People from other countries - they’re just better than us, aren’t they?

[PebbleDashedDoor]

I’m on holiday in the Balkans and like everytime I go overseas, it’s difficult not to conclude people from other countries are just better than us.

Immaculately kept, litter free, great service in bars and restaurants by experienced staff, polite well behaved kids eating out in restaurants, not a screen in sight. Everyone generally better looking, better dressed.

Or do I have rose tinted holiday goggles on?

I think if you are friendly to people you usually get something back. I imagine she is showing her feelings in her face.

Well, I spent the first 21 years of my life in France and I am French so I find it amusing that you would call my opinion ''uniformed' (which I assume means 'uninformed'...).

Come on over to America. It's a shit show here. I feel what you describe every time I come to the UK. It's the vacation goggles, I think.

Yes I stand corrected on the uninformed spelling. I have done things the other way round to you and have lived very happily in Paris for 40 years. So how long did you live in the French capital ? You must know that many people move to paris or lle de France for work? At what point do they become so arrogant and entitled ? Or is it just their kids?

I am a Slavic woman living in the UK but travel frequently all over Europe. I agree with this post entirely.

The “Brits abroad” type have ruined the reputation of British people in Europe unfortunately, and are generally stereotyped as classless.

Also agree that Europeans are better looking, have a more natural softer appearance and are slimmer. Food in European countries are not always low calorie (Italy for example), however the people there demonstrate more discipline with food. They eat much smaller portions and do not snack.

You see it in Youtube comments, they love those from the "old school" of acting, like Patricia Routledge, and they write comments such as "I could listen to Joanna Lumley speak all day!"

Have you been anywhere beyond the usual tourist stretches? Into housing estates for example? I ask because I feel as though as a tourist, you tend to stick to the main strips which are (for obvious reasons) maintained better, more secure, seem more “perfect” on the surface which can create an idealised image of the place. When you go beyond this, you often find desperate poverty and all that brings.

I can give a few examples. One is closer to home in Oxford actually. I lived there for a while, everyone thinks of it as being this amazing Harry Potter utopia for some reason. When you live in a place, the rose tints come off. I went running one day and ended up in the Rose Hill estate by accident… It’s probably about a 3k walk from the centre so tourists wouldn’t end up there intentionally, but it’s there nevertheless.

Naples is another example. It’s been regenerated a lot over the past few years, granted but Scampia is still struggling. Again an estate on the periphery so tourists don’t see it.

Such a sweeping statement. All of Europe are better looking and slimmer than British people? Wow. I’m pretty sure attractive and unattractive people exist in every country.

That's not entirely accurate image of 44 something countries considering some have 90+ home ownership rates.... Not everywhere is Germany and Switzerland.

Yes I often have to counter this myth, the UK has lower home ownership rates than many EU countries and has done for many decades, its not a new thing

I also think that British people are, unfortunately, not as good looking, on average, compared to most other countries

I said I agree with this comment from the PP. “On average”. But continue with your performative outrage.

Everyone? I don’t know where in England you live, but that’s not my experience. I live in Liverpool, a city famous for its friendliness. You can barely leave the house without somebody striking up a conversation with you and having a giggle. I definitely think northerners are generally warmer than southern Englanders, though there are obviously exceptions.

I definitely think northerners are generally warmer than southern Englanders, though there are obviously exceptions.

100% agree - Northerner here 😀but I am married to a Southerner from London and even he agrees his old homestead his changed so much when we visit. Where have all the Cockneys gone?

OP, it is holiday goggles. You need to scratch more than the surface and spend enough time in a country to see the issues. You might even see some fat, ugly or scruffy people away from the tourist areas.

I spent last Monday working with a Slovenian guy who who works for the supplier of a piece of capital equipment we are buying. He spent a lot of time worrying about going back there (he is re-patriating next month), worried about safety of his kids, drugs, employment opportunities for his family. He is from an ex mining town - It all sounded similar to somewhere like Doncaster.

Does he have to go back?

Actually there are things he misses from home which he cannot really do here and he is looking forward to going back for the sake of those things. So it is a choice based on priorities - just like people choose to stay in or leave the UK I guess.

I think his company would have allowed him to extend his deployment.

Are you sure it was Slovenia? Because overall that country ranks really high up on safety and life quality and education.

@AImportantMermaid · Yesterday 15:20

I think this when I go to Italy. I always say to my partner, ‘The Italians have really got their shit together’. The culture, the food, the wine, the clothes, the language…it all feels so relaxed yet exuberant.

Being on holiday in another country is always better than being at home (for that 1-2 weeks you're there) for pretty much everyone. No housework or drudgery or dragging the kids to school and hobby groups, no cooking, no washing and ironing, no chores, being waited on hand and foot by hotel staff, the locals all being lovely to you because you're a tourist, and all being smiley and nice, because you're often their bread and butter.

Just try moving there and living there, working there and trying to fit in, in their workplace with their rules and laws and their ways that will be different to the British. Trying to mix and fit in with the locals and be accepted by them, having to learn the language, getting to know all the laws, trying to rent a property (or buy one,) and just the day to day drudgery of living in a foreign place where you know no-one. Italians haven't 'got their shit together' any more than the British, they are putting on a show for the tourists.

And the UK has a LOT of beautiful scenery and beautiful buildings...

That nails it really. When on holiday, people naturally go to the nicer places in another country, not the grot spots, so we do get an unrealistic view of the country. Likewise if someone goes abroad on business, they'll probably be going to the "business" district of a city, where most people will be office workers, etc., and not the run down "downtown" areas.

I remember when we holidayed in California and spent our first few days in San Francisco on the waterfront in a hotel near the tourist attraction piers (39??), went to Alcatraz, boat tour of the bay, cable car ride to the main central shopping area, chinatown, etc. Thought it was a lovely city, everyone friendly, clean streets etc. Then I wanted some specific Levi jeans and found they had a big store in "downtown" San Francisco, so we headed there, and oh my! what a grot spot. As we parked up, there were literally primary school aged boys walking openly on the sidewalks with huge mallets/hammers and we saw one with a machete, another with an axe. Naively at first we thought it was some kind of fancy dress parade, but it quickly dawned on us when we also started noticing some very dodgy looking blokes on street corners etc. As we drove away, we actually heard what we thought was a car back firing, and then wondered why a couple of people were crouching down behind a car as we passed them - turned out we'd driven through a bit of a gun fight!

Foreigners coming to the UK and only doing a "highlight" tour, say by coach, really won't see the worst of the UK as they'll just see the sanitised version - not much gang crime nor litter in Keswick or other tourist hotspots, and it's exactly the same with Brits are abroad.

Yes I'm sure, I have known him for a good eight years. As a PP pointed out none of our nations are homogeneously either good or bad so I have no problem reconciling both viewpoints. Also that of OP who was sitting in a nice Balkan state forming her own impression.

It's possible that people from particular places are not the most objective of sources. Sure, all places have problems, but Slovenia has fewer than most, and none of the former industrial towns there have a fraction of the problems or poverty of former industrial towns in the UK or many other countries. It doesn't stop people moaning.
Also, Slovenia is not actually Balkan. I love the way all the people replying here think they know what the poster meant by the controversial orientalist term "Balkans"- most assumed Croatia and started talking about wars in the 90s, with comments like "at least we don't kill our neighbours." Perhaps the poster meant Macedonia, Albania, Greece or Bulgaria, none of which were involved in the Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia war. And are actually close to the Balkan mountains, unlike Croatia.

No former mining town in Slovenia is anywhere near the size of Doncaster (and there are worse places than Doncaster in the UK, I'd say). I can think this man might come from Trbovlje, Jesenice, maybe one of the Carinthian towns?- they are all pretty tiny, maybe rather dull for the most part, and easy to get away from. Jesenice for example is a gateway to the hiking and skiing country, and very close to Ljubljana, with its industrial heritage being reshaped for tourism (also the case in Carinthia). You have to see and experience Slovenia to get a measure of what I mean. Everything is small scale.

Your just being silly now

There is one every few weeks. It’s totally depressing. I’ve been travelling around England this week thinking to myself what a beautiful country we live in !!

I'm French and whilst I agree about kids better behaved when eating out (as used to share family meals sat at a table) I would disagree about clean streets. I am shocked when I go back home at the amount of dog poo and litter in the streets, at least in big cities. It is different in small towns and villages but I expect it's the same in the UK.