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?

When I live in America I missed the simple things. Good for a walk without getting weird looks off people was one particular thing. Walking in the green countryside.
But the biggest things I missed were food related - decent chocolate, salad veg and fruit that didn't have a coating on it for preservation, walkers crisps. Those kind of things. Obviously the USA has these foods but it just isn't the same.

The Road to Little Dribbling is equally funny.

My list would be

Food:
Fish and chips
Scottish seafood
Indian and Chinese (so different in the UK)
Knickerbockerglory or a 99’
Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding

Visit:
One of the Scottish lochs - Lomond, Fynne or Ness for me with lots of walks, fresh air, spa hotel for the weekend.

Durham, York or Chester.

Cotswolds or Surrey this winter and stay in a cosy pub with rooms.

London including a west end show.

Devon or Cornwall for a seaside fix.

She won't miss using an electric kettle. They are readily available to buy in the US!

My sister moved to mid-west USA. What she missed most of all was the ocean, so be sure to spend as much time as possible in beach walks by the sea.

Appreciate the supermarkets, you will miss them.

Food over here is x3 $$$ and not as nice.

Also eat lots of lovely bread, most bread out here has sugar in it.

You can still use an electric kettle just be prepared to unload the dishwasher to give you something to do while it's boiling

Visit little old town centres with lots of shops

Oh goodness yes Indian restaurants. I miss them so much!

I miss Sunday roasts in old pubs, old anything really so use your NT or EH membership. Also English breakfasts.
Anything from Gregg's particularly sausage rolls.
I also miss sandwiches without cheese, or just plain cheese. Mashing cheese into everything else isn't nice.
I also miss tuna without celery, celery is horrible and appears all over the place in the USA. It was so nice to visit Canada and have a plain tuna sandwich.
Crisp flavors, make the most of prawn cocktail crisps.
Also mainstream edible chocolate, Hershey's tastes like sick.
Decent tea is also very hard to find.
I've been in the Midwest for seven years and honestly really enjoy it but no where is perfect.

On the plus side my mid western city has plenty of decent Indian restaurants.
There are kettles, although they are very slow.
Trader Joe's sells crumpets.
World market has a range of foods but very expensive compared to UK.

The thing that America lacks most is historic sites and buildings. So think about where Americans visit when they come here!

I'm sorry but how silly can you be.

There are loads of historic sites in the US (especially if you don't view "historic sites" through a western lens) and lots of interesting - and yes, quite old, buildings if you do only view history through a western lens. My friends live in an early 17th century farmhouse in New England that was on the underground railroad and still has the hiding places for those seeking freedom as well as other historical markers.

Americans visit sites in the UK because they are in the UK and are interesting for that reason. Not because they lack their own history.

OP, you've had lovely ideas here - I love visiting the UK. I'd have a really good fish and chips and really good pub roast dinner before I go if I were you - plus victoria sponge and a dose of Marks and Spencers food (although this isn't as good as it was I think) - that's what my kids love when we visit the UK from the USA (I am not from the UK).

@daylightplease round here (east coast) Costco sells actual chocolate and you can get tetleys and Lindt in giant eagle supermarket, but I would trade you for the Indian restaurants.

It's not that there are none but hardly any and they are mostly pretty meh.

The thing that America lacks most is historic sites and buildings.

Loads of Native American places that are amazing.

Ancestral Puebloans - Wikipedia

I'm going to be honest there aren't that many amazing historical sites where I am.
It is a definite lack.
But on the plus side it isn't a long flight to Mexico where there are a huge amount.

I think 'silly' is a bit harsh!
I'm a history buff. So these are the places that have the most appeal to me.
I was listing the places that my American friends want to visit when they come over. For one, they are really interested in Roman sites as they don't have any. They are interested in things about the slave trade, so Liverpool is a good place to go. Stratford for Shakespeare etc. We have so many castles and old stately homes, we can walk round Tudor homes that look exactly like they did when Henry VIII was on the throne, of course America doesn't compare in that regard! It's not to say they don't have any historical places of interest at all. I love visiting America and seek out those places.

I'm not saying America doesn't have historical places, just that they are lacking when compared to the UK. Most of us are only a short drive away from a medieval castle, an original Tudor home or Roman site. We are a small island with a lot of very old, historical sites, from lots of different eras. That's all.
The UK lacks a lot of things that America has. Its not a competition.

I suppose saying it lacks historic sites is a bit of a sweeping generalization.

It definitely lacks castles.

Ok, 'It lacks historical sites when compared to the UK'

interesting/exciting/unique place in UK ? -looking for a weekend away www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4940614-most-interestingexcitingunique-place-in-uk-looking-for-a-weekend-away Most interesting/exciting places in uK thread]]

A few things that haven’t made it to the US:
Elderflower cordial
Victoria sponge
Pimms

wearing wellies on a country or coastal walk in bad weather. Americans have a different and I'd say more formal relationship with the outside. There's much more intention involved in going for a 'hike'; you gear up with hiking boots and specialist equipment and go to a special place like a state or national park, or city park and Hike.
For us a walk is pulling on the wellies if it's wet and just heading out on that marvellous haphazard network of footpaths we have. You won't find such easy access to the countryside in America - too much private ownership and too little in the way of rights of way.
And if you throw in a pub with your walk then that's a bonus!
We really missed the whole public rights of way thing when we lived in america.

Yes, the footpath network was the main thing I missed when I left the UK.

Kew gardens Christmas lights.
GlobeTheatre
Cricket game at Lords
Football game at Wembley
West End Play
Bus tour of London
Boat tour of the Thames

Castles - ruined or still in use
Old stuff generally
Lake District

Chocolate
Cheese
Bread
Beer - if that's your tipple of choice

On the plus side I am hoping you will get access to amazing apple pie, fabulous Mexican / South American restaurants and great American wine

Good luck