Uh, yeah, us Americans love to travel just as much as any other nation. Imagine though, having access to 47 countries - most larger than many European countries - that you can drive to without needing a passport, and 49 that you can fly to without needing a passport. Also, imagine all those countries speak your language, use your same currency, have the same laws (generally speaking), same electrical outlets, drive on the same side of the road, but have VASTLY different geography, very different cultures, different architecture, different restaurants/stores, different accents/dialects, different weather/climates ranging from arctic to tropical, deserts to rain forests, and wildlife of all manner from moose to manatees, bears to alligators, humming birds to giant condors. America is huge, not only in land mass, but culture and experiences, too. We are 50 nations united under one flag, one supreme law of the land. Many of us never travel outside of the US, because there's so much to explore and do right here within our boarders. I myself have only been to two places outside the US: Canada, and the British Virgin Islands. No desire to go to Mexico. I'd love to visit New Zealand, as my brother studied abroad in your fine country, and said it was quite the experience (he even went skydiving while visiting y'all, to really take in the sights). I'd also love to visit Japan, Germany, England, and Czechoslovakia (or whatever they call themselves these days... Czech Republic?). The reason I want to visit those places is because of their historical significance, which I find fascinating. However, travel to Europe or Asia is very expensive - at least it is for me. I'm plenty happy to explore the US, and keep my travel expenses low. There is more to see and do here than I could ever do in a lifetime of vacation (holiday, as some of you call it). Maybe some day when I have more income, I'll visit a country across the oceans. For now, I'm glad the internet brings the world to me, limited as it may be, but still better than no exposure at all. 🙂
Exactly. However, the lack of vacation time and over-inflated currency driving down the value of earnings do play a big role, since many Americans say they WOULD travel internationally if they could. But a person could spend their entire life traveling the continental U.S. and still have more places they'd want to see while seeing more biomes and unique attractions than any amount of travel across Europe could offer them.
Try Skyscanner if you have an open schedule and don't have a set place you want to go. It shows flights in price order from least to highest. I have been lucky enough to travel to a lot of different countries, and you can find some great deals if you know where to look. I've also noticed that many countries outside of the US have much more affordable lodging. The flight may be more expensive, but you'll easily make that back booking a hotel in Prague versus maybe New York or something. Wish you the best!! Hearts and stars 💜💥
The US is so big that we have pretty much every type of terrain here at home. From Louisiana I can go to Arkansas to be in the mountains, Texas to see the desert. And our own gulf coast to be in the tropics. We even have places where people gather and speak primarily their native languages.
Plus, the US sportsfans get the experience of being part of the wildest, loudest, most fun crowd cheering their favorite SEC football team. Geaux Tigers!
California as a State has snow, deserts like Death Valley, Mojave, etc, we have amazing beaches and forests. It's pretty cool, our politics are rather messed up however I really love it here especially in San Diego where I was born and raised the people are friendly.
Depends where in Texas. Texas is mainly the plains not the deserts. Go to new mexico or arizona or Nevada. The movies that show texas is a desert is shot in California
The Passport thing always annoys me as an American… there are 330 million of us, so 42% that have passports which is nearly 139 million people. And it is not a simple process to get a passport and it can cost $140 with extra surcharge. I mean plus the country is huge so traveling domestically in one of the most ecologically and culturally diverse nations on Earth without having to leave your country is sometimes just easier and cheaper.. And we do use the Metric system in engineering (I work as an Aerospace Engineer) Oh and we recently raised Tobacco age to 21 which I’m okay with but the drinking age annoys me… you can be drafted, vote, serve on a jury, be charged as an adult but you can’t have a beer is dumb
I'm a 91 year old great-grandmother. I want to tell you how much I enjoy watching your programs all the time (sometimes more than once!!). Thank you for bringing joy into my life. xoxoxo PS - I'll have to wait for my "next time around" to get to visit NZ, but I will!!!
I think one reason also that we don't travel overseas as much is because our country is so diverse that we can visit very different cultures and landscapes right here. I've been to 43 of the 50 states and still feel there is so much of my country to see!
The biggest reason most Americans never travel to another country is economics. Most Americans don't have enough money to travel overseas, heck most Americans can't afford a weekend trip..
Personally- I think we should all stick to our own-- but travel is fine for many-- just right now- the Demoncraptics had F..d stuff up so bad- most can't afford it-- and yet they're STILL stupid enough to vote the trash back in..
@@davidwayne9982 This is a problem that has existed for decades, it is not new, and nor is it the fault of the Democrats. It is because of corporate greed, and companies refusal to raise wages to adjust for inflation over the last 3-4 decades.
My siblings and I just recently had to drive from California to Kentucky. It was a 2.5 day journey there and 2.5 days back. We traveled through 14 different states, since we took the lower route there and the upper route back. It was exhausting and amazing.
The USA has everything from the Arctic to tropical islands. We can go to two oceans, many large lakes, deserts, semi-tropical areas to temperate climates, mountains with fantastic ski resorts, prairies, vast forested wilderness areas... you name it, we have it. Plus, everyone in every region speaks the same language and has more or less the same customs and yet different cultural experiences. I've been to several other countries and am always glad to get home.
Yes, and that is why most of U.S. Citizens don't have passports, or travel to other countries. By the way, if you as a U.S. Citizen can travel to parts of Canada, and parts of Mexico without a passport. You do need a real ID drivers license, but that has not always been the case. Real ID drivers license requirements were passed after the 9/11 terrorist attack, and will actually be required to fly within the U.S. in 2025. (That date may change, as it has in the past.)
The ice thing is partly due to the heat, especially in the southern states. Having a huge iced tea is so refreshing as it's so incredibly hot for 3/4 of the year in most of the southern states.
We have an enormous country with so much to see and experience from deserts to oceans, mountains to rain forests. We have so much to explore right here that is fascinating, historical, and beautiful. We can travel for weeks and still be within our boundaries and never have to show a passport.
“We can travel for weeks and never show a passport?” So f*cking what? That’s a pathetic selling point if that’s all you got. Btw, that’s so Not unique to the US. The same applies to traveling through the Schengen Zone in Europe and pretty much Any country with history and culture ( unlike the US) because size is meaningless when the middle is a bunch of cornfields and tacky road attractions. There’s a reason they’re called flyover states. Also, traveling in the US sucks since you have to either drive or fly while actual first world countries have high speed trains. Historical? Haha! How many iconic buildings or landmarks in the US were built in the 11th 12th or 13th, 14th centuries? How many ancient ruins ( excluding those of indigenous peoples’ of course which are ancient) going back to the Greek or Roman or Persian or Byzantine or Egyptian Empires do you have? The Great Wall of China was built in 2 BCE? What HISTORICAL landmark in the US compares? The Taj Mahal was much more recent built in early 16th century. What in the US is comparable? GTFO with your “historical” American journey haha! How many breathtaking national parks are there around the world that put American national parks to shame? Answer= Countless. A person who couldn’t point to A single country on a map should not be broadcasting his or her shameless ignorance about 96% of the world that is Not America. The US is a mere 4% of the world. Get over yourself. I am American btw just one the few Not embarrassing ones🤦🏻♀️
Watching your comments about the ice... here, we generally keep the soda cold before it is consumed, so you don't have to worry about the ice melting right away. I've often thought when watching y'all eating American foods and commenting on the soda taste, if you had it really cold (refrigerate the cans and then add ice) you would get a very different taste experience because the soda's taste (and mouth feel) is designed to be drunk very cold. Here, if you get a soda at a restaurant, it has been chilled before you add the ice. There are people here who will order a drink with "no ice" not because they don't like the cold, but because it is already cold and they just want more soda in the cup. Just want to say.. I really enjoy your videos. Sharing like this helps us all appreciate each other more.
But it gets warm, quickly, nothing worse than a warm carbonated beverage. Of course I am different, I freeze my water bottles solid, when I go out in heat it is still cold after a couple of hours
Correction, I have a friend who does not like ice in her soft drinks from a restaurant. This is because unless she finishes it before the ice melts very far it starts to water down her drink, and she doesn't care for that. As such, yes she does actually dislike ice in her soft drink unless she can get just a little bit of ice to help it stay chilled.
I typically ask for or get light ice or no ice. I still get enough to keep it cold, but not enough to make it super diluted. Plus, I get more bang for my buck.
@@Razmoudah But because there are free refills in the US chances are your cup will be topped off before it's halfway done which negates the dilution effect.
@@NatashaEstrada Good, I'll let YOU explain it to her then. Of course, as I've regularly watched her nurse her FIRST fill to the point that half, or more, of the ice had melted (because the waiter brought it with ice anyhow) I'm inclined to think that she has a point with her preference.
The first time I took my cat to the vet, I had to get my phone out to figure out how much she weighed because I didn't know how much 47 grams was. She was 3 days old, btw. When we moved from the east coast to the west coast, we took 15 days and stopped every time I spotted a historical marker. We saw everything but Arctic tundra and a rainforest. I currently live in the southeast, and iced drinks are a must.
One of the reasons a lot of people from the United States do not take many vacation days is not everyone gets paid vacation. If you take time off it can be at your own expense and many in the US simply cannot afford not to work. I have seen employers only give 5 days vacation to employees in the past especially starting out in some retail places. Some jobs do not even offer it.
@@kylejde Even when you do have paid time off, most employers in the United States do not provide exclusively vacation days and exclusively sick days. They put them together in a bucket called PTO, or paid time off. If you are single and you are not ill during a year, you may actually get 3 weeks or more off for a vacation because you have that much PTO. But if you have a family, or in some cases even pet, you may end up having years go by without any vacation at all because all of your paid time off goes to taking care of relatives. For example, my husband and I work for the same company. He's been with the company so long that he accrues one and a half days off for every paycheck he earns, just once every two weeks. In October and November of last year, I developed severe pneumonia and he ended up taking a ridiculous amount of time off to take care of me. 10 days ago, I had a hysterectomy. So my husband will end this year with absolutely no time off for vacation. Simply because he took care of me last year and is now taking care of me this year. It can be worse if you have children, especially if you have multiple children. Unless they all conveniently get sick on exactly the same day and get better at exactly the same day, you can be off for extended periods of time just to treat a simple case of a cold going through your kids. Which is never very fun. So it is not just that we have fewer days off, but that we have one giant bucket we take everything out of, that basically means Americans don't take a lot of time off.
My ex got three weeks of combination vacation and sick time per year, but she used most of it as sick time because of migraines. We didn't take many vacations because she didn't have the time.
There's also the huge workaholic culture in America. Since we're not set up to do things like shut down for a month in summer or have siesta time midday, before you consider taking time off, arrangements have to be made for coverage of all your work. Aside from those who don't get paid vacation, management and middle management can be stuck with no adequate coverage or could return to too mountainous a pile of work upon your return after more than a couple days.
I think it's more than that. My dad worked in Aerospace and got 6-8 weeks paid vacation back in the 70's-80's. Sometimes he took it, we spent 2 months when I was a kid seeing all the 48 states during the bicentennial in the summer of 76. But most years, he just chose to take the extra vacation time as pay at the end of the year, like a bonus.
When you think about all of the people in other countries who visit the US and WHY they come here, it’s because of all the incredible places they have seen in movies and videos and they want to experience them first hand. Just watching your lovely family react to US videos and listen as you plan for a trip here proves this point: Americans want to see these places too! I live just north of Boston and am just as interested in visiting out National Parks, Monuments, mountains, rivers and lakes, famous cities as you are. I have been fortunate to have traveled to many places outside of the US but still look for opportunities to travel within our own borders to see the same things everyone else wants to see.
I’m a barber in dallas Texas USA. -The tip thing is important, my tips make up almost half of my paychecks. - I’m almost 30 and have never had a passport , never really had the urge to travel . - we put ice in EVERYTHING. And your daughter is correct. (The more ice, the less drink which they get to keep and less money for them) -the vacation days is also true sadly. We get around 2 weeks PAID vacation per year. Everything else is not paid if we take it off .
Most jobs that I've had experience with start at 1 week paid vacation, and increase to 5 weeks once you've been there a few years. Loyalty, and longevity matter in the trades, service, banking, medical, education, and business industries at least. 😘
Don’t agree about your ice analysis at all. Americans just like ice. And because of free refills, it’s not like they’re trying to cheat you on the amount of soda.
This guy obviously doesn't like the US. Showing a naked chunky stomach as representative of the US is crass, rude and misleading. There are overweight people in all countries even New Zealand 😉. The volume is terrible on the vid you're watching, can't even hear the guy. We don't think any of this is weird but whatever. Maybe pick a vid that shows some of the reasons foreigners like to come visit the US. Things that foreigners actually like about us.
Yes!! The reason our cup sizes are so big and we have free refills is because our drinks are full of ice! I think you guys are the first I've seen that connected the dots on that. And yes, between how huge and diverse the US is and how expensive it is to travel overseas, a lot of people don't need or want a passport. Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to traveling abroad is all of the in-country travel required first to even go somewhere else. Someone living in a rural part of the country may have to drive 3+ hours to the nearest commercial airport, then fly a few hours to the coast, then catch a connecting flight all before even leaving American soil. It can be very time consuming and expensive.
For the Europeans to comprehend how large America is, it is a five hour flight from London to Tel Aviv, yes to another continent. It is a five and a half hour flight from New York City to Los Angeles, a six hour flight from Boston to Los Angeles, a seven hour flight from Miami to Seattle. Notice I have not mentioned Alaska or Hawaii, much less Guam. It is a seven hour flight from London to Toronto, across an ocean to another hemisphere... One can ride a train from London to Birmingham in an hour or ride a train from London to Manchester in two hours... To ride a train from Chicago to Los Angeles takes two days, not two hours... Make that three days from New York City to Los Angeles riding a train...
But remember, when you order your drink, you can request that they use no, or little ice, depending on what you like. I order my drinks with "light ice", so they only put in a small amount. It's enough to cool the drink, but you get more of your drink and less of the ice.
More than likely its due to capitalism. There was no refills at resteraunts in the 70s or 80s unless you bought tea or coffee and if there was a refill they charged you like it was another drink...even did it with coffee. The biggie size craze of the 80s and 90s of McDonald's probably kicked it off. Of course 7-11 big gulps were the first. Cant deny they put more ice in, but they were doing it that way before.
@Tony Montana you can order your drink with no ice. Soda from the “self serve machine”is cold, no ice needed. Same in the restaurant, order w/o ice or just drink the free refills.
In some US states, like Pennsylvania you don't pay sales tax on "necessities" such as groceries, clothing, shoes, or soap. Also in the US, you don't normally tip at a fast food chain, only where you are served your food by a waitress or waiter.
As someone who lives in Pennsylvania, whenever my twin sister and I go grocery shopping, we don't pay what we pay for. If we bought items up to $30 dollars, it won't be $30 dollars because of tax. It could be probably from living in a certain part of Pennsylvania since the part I live in is Berks County.
@@ariellewilson730 Food, soap, shoes, clothing are all state sales tax exempt. If you paid tax at a grocery store, it was on items that are taxable. Prepared food is taxable as well as other things such as light bulbs.
Agreed, although I'm noticing the whole "tipping" system is getting a bit skewed - for example at certain drive-thru windows (and sometimes at inside counters) they want to take your card, put it in the point-of-sale machine (card reader), then hand it back to you where one of the screens offers you the ability to add a tip. I'm thinking, "Tip for what? I'm the dork doing the footwork here getting the food served to me no one is delivering me diddly-squat here. What exactly would I be tipping FOR? Getting my OWN food?" Another questionable trend goes for online orders that involve delivery like Grub Hub and such - they give you a spot online during your order to add a tip before the actual service takes place. I guess I'm old school but I'm not committing to a tip until the service is rendered and it turned out to be speedy delivery with still-hot food. I know the delivery driver can't affect the cooking of the food, but he can affect how fast and fresh I get it. I always leave the tip field $0 and put in the delivery instructions, "Tip commensurate with delivery speed". I always tip of course, but the slow or cold food may get only $3, but the fast and hot food may get $8 - $10. I don't accept the video's premise that tipping is an accepted practice here in American culture because of some commonly agreed-upon desire to keep base prices low. Maybe I'm jaded here on this one. It seems more to me, originally, it was a way to increase performance on behalf of the wait-staff, especially with more well-off diners who wanted their orders to be served quickest and their glasses to always be kept full so they would dangle that reward to the wait staff to get themselves prioritized in a busy restaurant setting. Restaurant owners then caught on to this practice and reduced (or failed to increase over time) wait-staff base pay (so they could keep more $$) citing the "income" the wait staff was enjoying based on these service-prioritizing "bribes". Over time it just became a common cultural phenomenon and hasn't ended.
The USA is so big, that it makes travel to other continents pretty expensive. I can go to Hawaii or New York or Puerto Rico or the USVI or National Parks for much less. We used to not need a passport to go to Canada or the USVI, but times have changed. I would love to visit my bucket list top 3 of Ireland, Italy and New Zealand, but I've got to save three times the amount of money and use all my vacation days to do it.
Puerto rico is not a fully american state it might as well be since it uses american money and the citisens are basically american by birth dont know why it isnt by now
@@TheAlmaward technically the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are not part of the USA because they are unincorporated territories. But they should be part of the USA because they can vote in our elections
You can always ask for no ice or easy on the ice when getting a drink. Also, when refilling, you are usually doing it yourself so you can get as much or little ice as you want. And mix flavors or whatever. I use the drink lids for bigger sauce (ketchup)dishes. 😉
The ice in the drinks are partially why our drink cups are so large! And honestly, the pop doesn't get watered down very quickly. And when it does, most places offer free refills and you're good to go. The ice keeps the drink cold for a lot longer.
@@DivinePeace1102 We do! We're. . kinda workaholics. If We aren't working at all times, we feel incredibly lazy because of the centuries of passed down generational trauma :D
I was an over the road truck driver for two years and drove into and through all of the US except Alaska, Hawaii and Florida. My most memorable experience was driving west on I 84 along the Columbia river head towards Portland Oregon watching the sun go down slowly and beautifully in to the mountains ahead of me while jamming to Metallica's "For whom the bell tolls" at 66 mph (100+ kph). Magical just magical......
The ice is why our drink portions are so big! Also, soda or pop is always incredibly sweet so having the ice to water it down a little over time makes it much more refreshing. We love our ice! 😂❤
Yep! We do love it! And it’s not because it’s forced on us by businesses. You also made a great point by connecting our large drink sizes (that was also part of the video) to our liking of lots of ice. A soft drink in a cup without ice just isn’t the same thing!
@@joeterp5615 I love ice so much that I got a counter top ice maker to make sure we always have some! It's been years since I've been to a restaurant that served soda without ice and just set the bottle beside the glass. Drinks get warm too quickly! I want plenty of ice all year round!
I don't like ice at all and always have to order my drinks with no ice - at a bar they always think you're trying to get more booze... I just tell them to put it in a smaller glass!
@@jtidema When I was growing up, many people would insist on no ice or on having their ice in a separate glass because they thought they were being cheated. I got hooked on ice at age four when I had my tonsils out and they said everything I drank had to be cold. It could also be because I grew up in California and it gets very hot here. We would even rub ice on our foreheads as children to cool off! g
When talking about tips in these videos, they always just focus on restaurants. But the tipping culture goes far beyond tipping wait staff at restaurants. For instance, I always tip my hair stylist, manicurist, Uber/taxi/Park-n-go driver, hotel bell hop, valet parking attendant, gas attendant at the marina, tour guides, etc. It all absolutely adds up!!!
I only tip when the staff, service, or quality of product is good/better then average. Start at 10% and go up from there based on whatever I think it was worth.
Why is it shocking that we don't have passports? As large as America is, the incredible diversity of the landscapes, temperatures, even customs and food, without ever leaving the country. It's only since 2001 that we had to get a passport to Canada! Oh, you can always order your drink with little ice, that should never be a problem ☺️ (worked in many restaurants)
It's shocking that you are happy to live your entire life without ever leaving your own country. There are HUNDREDS of amazing countries in the world, but you don't ever want to visit them. Kind of depressing and bland.
I think a lot of Americans dream about traveling but they can't swing it financially. The fact is employers here are not required to give any vacation days, not even unpaid ones. Thirty-one percent of American workers get no paid vacation time. Those people find it very challenging to travel internationally.
@SalvableRuin tell me your entitled and have money without directly saying it. I would love to travel and I'm sure many others would love too but it's a matter of money. America is rich but most of the wealth is owned by 1% of Americans. With inflation the middle class no longer exists and most families are living paycheck to paycheck. You used to be able to support an entire family on one income. You also should take into account how close other countries are to you. The US has Canada and Mexico next to us and that's it. Most Europeans can take a train to get to many other countries and they're all close to each other. To get anywhere in Europe we have to take very long plane rides and it's quite expensive compared to being in Europe and taking a day trip to another country. You should think about others points of views before judging others. Most people want to travel so dont assune they want to stay only in the US.
exactly, @karma Shirly all I'm saying is we don't have to cross boarders to have a great vacation, not that we wouldn't love to visit other countries, it's just not practical. Or maybe @ SalvableRuin you just don't know just how great and diverse this one country is. Now that would be sad.
I have had a passport since I was 15 years old and have travelled to 30 countries and 5 continents. The US is so large and not everyone has had the same opportunities. Love watching your family!
I used to tutor French high school kids who are spending their summer in the US. This was in a big city on the East Coast. Every summer, every new kid, would always either be mad about the ice or laugh about it in their first week. Then, after they had spent a week sweating in an American Summer, they stopped joking about the ice and embraced it. It gets hot here. Europeans definitely don't understand it and even when I lived in Australia a lot of people refuse to believe that it gets really hot here. We invented ice makers and air conditioning for a reason.
I saw on the history channel that the refrigerated truck was developed by Budweiser to widen their markets and make a national beer, rather than local breweries.
@@theportaloftime6177 Frozen food was invented by Birdseye, before freezers were in homes, some homes had freezers but not many because they were very expensive before Freon.
Oh wow no really though.. like I know it gets hot and humid and HOT here... I just assumed the latitude lines weather was about the same, like across the globe. Does Eurasia basically just push it's hot humid onto the North America by winds across the Atlantic ocean?!... ... Rn I sooooooooooo want to call out cheater... But this might probably be one of those American things we bitch about for no real reason... 🤣😂👍😭😭😭😭
I had a pen friend from Scotland and I was shocked that he had 6 weeks of vacation time and he worked for the underground rail system. I've never had a job that offered more than two weeks of vacation time starting out. I have 15 days at my current job and I've been there 4 years.
My last job was at a power plant. $75k a year and 2 months of vacation. It was like I had died and gone to heaven. Also the easiest job I ever had. Shame the plant closed down. I would have retired from there if it were my choice. Lol
Customer service is notorious for a lack of use of vacation. I averaged about half my alloted time simply because upper management tended to make people feel bad for taking time off. So glad to have moved on to better things.
I used mine to the maximum. I'd switch shifts with people to get 2 weekends off back to back and use 5 vacation days in between to get 9 days off. It didn't hurt anyone and I still had to work 40 hours before and after but management still pitched a fit every time I did it.
The biggest reason not to take time off for me is even when I take one day off I come back to work with what seems like five days of work piled up. It's not worth the time off.
Travel and passports - let me put it this way. Travel from New York City to Eupora Mississippi and you aren't just in a different state, you are in a different universe. The number of national and state parks available nationwide means you can learn about the United States for decades without needing a passport. I've been to Europe and Australia (never made it to NZ though I wanted to), but I figure I have decades left learning about good old home. If you ever make it here, go to Yellowstone. Take at least a week, maybe 2 weeks. It's a huge park. Then drive for 2 days south to Arches and the Grand Canyon area. You'll see why so many from the US never leave the country.
See one national park, you've seen them all. Boring! I want to meet people and find out about their lives, our differences and similarities. I want to see nature but I also want to see history and civilization as it developed. I want to enjoy a local festival and go to different types of cultural events.
@@tinalettieri Then visit the Shakespearian festivals (Southern Utah does one annually), museums, towns with heritage like Spring City Utah, which is one of two towns 100% on the historical register (other being WIlliamsburg). Not even out of Utah yet. Snake River Stampede (Rodeo) in Southern Idaho, and one could go on and on. Octoberfest celebrated multiple places in Utah. Siking with some of the best snow in the world. Old Time Fiddlers in Weiser Idaho and more. So, why do I need a passport? Still too many festivals, museums and learning experiences here. I have a passport, but do not plan international travel in the near future. Way to much to do here. Someday I want to get back to Australia, maybe London, but for now, too busy here.
Passports are expensive, you can be denied and have to pay again to attempt to get it again, plus most of us cannot afford vacations outside the country. Couple that with short vacations (making us choose to either have short vacations or extend the vacation without pay), we usually choose to vacation inside the country. And as for ice, it isn't mandatory. I always request either less ice or no ice when I order. It is a bit of extra hassle, but once you get used to it, it's fine.
Your comment on those in the midwest going to New York is very accurate. This summer my family's traveling from the midwest (Iowa) to the east coast (Carolinas) to show our daughter the ocean for the first time. Our drive is around 18hrs, and will be the biggest trip as a family by far!
From eastern Nebraska, we one time made it from home to NYC in just under 24 hours! Like 23 hr, 48 min I think. Going to the coast is a once every several years kind of thing!
The US has so much to explore without needing a passport. My western state of Utah is nearly 220,000 square kilometers in size (about 85,000 square miles). We're landlocked, but still have a salt water lake if you really want salty water. (Watch out for brine flies, they bite.) You can choose between mountains, lakes, rivers, desert, caves, hot springs, dinosaur fossils, amazing rock formations and more in a 7-8 hour drive north to south. We get snow in winter with great skiing and other winter sports. Summers are hot and dry. Growing up, my family's big vacation of the year was going camping at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes in central Utah. We didn't have the money to take big trips and it was fun playing on the sand dunes and cooking on a campfire. This is just one state, and the others offer even more kinds of scenery. You could spend a lifetime exploring just the US.
I’m 58 and never had a passport. I’ve traveled from the east coast to the west coast - no small feat by car. So many things to see and do here. There are still places I’d love to visit in the USA.
I worked as a truck driver for 6 months in '99 before falling asleep at the wheel, rolling it over and that was that. I saw more states in that time than I had in my entire life. After Osama bin Laden pulled his b.s. in '01, I decided I'd never fly to the San Diego Comic-con again as I knew security would be a bitch with all my stuff. Having been a trucker gave me the gumption to get into my car and make the 2000 mile drive from St. Louis to San Diego alone. I'd only ever been out through the southwest with my mother and grandparents a few times when I was a kid, other than with a co-driver while trucking. The two times I drove out and back were the best vacations I'd ever had. I didn't have anyone telling me, "Okay, we're here. Now get out, look around and get back in AND DON'T DAWDLE, we have places to be!!!!". That always irritated me. I'd been to the Meteor Crater in Arizona twice as a kid, but I spent more time there on my first solo car trip as an adult than I had the previous two times combined.
Yup when it is over 4,000 (6,437Km) miles from coast to coast and a large range of climates we have little reason to leave the country unlike Europe who has to go through many countries to even attempt that
One thing to keep in mind is that passports are not needed (although they’re recommended) for Americans to travel by car or boat to Canada or Mexico, or on a Caribbean cruise vacation that starts and ends in the US. When you combine that with the size of the US, the amount of vacation time, and the cost of international travel, it’s simply that most Americans don’t have a need for a passport. It’s not that they wouldn’t like to travel further abroad. It’s just simply financially out of reach for most of them. I say this as an American who has held a valid passport his entire life.
We use the metric system. Everything is labelled in imperial and metric units, and we seamlessly switch between systems depending on context. For example if you go to the grocery store you will buy bottles of soda in liters, but cans of soda in ounces, and bottles of water in gallons. If you are looking to buy aspirin (or other medication) it will be sold by the milligram while you might buy hamburger by the pound, and the airport limits your bags to 45 kilograms. Bank clocks that show time and temperature will show Fahrenheit and Celsius. In sports track and field uses meters and football uses yards, and we hit baseballs hundreds of feet, but we drive miles. If you work in science or engineering fields you will be well versed in metric, but still use a mix of units. For example in meteorology temperatures at the surface are in Fahrenheit but temperatures above the surface are in Celsius. Pressure at the surface (for altimeter settings) is in inches but constant pressure surfaces are in millibars and heights in meters. If you're a mechanic you might use wrenches and sockets measured in millimeters. There are countless examples like this in every day American life where we use both systems of units without an issue.
Yes, we use it..sort of....but the vast majority of Americans have no conception of what metric units actually mean. I'd bet that 95% of us couldn't tell you how many cm are in an inch. Or liters per gallon. Or lbs per kg.
People from Europe always fail to mention that the UK still uses miles to measure all highway distances and MPH for all speeds. The US isn't the only major country that is resisting metric in some places, and the use of imperial measurements is not unique to the US.
@@jimmers123 Everyone learns both in school. We just don't choose to use metric in everyday because it's not convenient. And I'd take your bet. There are very few exact conversions, but most people DO know that 1 inch = EXACTLY 2.54 cm. 100km ~= 60 miles and 1 gallon is about 3.8 liters and 2.2 lbs per kg. I think you'd also be surprised how well our pharmaceutically knowledgable population easily converts grams to fractions of ounces and vice versa, especially in states where marijuana is legal.
One reason why we don’t vacation outside our country, is because there are so many diverse incredible places to go to here. World travel is a luxury that not many of us have.
I have a friend I met online who lives in The Netherlands. He was frequent taking trips to Germany which I thought was pretty cool but he went there so often I decided to ask how long it takes him to drive there. He said from his house it's about 15 minutes to the border and another 10 to the place in Germany he visits the most. I laughed because I thought he had been taking these big trips when in reality it took about as much time as it took me to drive to work every day. The situation was reversed when he graduated college and came to the U.S. When he was planning his trip he asked "If I'm staying at your house and want to visit friends in the western part of Texas, Montana and New York would that be a single day or would I need a night in a hotel? I explained that if he only spent a few minutes with each friend he might be able to make it back to my house in time to catch his flight back home. It would take a full day of driving to get to Texas and since where his friend there lived required driving all the way across Texas at its widest point that would take most of the next day driving. He ended up planning a two week trip instead of one and only visiting one other friend. By the time we drove across my state of Tennessee from the east side to the west he was amazed. He said "I could have gone to three or four European countries in the time it took to drive across one state and we've been going faster here."
I wouldn't do it if I had 40 billion laying around in a bank-- plus the chance of going and NOT making it back are getting higher every day-- due to wars, plane crashes more prevalent, and just the hassleof travel- with diseases, etc.. NOT worth it..
Well also I think a lot of people don’t realize that there are tons of palaces off the mainland US that don’t require a passport. Hawaii is a state so that one obviously, but also Puerto Rico, America Samoa etc territories don’t require a passport, and there are two entrances to Canada that don’t require a passport for US citizens (requires other things but no passport). Additionally any cruise you can take from a US port doesn’t require a passport. So I know tons of people that have been all over the Caribbean/parts of South America and arctic Canadian territories and don’t have a passport because you don’t even need one. I would guess that alone probably covers another 10% of the population that has left the country, but has done so via cruise.
@@hannahb.375 IF I can't drive to it- I'm NOT going. I'm never setting foot on another plane- EVER.. far too many NOT making it. Am I afraid of flying? NO- (it's the crashing that scares the hell out of me!!). BUt seriously- I was scheduled on a flight to VA- via flight out of LA with two stops... Missed the flight- had a flat in the tunnel going to the airport in rush hour- and got stuck.. That flight went down in Sioux City Iowa-- killing around half the pople on it.. or more.. Haven't flown since and don't intend to.
@@hannahb.375 I went to the Caribbean on a cruise 5 years ago and needed a passport. Left from New Orleans, LA. It was required to even board the ship.
There are so many wonderful things to see in our own enormous country, that I think that's another reason why there is less international travel. Time is a big issue though.
A huge chunk of why some Americans don't use much vacation time is that some offices employ a minimal quantity of people, so going on vacation requires your department to become understaffed as a result, and thus your absence results in a full-on inconvenience for your co-workers. This results in a sense of guilt if you're away for more than a day or two. Heck, because of this, everyone at my work (a software company that sells worldwide and takes in 10's of millions of dollars per year but only has a total staff of
Oh my gosh, yes. At my last job, I didn't call in sick the whole five years I worked there and felt horribly guilty when I'd take three days off for a vacation once a year - all because we were so light staffed, that my not being there would put a lot of pressure on others.
That's simply all of you being completely BSd and taken advantage of by your employer. If you would all ban together and take your days off the company would see that they are short staffed and make appropriate adjustments. If you keep working because you are worried about your fellow employees you simply play into the corporate game. Also, you earned your time off. None of you should feel guilty of taking what you earned. That's like refusing part of your pay check.
@@NrthrnKnght so is corporate your fired and the next person who really wants a job is hired to take your place. Banning together just gets everyone fired.
When I was younger, before 9/11 happened we could travel to SOME countries without a passport, too. I've been all over Mexico and Canada both without a passport as a teenager. They have since tightened up security and now require a passport lol. So yeah, really my family didn't get them until early 00s.
Me too!! Mexico once and Canada three times before 9/11 without a passport. Just a driver’s license and the once trip to Vancouver, BC, for Expo 86, we needed our birth certificates as none of us were of legal driving age. I miss those days without the passport.
When I was in high back in the early 80s I did a lot of camping in Canada since it was a fairly short drive. I never needed to use a passport. All you had to do was answer a few simple questions like are you bootlegging anything illegal into the country, and how long are you planning on visiting. If I say a week and stayed two or more weeks they didn't care as long as I was obeying the laws. But the one thing both sides were extremely strict on was how much you could bring across certain items like booze or tobacco type products. This is the only time you are required to let the boarder patrol to search your car which was a head poking into a window and on occasion the trunk. Never took no more than 5 minutes to get back on US soil unless you ended up doing some friendly chitchat and it's quiet for them.
@@walterkoziol3822 same here, used to go up to Canada a couple times a year, it's about a 2 hour drive from Seattle area. No passport needed, just a few questions.
@@geebrewer8186 Heh, it was roughly a 2hr drive for me. It was just a straight shot though VT and I was there. Damn! How I missed going to Canada aka Kanuckianland. Loved everything about it, even the people. Cept for Quebec, seemed like no one likes them cept themselves.
The problem with taking vacation days is that it seems like a punishment when you return. The work piles up and sometimes tasks are given to you that nobody else wants. That’s why I usually work even when I’m on vacation. It makes the work manageable when you return.
Plus it's an average. Lots of people have no days or they have "personal leave" which is combined sick pay and vacation. (That is often 10 days.) So if you want to go on vacation you have to plan never to need sick leave or time off for any other type of appointment. It can be devastating if someone in your family gets sick or you have a legal battle or anything like that, you have no money right when you need it It's a hellscape
omg that is true. The longer you are gone the more it piles up because nobody does it when you are gone. Therefor you end up working more hours a week catching up.
So true. Plus companies actually frown upon you using all your days or they block out time where nobody can vacation, leaving an insufficient amount of time for everyone to use their vacation.
It was born in southern California 75 years ago and have never traveled abroad and never had a passport. During most of the year you can drive to the hot desert, go snow skying in the mountains, and surfing in the beautiful Pacific Ocean all on the SAME DAY.
Hi, guys! I was a little taken aback with the take on peanut butter in the US. I've had Vegemite on toast (blech!) and I'll take PB any day of the week! Cheers!
Our family was involved in the Rotary International exchange program for years. Not only did we have exchange students staying in our home for 3 to 4 months at a time, we also served as an overnight stop for students flying in to Seattle that were actually headed to the other half of our district which was in British Columbia Canada. Each and every Aussie exchange student arrived with a jar of Vegamite for their various host families, be it for the longer stay or just the overnight. I think at one time we had 5 to 8 opened jars of Vegamite in the pantry. Since frankly we all hated it but every student was sure we would enjoy their brand.
I guess I'm strange. I really like Vegemite, I will even have it as a snack on buttered saltines or Triscuit. But my favorite is toasted buttered crumpets. I'm from MO. Also, am not a fan of peanut butter. I like peanuts, and can eat natural peanut butter, but processed PB is so *sweet*, gross.
Hi from Florida! My brother, who has worked abroad in Australia and Europe says the little ice that comes in beverages is frustrating. Once he asked for extra ice and was brought only one ice cube! In the US if you ask for extra ice you're brought a whole glass of ice.
i have just recently found your channel and really enjoy it. The children are great also! I think it is wonderful that you spend so much time with your kids and they are getting a great education outside of school!
I will tell you the primary reason I haven’t been out of the country is that there are just so many places to see here in the States. I’m 42 and I’ve been to 30 states in my life, but that is mainly because I’ve gone back to the same states many times to visit other cities. I’m going to Florida in December for my 11th time. I’ve been to New York and Connecticut several times because I have family that live there, so a lot of my vacation has been spent there visiting family. As far as college football, yes I am a huge fan as I’ve been most of my life. Tomorrow is one of the biggest games of the year with LSU and Alabama playing in Baton Rouge at Tiger Stadium. So as we say here in Louisiana, GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!
I live in the middle of the U.S. and to go to either coast is about 1200 miles to get there. I have traveled extensively over the years and have yet to see every state and all the amazing places we have been blessed with. Not just big, famous cities but beautiful landscapes with some amazing animals both on land and in the sea. A road trip to the coast and back to my home with lots of sight seeing could reasonably take about 3 weeks and could cover as much as 5000 miles, which is a road trip I am hoping to do next year.
I’m an American with a worn out passport and who speaks three languages. I also live in the “middle” of the country. There are tons of us without passports, yes, but tons of us with them too. I love traveling both the world and my own country equally!
Ironically, I've found more Midwesterners I know tend to have one compared to even those nearer the borders! We have to fly so much further, but maybe that's it. If you're already booking a flight, you can go wherever you want. My family always roadtripped, but I've been abroad several times as well.
This video keeps showing in my recommendations and I finally decided to check it out. This was fun to watch and I learned things about other countries that I was unaware of. Thanks for the interesting content and reactions.
The drink size one was good. I worked at a Burger King in high school and we had French Foreign Exchange Teachers come teach for like two months at our school. They came in one day and casually ordered the Large and when I handed them those massive cups they damn near had a heart attack haha.
Heck, sometimes just being in different states can mean that the fast food joints use different sized cups (when part of the same label, such as Wendy's) for a Large drink. I've seen while on the road for work.
@@charlesbrown4483 Huh, I hadn't heard of that one before. The 1 liter and 2 liter bottle sizes are fairly commonplace in the States, but I can see that being practical for providing drinks to a large group.
I always thought the month/day/year system was for the sake of locating files faster. Think about it: the outer numbers representing the month and the year are going to be the first ones you read. If you’re trying to find a file by date, it’s easier to find the year and then the month before looking for the specific day. Our eyes scan linearly, so we’re always going to see the middle second whether we’re going from left to right or right to left.
I ordered something online from California and was charged state, city, and county sales tax. It was freaking insane. My dad never took vacation days because they were also his sick days.
While most states collect state sales tax nowadays, I'm rather surprised that you were charged any other taxes... Unless you ordered from California when there's an actual physical store in your state, if you ordered from say Wally World in California and there's one down the block from you... You are required to pay your states sales tax and obviously any local taxes as well. You can blame your state for that, they don't want you to avoid state & local taxes by shopping online.
started a new job last july and havent used a single pto days we get every holiday off but the main reason is i work 3 12s so i have 4 days off a week i think more companies need to adopt this schedule
The travel thing is probably much more related to the size of the US. If you’re in Europe you’re going between countries all the time but you could travel just as far if not further between states so we don’t need a passport. Not only that but a lot of places that are considered travel destinations can be very far away when compared to a lot of countries.
I renew my passport every 10 years and have been to 113 counties, all the Canadian provinces and all 50 states BUT I owned a huge tour operation and travel agency for 40 years- during “the golden age of travel” in the 1970s to 1990s, I got comp or discounted travel and hotels all over the world! Life was great then! Sept. 11, 2001 changed many things. I just renewed my sixth passport - it is cheaper to renew than to purchase your very first passport.
We put ice because it’s so hot here for 1/2 the year that we have to drink really cold drinks to survive the high heat&humidity. We have temperatures up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher with heat index which is around 43 degrees Celsius
Most restaurants will adjust the soft drink machines such that the syrup mixture is a little rich, so when you add crushed ice, and it melts a little, it tastes about the same as a bottled drink. If you taste the drink directly from the dispenser without ice you will notice it is a little strong.
You’re totally right on the ice thing. A 32 oz large soda is full to the top with ice so you’re only getting about half the cup of actual beverage. When you get refills you can overindulge, but a trip through the drive-thru and it’s one drink half ice. I love ice though because it’s usually hot 6-7 months of the year where I live.
I enjoy watching video's around the world of people and families' reactions to the USA. My biggest takeaway is, we aren't that much different at all. Look above. A family of four which is not much different than a family of four in the USA. We all have the same worries, and happiness, things that make us sad, and things that thrill us or amaze us. Not much difference other than miles or kilometer.
Love watching you all. The ice doesnt make it flat and thats because we add a lot. Also the soda comes from near freezing lines so its all very cold. It is very humorous the things that people find interesting, odd, or annoying about the US. Ive traveled internationally alot as well as been to most states here and its true we have so many cultures inside our country and going from Seattle to Miami is like going from London to Tibet in distance...
4:00 I think it has nothing to do with desire to travel abroad, it's mostly because of all the destinations and variety of destinations that we have in our own country. You've seen our cities and parks. There's a lot of diversity in food, culture, landscape, etc... all within our own borders. Also, I have had an active passport since I was 4.
YES!!!! I too have been traveling abroad since i was young. The last 5 years I have been to 6 different countries. I told my partner today next summer we are not leaving the country and doing road trip in the states.
@@cindyllax I have been to more countries than I have states. 29 states 47 countries. Many repeat and some of them decently long stays. I own a home in a foreign country. I'd still rather see more states.
@@liamengram6326 🥰🥰 I like having the travel bug 😂. Omg so awesome that you have been to so many places. 😍 When foreigners ask if I have been to certain National parks cuz they have, I realize how little I have see of the US. ☹️
I live in Texas and almost never leave the state. We have mountains in the west, flat desert in panhandle and midwest Texas, beautiful forest with tall pines in east Texas, beautiful hill country in cental to south Texas and the Coastal regions from where I live to the gulf of Mexico. We have every culture that comes with different foods and experiences. Festivals for every occasion and tons of fun year round due to a weather climate that rivals the rest of the U.S. Also, traveling out of the state can be a day trip for most, especially if you travel the IH 35 bloodline north and south. We also don't calculate our traveling by miles, only time.
@James Smith your vacation doesn't really begin till you drive across state lines or end up with your feet in the ocean on the Texas coastline. Traveling is also made worse by the never-ending construction on I35 and other major roads.
@@stacieerxleben9941 you might be right about that. But there are tons of places to explore in Texas but you already know that lol. What town do you live in? Maybe I know it.
Restaurants buy the syrup to make the soda, or pop (depending on what part of the country you are in), and it is mixed with local tap water anyway. As far as the ice is concerned, regardless if it is a sit down or fast food restaurant, you can request your drink without ice and you will get no ice in your drink. In my opinion, the ice decreases the amount of drink you actually receive, as the ice takes up volume in the cup.
The ice thing also explains the size differences in the cup. I don't know about the rest of the world but in America the soda does not come out of the machines very cold. You need the ice to bring it to a drinkable temperature.
American here! I don't have a passport and have never been out of the country (which is less normal here in L.A. because we're so close to Mexico that you could drive there and back in a day) but my family and I have traveled extensively, especially within California, we have an area of 423,971 km² in California compared to New Zealand's 268,020 km² for example, just my state is bigger than a lot of European countries and there are a whole lot of different places and environments to see, I've also gone to multiple other states for way cheaper than I could go to Europe or even Canada so I've never had much of an incentive to get a passport
Sam - you mentioned that you haven't yet tried the canned spray cheese. I sent a box to you which should have arrived and been picked up last month. When you open it, you'll at least be able to try the spray cheese. Certainly not gourmet, but works in a pinch. I really miss your intro... my favorite part was when Kylo steals the soccer ball from Denzel and breaks down the beach with it. I laughed every time I saw that clip. Keep up the good work. Our family loves watching and learning from your family.
"International Trips" in America and Europe are very different. I have a relative in Italy whose work takes him to four European countries every week. International in America is either Canada & Mexico, or major travel.
Denzel made a good point about watering down drinks. Here in Alabama , we love our sweet tea. I make an Orange Pekoe that's very dark and very sweet. It's served while still warm, allowing the ice to melt a little before taking the first sip. This cuts some of the sweetness and brightens the tea.We end up with a sweet drink that's well balance with flavor and a medium cold temperature.
@Kenny Davis I'm from Pennsylvania and every time we travel down south people think my family is crazy for ordering unsweetened iced tea, I like sweet soda but I hate sweet tea with a passion lol. What makes America great is the huge size of it and different cultural cuisines.
@@ZepG Well, I actually know a lot of southerners who drink unsweetened tea, God only knows why, ha ha. What drives me nuts is when restaurants bring packets of sugar to sweeten a cold glass of tea. They should know sugar doesn't dissolve in cold water.
@@kennydavis2276 I get your point on the adding sugar to a cold drink, it just tastes gritty like some of the lemonade stand drinks. In my opinion iced tea tastes way better with just the taste of the tea leaves and maybe some mint but never sugar in tea (or coffee on that subject).
Generally tea and sodas (fountain drinks, as opposed to drinks in bottles) are made stronger so they can stand up to ice. Cold brew iced coffee is really too strong without ice.
Yeah, the vacation thing is a chronic problem we have. In the US if companies had their way, we would get no vacation time at all. Right now there's a lot of debate going on about employee wellness and mental health, so maybe someday we'll have up three weeks every year, but the way we'll be allowed to take them is one week at a time at most. Most employers do not allow employees to take off more than one week at a time and even then it's often a battle to get that one week off.
You really need to stop comparing your part-time high-school level job with real jobs. I get 3 weeks paid vacation and can take them all together if I want. I don't know a single other person working a real job that doesn't have it that way. The 2 week issue is usually just a starting out issue for some. Have you thought about getting a real job? I mean, they are better all around, but you would have to grow up and get rid of the childish delusional idea of employee wellness and mental health. Those are your problems breed from entitlement and being a spoiled child. You can't expect to be allowed to maintain being a spoiled child in a real job.
@@jefffraser4345I guess most in the US just have part-time high-school level jobs since Americans, on average, have less than half the number of vacation days that Europeans do. Most jobs in the US, you only start with 1-2 weeks of vacation, and it often isn't available until after a year of employment with the company. In the rest of the developed world, 3-4 weeks + paid holidays is the absolute bare minimum an employee can be offered. I really don't understand why people like you are so offended by the idea of everyone having enough time each year to spend quality leisure time with their family. Such a horrid concept!
@@sleepnaught To the first part, your guess is correct. so you want us to be like some of the laziest, weakest, and most pathetic societies that get by purely by leeching and taking from others? There in lies why those of US don't want to steal, enslave others, or be weak have an issue with weak evil people like you. So long as you don't have to see your slaves you get to have a clear consciousness and enjoy their fruits.
@@jefffraser4345 I'd get a "real job" if the "boomer" generation would just finally retire and open them up! It feels like waiting in line for the best roller coaster at an amusement park. Is waiting in line for 2+ hours worth the shortest ride in the park? You could have rode 10+ rides in that time. OR You can spend a lot of money and time to be indebted for the rest of your life to get a piece of paper that says you're over qualified for a job just for the employers to tell you have to have 10 years of experience in a field or program that's only been around for 6 years. THAT'S always fun! I've been working for over 15 years, and have had 1 unpaid vacation that used all of my "Personal Time Off" that I had to save up for 8 months. After I got back, suddenly I was given all the crappy jobs at work and the bosses stopped letting me know when higher paying positions opened up. I have seen that happen to other people at different jobs when they go on vacation too. You can always start your own business, but then you won't get ANY days off for at LEAST two years.
I thought I had a “real job”. I was a Registered Dental Hygienist. We are not contract workers but often paid that way. No vacation days or other benefits because we are paid well. But just try to take time off, you may only be off when the boss takes off. Some jobs would eventually give a week or two, but that’s not common, you may only get part time so you work in two to three offices.
"Football" means any game played on foot. So traditional, association, american, canadian, australian, and rugby football are all still football games. Any of them could be referred to as that.
As an American I love these videos and I can't wait for you guys to come visit us and I actually hope it's okay with you to think of you guys as my actual New Zealand family.
Another factor to understand on passports is that, until recently, someone with a valid American ID could often travel to other closely-aligned countries, like Canada, without needing a passport. My parents had traveled to several countries without ever needing one.
Shss, While I was station in Germany in the 1980s, All it took for me to travel all of Western Europe (non-Warsaw Pact) countries was my army leave form and army ID.
@@BrendaBowman104 I have been to both Mexico and Canada multiple times with no birth certificate or passport, though I have one now. My parents were traveling in Europe as well, many years ago, without passports being required for the particular countries they went to. They would have been required elsewhere.
@@ReluctantPost Yep, until 2009, when you needed a passport. Used to head to TJ to party as a teen with just an driver license...same with Canada just show the driver license at the border check/customs.
The pressure to keep your job plays a role in most of us taking very few vacation days. Also many companies combine sick and vacation together so you have to be very careful. If you use up your sick days you have to use your vacation days or go without pay. I used to just take the extra check at the end of the year. I take maybe 5-7 days a year off and combine them with holiday weekends to make a 3 day weekend to a 4 day weekend. Vacation was seen as laziness in my family so I don’t take any vacations. I only travel to see family or friends over a weekend.
My hubby and I love to travel...so we both have passports. Traveling is a little more difficult when you have dogs. I love hearing about other countries and their culture. I have to say....I loved visiting Israel....but it was tough not having ice on hot days!
We live in warm climate in Southern California. Our household uses insulated glasses to keep beverages either hot or cold. I grew up low middle class. So our version of a frozen dessert was crushing the ice and pouring soda on to simulate an American Snow Cone (shaved ice). I’m now 58, and enjoy all my beverages very iced - especially, tea and coffee
Culture shock is a real thing, coming to a big city the US for the first time from most other countries, can be a little overwhelming. Thanks for the reactions.
@@tubester4567 You miss the point and you assume experiencing one big city in another country would eliminate culture shock in another. Culture shock is just that - culture shock, whether it's due to size, density or the difference in social culture or government. American cities tend to be a beast onto themselves when compared to a vast majority of Western and Central European cities. No city in New Zealand and Australia competes with the likes of NYC, Chicago or LA. UK only has London where everyone and their mom flocks to after university. Only the likes of India or cities in Asia will outpace US cities in terms of size and population.
@@TickleMeElmo55 The point im making is size is the least shocking when it comes to culture shock. Mexico city is huge, some Brazil cities are huge, Tokyo, Mumbai, Jakarta, theres heaps of huge cities in the world
They forgot to mention Canada's football is just like ours and there is no sales tax on food you buy at the grocery stores in a lot of states. Also most jobs are 40 hour's a week and you can get a month off for vacation but you have to be employed for years to build it up.
I usually order drinks without ice because of all the reasons mentioned but mostly because you get less beverage when you get more ice. And when you're in a restaurant, you may get free refills but often the server is nowhere to be found when you need that refill.
I order my drinks with no ice as well. Mostly due to the ice watering it down before I could finish the drink. If I get a tea that is warm, I just ask for light ice.
I've been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Turkey, Greece, and the Bahamas, BUT I've only visited a little over half of the states in the USA.💁♀ It's a lot of ground to cover, especially when it can take 13 hours to get out of my state, depending on where you start and which way you're headed. 🙂
When I told my English-born doctor that I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread for breakfast most days, he shook his head and sighed, "So American."
Most American kids were raised on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It's cheap, easy to make and tasty. I love peanut butter. I can eat it straight out of the jar.
@@ChanelStuff how? It’s bread and jam with a little extra something. I more meant if the doctor was saying “so American” like “of course you’re eating something so unhealthy”, clotted cream and and jam isn’t that much different nutrition wise.
I had a passport years ago. No I don’t want to visit anywhere else. I want to see my country more so much to try to see in one life time. Great seeing you guys
Hey there 😊 Actually our vacation days are way less. Most Manuel labor jobs for the first 2-4 years only offer 5-7 days vacation a year. The 10 to 12 days off is usually for corporate america. Managers, people in higher Finance and things like that. But if you're a house cleaner, in construction, and the food service industry, if you're a landscaper, or in retail... basically any job that pretty much keeps the United States going ....and upper class still hasn't really realized that yet, LOL you don't get hardly anything. That's why many people will combine their vacation week with a weekend or with their two days off. So you might end up taking your 5 days Monday through Friday and you get paid for that vacation ....and then the person will add Saturday and Sunday which was their days off so you'll get a full 7 days. But you're only getting paid for the 5 days. Those two days your job will not pay you for because those are your days off. So a lot of Americans do that so that they can get a full week. My ex-husband worked for Home Depot and it wasn't until the second or third year that he worked for them that he was able to actually get more than 5 days off. And then I believe he worked for another year or two and then finally got an additional 5 days off. So 10 days. Which is actually really good for Americans and for a manual labor job. But you can't just take off anytime you want..... and many employers demand that you plan your vacation months in advance so that your shifts can be covered which I understand. But when you work for smaller companies like I have in the housekeeping and Landscaping industry, oftentimes your employer will push you to not take a vacation the first year you work. Or they'll try to pull things like "well ...how about if you're not going out of town or out of the country or out of the state and if you stay around can we just have you on call if we need you." They literally try to talk you into being on call on your vacation if you're not literally leaving the area. So these are the troubles that Americans have which is why a lot of us are so stressed all the time. Americans literally live to work. They don't work to live. And it's not that we don't want to go on vacation. It's just that America has set themselves up as being severe Workaholics and if you don't act like you're also a severe workaholic then oftentimes you are considered lazy or you are not treated the same as others. And I don't know how it is in New zealand, but I know that there are plenty of jobs out there on all levels, that you will definitely work more than an 8 hour day. Many put in anywhere between 8 to 12 hours a day.....and more. I know I have with 2 separate jobs in the past. And one particular job actually attempted to threaten me with firing after working 76 straight days in a row. They had promised me three days off. And on the Friday that I was supposed to have off they called me in that morning. And then when I told them that I had worked for them 75 straight days in a row without a single day off and that I had a family and I hardly saw my family anymore, they literally put my job on the line. And I was forced to go in and work just to keep my job. And I worked with one girl who they pulled the same thing on her, but they didn't threaten to fire her, what they did was when she denied them and said no I'm going to take these days off because they were promised to me by you and your company, when she got back from her 3 days off, they had taken hours that she was promised that she could work off of her schedule. In retaliation for not basically obeying them. And when she tried to complain about it to the state, no one ever returned her phone call. And nothing was ever done about it. And she ended up just quitting because she just couldn't take it anymore. And about 2 years later I ended up quitting because they just kept doing the same thing to me. ....Holding my job over my head or taking away my hours and making excuses that they just didn't have any work ....when actually we were at full blast full season and desperately needed help. Those things are all very illegal. But when you go to actually report them nothing is done and no one is held responsible.
When I worked in retail and food service, vacations basically didnt exist. Some managers don't mind scheduling vacations but being short staffed normally its really hard to cover shifts, and for the workers its hard to leave your coworkers with extra work. Now that I have an IT job, I actually get vacation days, but its again hard to find time to use them when you are stuck in yearly work cycle.
It's really depressing. When I worked those jobs I had to feel guilty for taking an unpaid vacation because it meant my coworkers had to basically cover for me. And then when I had a job with vacation time I never had enough earned to take a decent vacation. Or I'd get sick and have to use vacation hours. It all kinda sucks
I love how all these kinds of videos (the one they're watching) seem to insist Americans are workaholics who just don't want to use their vacation time. Half of Americans earn less than $35,000 a year and the vast majority earn less than $50,000, and 'vacation' days are actually just PTO for most people. You get less than 2 weeks PTO to last an entire year, so any time you're sick, you have an appointment, a death in the family and so on, all of that comes out of PTO. When you're making $35,000 a year and you have our shoddy healthcare system, vacations are a luxury afforded to very few of us.
@@NymphaeAvernales that is definitely true. Especially if you have a family with a few kids, its hard to scrape together the money necessary to go anywhere much less outside the country. A family might find time and money to go to Disney World, or a trip to Grand Canyon or something for a once in a lifetime trip, but usually its a stay at home vacation, or camping nearby or something. It also depends a lot on where you live and what is nearby.
what a fun family, thanks for sharing your videos.. It is nice to get a peek into a family from across the world and seemingly getting to know them.. like a neighbor & friend only in another country.. :))
It's so crazy how the daughter looks so much like the mom and the son looks so much like the dad, I mean I guess it's not crazy for obvious reasons but it's cool to see the distinct features in both the children
My husband and I both have 5 weeks vacation a year. We only take a vacation once or twice a year cuz it’s very expensive visiting museums, parks, landmarks etc but it’s worth every vacation, 15 more States to go and planning to finish it before we retire so we can visit more countries and NZ is on our bucket list.
I never really thought about it before, but many American's dont want to travel outside of the US. Like you said, someone who has lived in Butcrack Mississippi their whole life probably dreams of going to Sanibel Island Florida. I'm 52 and Ive never had a passport. I dont think my parents did either. Anyway, another fun video. Y'all come back now ya hear!
Tipping: you do NOT tip everyone in the US. The only time you definitely should tip is if you eat in a restaurant, and are served by a waiter. In that case tip 15% to 20%, or more if you are generous, can spare the money and the service was great. If you get carry out at a restaurant you can tip if you want, it is nice but not necessary, and you could tip a couple bucks or 10% for large orders. Tipping in coffee shops where you get carry out should basically be rounding up the order and leaving the change type of thing, or just leave a dollar if you can spare it, IMO. The reason you tip waiters is because they can make as little as 2-3 dollars an hour in some states and rely on tips. This is changing though, places like California now require employers to pay $15.50 an hour to tipped employees.
A new trend in the United States of late has been "unlimited time off." At first, it sounded too good to be true to most of us, but on further reflection it allows employers to avoid paid time off accrual obligations. Normally, when an employee leaves a job on good terms, the employer is obligated to pay out unused time off, but when there's no actual pool of time off to pay out, it's easier and cheaper for the employer to begin with. For employers it arguably eliminates extra expense and administrative overhead.
@@UTBanjo That too! Nobody wants to take "too much" which is hard to define because even in an "unlimited" situation, there IS a practical limit and rather than risk going over it, people err on the side of not getting anywhere close.
Uh, yeah, us Americans love to travel just as much as any other nation. Imagine though, having access to 47 countries - most larger than many European countries - that you can drive to without needing a passport, and 49 that you can fly to without needing a passport. Also, imagine all those countries speak your language, use your same currency, have the same laws (generally speaking), same electrical outlets, drive on the same side of the road, but have VASTLY different geography, very different cultures, different architecture, different restaurants/stores, different accents/dialects, different weather/climates ranging from arctic to tropical, deserts to rain forests, and wildlife of all manner from moose to manatees, bears to alligators, humming birds to giant condors.
America is huge, not only in land mass, but culture and experiences, too. We are 50 nations united under one flag, one supreme law of the land. Many of us never travel outside of the US, because there's so much to explore and do right here within our boarders. I myself have only been to two places outside the US: Canada, and the British Virgin Islands. No desire to go to Mexico. I'd love to visit New Zealand, as my brother studied abroad in your fine country, and said it was quite the experience (he even went skydiving while visiting y'all, to really take in the sights). I'd also love to visit Japan, Germany, England, and Czechoslovakia (or whatever they call themselves these days... Czech Republic?). The reason I want to visit those places is because of their historical significance, which I find fascinating.
However, travel to Europe or Asia is very expensive - at least it is for me.
I'm plenty happy to explore the US, and keep my travel expenses low. There is more to see and do here than I could ever do in a lifetime of vacation (holiday, as some of you call it). Maybe some day when I have more income, I'll visit a country across the oceans. For now, I'm glad the internet brings the world to me, limited as it may be, but still better than no exposure at all. 🙂
Can drive to 49
Exactly. However, the lack of vacation time and over-inflated currency driving down the value of earnings do play a big role, since many Americans say they WOULD travel internationally if they could. But a person could spend their entire life traveling the continental U.S. and still have more places they'd want to see while seeing more biomes and unique attractions than any amount of travel across Europe could offer them.
@@brettkelly9440 you're not trying hard enough
Try Skyscanner if you have an open schedule and don't have a set place you want to go. It shows flights in price order from least to highest. I have been lucky enough to travel to a lot of different countries, and you can find some great deals if you know where to look. I've also noticed that many countries outside of the US have much more affordable lodging. The flight may be more expensive, but you'll easily make that back booking a hotel in Prague versus maybe New York or something. Wish you the best!! Hearts and stars 💜💥
Dude you literally just wrote more than my ELA TDA
The US is so big that we have pretty much every type of terrain here at home. From Louisiana I can go to Arkansas to be in the mountains, Texas to see the desert. And our own gulf coast to be in the tropics. We even have places where people gather and speak primarily their native languages.
Plus, the US sportsfans get the experience of being part of the wildest, loudest, most fun crowd cheering their favorite SEC football team. Geaux Tigers!
And can go to the Pacific Northwest and be in a rainforest.
California as a State has snow, deserts like Death Valley, Mojave, etc, we have amazing beaches and forests. It's pretty cool, our politics are rather messed up however I really love it here especially in San Diego where I was born and raised the people are friendly.
Depends where in Texas. Texas is mainly the plains not the deserts. Go to new mexico or arizona or Nevada. The movies that show texas is a desert is shot in California
Your politics is a LITTLE screwed up in California??
You understate things.
The Passport thing always annoys me as an American… there are 330 million of us, so 42% that have passports which is nearly 139 million people. And it is not a simple process to get a passport and it can cost $140 with extra surcharge. I mean plus the country is huge so traveling domestically in one of the most ecologically and culturally diverse nations on Earth without having to leave your country is sometimes just easier and cheaper.. And we do use the Metric system in engineering (I work as an Aerospace Engineer) Oh and we recently raised Tobacco age to 21 which I’m okay with but the drinking age annoys me… you can be drafted, vote, serve on a jury, be charged as an adult but you can’t have a beer is dumb
You can't buy a beer unless you are at least 21, but you can drink it....
The age 21 law for alcohol is because the prohibitionists could not make it 121 like they wanted.
@@ronclark9724 That’s not true. Not sure what you’re talking about. You can get charged with a minor if you’re caught drinking under the age of 21.
Also you used to be able to drive across the Mexican and Canadian border without a passport.
Haha sounds like someone who is under 21...sorry, I'm just teasing you a bit.
I'm a 91 year old great-grandmother. I want to tell you how much I enjoy watching your programs all the time (sometimes more than once!!). Thank you for bringing joy into my life. xoxoxo PS - I'll have to wait for my "next time around" to get to visit NZ, but I will!!!
Aww ❤️
Can't hear a word the guy on the screen is saying.
💞💞💞💞
I think one reason also that we don't travel overseas as much is because our country is so diverse that we can visit very different cultures and landscapes right here. I've been to 43 of the 50 states and still feel there is so much of my country to see!
I have NO interest in seeing the rest of the world-- nothing I can't find RIGHT HERE... and there is a LOT here I've not seen or visited..
The biggest reason most Americans never travel to another country is economics. Most Americans don't have enough money to travel overseas, heck most Americans can't afford a weekend trip..
Personally- I think we should all stick to our own-- but travel is fine for many-- just right now- the Demoncraptics had F..d stuff up so bad- most can't afford it-- and yet they're STILL stupid enough to vote the trash back in..
@@davidwayne9982 This is a problem that has existed for decades, it is not new, and nor is it the fault of the Democrats. It is because of corporate greed, and companies refusal to raise wages to adjust for inflation over the last 3-4 decades.
My siblings and I just recently had to drive from California to Kentucky. It was a 2.5 day journey there and 2.5 days back. We traveled through 14 different states, since we took the lower route there and the upper route back. It was exhausting and amazing.
Thank you for actually learning about us vs bashing the things you don't understand. It means a lot.
The vacation day thing....this is why we like to celebrate EVERYTHING!!!🤣🤣🤣 Cuz we need a BREAK 😂
TRUE!
I never thought about it this way but it’s true.
Lol So true! 😂
don't forget, you can use your sick leave to extend your vacation
The USA has everything from the Arctic to tropical islands. We can go to two oceans, many large lakes, deserts, semi-tropical areas to temperate climates, mountains with fantastic ski resorts, prairies, vast forested wilderness areas... you name it, we have it. Plus, everyone in every region speaks the same language and has more or less the same customs and yet different cultural experiences.
I've been to several other countries and am always glad to get home.
Yes, and that is why most of U.S. Citizens don't have passports, or travel to other countries. By the way, if you as a U.S. Citizen can travel to parts of Canada, and parts of Mexico without a passport. You do need a real ID drivers license, but that has not always been the case. Real ID drivers license requirements were passed after the 9/11 terrorist attack, and will actually be required to fly within the U.S. in 2025. (That date may change, as it has in the past.)
The ice thing is partly due to the heat, especially in the southern states. Having a huge iced tea is so refreshing as it's so incredibly hot for 3/4 of the year in most of the southern states.
We have an enormous country with so much to see and experience from deserts to oceans, mountains to rain forests. We have so much to explore right here that is fascinating, historical, and beautiful. We can travel for weeks and still be within our boundaries and never have to show a passport.
Yeah. There are 423 national parks in this country. Visiting all of them would probably take a life time.
“We can travel for weeks and never show a passport?” So f*cking what? That’s a pathetic selling point if that’s all you got. Btw, that’s so Not unique to the US. The same applies to traveling through the Schengen Zone in Europe and pretty much Any country with history and culture ( unlike the US) because size is meaningless when the middle is a bunch
of cornfields and tacky road attractions. There’s a reason they’re called flyover states. Also, traveling in the US sucks since you have to either drive or fly while actual first world countries have high speed trains.
Historical? Haha! How many iconic buildings or landmarks in the US were built in the 11th 12th or 13th, 14th centuries? How many ancient ruins ( excluding those of indigenous peoples’ of course which are ancient) going back to the Greek or Roman or Persian or Byzantine or Egyptian Empires do you have? The Great Wall of China was built in 2 BCE? What HISTORICAL landmark in the US compares? The Taj Mahal was much more recent built in early 16th century. What in the US is comparable?
GTFO with your “historical” American journey haha!
How many breathtaking national parks are there around the world that put American national parks to shame? Answer= Countless.
A person who couldn’t point to A single country on a map should not be broadcasting his or her shameless ignorance about 96% of the world that is Not America. The US is a mere 4% of the world. Get over yourself. I am American btw just one the few Not embarrassing ones🤦🏻♀️
@@graceskerp Pathetic
@@rlud304 Care to explain
Watching your comments about the ice... here, we generally keep the soda cold before it is consumed, so you don't have to worry about the ice melting right away. I've often thought when watching y'all eating American foods and commenting on the soda taste, if you had it really cold (refrigerate the cans and then add ice) you would get a very different taste experience because the soda's taste (and mouth feel) is designed to be drunk very cold. Here, if you get a soda at a restaurant, it has been chilled before you add the ice. There are people here who will order a drink with "no ice" not because they don't like the cold, but because it is already cold and they just want more soda in the cup. Just want to say.. I really enjoy your videos. Sharing like this helps us all appreciate each other more.
But it gets warm, quickly, nothing worse than a warm carbonated beverage. Of course I am different, I freeze my water bottles solid, when I go out in heat it is still cold after a couple of hours
Correction, I have a friend who does not like ice in her soft drinks from a restaurant. This is because unless she finishes it before the ice melts very far it starts to water down her drink, and she doesn't care for that. As such, yes she does actually dislike ice in her soft drink unless she can get just a little bit of ice to help it stay chilled.
I typically ask for or get light ice or no ice. I still get enough to keep it cold, but not enough to make it super diluted. Plus, I get more bang for my buck.
@@Razmoudah But because there are free refills in the US chances are your cup will be topped off before it's halfway done which negates the dilution effect.
@@NatashaEstrada Good, I'll let YOU explain it to her then. Of course, as I've regularly watched her nurse her FIRST fill to the point that half, or more, of the ice had melted (because the waiter brought it with ice anyhow) I'm inclined to think that she has a point with her preference.
The first time I took my cat to the vet, I had to get my phone out to figure out how much she weighed because I didn't know how much 47 grams was. She was 3 days old, btw. When we moved from the east coast to the west coast, we took 15 days and stopped every time I spotted a historical marker. We saw everything but Arctic tundra and a rainforest. I currently live in the southeast, and iced drinks are a must.
One of the reasons a lot of people from the United States do not take many vacation days is not everyone gets paid vacation. If you take time off it can be at your own expense and many in the US simply cannot afford not to work. I have seen employers only give 5 days vacation to employees in the past especially starting out in some retail places. Some jobs do not even offer it.
and dont forget at will employment...
@@kylejde Even when you do have paid time off, most employers in the United States do not provide exclusively vacation days and exclusively sick days. They put them together in a bucket called PTO, or paid time off. If you are single and you are not ill during a year, you may actually get 3 weeks or more off for a vacation because you have that much PTO. But if you have a family, or in some cases even pet, you may end up having years go by without any vacation at all because all of your paid time off goes to taking care of relatives.
For example, my husband and I work for the same company. He's been with the company so long that he accrues one and a half days off for every paycheck he earns, just once every two weeks. In October and November of last year, I developed severe pneumonia and he ended up taking a ridiculous amount of time off to take care of me. 10 days ago, I had a hysterectomy. So my husband will end this year with absolutely no time off for vacation. Simply because he took care of me last year and is now taking care of me this year.
It can be worse if you have children, especially if you have multiple children. Unless they all conveniently get sick on exactly the same day and get better at exactly the same day, you can be off for extended periods of time just to treat a simple case of a cold going through your kids. Which is never very fun.
So it is not just that we have fewer days off, but that we have one giant bucket we take everything out of, that basically means Americans don't take a lot of time off.
My ex got three weeks of combination vacation and sick time per year, but she used most of it as sick time because of migraines. We didn't take many vacations because she didn't have the time.
There's also the huge workaholic culture in America. Since we're not set up to do things like shut down for a month in summer or have siesta time midday, before you consider taking time off, arrangements have to be made for coverage of all your work. Aside from those who don't get paid vacation, management and middle management can be stuck with no adequate coverage or could return to too mountainous a pile of work upon your return after more than a couple days.
I think it's more than that. My dad worked in Aerospace and got 6-8 weeks paid vacation back in the 70's-80's. Sometimes he took it, we spent 2 months when I was a kid seeing all the 48 states during the bicentennial in the summer of 76. But most years, he just chose to take the extra vacation time as pay at the end of the year, like a bonus.
When you think about all of the people in other countries who visit the US and WHY they come here, it’s because of all the incredible places they have seen in movies and videos and they want to experience them first hand. Just watching your lovely family react to US videos and listen as you plan for a trip here proves this point: Americans want to see these places too! I live just north of Boston and am just as interested in visiting out National Parks, Monuments, mountains, rivers and lakes, famous cities as you are. I have been fortunate to have traveled to many places outside of the US but still look for opportunities to travel within our own borders to see the same things everyone else wants to see.
I’m a barber in dallas Texas USA.
-The tip thing is important, my tips make up almost half of my paychecks.
- I’m almost 30 and have never had a passport , never really had the urge to travel .
- we put ice in EVERYTHING. And your daughter is correct. (The more ice, the less drink which they get to keep and less money for them)
-the vacation days is also true sadly. We get around 2 weeks PAID vacation per year. Everything else is not paid if we take it off .
None of these non-Americans seem to realize that tipping used to be EVERYWHERE, including their countries. We stayed the same. They changed.
And when it comes to the mythical paid vacation, many of us have only heard rumors of its existence but have never actually gotten it ourselves.
Most jobs that I've had experience with start at 1 week paid vacation, and increase to 5 weeks once you've been there a few years. Loyalty, and longevity matter in the trades, service, banking, medical, education, and business industries at least. 😘
@@bethanyhanna9464 p
Don’t agree about your ice analysis at all. Americans just like ice.
And because of free refills, it’s not like they’re trying to cheat you on the amount of soda.
I love that you sit down and do this as a family! World needs more family time!
This guy obviously doesn't like the US. Showing a naked chunky stomach as representative of the US is crass, rude and misleading. There are overweight people in all countries even New Zealand 😉. The volume is terrible on the vid you're watching, can't even hear the guy. We don't think any of this is weird but whatever. Maybe pick a vid that shows some of the reasons foreigners like to come visit the US. Things that foreigners actually like about us.
World would be better off if there were more family's like this.
Yes!! The reason our cup sizes are so big and we have free refills is because our drinks are full of ice! I think you guys are the first I've seen that connected the dots on that. And yes, between how huge and diverse the US is and how expensive it is to travel overseas, a lot of people don't need or want a passport. Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to traveling abroad is all of the in-country travel required first to even go somewhere else. Someone living in a rural part of the country may have to drive 3+ hours to the nearest commercial airport, then fly a few hours to the coast, then catch a connecting flight all before even leaving American soil. It can be very time consuming and expensive.
For the Europeans to comprehend how large America is, it is a five hour flight from London to Tel Aviv, yes to another continent. It is a five and a half hour flight from New York City to Los Angeles, a six hour flight from Boston to Los Angeles, a seven hour flight from Miami to Seattle. Notice I have not mentioned Alaska or Hawaii, much less Guam. It is a seven hour flight from London to Toronto, across an ocean to another hemisphere... One can ride a train from London to Birmingham in an hour or ride a train from London to Manchester in two hours... To ride a train from Chicago to Los Angeles takes two days, not two hours... Make that three days from New York City to Los Angeles riding a train...
But remember, when you order your drink, you can request that they use no, or little ice, depending on what you like. I order my drinks with "light ice", so they only put in a small amount. It's enough to cool the drink, but you get more of your drink and less of the ice.
More than likely its due to capitalism. There was no refills at resteraunts in the 70s or 80s unless you bought tea or coffee and if there was a refill they charged you like it was another drink...even did it with coffee.
The biggie size craze of the 80s and 90s of McDonald's probably kicked it off. Of course 7-11 big gulps were the first. Cant deny they put more ice in, but they were doing it that way before.
@Tony Montana you can order your drink with no ice. Soda from the “self serve machine”is cold, no ice needed. Same in the restaurant, order w/o ice or just drink the free refills.
Um you can easily order without ice and with fast food you make your own drink
I'm American and I don't remember how I found your channel but I love to get the different points of view, please keep doing what you do.
As an American I’m shocked about the peanut butter thing. It’s so good and has a lot of protein.
natural made (homemade in a PB or nut machine) is so much better and you know it doesn't have any bugs in it
It is one of the most cost-effective ways to feed kinds something that is actually nutritious
I am an American, and I love peanut butter.
I wonder if we make our peanut butter differently than other countries. Maybe it just doesnt taste as good in other places around the world.
Bro I put like an inch of peanut butter on my sandwiches. I’m amazed I haven’t choked to death. I should stop😂
In some US states, like Pennsylvania you don't pay sales tax on "necessities" such as groceries, clothing, shoes, or soap. Also in the US, you don't normally tip at a fast food chain, only where you are served your food by a waitress or waiter.
Montana. We don’t really have sales tax. But our property tax is painful…
As someone who lives in Pennsylvania, whenever my twin sister and I go grocery shopping, we don't pay what we pay for. If we bought items up to $30 dollars, it won't be $30 dollars because of tax. It could be probably from living in a certain part of Pennsylvania since the part I live in is Berks County.
@@ariellewilson730 Food, soap, shoes, clothing are all state sales tax exempt.
If you paid tax at a grocery store, it was on items that are taxable. Prepared food is taxable as well as other things such as light bulbs.
Agreed, although I'm noticing the whole "tipping" system is getting a bit skewed - for example at certain drive-thru windows (and sometimes at inside counters) they want to take your card, put it in the point-of-sale machine (card reader), then hand it back to you where one of the screens offers you the ability to add a tip. I'm thinking, "Tip for what? I'm the dork doing the footwork here getting the food served to me no one is delivering me diddly-squat here. What exactly would I be tipping FOR? Getting my OWN food?"
Another questionable trend goes for online orders that involve delivery like Grub Hub and such - they give you a spot online during your order to add a tip before the actual service takes place. I guess I'm old school but I'm not committing to a tip until the service is rendered and it turned out to be speedy delivery with still-hot food. I know the delivery driver can't affect the cooking of the food, but he can affect how fast and fresh I get it. I always leave the tip field $0 and put in the delivery instructions, "Tip commensurate with delivery speed". I always tip of course, but the slow or cold food may get only $3, but the fast and hot food may get $8 - $10.
I don't accept the video's premise that tipping is an accepted practice here in American culture because of some commonly agreed-upon desire to keep base prices low. Maybe I'm jaded here on this one.
It seems more to me, originally, it was a way to increase performance on behalf of the wait-staff, especially with more well-off diners who wanted their orders to be served quickest and their glasses to always be kept full so they would dangle that reward to the wait staff to get themselves prioritized in a busy restaurant setting. Restaurant owners then caught on to this practice and reduced (or failed to increase over time) wait-staff base pay (so they could keep more $$) citing the "income" the wait staff was enjoying based on these service-prioritizing "bribes". Over time it just became a common cultural phenomenon and hasn't ended.
Depends on where you buy them and if they’re state regulated products or not
The USA is so big, that it makes travel to other continents pretty expensive. I can go to Hawaii or New York or Puerto Rico or the USVI or National Parks for much less. We used to not need a passport to go to Canada or the USVI, but times have changed. I would love to visit my bucket list top 3 of Ireland, Italy and New Zealand, but I've got to save three times the amount of money and use all my vacation days to do it.
Puerto rico is not a fully american state it might as well be since it uses american money and the citisens are basically american by birth dont know why it isnt by now
a
You still don't need a passport to go to the US Virgin Islands, as they're THE *US* Virgin Islands for a reason - they're part of the country! LOL
traveling to europe is insanely expensive. i recommend finding a job and living there as an american.
@@TheAlmaward technically the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are not part of the USA because they are unincorporated territories. But they should be part of the USA because they can vote in our elections
You can always ask for no ice or easy on the ice when getting a drink. Also, when refilling, you are usually doing it yourself so you can get as much or little ice as you want. And mix flavors or whatever. I use the drink lids for bigger sauce (ketchup)dishes. 😉
thats smart
Lite ice*
We don't want less ice. We love our drinks really cold. So our cups are made larger to accommodate the ice.
@@braemtes23 that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the size of the cup lol 😆 to fit more ice? Lol . OK bra
The ice in the drinks are partially why our drink cups are so large! And honestly, the pop doesn't get watered down very quickly. And when it does, most places offer free refills and you're good to go. The ice keeps the drink cold for a lot longer.
The drinks are so large because they resized all the drinks to publicly drop the “super size” name after the bad publicity of the movie Super Size Me.
Pop! You are my people!! Ohio here (originally)
I don't know if it's just me, but do Americans drink faster than the rest of the world?
@@DivinePeace1102 We do! We're. . kinda workaholics. If We aren't working at all times, we feel incredibly lazy because of the centuries of passed down generational trauma :D
I like ice in my drinks. Especially water, iced tea or a carbonated soft drink.
I was an over the road truck driver for two years and drove into and through all of the US except Alaska, Hawaii and Florida. My most memorable experience was driving west on I 84 along the Columbia river head towards Portland Oregon watching the sun go down slowly and beautifully in to the mountains ahead of me while jamming to Metallica's "For whom the bell tolls" at 66 mph (100+ kph). Magical just magical......
Don my state is ore glad u liked the view! I had a similar experience in kansas!
The ice is why our drink portions are so big! Also, soda or pop is always incredibly sweet so having the ice to water it down a little over time makes it much more refreshing. We love our ice! 😂❤
Yep! We do love it! And it’s not because it’s forced on us by businesses. You also made a great point by connecting our large drink sizes (that was also part of the video) to our liking of lots of ice. A soft drink in a cup without ice just isn’t the same thing!
@@joeterp5615 I love ice so much that I got a counter top ice maker to make sure we always have some! It's been years since I've been to a restaurant that served soda without ice and just set the bottle beside the glass. Drinks get warm too quickly! I want plenty of ice all year round!
I don't like ice at all and always have to order my drinks with no ice - at a bar they always think you're trying to get more booze... I just tell them to put it in a smaller glass!
@@jtidema When I was growing up, many people would insist on no ice or on having their ice in a separate glass because they thought they were being cheated. I got hooked on ice at age four when I had my tonsils out and they said everything I drank had to be cold. It could also be because I grew up in California and it gets very hot here. We would even rub ice on our foreheads as children to cool off! g
Could not live without ice and I can't comprehend why other countries shun it.
When talking about tips in these videos, they always just focus on restaurants. But the tipping culture goes far beyond tipping wait staff at restaurants. For instance, I always tip my hair stylist, manicurist, Uber/taxi/Park-n-go driver, hotel bell hop, valet parking attendant, gas attendant at the marina, tour guides, etc. It all absolutely adds up!!!
As an American, I chose to stop tipping EVERYONE!!.. I just said to myself,fuck that I'm not tipping...
I only tip when the staff, service, or quality of product is good/better then average.
Start at 10% and go up from there based on whatever I think it was worth.
@@Pip8448 That's how it's supposed to be. Tips are not mandatory. They are for better than expected service.
I have AAA road service and if I ever need to call them, I tip the tow truck driver. They're usually poorly paid.
@@nofilter.906 100% agree. I pay the business and they pay their employees. I don't pay both.
Why is it shocking that we don't have passports? As large as America is, the incredible diversity of the landscapes, temperatures, even customs and food, without ever leaving the country. It's only since 2001 that we had to get a passport to Canada!
Oh, you can always order your drink with little ice, that should never be a problem ☺️ (worked in many restaurants)
There are so many diverse places to go to in the U.S.,that most people don't feel the need, to go outside the country.
It's shocking that you are happy to live your entire life without ever leaving your own country. There are HUNDREDS of amazing countries in the world, but you don't ever want to visit them. Kind of depressing and bland.
I think a lot of Americans dream about traveling but they can't swing it financially. The fact is employers here are not required to give any vacation days, not even unpaid ones. Thirty-one percent of American workers get no paid vacation time. Those people find it very challenging to travel internationally.
@SalvableRuin tell me your entitled and have money without directly saying it. I would love to travel and I'm sure many others would love too but it's a matter of money. America is rich but most of the wealth is owned by 1% of Americans. With inflation the middle class no longer exists and most families are living paycheck to paycheck. You used to be able to support an entire family on one income. You also should take into account how close other countries are to you. The US has Canada and Mexico next to us and that's it. Most Europeans can take a train to get to many other countries and they're all close to each other. To get anywhere in Europe we have to take very long plane rides and it's quite expensive compared to being in Europe and taking a day trip to another country. You should think about others points of views before judging others. Most people want to travel so dont assune they want to stay only in the US.
exactly, @karma Shirly all I'm saying is we don't have to cross boarders to have a great vacation, not that we wouldn't love to visit other countries, it's just not practical. Or maybe @ SalvableRuin you just don't know just how great and diverse this one country is. Now that would be sad.
I have had a passport since I was 15 years old and have travelled to 30 countries and 5 continents. The US is so large and not everyone has had the same opportunities. Love watching your family!
I did all ny traveling while in the Navy, didn't need a passport.
I used to tutor French high school kids who are spending their summer in the US. This was in a big city on the East Coast. Every summer, every new kid, would always either be mad about the ice or laugh about it in their first week. Then, after they had spent a week sweating in an American Summer, they stopped joking about the ice and embraced it. It gets hot here. Europeans definitely don't understand it and even when I lived in Australia a lot of people refuse to believe that it gets really hot here. We invented ice makers and air conditioning for a reason.
Plus we have Death Valley. There is a reason it's called that. The hottest place in the world.
I saw on the history channel that the refrigerated truck was developed by Budweiser to widen their markets and make a national beer, rather than local breweries.
@@theportaloftime6177 Beer is actually responsible for a lot of inventions and advancements in history. Look up "How Beer Saved the World"
@@theportaloftime6177 Frozen food was invented by Birdseye, before freezers were in homes, some homes had freezers but not many because they were very expensive before Freon.
Oh wow no really though.. like I know it gets hot and humid and HOT here... I just assumed the latitude lines weather was about the same, like across the globe. Does Eurasia basically just push it's hot humid onto the North America by winds across the Atlantic ocean?!...
...
Rn I sooooooooooo want to call out cheater... But this might probably be one of those American things we bitch about for no real reason... 🤣😂👍😭😭😭😭
I had a pen friend from Scotland and I was shocked that he had 6 weeks of vacation time and he worked for the underground rail system. I've never had a job that offered more than two weeks of vacation time starting out. I have 15 days at my current job and I've been there 4 years.
My last job was at a power plant. $75k a year and 2 months of vacation. It was like I had died and gone to heaven. Also the easiest job I ever had. Shame the plant closed down. I would have retired from there if it were my choice. Lol
Customer service is notorious for a lack of use of vacation. I averaged about half my alloted time simply because upper management tended to make people feel bad for taking time off. So glad to have moved on to better things.
I used mine to the maximum. I'd switch shifts with people to get 2 weekends off back to back and use 5 vacation days in between to get 9 days off. It didn't hurt anyone and I still had to work 40 hours before and after but management still pitched a fit every time I did it.
The biggest reason not to take time off for me is even when I take one day off I come back to work with what seems like five days of work piled up. It's not worth the time off.
Travel and passports - let me put it this way. Travel from New York City to Eupora Mississippi and you aren't just in a different state, you are in a different universe. The number of national and state parks available nationwide means you can learn about the United States for decades without needing a passport. I've been to Europe and Australia (never made it to NZ though I wanted to), but I figure I have decades left learning about good old home. If you ever make it here, go to Yellowstone. Take at least a week, maybe 2 weeks. It's a huge park. Then drive for 2 days south to Arches and the Grand Canyon area. You'll see why so many from the US never leave the country.
See one national park, you've seen them all. Boring! I want to meet people and find out about their lives, our differences and similarities. I want to see nature but I also want to see history and civilization as it developed. I want to enjoy a local festival and go to different types of cultural events.
@@tinalettieri Then visit the Shakespearian festivals (Southern Utah does one annually), museums, towns with heritage like Spring City Utah, which is one of two towns 100% on the historical register (other being WIlliamsburg). Not even out of Utah yet. Snake River Stampede (Rodeo) in Southern Idaho, and one could go on and on. Octoberfest celebrated multiple places in Utah. Siking with some of the best snow in the world. Old Time Fiddlers in Weiser Idaho and more.
So, why do I need a passport? Still too many festivals, museums and learning experiences here. I have a passport, but do not plan international travel in the near future. Way to much to do here. Someday I want to get back to Australia, maybe London, but for now, too busy here.
@@bg3160 I will never return to the US and none of those things interest me, tbh. They're not my culture.
If you go to Yellowstone be sure do go just a few more miles and visit Grand Teton National Park. It is spectacular!
Passports are expensive, you can be denied and have to pay again to attempt to get it again, plus most of us cannot afford vacations outside the country. Couple that with short vacations (making us choose to either have short vacations or extend the vacation without pay), we usually choose to vacation inside the country. And as for ice, it isn't mandatory. I always request either less ice or no ice when I order. It is a bit of extra hassle, but once you get used to it, it's fine.
Your comment on those in the midwest going to New York is very accurate.
This summer my family's traveling from the midwest (Iowa) to the east coast (Carolinas) to show our daughter the ocean for the first time. Our drive is around 18hrs, and will be the biggest trip as a family by far!
California and show her the Pacific .
From eastern Nebraska, we one time made it from home to NYC in just under 24 hours! Like 23 hr, 48 min I think. Going to the coast is a once every several years kind of thing!
I'm so glad I live in sw WA. About 2hrs to the beach or the mountains, depending on whether I go east or west 😊
I drove from Sonoma county northern California (on the coast) to Riverton Wyoming once, that was 18 hours.
Its a little over 2 hours from the Pacific coast to Reno Nevada
The US has so much to explore without needing a passport. My western state of Utah is nearly 220,000 square kilometers in size (about 85,000 square miles). We're landlocked, but still have a salt water lake if you really want salty water. (Watch out for brine flies, they bite.) You can choose between mountains, lakes, rivers, desert, caves, hot springs, dinosaur fossils, amazing rock formations and more in a 7-8 hour drive north to south. We get snow in winter with great skiing and other winter sports. Summers are hot and dry.
Growing up, my family's big vacation of the year was going camping at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes in central Utah. We didn't have the money to take big trips and it was fun playing on the sand dunes and cooking on a campfire.
This is just one state, and the others offer even more kinds of scenery. You could spend a lifetime exploring just the US.
I learn so much about New Zealand from your family. Thank you.
I’m 58 and never had a passport. I’ve traveled from the east coast to the west coast - no small feat by car. So many things to see and do here. There are still places I’d love to visit in the USA.
a Kindred Spirit! There are so many beautiful vistas in the US.
I worked as a truck driver for 6 months in '99 before falling asleep at the wheel, rolling it over and that was that. I saw more states in that time than I had in my entire life. After Osama bin Laden pulled his b.s. in '01, I decided I'd never fly to the San Diego Comic-con again as I knew security would be a bitch with all my stuff. Having been a trucker gave me the gumption to get into my car and make the 2000 mile drive from St. Louis to San Diego alone. I'd only ever been out through the southwest with my mother and grandparents a few times when I was a kid, other than with a co-driver while trucking. The two times I drove out and back were the best vacations I'd ever had. I didn't have anyone telling me, "Okay, we're here. Now get out, look around and get back in AND DON'T DAWDLE, we have places to be!!!!". That always irritated me. I'd been to the Meteor Crater in Arizona twice as a kid, but I spent more time there on my first solo car trip as an adult than I had the previous two times combined.
Yup when it is over 4,000 (6,437Km) miles from coast to coast and a large range of climates we have little reason to leave the country unlike Europe who has to go through many countries to even attempt that
One thing to keep in mind is that passports are not needed (although they’re recommended) for Americans to travel by car or boat to Canada or Mexico, or on a Caribbean cruise vacation that starts and ends in the US. When you combine that with the size of the US, the amount of vacation time, and the cost of international travel, it’s simply that most Americans don’t have a need for a passport. It’s not that they wouldn’t like to travel further abroad. It’s just simply financially out of reach for most of them.
I say this as an American who has held a valid passport his entire life.
I got my first passport at age 10. My family moved overseas, which requires a passport. Lol
We use the metric system. Everything is labelled in imperial and metric units, and we seamlessly switch between systems depending on context. For example if you go to the grocery store you will buy bottles of soda in liters, but cans of soda in ounces, and bottles of water in gallons. If you are looking to buy aspirin (or other medication) it will be sold by the milligram while you might buy hamburger by the pound, and the airport limits your bags to 45 kilograms. Bank clocks that show time and temperature will show Fahrenheit and Celsius. In sports track and field uses meters and football uses yards, and we hit baseballs hundreds of feet, but we drive miles. If you work in science or engineering fields you will be well versed in metric, but still use a mix of units. For example in meteorology temperatures at the surface are in Fahrenheit but temperatures above the surface are in Celsius. Pressure at the surface (for altimeter settings) is in inches but constant pressure surfaces are in millibars and heights in meters. If you're a mechanic you might use wrenches and sockets measured in millimeters. There are countless examples like this in every day American life where we use both systems of units without an issue.
Yes, we use it..sort of....but the vast majority of Americans have no conception of what metric units actually mean. I'd bet that 95% of us couldn't tell you how many cm are in an inch. Or liters per gallon. Or lbs per kg.
I tease my "metric friends" about the metric system is for those folks who can only count to 10😜🤣.
Not _everything_ is labeled in metric units. Most products for sale are, but everyday things like distances and weight of people aren't.
People from Europe always fail to mention that the UK still uses miles to measure all highway distances and MPH for all speeds.
The US isn't the only major country that is resisting metric in some places, and the use of imperial measurements is not unique to the US.
@@jimmers123 Everyone learns both in school. We just don't choose to use metric in everyday because it's not convenient. And I'd take your bet. There are very few exact conversions, but most people DO know that 1 inch = EXACTLY 2.54 cm. 100km ~= 60 miles and 1 gallon is about 3.8 liters and 2.2 lbs per kg. I think you'd also be surprised how well our pharmaceutically knowledgable population easily converts grams to fractions of ounces and vice versa, especially in states where marijuana is legal.
One reason why we don’t vacation outside our country, is because there are so many diverse incredible places to go to here. World travel is a luxury that not many of us have.
I have a friend I met online who lives in The Netherlands. He was frequent taking trips to Germany which I thought was pretty cool but he went there so often I decided to ask how long it takes him to drive there. He said from his house it's about 15 minutes to the border and another 10 to the place in Germany he visits the most. I laughed because I thought he had been taking these big trips when in reality it took about as much time as it took me to drive to work every day.
The situation was reversed when he graduated college and came to the U.S. When he was planning his trip he asked "If I'm staying at your house and want to visit friends in the western part of Texas, Montana and New York would that be a single day or would I need a night in a hotel? I explained that if he only spent a few minutes with each friend he might be able to make it back to my house in time to catch his flight back home. It would take a full day of driving to get to Texas and since where his friend there lived required driving all the way across Texas at its widest point that would take most of the next day driving.
He ended up planning a two week trip instead of one and only visiting one other friend. By the time we drove across my state of Tennessee from the east side to the west he was amazed. He said "I could have gone to three or four European countries in the time it took to drive across one state and we've been going faster here."
I wouldn't do it if I had 40 billion laying around in a bank-- plus the chance of going and NOT making it back are getting higher every day-- due to wars, plane crashes more prevalent, and just the hassleof travel- with diseases, etc.. NOT worth it..
Well also I think a lot of people don’t realize that there are tons of palaces off the mainland US that don’t require a passport. Hawaii is a state so that one obviously, but also Puerto Rico, America Samoa etc territories don’t require a passport, and there are two entrances to Canada that don’t require a passport for US citizens (requires other things but no passport). Additionally any cruise you can take from a US port doesn’t require a passport. So I know tons of people that have been all over the Caribbean/parts of South America and arctic Canadian territories and don’t have a passport because you don’t even need one. I would guess that alone probably covers another 10% of the population that has left the country, but has done so via cruise.
@@hannahb.375 IF I can't drive to it- I'm NOT going. I'm never setting foot on another plane- EVER.. far too many NOT making it. Am I afraid of flying? NO- (it's the crashing that scares the hell out of me!!). BUt seriously- I was scheduled on a flight to VA- via flight out of LA with two stops... Missed the flight- had a flat in the tunnel going to the airport in rush hour- and got stuck.. That flight went down in Sioux City Iowa-- killing around half the pople on it.. or more.. Haven't flown since and don't intend to.
@@hannahb.375 I went to the Caribbean on a cruise 5 years ago and needed a passport. Left from New Orleans, LA. It was required to even board the ship.
There are so many wonderful things to see in our own enormous country, that I think that's another reason why there is less international travel. Time is a big issue though.
A huge chunk of why some Americans don't use much vacation time is that some offices employ a minimal quantity of people, so going on vacation requires your department to become understaffed as a result, and thus your absence results in a full-on inconvenience for your co-workers. This results in a sense of guilt if you're away for more than a day or two. Heck, because of this, everyone at my work (a software company that sells worldwide and takes in 10's of millions of dollars per year but only has a total staff of
Oh my gosh, yes. At my last job, I didn't call in sick the whole five years I worked there and felt horribly guilty when I'd take three days off for a vacation once a year - all because we were so light staffed, that my not being there would put a lot of pressure on others.
That's simply all of you being completely BSd and taken advantage of by your employer. If you would all ban together and take your days off the company would see that they are short staffed and make appropriate adjustments.
If you keep working because you are worried about your fellow employees you simply play into the corporate game. Also, you earned your time off. None of you should feel guilty of taking what you earned. That's like refusing part of your pay check.
corporate greed is a real thing
@@NrthrnKnght so is corporate your fired and the next person who really wants a job is hired to take your place. Banning together just gets everyone fired.
@@n.d.m.515 that's what they want you to think.... probably
When I was younger, before 9/11 happened we could travel to SOME countries without a passport, too. I've been all over Mexico and Canada both without a passport as a teenager. They have since tightened up security and now require a passport lol. So yeah, really my family didn't get them until early 00s.
agree, I traveled to Mexico, Caribbean islands, Canada many times and never needed a passport until 9-11 happened.
Me too!! Mexico once and Canada three times before 9/11 without a passport. Just a driver’s license and the once trip to Vancouver, BC, for Expo 86, we needed our birth certificates as none of us were of legal driving age. I miss those days without the passport.
When I was in high back in the early 80s I did a lot of camping in Canada since it was a fairly short drive. I never needed to use a passport. All you had to do was answer a few simple questions like are you bootlegging anything illegal into the country, and how long are you planning on visiting. If I say a week and stayed two or more weeks they didn't care as long as I was obeying the laws. But the one thing both sides were extremely strict on was how much you could bring across certain items like booze or tobacco type products. This is the only time you are required to let the boarder patrol to search your car which was a head poking into a window and on occasion the trunk. Never took no more than 5 minutes to get back on US soil unless you ended up doing some friendly chitchat and it's quiet for them.
@@walterkoziol3822 same here, used to go up to Canada a couple times a year, it's about a 2 hour drive from Seattle area. No passport needed, just a few questions.
@@geebrewer8186 Heh, it was roughly a 2hr drive for me. It was just a straight shot though VT and I was there. Damn! How I missed going to Canada aka Kanuckianland. Loved everything about it, even the people. Cept for Quebec, seemed like no one likes them cept themselves.
The problem with taking vacation days is that it seems like a punishment when you return. The work piles up and sometimes tasks are given to you that nobody else wants. That’s why I usually work even when I’m on vacation. It makes the work manageable when you return.
Plus it's an average. Lots of people have no days or they have "personal leave" which is combined sick pay and vacation. (That is often 10 days.) So if you want to go on vacation you have to plan never to need sick leave or time off for any other type of appointment. It can be devastating if someone in your family gets sick or you have a legal battle or anything like that, you have no money right when you need it
It's a hellscape
omg that is true. The longer you are gone the more it piles up because nobody does it when you are gone. Therefor you end up working more hours a week catching up.
@@garyday4356 Not really. Only in some jobs. In most of the western world, people get 4-6 weeks of paid annual leave. Americans are being ripped off.
So true. Plus companies actually frown upon you using all your days or they block out time where nobody can vacation, leaving an insufficient amount of time for everyone to use their vacation.
@@duanehellier Thats terrible and its bad business. Workers who are over worked and dont get time off are less productive than happy workers.
It was born in southern California 75 years ago and have never traveled abroad and never had a passport.
During most of the year you can drive to the hot desert, go snow skying in the mountains, and surfing in the beautiful Pacific Ocean all on the SAME DAY.
Hi, guys! I was a little taken aback with the take on peanut butter in the US. I've had Vegemite on toast (blech!) and I'll take PB any day of the week! Cheers!
Oh no! Not VegeMite. #HORROR
Our family was involved in the Rotary International exchange program for years. Not only did we have exchange students staying in our home for 3 to 4 months at a time, we also served as an overnight stop for students flying in to Seattle that were actually headed to the other half of our district which was in British Columbia Canada. Each and every Aussie exchange student arrived with a jar of Vegamite for their various host families, be it for the longer stay or just the overnight. I think at one time we had 5 to 8 opened jars of Vegamite in the pantry. Since frankly we all hated it but every student was sure we would enjoy their brand.
I guess I'm strange. I really like Vegemite, I will even have it as a snack on buttered saltines or Triscuit. But my favorite is toasted buttered crumpets. I'm from MO.
Also, am not a fan of peanut butter. I like peanuts, and can eat natural peanut butter, but processed PB is so *sweet*, gross.
@@danielnelson9411 maybe you should DM Barbara she seems to know where to get it
@Johnny Rep I forgot to mention in my posting. I had the honor of being a Rotary Exchange student in Brasil for a year.
When your country is as huge and awesome with so much to see as America, it only makes sense that you wouldn't travel internationally.
Also money. We can't just drive across the channel to get to Europe.
I heard on the grapevine that apparently Australia is bigger and more awesome than the US (contiguous 48) anyway..
@@mummamia1967 sure, if you like a soft dictatorship. America isn't far behind sadly, but at least there are states pushing back.
I left the US for the first time a few months ago and I can tell you this is not true
😆
Hi from Florida! My brother, who has worked abroad in Australia and Europe says the little ice that comes in beverages is frustrating. Once he asked for extra ice and was brought only one ice cube! In the US if you ask for extra ice you're brought a whole glass of ice.
I love iced tea and I want it swimming in a whole cup of ice.
ONE ice cube.....lololol
i have just recently found your channel and really enjoy it. The children are great also! I think it is wonderful that you spend so much time with your kids and they are getting a great education outside of school!
I will tell you the primary reason I haven’t been out of the country is that there are just so many places to see here in the States. I’m 42 and I’ve been to 30 states in my life, but that is mainly because I’ve gone back to the same states many times to visit other cities. I’m going to Florida in December for my 11th time. I’ve been to New York and Connecticut several times because I have family that live there, so a lot of my vacation has been spent there visiting family. As far as college football, yes I am a huge fan as I’ve been most of my life. Tomorrow is one of the biggest games of the year with LSU and Alabama playing in Baton Rouge at Tiger Stadium. So as we say here in Louisiana, GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!
ROLL TIDE!!!
Reauxll Tide!
More like ROFL!!!!
I live in the middle of the U.S. and to go to either coast is about 1200 miles to get there. I have traveled extensively over the years and have yet to see every state and all the amazing places we have been blessed with. Not just big, famous cities but beautiful landscapes with some amazing animals both on land and in the sea. A road trip to the coast and back to my home with lots of sight seeing could reasonably take about 3 weeks and could cover as much as 5000 miles, which is a road trip I am hoping to do next year.
I’m an American with a worn out passport and who speaks three languages. I also live in the “middle” of the country. There are tons of us without passports, yes, but tons of us with them too. I love traveling both the world and my own country equally!
Ironically, I've found more Midwesterners I know tend to have one compared to even those nearer the borders! We have to fly so much further, but maybe that's it. If you're already booking a flight, you can go wherever you want.
My family always roadtripped, but I've been abroad several times as well.
This video keeps showing in my recommendations and I finally decided to check it out. This was fun to watch and I learned things about other countries that I was unaware of. Thanks for the interesting content and reactions.
The drink size one was good. I worked at a Burger King in high school and we had French Foreign Exchange Teachers come teach for like two months at our school. They came in one day and casually ordered the Large and when I handed them those massive cups they damn near had a heart attack haha.
Our local convenience stores had 64 ounce fountain drink cups as a joke for a while. Those were awesome.
Heck, sometimes just being in different states can mean that the fast food joints use different sized cups (when part of the same label, such as Wendy's) for a Large drink. I've seen while on the road for work.
Meanwhile in Mexico 3 liter coke bottles are commonplace lol
@@charlesbrown4483 Huh, I hadn't heard of that one before. The 1 liter and 2 liter bottle sizes are fairly commonplace in the States, but I can see that being practical for providing drinks to a large group.
Drink sizes in the US were way smaller until the 1970s or so. 16oz was considered a large at most fast food places.
I always thought the month/day/year system was for the sake of locating files faster. Think about it: the outer numbers representing the month and the year are going to be the first ones you read. If you’re trying to find a file by date, it’s easier to find the year and then the month before looking for the specific day. Our eyes scan linearly, so we’re always going to see the middle second whether we’re going from left to right or right to left.
Spot on... And the world wonders why America has a long history of better productivity than most of the other nations?
I ordered something online from California and was charged state, city, and county sales tax. It was freaking insane. My dad never took vacation days because they were also his sick days.
That's Commiefornia for you.
While most states collect state sales tax nowadays, I'm rather surprised that you were charged any other taxes... Unless you ordered from California when there's an actual physical store in your state, if you ordered from say Wally World in California and there's one down the block from you... You are required to pay your states sales tax and obviously any local taxes as well.
You can blame your state for that, they don't want you to avoid state & local taxes by shopping online.
True statement!
started a new job last july and havent used a single pto days we get every holiday off but the main reason is i work 3 12s so i have 4 days off a week i think more companies need to adopt this schedule
The travel thing is probably much more related to the size of the US. If you’re in Europe you’re going between countries all the time but you could travel just as far if not further between states so we don’t need a passport. Not only that but a lot of places that are considered travel destinations can be very far away when compared to a lot of countries.
I renew my passport every 10 years and have been to 113 counties, all the Canadian provinces and all 50 states BUT I owned a huge tour operation and travel agency for 40 years- during “the golden age of travel” in the 1970s to 1990s, I got comp or discounted travel and hotels all over the world! Life was great then! Sept. 11, 2001 changed many things. I just renewed my sixth passport - it is cheaper to renew than to purchase your very first passport.
We put ice because it’s so hot here for 1/2 the year that we have to drink really cold drinks to survive the high heat&humidity. We have temperatures up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher with heat index which is around 43 degrees Celsius
Most restaurants will adjust the soft drink machines such that the syrup mixture is a little rich, so when you add crushed ice, and it melts a little, it tastes about the same as a bottled drink. If you taste the drink directly from the dispenser without ice you will notice it is a little strong.
I'm a retired nurse but I almost never took a vacation . I would of loved too but it was so hard to take my days off. Love your show
thank you for all of your years of caring
@@acts10truth oh I loved every moment. It was my second home.
You’re totally right on the ice thing. A 32 oz large soda is full to the top with ice so you’re only getting about half the cup of actual beverage. When you get refills you can overindulge, but a trip through the drive-thru and it’s one drink half ice. I love ice though because it’s usually hot 6-7 months of the year where I live.
I enjoy watching video's around the world of people and families' reactions to the USA. My biggest takeaway is, we aren't that much different at all. Look above. A family of four which is not much different than a family of four in the USA. We all have the same worries, and happiness, things that make us sad, and things that thrill us or amaze us. Not much difference other than miles or kilometer.
Love watching you all. The ice doesnt make it flat and thats because we add a lot. Also the soda comes from near freezing lines so its all very cold. It is very humorous the things that people find interesting, odd, or annoying about the US. Ive traveled internationally alot as well as been to most states here and its true we have so many cultures inside our country and going from Seattle to Miami is like going from London to Tibet in distance...
4:00 I think it has nothing to do with desire to travel abroad, it's mostly because of all the destinations and variety of destinations that we have in our own country. You've seen our cities and parks. There's a lot of diversity in food, culture, landscape, etc... all within our own borders. Also, I have had an active passport since I was 4.
YES!!!! I too have been traveling abroad since i was young. The last 5 years I have been to 6 different countries. I told my partner today next summer we are not leaving the country and doing road trip in the states.
@@cindyllax I have been to more countries than I have states. 29 states 47 countries. Many repeat and some of them decently long stays. I own a home in a foreign country. I'd still rather see more states.
@@liamengram6326 🥰🥰 I like having the travel bug 😂. Omg so awesome that you have been to so many places. 😍
When foreigners ask if I have been to certain National parks cuz they have, I realize how little I have see of the US. ☹️
I live in Texas and almost never leave the state. We have mountains in the west, flat desert in panhandle and midwest Texas, beautiful forest with tall pines in east Texas, beautiful hill country in cental to south Texas and the Coastal regions from where I live to the gulf of Mexico. We have every culture that comes with different foods and experiences. Festivals for every occasion and tons of fun year round due to a weather climate that rivals the rest of the U.S. Also, traveling out of the state can be a day trip for most, especially if you travel the IH 35 bloodline north and south. We also don't calculate our traveling by miles, only time.
I live in San Antonio. It takes several hours of driving to go to another state lol. People dont always realize how huge Texas is
@James Smith your vacation doesn't really begin till you drive across state lines or end up with your feet in the ocean on the Texas coastline. Traveling is also made worse by the never-ending construction on I35 and other major roads.
@@jamessmith4455 I live 35 minutes from San Antonio. It is my city. Small world.
@@stacieerxleben9941 you might be right about that. But there are tons of places to explore in Texas but you already know that lol. What town do you live in? Maybe I know it.
@@jamessmith4455 Devine.
Restaurants buy the syrup to make the soda, or pop (depending on what part of the country you are in), and it is mixed with local tap water anyway. As far as the ice is concerned, regardless if it is a sit down or fast food restaurant, you can request your drink without ice and you will get no ice in your drink. In my opinion, the ice decreases the amount of drink you actually receive, as the ice takes up volume in the cup.
Actually, soda machines in restaurants use tanks provided by the soda company. For each spigot, there is a syrup tank and a carbonated water tank.
The ice thing also explains the size differences in the cup. I don't know about the rest of the world but in America the soda does not come out of the machines very cold. You need the ice to bring it to a drinkable temperature.
American here! I don't have a passport and have never been out of the country (which is less normal here in L.A. because we're so close to Mexico that you could drive there and back in a day) but my family and I have traveled extensively, especially within California, we have an area of 423,971 km² in California compared to New Zealand's 268,020 km² for example, just my state is bigger than a lot of European countries and there are a whole lot of different places and environments to see, I've also gone to multiple other states for way cheaper than I could go to Europe or even Canada so I've never had much of an incentive to get a passport
Sam - you mentioned that you haven't yet tried the canned spray cheese. I sent a box to you which should have arrived and been picked up last month. When you open it, you'll at least be able to try the spray cheese. Certainly not gourmet, but works in a pinch. I really miss your intro... my favorite part was when Kylo steals the soccer ball from Denzel and breaks down the beach with it. I laughed every time I saw that clip. Keep up the good work. Our family loves watching and learning from your family.
"International Trips" in America and Europe are very different. I have a relative in Italy whose work takes him to four European countries every week. International in America is either Canada & Mexico, or major travel.
A lot of us go to the Caribbean
Very smart little girl. She caught on to that soda business trick lol. But always feel free to order your drinks without ice. Many here do too.
The hardest part about the drug commercials is figuring out if all the side effects listed is worth the trade to fix whatever your have.
Denzel made a good point about watering down drinks. Here in Alabama , we love our sweet tea. I make an Orange Pekoe that's very dark and very sweet. It's served while still warm, allowing the ice to melt a little before taking the first sip. This cuts some of the sweetness and brightens the tea.We end up with a sweet drink that's well balance with flavor and a medium cold temperature.
Plus because that sounds really good.
@Kenny Davis
I'm from Pennsylvania and every time we travel down south people think my family is crazy for ordering unsweetened iced tea, I like sweet soda but I hate sweet tea with a passion lol. What makes America great is the huge size of it and different cultural cuisines.
@@ZepG Well, I actually know a lot of southerners who drink unsweetened tea, God only knows why, ha ha. What drives me nuts is when restaurants bring packets of sugar to sweeten a cold glass of tea. They should know sugar doesn't dissolve in cold water.
@@kennydavis2276
I get your point on the adding sugar to a cold drink, it just tastes gritty like some of the lemonade stand drinks. In my opinion iced tea tastes way better with just the taste of the tea leaves and maybe some mint but never sugar in tea (or coffee on that subject).
Generally tea and sodas (fountain drinks, as opposed to drinks in bottles) are made stronger so they can stand up to ice. Cold brew iced coffee is really too strong without ice.
Yeah, the vacation thing is a chronic problem we have. In the US if companies had their way, we would get no vacation time at all. Right now there's a lot of debate going on about employee wellness and mental health, so maybe someday we'll have up three weeks every year, but the way we'll be allowed to take them is one week at a time at most. Most employers do not allow employees to take off more than one week at a time and even then it's often a battle to get that one week off.
You really need to stop comparing your part-time high-school level job with real jobs.
I get 3 weeks paid vacation and can take them all together if I want.
I don't know a single other person working a real job that doesn't have it that way. The 2 week issue is usually just a starting out issue for some.
Have you thought about getting a real job? I mean, they are better all around, but you would have to grow up and get rid of the childish delusional idea of employee wellness and mental health. Those are your problems breed from entitlement and being a spoiled child. You can't expect to be allowed to maintain being a spoiled child in a real job.
@@jefffraser4345I guess most in the US just have part-time high-school level jobs since Americans, on average, have less than half the number of vacation days that Europeans do. Most jobs in the US, you only start with 1-2 weeks of vacation, and it often isn't available until after a year of employment with the company. In the rest of the developed world, 3-4 weeks + paid holidays is the absolute bare minimum an employee can be offered. I really don't understand why people like you are so offended by the idea of everyone having enough time each year to spend quality leisure time with their family. Such a horrid concept!
@@sleepnaught To the first part, your guess is correct.
so you want us to be like some of the laziest, weakest, and most pathetic societies that get by purely by leeching and taking from others?
There in lies why those of US don't want to steal, enslave others, or be weak have an issue with weak evil people like you. So long as you don't have to see your slaves you get to have a clear consciousness and enjoy their fruits.
@@jefffraser4345 I'd get a "real job" if the "boomer" generation would just finally retire and open them up!
It feels like waiting in line for the best roller coaster at an amusement park. Is waiting in line for 2+ hours worth the shortest ride in the park? You could have rode 10+ rides in that time.
OR
You can spend a lot of money and time to be indebted for the rest of your life to get a piece of paper that says you're over qualified for a job just for the employers to tell you have to have 10 years of experience in a field or program that's only been around for 6 years. THAT'S always fun!
I've been working for over 15 years, and have had 1 unpaid vacation that used all of my "Personal Time Off" that I had to save up for 8 months. After I got back, suddenly I was given all the crappy jobs at work and the bosses stopped letting me know when higher paying positions opened up.
I have seen that happen to other people at different jobs when they go on vacation too.
You can always start your own business, but then you won't get ANY days off for at LEAST two years.
I thought I had a “real job”. I was a Registered Dental Hygienist. We are not contract workers but often paid that way. No vacation days or other benefits because we are paid well. But just try to take time off, you may only be off when the boss takes off. Some jobs would eventually give a week or two, but that’s not common, you may only get part time so you work in two to three offices.
"Football" means any game played on foot.
So traditional, association, american, canadian, australian, and rugby football are all still football games. Any of them could be referred to as that.
As an American I love these videos and I can't wait for you guys to come visit us and I actually hope it's okay with you to think of you guys as my actual New Zealand family.
Another factor to understand on passports is that, until recently, someone with a valid American ID could often travel to other closely-aligned countries, like Canada, without needing a passport. My parents had traveled to several countries without ever needing one.
Shss, While I was station in Germany in the 1980s, All it took for me to travel all of Western Europe (non-Warsaw Pact) countries was my army leave form and army ID.
Yes, and the first time i went to Mexico back in the 70's I did not need a passport, just a copy of my birth certificate.
@@BrendaBowman104 I have been to both Mexico and Canada multiple times with no birth certificate or passport, though I have one now. My parents were traveling in Europe as well, many years ago, without passports being required for the particular countries they went to. They would have been required elsewhere.
911 ruined it.
@@ReluctantPost Yep, until 2009, when you needed a passport. Used to head to TJ to party as a teen with just an driver license...same with Canada just show the driver license at the border check/customs.
The pressure to keep your job plays a role in most of us taking very few vacation days. Also many companies combine sick and vacation together so you have to be very careful. If you use up your sick days you have to use your vacation days or go without pay. I used to just take the extra check at the end of the year. I take maybe 5-7 days a year off and combine them with holiday weekends to make a 3 day weekend to a 4 day weekend. Vacation was seen as laziness in my family so I don’t take any vacations. I only travel to see family or friends over a weekend.
My hubby and I love to travel...so we both have passports. Traveling is a little more difficult when you have dogs.
I love hearing about other countries and their culture.
I have to say....I loved visiting Israel....but it was tough not having ice on hot days!
We live in warm climate in Southern California. Our household uses insulated glasses to keep beverages either hot or cold. I grew up low middle class. So our version of a frozen dessert was crushing the ice and pouring soda on to simulate an American Snow Cone (shaved ice). I’m now 58, and enjoy all my beverages very iced - especially, tea and coffee
One fact that surprises foreigners is we don’t pee standing or sitting, we pee doing a handstand
The first rule of handstand club is you don't talk about handstand club!
Alaskan Fisherman do the deed crab walking
Shhh, don't tell them all of our secrets. 😆 🤣
That’s only when I first wake up though
Dude! You're not supposed to just TELL people that! That's our secret!
Culture shock is a real thing, coming to a big city the US for the first time from most other countries, can be a little overwhelming. Thanks for the reactions.
I dont think size is an issue. There are many cities around the world bigger than US cities and with more people.
@@tubester4567 You miss the point and you assume experiencing one big city in another country would eliminate culture shock in another. Culture shock is just that - culture shock, whether it's due to size, density or the difference in social culture or government.
American cities tend to be a beast onto themselves when compared to a vast majority of Western and Central European cities. No city in New Zealand and Australia competes with the likes of NYC, Chicago or LA. UK only has London where everyone and their mom flocks to after university. Only the likes of India or cities in Asia will outpace US cities in terms of size and population.
@@TickleMeElmo55 The point im making is size is the least shocking when it comes to culture shock. Mexico city is huge, some Brazil cities are huge, Tokyo, Mumbai, Jakarta, theres heaps of huge cities in the world
They forgot to mention Canada's football is just like ours and there is no sales tax on food you buy at the grocery stores in a lot of states. Also most jobs are 40 hour's a week and you can get a month off for vacation but you have to be employed for years to build it up.
I usually order drinks without ice because of all the reasons mentioned but mostly because you get less beverage when you get more ice. And when you're in a restaurant, you may get free refills but often the server is nowhere to be found when you need that refill.
I order my drinks with no ice as well. Mostly due to the ice watering it down before I could finish the drink. If I get a tea that is warm, I just ask for light ice.
Same 👍
I've been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Turkey, Greece, and the Bahamas, BUT I've only visited a little over half of the states in the USA.💁♀ It's a lot of ground to cover, especially when it can take 13 hours to get out of my state, depending on where you start and which way you're headed. 🙂
When I told my English-born doctor that I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread for breakfast most days, he shook his head and sighed, "So American."
Is that really much different than jam clotted cream and a biscuit with tea
LOL.
true. but LOL
Most American kids were raised on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It's cheap, easy to make and tasty. I love peanut butter. I can eat it straight out of the jar.
@@Jasper118 yes.... it is.... LOL
@@ChanelStuff how? It’s bread and jam with a little extra something. I more meant if the doctor was saying “so American” like “of course you’re eating something so unhealthy”, clotted cream and and jam isn’t that much different nutrition wise.
I am from Michigan and I love your sons shirt 😄😄😄
I had a passport years ago. No I don’t want to visit anywhere else. I want to see my country more so much to try to see in one life time. Great seeing you guys
Hey there 😊
Actually our vacation days are way less.
Most Manuel labor jobs for the first 2-4 years only offer 5-7 days vacation a year.
The 10 to 12 days off is usually for corporate america. Managers, people in higher Finance and things like that.
But if you're a house cleaner, in construction, and the food service industry, if you're a landscaper, or in retail... basically any job that pretty much keeps the United States going ....and upper class still hasn't really realized that yet, LOL you don't get hardly anything.
That's why many people will combine their vacation week with a weekend or with their two days off.
So you might end up taking your 5 days Monday through Friday and you get paid for that vacation ....and then the person will add Saturday and Sunday which was their days off so you'll get a full 7 days. But you're only getting paid for the 5 days. Those two days your job will not pay you for because those are your days off. So a lot of Americans do that so that they can get a full week.
My ex-husband worked for Home Depot and it wasn't until the second or third year that he worked for them that he was able to actually get more than 5 days off. And then I believe he worked for another year or two and then finally got an additional 5 days off. So 10 days. Which is actually really good for Americans and for a manual labor job. But you can't just take off anytime you want..... and many employers demand that you plan your vacation months in advance so that your shifts can be covered which I understand.
But when you work for smaller companies like I have in the housekeeping and Landscaping industry, oftentimes your employer will push you to not take a vacation the first year you work. Or they'll try to pull things like
"well ...how about if you're not going out of town or out of the country or out of the state and if you stay around can we just have you on call if we need you." They literally try to talk you into being on call on your vacation if you're not literally leaving the area. So these are the troubles that Americans have which is why a lot of us are so stressed all the time.
Americans literally live to work. They don't work to live.
And it's not that we don't want to go on vacation. It's just that America has set themselves up as being severe Workaholics and if you don't act like you're also a severe workaholic then oftentimes you are considered lazy or you are not treated the same as others.
And I don't know how it is in New zealand, but I know that there are plenty of jobs out there on all levels, that you will definitely work more than an 8 hour day.
Many put in anywhere between 8 to 12 hours a day.....and more. I know I have with 2 separate jobs in the past.
And one particular job actually attempted to threaten me with firing after working 76 straight days in a row. They had promised me three days off. And on the Friday that I was supposed to have off they called me in that morning. And then when I told them that I had worked for them 75 straight days in a row without a single day off and that I had a family and I hardly saw my family anymore, they literally put my job on the line. And I was forced to go in and work just to keep my job.
And I worked with one girl who they pulled the same thing on her, but they didn't threaten to fire her, what they did was when she denied them and said no I'm going to take these days off because they were promised to me by you and your company, when she got back from her 3 days off, they had taken hours that she was promised that she could work off of her schedule. In retaliation for not basically obeying them.
And when she tried to complain about it to the state, no one ever returned her phone call. And nothing was ever done about it. And she ended up just quitting because she just couldn't take it anymore. And about 2 years later I ended up quitting because they just kept doing the same thing to me. ....Holding my job over my head or taking away my hours and making excuses that they just didn't have any work ....when actually we were at full blast full season and desperately needed help.
Those things are all very illegal. But when you go to actually report them nothing is done and no one is held responsible.
When I worked in retail and food service, vacations basically didnt exist. Some managers don't mind scheduling vacations but being short staffed normally its really hard to cover shifts, and for the workers its hard to leave your coworkers with extra work. Now that I have an IT job, I actually get vacation days, but its again hard to find time to use them when you are stuck in yearly work cycle.
It's really depressing. When I worked those jobs I had to feel guilty for taking an unpaid vacation because it meant my coworkers had to basically cover for me. And then when I had a job with vacation time I never had enough earned to take a decent vacation. Or I'd get sick and have to use vacation hours. It all kinda sucks
@@_E_Pluribus_Unum_ tell me more about unskilled labor
I love how all these kinds of videos (the one they're watching) seem to insist Americans are workaholics who just don't want to use their vacation time. Half of Americans earn less than $35,000 a year and the vast majority earn less than $50,000, and 'vacation' days are actually just PTO for most people. You get less than 2 weeks PTO to last an entire year, so any time you're sick, you have an appointment, a death in the family and so on, all of that comes out of PTO. When you're making $35,000 a year and you have our shoddy healthcare system, vacations are a luxury afforded to very few of us.
@@NymphaeAvernales that is definitely true. Especially if you have a family with a few kids, its hard to scrape together the money necessary to go anywhere much less outside the country. A family might find time and money to go to Disney World, or a trip to Grand Canyon or something for a once in a lifetime trip, but usually its a stay at home vacation, or camping nearby or something. It also depends a lot on where you live and what is nearby.
what a fun family, thanks for sharing your videos.. It is nice to get a peek into a family from across the world and seemingly getting to know them.. like a neighbor & friend only in another country.. :))
It's so crazy how the daughter looks so much like the mom and the son looks so much like the dad, I mean I guess it's not crazy for obvious reasons but it's cool to see the distinct features in both the children
I was looking at the same!
My husband and I both have 5 weeks vacation a year. We only take a vacation once or twice a year cuz it’s very expensive visiting museums, parks, landmarks etc but it’s worth every vacation, 15 more States to go and planning to finish it before we retire so we can visit more countries and NZ is on our bucket list.
I never really thought about it before, but many American's dont want to travel outside of the US. Like you said, someone who has lived in Butcrack Mississippi their whole life probably dreams of going to Sanibel Island Florida. I'm 52 and Ive never had a passport. I dont think my parents did either. Anyway, another fun video. Y'all come back now ya hear!
Americans are blessed with the ability to visit many many countries without the need for a passport.
Tipping: you do NOT tip everyone in the US. The only time you definitely should tip is if you eat in a restaurant, and are served by a waiter. In that case tip 15% to 20%, or more if you are generous, can spare the money and the service was great. If you get carry out at a restaurant you can tip if you want, it is nice but not necessary, and you could tip a couple bucks or 10% for large orders. Tipping in coffee shops where you get carry out should basically be rounding up the order and leaving the change type of thing, or just leave a dollar if you can spare it, IMO. The reason you tip waiters is because they can make as little as 2-3 dollars an hour in some states and rely on tips. This is changing though, places like California now require employers to pay $15.50 an hour to tipped employees.
A new trend in the United States of late has been "unlimited time off." At first, it sounded too good to be true to most of us, but on further reflection it allows employers to avoid paid time off accrual obligations. Normally, when an employee leaves a job on good terms, the employer is obligated to pay out unused time off, but when there's no actual pool of time off to pay out, it's easier and cheaper for the employer to begin with. For employers it arguably eliminates extra expense and administrative overhead.
Except for many companies also make employees terrified to use that "unlimited" time off.
@@UTBanjo That too! Nobody wants to take "too much" which is hard to define because even in an "unlimited" situation, there IS a practical limit and rather than risk going over it, people err on the side of not getting anywhere close.
In the U.S., our way of thinking is to not be like everyone else. It's part of our independent spirit, even more so here in Texas.
Amen
There's so much to see and do in the U.S. that most of us haven't seen most of the U.S.
I haven't seen all of the state I live in but I still went to Ireland because I wanted to. This is a weird argument
I love watching your videos. Your family is so loving and fun!