USA vs UK- 5 Life Conveniences You Won’t Have!
Can you name five life conveniences that don’t exist when you compare life in the USA vs UK? There are a few every day hardships that Americans in London experience while living abroad that you would never guess occur!
These aren’t fun things like certain American foods (Skittles, Mexican cuisine, peanut butter) or cool shops like Sephora. We are going to classify those items as amenities for this blog post.
I am writing about regular every day items. These are things you wouldn’t notice as missing while in London on holiday. If you’re making an international move through a company, you probably won’t learn about them in your ‘expat moving to another country research’ either.
It isn’t until your feet hit the UK ground and you start living that you’ll suffer through the losses. And I mean, SUFFER!
#1 USA vs UK- Forget a Filter
It’s always tricky trying to determine if a British person is really making fun of you or just ‘taking the piss out of you.’ You have to filter through a lot of sarcasm in social and professional conversations. One thing you don’t have a filter for, however, is your window in the UK.
American friends, get ready to live without window screens. In several years, I have yet to see one in a London window.
That’s right. For whatever reason, you won’t find window screens in London. As a Florida girl who grew up in a state full of love bugs, leaping lizards, pooping Pelicans and ‘no see ’ems’, windows without screens are terrifying.
#2 USA vs UK- No Bathroom Blowouts
Spend time each morning blow drying and straightening your hair in the bathroom, ladies? Say goodbye to that too. If there is a plug in your bathroom, it’s most likely for an electrical shaver and is shaped differently than other plugs.
It’s rare to have access to any small electrical appliances in the bathroom to do your hair. I’d love to know the reason for this, so I hope my British friends share their thoughts in the comments section. In our new flat, I literally had to buy a Plastic Frame Over Door Mirror
#3 USA vs UK- Pay Per Minute
While it’s understood in the USA that long distance calls might cost money, depending on your phone plan, local numbers are always free.
In London I am always confused as to what numbers I can call and not be charged an additional fee per minute. Quite a few numbers, even though they are in London, can be pay per minute if they are companies or businesses. Don’t assume that when you call a company like Delta Airlines that the number is ‘toll-free.’
Make sure if you move to London, you check if the number you are calling is an additional charge or not prior to spending a long time on hold or in a conversation.
#4 USA vs UK- Let it Gooooo! Let it Goooo!
Be prepared to have a refrigerator and freezer which are half the size of what you have in the USA. For London readers, this was my kitchen in the three bedroom townhouse I owned in New York before I sold it and moved to London. Notice the huge shiny refrigerator…
Further, I had an additional refrigerator and freezer in my garage, even though I lived by myself.
Americans, if you can picture a medium sized office refrigerator, that is pretty much what you’ll have in London. Also, in smaller flats, you might even have these two appliances separated and in different areas of the kitchen, which brings me to our biggest difference…
#5 USA vs UK- Wash and Wear
Not only will your clothes washer likely be in the kitchen, but it’s really possible you won’t have a drier.
Yes, that is correct. I lived in a fourth floor flat (with no lift) that we were told would have a drier. It didn’t. We also didn’t have a balcony.
Do you know what it’s like waiting days to have dry clothes because they’re air-drying all over your flat? Mr. Sunny was advised he could not have friends in the flat until he entered and did a ‘knicker sweep.’ This means he had to make sure none of my knickers (‘underwear’ for Americans) were hanging up to dry in a visible area before he let in his mates.
Have you ever worn a pair of jeans that air dried? An American expat friend also living in London asked me once, ‘So are you sick of wearing crunchy jeans yet?’
Eeek! That says it all!
Mr. Sunny and I now have the ‘fortune’ of having a flat that has a drier. It isn’t even close to what you use in the USA. At best, it dries my clothes, sheets and towels about 80% after 90 minutes. I still have to hang sheets on furniture for some time before making a bed. Good times.
In America, having a separate washer and drier that are huge is fairly standard.
READ THIS SLOWLY and CAREFULLY if you are preparing to move to London:
– When you are looking at flats online, take a careful look at the kitchen. If a refrigerator isn’t pictured, it could be either around the corner of the kitchen (yes, I’ve seen that happen) or behind a cabinet door.
Also, don’t confuse a washer with a dishwasher in online ads for flats. In a picture, since you are not accustom to thinking about a clothes washer in a kitchen, you might not realise that’s what you’re seeing in the picture and may assume it’s a dishwasher.
Be sure to inquire about a drier if that’s important to you. You’ll likely get a combination appliance, which means you can’t do a load of laundry as you have a load in a drier.
I share current information about my washer/dryer experience and cons of living in London after eight years in the video below.
USA vs UK- Final Thoughts
While I love living in London, not having these basic life conveniences makes some days very tough. I’ve written about other things Americans will miss in London (like differences in Christmas celebrations) but would love to read what you can add, if you’re an American expat here too. Finally, here is a review of my international shipping company.
Also, if you’re British and can add a reverse comparison, that would be appreciated by us all too!
If you’re planning a visit to London, the Sunny News YouTube channel has regular updates of advice for things to do and what you’ll need to know about London.
The reason for not having plug sockets in the bathroom is saftey. Water and electricity never go too well together. If you want to drop a toaster in the bath you’re going to need some forward planning lol.
It’s also why you’ll often the light switch outside or a pull cord switch inside so you’re not touching eletrical switches with wet hands.
David’s right, that’s why we’re forced to dry our hair in our bedrooms, stray hairs flying all over the place, but what I don’t understand is why Britain hasn’t latched onto the idea of a GFCI outlet yet. They come standard in new-ish homes in the US, but we had them installed in the kitchen and bathrooms of our last home because it was circa 1970’s. GFCI outlets automatically shut off the electrical current if you happen to jump in the tub with your toaster oven. 🙂
We have auto cut-off in uk too but we run off 240 volts in the UK compared to 110 in USA. It’s enough of a difference to require more preventative safety measures in addition.
In Brazil we do not have driers as all flats have a “service” area near the kitchen with hanging cloth liners, so, although I have a combined wash/drier, I only use it if I need something in a hurry.
But I can feel your pain regarding the fridge! When I first arrived here, my flat had just one of those small office ones and no freezer!
About the window screen, you can put if you want! I found this website that make fitted ones for pet owners: http://www.flat-cats.co.uk/
And David explained the socket matter! English people are obsessed with safety and very afraid of fire hazards! Most doors are hollow so it is easier for firemen (and burglars) to break in!
For me, coming from Rio, you would think I’d miss the beach, but one thing that I can never get used to is going out to drink and don’t eat! In Brazil we always have tapas while drinking!
But I do love London and prefer to let go of some comforts than to go back living in Brazil!
Cheers! We should meet sometime! Love to you and Mr Sunny!
Hi Tina
Totally agree with the UK being obsessed over safety, its a mixture of UK and EU regualtions that set it. Though sometimes it can seem inconvenient at the end of the day it can save lives.
However on your point about doors I have to disagree. Doors are hollow slimply because they are cheap. For the entrance to a house you’ll most likley find Oak or PVC doors. Internally they will most likely be hollow for cost but if you’re a landlord renting a proerty to more than 4 people its regulation to fit self closing Oak fire doors to all rooms.
Sorry to come across as a “mr know it all” but just letting you know there is method to the madness.
Isn’t also something to do with UK electricity being 240 volts against the USA’s 110v?
(240v is now stepped down to 220v to align with rest of EU)
Re US sized fridges, yes you can get them here. our friends had a monster double-doored one installed, but they had to get their kitchen extended first.
UK homes tend to be very much smaller than US homes
I am a New Yorker living in England and we have dryers and big fridges. We dont have screens as we do not have creepy horrible bugs here. We sit at a dressing table with a big mirror and do our hair and make up. I think you probably stayed in a cheap flat.
We have a home in the UK and a home in Las Vegas, we spend half the year in each.
I love spending time in Las Vegas, the reasons being –
Everything is cheaper, big wide open spaces, huge car parking spaces, huge cars, better selection in the stores, weather is warmer, cheaper housing, cheaper cost of living, better selection of restaurants, lots more things open 24 hours, outdoor living, friendly people, good service, etc
My bug bears about it are –
Why take the English language, that’s centuries old, and change the names and pronounciation of nearly all common words, such as –
Cookie sheet instead of a baking tray
Trash instead of rubbish
Holidays instead of Christmas
Band aid instead of plasters
Gasoline instead of petrol
Restrooms instead of toilets
Silverwear instead of cutlery
Diapers instead of nappies
French fries instead of chips
And so on
Also, a few questions –
Why all the ice in drinks?
Why can’t you get a normal cup of tea, served with milk, not a lemon slice?
Why is it called soccer and not football like the rest of the world!!
Why call it the world series when only Americans play baseball?
Why don’t you have a kettle in the kitchen as standard?
Why call it a yard and not a garden?
Why does your bread taste sweet?
Why have guns?
Why no roundabouts to keep the traffic flowing instead of endless traffic lights at every junction?
And finally –
We don’t have an accent, this is how the English language is supposed to sound!!!
I’m not Sunny, but how about
Why don’t you have a kettle in the kitchen as standard?
– I assume you mean electric kettle. Probably because American don’t need frequent boiling water as they don’t drink tea as a matter of course, they’ll have a coffee machine instead. I wonder if the lower voltage also is a factor, my travel kettle takes for ever to boil in the USA
Why does your bread taste sweet?
– because they add sugar, same as they add sugar to butter.
Why no roundabouts to keep the traffic flowing instead of endless traffic lights
-I’ve noticed roundabouts are coming more common; after a trip to Vegas last month we stayed in SedonaAZ and theres three roundabouts on the main road through the southern Oak Village part. Traffic lights have a big bonus for pedestrians trying to cross the wide roads!
Thank you, Peter! I haven’t had a chance to reply to this one yet 🙂
Are there ANY doors in the UK with knobs or do they all have handles?