Month: January 2024

Every country has its high points and low points, and in the last couple of years, many Americans have had a lot of negative things to say about their home country.

But from the outside looking in, there are many features of living in the United States that residents view as ordinary, everyday things that people from other counties view as a literal luxury standard.

Curious, Redditor Prof_XdR asked:

"Europeans of Reddit, what do Americans have every day that you see as a luxury?"

Disability Access, Period.

"Disability access everywhere. I can go to any place (the theatre, store, office, school, whatever) with confidence that I'll be able to navigate fine in my wheelchair, because they'll have ramps or elevators." – 5AgainstRhodeIsland

"Of all the things in this thread, the disability access is it. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was an absolute game changer and European countries and the EU as a whole should be embarrassed for not having something like it." – jedrekk

Climate Variety

"You can pretty much choose to live in any climate you like when you live in the USA and still be in the same country. You like four seasons, move to the Northeast. You like humid ocean climate, move to Seattle. You like dry warm weather, move to Los Angeles. You like deserts, move to Arizona. You like warm and humid weather, move to the Southeast. As a German who loves warm weather, I am always jealous because of those options. If I wanted to try to move somewhere warm, I would have to move to a new country and learn Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Greek, or other southern European languages."  – DaucauPrince

Wide, Open Spaces

"Space. America is f**king enormous." – fullspectrumdev

"Once, on Tumblr, there was a post that went around talking about the differences between American horror stories and European horror stories, and how a lot of European horror stories have a fundamental element of something being very, very old. This led to a discussion about how America has no places like that (which is completely incorrect considering we have very old indigenous communities and structures spanning from Canada to the southernmost tip of South America, but still), and someone made the distinction between the two horror styles that you see a lot: Europe is scary because it's old, and the United States is scary because it's huge. Just truly vast expanses of land, a lot of it fairly empty. As someone who has taken Greyhounds from the great plains to the east coast many times, it really hits you when you're driving through the midwest and there's just nothing at all beyond farmland." – rayballesta

Large Refrigerators

"Big kitchens and big refrigerators/ freezers. Even in my student apartment, we had a pretty good-sized kitchen. I was dating a Czech girl and her parents came to visit. When they went to my apartment for dinner, the mom was just amazed at the size of my fridge. They were also amused when I dumped the scraps in the sink and turned on the garbage disposal. They'd heard about it but had never seen one – Granadafan

Garden Space

"Backyards. I'd plant so many vegetables." – Lanky-Truck6409

Free Refills

"Free refills." – meeehhhhhh

"While traveling with a friend, he was determined to get a refill at a restaurant while we were getting lunch. He also didn't speak Spanish and thought he could smile and get his way. He took his cup to the register, placed it in front of the employee, and smiled. The employee had a confused look but proceeded to take his cup and then toss it in the trash for him." – _skot

The 3:00 AM Walks

"There used to be 24-hour stores and restaurants. That went away with the pandemic." – MikeDunleavySuperFan

"Walmarts closing at 11:00 PM now is just bonkers to me. I miss my 3:00 AM trips." – glovato1

"Kids these days will never understand the joy of walking around aimlessly at Walmart at 2:00 AM." – Heatdish1292

"Walking aimlessly around superstores sounds like a very American type of luxury indeed." – escfantasy

Nature Park Culture

"I'm a Canadian who just returned from a trip visiting Grand Canyon, Zion, and Vegas. Our last few trips were in Europe. As mentioned elsewhere, drink refills and plentiful bathrooms (clean too!) were a nice change. The American National Parks System just blows all others out of the water, including Canada's. I'm especially embarrassed about BC's Provincial Parks. People love to complain that tourists are gross but the American Parks were just as busy but actually had maintained facilities and people who, you know, work to maintain the parks. I didn't see any toilet paper on any of the trails in the US; meanwhile, I have PTSD from Garibaldi trails last summer." – Binknbink

"The American Southwest is absolutely ridiculous as far as natural beauty is concerned. Bryce, Arches, Zion, and Grand Canyon NPs are all super close together and are individually worth making a trip for." – ColonelAverage

Air Conditioner Use

"Air conditioning. Americans pump it all summer long." – websurfer49

"Our AC went out for a day in Phoenix in the middle of July when it was 120 out. The house was 90 by 11:00 AM. F**k that, haha. Arizona actually has laws for tenants that require AC depending on the temperature since it can get so hot." – ThatSpecialAgent

A Positive Relationship

"Remember, the world's longest undefended border is between Canada and the United States. That says something about our relationship." – Dervishler

"Every summer, I like to go to Voyageurs National Park which shares border lakes with Canada. If someone is with us for the first time, I always ask them while we heading up the lake if they would like to go to Canada. They always say sure. So I turn the boat to the right and say welcome to Canada. It's Dad-level humor, but I enjoy it." – Goldie1976

Helpful Home Features

"Spacious hallways and corridors and homes in general, dedicated laundry rooms (not a washing machine in the kitchen), apartment complex pools, and the regular washing of the windows of high-rise buildings (it's infrequent in Europe)." – petrastales

"We also have these crazy-a** things on our windows so we can open them without letting all the bugs in." – DontForgetYourPPE

Features in American Schools

"Huge schools with labs and gyms and theaters." – PckMan

"As a rural Canadian, I grew up watching American TV and was always seething with jealousy about American schools on TV. There were 300 kids in my high school, and I was related to a bunch of them, so I was especially jealous that Americans could sign up for the school play and meet a teenage heartthrob. We didn't have a school play… or a theatre. Or band. Or football. No swimming pool. No art classes." – Crow_away_cawcaw

No Purchase Necessary

"Free use of bathrooms." – New_Midnight6134

"As an America who lived in Europe with little kids, this was frustrating. My wife found an app of free public restrooms in Europe." – QuotidianPain

The Price of Gas (Yes, Really)

"American here visiting Germany right now. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say fuel cost. The station down the road here sells petrol for 1.75 Euro/Liter, that's about $7.20/gallon if my math is correct. For comparison, I'm from Phoenix, Arizona, and just paid $2.85 per gallon last week, which is about 0.75 Euro/Liter. Gas is even cheaper than that in the Midwest US." – xsvspd81

"I'm Canadian so we have a lot in common with the US in terms of nature and appliances and AC and many other things on this list, but one thing I'm always jealous of the US for is gas! It's so much more expensive here (which is ridiculous because Canada produces a ton of oil but that's another conversation)." – aweirdoatbest

Gratitude All the Way

"American here who has always envied European culture (slower pace, less capitalistic, more relationship-oriented than career), and this thread made me feel grateful. I love my kitchen, my washer and dryer, my college/sorority experience, my AC, my access to National Parks, and my two-day Amazon delivery. I still hate my healthcare, though, lol (laughing out loud)." – Aggressive-Flan-7226

As much as there is to complain about the United States, like the cost of healthcare and often lack of maternity leave, there's also a lot to be grateful for that's difficult to experience anywhere else.

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