My first experience with this misconception occurred while I was returning from Cambridge to London on a train. Middle-school students from a private school utilized one of the stops to go to and from school every day (fun fact: the U.K. does not have school buses) and as they loaded onto the train, they heard me talking to my coworker (another Pitt student). Immediately, I was asked if I was American, and upon my affirmative, one of the girls mentioned that the United States was her “dream country.” She expressed her jealousy that, as a Pennsylvanian, I could travel to Washington D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia whenever I wanted to – and even on the same day! That “same day” comment caught me off guard. While I can travel from those cities to Pittsburgh within four, five, or six hours (respectively), I would certainly never attempt a trip from Pittsburgh to Washington and Philadelphia on the same day, nor would I drive to Philadelphia and back on the same day. During my short conversation with the middle-school students, it became apparent to me that these British students were falling under the same misconception that many Americans are (rightfully) accused of: believing all other countries are similar to their own. After all, it only takes five hours by train to travel the entire length of England, and several fewer hours to travel to individual cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, or Liverpool.

Another “culture-shock” I experienced regarding U.K. and U.S. travel differences occurred when I actually took that train across England – specifically from London to Edinburgh, the southernmost tip of England to the southernmost tip of Scotland. My coworker from Pitt and I had an extra day off, and we decided to use the opportunity to travel to Scotland the next day. Our decision shocked our London coworkers, several of them expressing that a five-hour trip would require at least a month of planning. For most out of state students, imagine if you had to spend a month planning how you were going to drive from campus at the end of the semester; that’s the kind of planning I wouldn’t need unless I were traveling to the other end of the state (or, perhaps, if I was planning on flying).  

Of course, I still must concede that in terms of different countries and cultures visited and experienced, London travelers still have Americans beat, but overall, my experiences traveling and talking about traveling in London has made me realize that despite the stereotype of the “untraveled American,” it is actually more accurate to believe in the “untraveled British” in terms of total distance traveled – especially when you note that the continental United States is nearly the same size as the entire continent of Europe.