Moving to America- help me write my UK bucket list :D

[curiouscat18]

I'll be emigrating to the US from the UK in 2024- what (fun things!) would you recommend I do before leaving the UK? I'm thinking typically British things that I won't be able to find/do in America, such as go to a panto or maybe visit Buckingham Palace? I'd love to hear your ideas 😀 What would you miss most about living in the UK?

Go for an afternoon cream tea.
Go to watch a cricket match

Oh you must read Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island and take notes from that! He did a similar thing, though I'm sure some of the ideas are outdated it's really funny.

(Or make your list, and read the book after you've done it!)

Visit the seaside with a stereotypical pier, overeat mini doughnuts and waste 20 pennies in the inevitable pier arcade machines. Chase a seagull for stealing for your lunch chips. Do all of this in the rain. Very British.

Visit Oxford and Cambridge.

Go out for roast dinners with friends.

Visit Wales or Scotland if you haven't already! When I moved abroad, foreign friends were amazed I was from UK but had never visited Scotland.

Go to see Stonehenge and other landmark places.

Some great suggestions here. I'd add a country pub with a roaring fire in the depths of winter and an English village church at Christmas.

I think you should also make a list of things you won't miss, for those times when you're looking at the UK through rose-tinted spectacles (if that happens)!

@curiouscat18 visit places which are totally different than places in America like The Roman Bath, Stonehenge etc. Good luck on your move, America is really vast and good to live in, many amazing places to visit there. I loved it when I was living there.

I would miss the Yorkshire dales. Not a chance would I live over there but I have a friend who does and she was happy enough there for a few years so enjoy every minute you can. They add on stuff at supermarket at end of shopping or used to. She used to say it took some getting used to, so enjoy buying things at the price shown before it adds things on at end of your shopping at the till lol.

Spend a weekend in either the Cotswolds or the Lake District visiting country pubs and just taking in the nature.

Go to the highlands

Stay in a castle for a weekend

Weekend in London (open top red bus tour, afternoon tea at fortnums, shard, V&A, skating at Somerset house etc)

Coltswolds or West County for a weekend - with pubs

Go to Bath, have a Jane Austin Bridgerton-y weekend away

Go to a lot of good gastro pubs and pubs

Sales tax (VAT) is not included in the displayed prices in the US like it is in the
UK. It’s added on at the end. Different States have different amounts of sales tax so the same product can be cheaper in one State than it is in another. A few States have no sales tax whatsoever. If OP has ever visited the US she will be familiar with this.

@curiouscat18 will you visit these places and update the thread with photos?!

The thing that America lacks most is historic sites and buildings. So think about where Americans visit when they come here!
I'd do some Roman sites like Bath and Hadrians wall. Be a tourist in London. Visit the Albert Docks in Liverpool, see all the British history that is there, maybe do the Beatles tour too. Do a few National Trust sites (with an afternoon tea thrown in)

Blackpool lights, afternoon tea, visit a castle, fish and chips at the seaside, Lands End, Stone henge, changing of the guard. Good luck xx

Learn to bake bread. American bread is mostly disgusting and full of sugar.

You don’t say whereabouts you are heading to. If inland, I’d spend time on the coast in the UK. I’d spend time in beautiful old buildings taking in the silence and the beauty of centuries old architecture

Forget the Uk. You’ll be a long way from the rest of Europe too.

Thank you everyone, I'm loving these ideas! 🙂 I'll be moving to the mid-west area, so not at all near the coast- so a trip to the seaside before I leave is a really good idea. I'd also like to visit Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. I've been thinking about buying a bread machine when I get there because baking bread seems like a nice way to feel more at home in a new place ❤️

What I miss, roast dinners, chips and steak and kidney pudding from the chippy, cups of good tea (you can buy the tea bags here but it’s still not quite the same.

I’d go to Wimbledon before I left! Enjoy the temperate climate, but not the rain!

Also visit plenty of historic stuff as not much old stuff here!

Whereabouts in the Midwest @curiouscat18?

Go out with your friends and get roaring drunk - I might be wrong but I think attitudes to drinking are a bit more strict in the US.

Mmm

I lived in Australia for two years. During this time I didn't particularly miss historical things until I visited Tasmania where there is a (relatively old for Australia) prison which made me realise I missed home (Scotland's) historical architecture. (This was towards the end of my two years thankfully!)
I'd recommend getting your history fix in Edinburgh if you haven't already been!

What's your favourite cake or teatime treat?
I'd miss crumpets and proper fruitcake. And chocolate.

Go to Cadbury World?

You'll miss using an electric kettle.

Go to London for a weekend, just because.

Visit all your favourite shops.

Visit an ancient site.

Cathedrals
castles
Stonehenge
cosy pubs

Europe - Amsterdam, Paris, Rome etc

Take the train. Go to lots of pubs. Drink wine in the park on a beautiful day with all the other excited and happy people. Go to a football match. Drink builders tea in a caf. Enjoy the free museums. Cotswolds (including a cream tea, Lake District, weekends away to random nice towns and villages. Stay in small B&Bs where they serve a full English. Fish and chips by the sea.

Scotland; not just Edinburgh, go for at least 10 days and see a few other places. It's beautiful and I've only seen bits of it!

How much of Europe have you visited? France? I'd make the most of being able to get to Europe relatively easily.

I haven't visited enough of the UK to give lots of recommendations but I'd say prioritise things you're interested in whether that's city breaks and/or coast and/or mountains.

Have you thought of borrowing a UK guide book from the library and reading through it to see what you fancy? That's often how I decide where to go and what to do!

Oh and YY to London. Soooo much to do there.