where at one time officials actually went into pubs and ordered a pint and checked it against the official measure. You will see on a pint glass an official line to mark the level of a pint or the pint is the rim. This why you will get pints completely full and with no "head" on the beer. Most British would send back a pint of beer that was not filled to the brim and ask for the full pint. You will also see with spirits some neat measuring devices (optics) that guarantee you get 25ml (milliliters) when you order a measure of liquor. You will never see a bartender pour a drink without taking a careful measure of the liquid. We have noticed that the 25ml shot is usually not enough to please the American taste and we often have to order double measures to get the proper effect. One reason I like Ireland so much is they don't use the metric system for measuring spirits but rather you get a 1/4 gill (which is 33ml) and it is about the size of a shot that Americans are use to.
• Traditionally Men always order a Pint of beer and you get funny looks carrying around a half pint. I have noticed that if a Man does not want that much alcohol they order a shandy which is 1/2 pint of beer with 1/2 pint of lemonade. A bitter shandy is served with bitter and a normal shandy is served with lager. The lemonade is not typical lemonade Americans are use to but more like a Sprit, 7-UP or fizzy lemonade.
• The order by table number scheme is something that many Americans will find very different. If you walk into a pub to get some food check out the tables. If you see numbers on the tables, usually little round brass numbers recessed in the table top, you are in an "order by numbers" pub. The proper approach here is to first find your own table and claim it. Then remember the number and go find the menu which is sometimes printed and sometimes on chalk boards or both. The specials are usually on the chalk board and usually the best things to eat.
• If you order food don't be surprised if you are asked to pay first, as this is more common. If you want to run a tap just offer to leave your credit card at the bar so you can put all your drinks, food, deserts, and coffees on one bill.
• Typically when you sit at a table it is yours as long as you like. The British would consider it rude to bring you the check for your meal without you asking. There is usually no hurry in dining in Europe and once you are use to it you like it and find dining in America a rushed experience.
• In England the pubs close at 11:00pm. The call for last orders is usually at 22:50 and 22:58 and sometimes accompanies a ring of a bell. You have about 20 minutes after 11:00pm of drinking up time to finish your drinks and get out of the pub. Once you get to know your local some do serve their loyal customers well after this time but it is illegal and as a tourist you probably won't be invited to one of these.
• You won't find beer by the pitcher.
• You don't leave you money out on the bar as you drink.
• Never tip the bar tender. If you feel like you have to show your gratuity offer to buy him a drink. However in some Pubs if you do they money just goes into the till.
• One last thing about the beer in England, it is not warm like you always here. A true cask conditioned Ale is served at about 55F which is warmer than a lager (like Budweiser) because it is suppose to be.

Telephones

• The format of an UK phone number is usually one of three common ways. First the international format is +44 (0)1491 576 152. This means that the +44 is the country code and the (0) is only dialed if calling from within the UK. So from the USA you would dial 011 - 44 - 1491-576-152. The 011 is the International Access code for the USA. Finally if you are dialing from within the UK you would dial 01491 576 152.
• Another format is simply 01491 576 152 which we know is the within UK format. Remember the first 0 is the equivalent of the "1" on USA long distance numbers.
• The final format may be Henley 576-152, which means they have left off the "area code" for Henley of 01491. This form is the most confusing but typically used in Radio or on the telephone.
• Phone plugs are different as well and you can find USA to UK phone cords all over. Don't buy the expensive £9 converters in the major electronics stores. If you can find a store like Maplins you can get a 6 foot phone cord with a USA on one end and British on the other.
• If you are using a modem you may need to add a ',' (comma) to the end of the dial string because the British double ring will sound like a busy (engaged) signal to an American modem.

Politeness and Etiquette

• There are a few things you should know if you want to use proper etiquette whilst in the UK. The correct way to say thank you is Cheers. The correct way to say good by is Cheers. The correct way to toast when you drink is to say Cheers. Got it? Good, Cheers then.
• The British love to queue (wait in line). Obey the queue because you can upset people if you don't.
• You eat with a knife and fork all the time. The knife is in the right hand at all times and the fork is in the left hand and usually used upside down. It is very weird but when you get use to it 2 things happen 1) people don't look funny at you when you shovel food into your face and 2) you eat slower so you eat less.
• If you hear another American accent don't assume they are "from the states". Ask them if they are North American. This is good practice so you won't get the Canadians upset with you.
• American sarcasm tends to not come across very well in Britain so be careful about using it.

Fast Food

• There are plenty of American fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, Burger King, and even the occasional Wendys. You will find one major difference when trying to order. If want your food "for here" you will order "eating in". If you want your food "to go" you will order "take away".
• Another difference about UK and American fast food restaurants is that if you want ketchup you usually must ask for it and typically you get only one packet. Don't be at all surprised if you are charged up to 10p a packet especially at Burger King on the Motorways.
• Due to the UK weights and measures act and the mentality of "If I order a Pint I want exactly 1 Pint" you will notice that soda drinks are typically served without Ice. Again if you like ice in your Coke you must ask when you order. And one last thing on this topic is you may get a lemon with your drink as well so if you don't like lemon make that known. And I should mention that if you don't see a fresh lemon on the bar you are probably getting canned lemons.
• The last warning about fast food in the UK is there may be nothing fast about it at all. It is typical for you to order your food and wait 5 to 10 minutes for them to serve it to you.
• In general I would avoid fast food in the UK since there are so many good places for good Pub food, Indian Curry, and other European foods that you should explore these types of dining to their fullest.
• In 1999 or so Subway restaurants started to pop up.  Don't forget to get the stamps because I've used Subway stamps from UK and USA restaurants on the same card to get my free sub with purchase of a drink.

Radio

• The most obvious FM radio stations are Radio 1 (BBC), Radio 2 (BBC), Radio 3 (BBC), and Radio 4 (BBC). Of which you find mostly pop music on Radio 1 and talk, classical, etc on radio 2-3. Radio 2 is typically easy listening. Radio 4 is typically documentaries and soaps. Radio 3 is hard to explain because no Brit I know will admit to listening to it. There is usually a classical station as well and they tend to carry very good classical programs.
• On MW (medium wave) you will find the BBCs Radio 5 at 909 and 693 kHz which carriers sports.
• If you rent a car (hire a care) you will find that some car radios will actually display the station information using RDS.

Computers

• Just like we cannot have the same spelling for our American English and British English, the British have their own keyboard layout. If you are a Windows 95 power use you can set up your keyboard to use an American layout if you are a touch typists.
• If you are required to produce documents whilst in the UK you may want to install your British English dictionary on your word processor. This is easy to do with MS-Word. American spellings in documents offend the British (the British invented the language anyway right?).
• Phone plugs are different as well and you can find USA to UK phone cords all over. Don't buy the expensive £9 converters in the major electronics stores. If you can find a store like Maplins you can get a 6 foot phone cord with a USA on one end and British on the other.
• If you are using a modem you may need to add a ',' (comma) to the end of the dial string because the British double ring will sound like a busy (engaged) signal to an American modem.

Gratuity

• Typically you do not tip in Britain. If you do (and usually only in American style restaurants) 10% is usually the maximum.
• If you leave money on the table or at the bar you may find the bartender or waiter running after you telling you that you left your money.

Customs and Immigration

• The simple rule here is to Be Honest, and Be Serious.  
• If you fly business class or first class into Heathrow (LHR) inquire if there is a fast track for Immigration.  Due to heightened security they may no longer offer this service (anyone know) but it is great to speed through if you can get into the fast track line.

Firearms

If you are a shotgun shooter you may wish to consider trying out "Sporting" (sporting clays) while you stay in England.  The English are some of the finest wing shooters in the world and often are the winners of international competitions.  It is not impossible to bring your shotgun with you, in fact it is not that difficult.  You will need to apply for a Visitors Shotgun Permit and you can find all the information you need at the CPSA web site.

I have not hunted in the UK however I have friends who did hunt in Scotland and were able to obtain a permit to bring their rifles with them.  The CPSA web site above also has the forms you need to get a Visitors Firearms Permit. 

If you do take a firearm to the UK (after you get your Visitors Permit) make sure when you leave the USA you get your firearms export card from Customs or you will have great difficult trying to bring your firearm back home!

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Last Modified: Thursday, February 13, 2003 11:54:38 -0500