Is the UK Better Than the US? | Honest Thoughts as Americans Q&A

Join us as we answer your questions about life in the UK vs the US! We dive into topics like moving to the UK, the best UK cities, British sports culture, and even touch on the differences in biscuit traditions. From reverse culture shock to adopting British habits, we share our honest thoughts on what we miss most about the UK and why we can’t stop thinking about returning.

Help us out with suggestions for a future trip! Give us your recommendations for British castles or theme parks we should visit, where we should see a football match, or where we should buy a holiday home!

Watch our video about the British Habits we’ve adopted after 6 months in the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZuzh_NO1s&t

Some of the other videos mentioned/shown in this video:
First time grocery shopping at M&S: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q17lw2yh8ao
Isle of Skye & Monty Python Castle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFL2Mc84wpM
Coventry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b10eSB-9SgQ
Lincoln: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZj_wCtQpdE
First time shopping at Waitrose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeaN0FW51XA&t
Manchester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je9aDDQRPh8&t
Taking a London Music tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=943dagyIa-k&t

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46 Comments

  1. Love the video. Hastings 1066 boy here! Great to see the net huts which are less than 1/2 mile from me.
    If you want a real team sport try Rugby Union which is a bit like grid iron without the padding and less stoppages!

  2. Some of my favourite castles… Bamburgh Castle is a must, the epic setting is second to none! Its about 1/2 an hour north from Alnwick so you could go there on the way. Then another 1/2 an hour further north of Bamburgh is Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island. Lastly (, I could go on and on, truth be told!) another favourite is Culzean Castle in South Ayrshire in Scotland!

  3. Arundel castle is my favourite….beautifully preserved surrounded but a very old town in wonderful countryside. Try and visit in the summer….watching a Midsummer Nights Dream performed in the grounds with a picnic is just magical…and I live there.

  4. Im a real American native American Choctaw nation at13 I moved to the uk be with my dad the British are great they lived my American Choctaw history and culture as i took to them great people history culture

  5. If you like nerdy stuff you owe it to yourself to watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (extended editions 😆). You will almost certainly want to go to New Zealand after watching.

  6. Places that are a must – Warwick , Skipton, Conwy, – these 3 for castles . Then Chester and York for the Cathedrals. These are the places for ridiculous amounts of history and beauty.

  7. Love great. Vid loved your answers very informative and interesting.if I had six months travelling wow I would go every where I possibly can road trip in USA visit Japan visit Australia Paris Hawaii Egypt Switzerland China Ghana Brazil Mexico island hop in the West Indies. What a fantastic question. This is probably more than six months. However I would fit in by planting it down to a T . Love your content totally ❤️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍😍💯💯💯💯

  8. Have you ever ridden a heritage railway? There are dozens (possibly hundreds) of restored old railways all over that are now run as visitor attractions, usually using steam engines or early diesels. A day out on one is a quintessential British experience, and I think you'd both love the mix of nostalgia, engineering geekiness and the breathless enthusiasm of the volunteers who keep the trains running.

  9. i think MANCHESTER would be the perfect hub for you….within an hours drive you have the lake district…the peak district (derbyshire moors)…Snowdonia national park…Yorkshire dales….as for urban visits, you have liverpool (40mins)…chester, buxton, lancaster, blackpool, llandudno (wales)…just south of manchester, you have the cheshire plain….a very posh and rich area, with some of the prettiest villages, outside of the cotwolds….so all in all MANCHESTER should tick most of your boxes, ….and the best part…its a lot cheaper to live, than anywhere in the south

  10. If you get back over you shpuld go to norwich medieval castle and cathedral both over 1000 year old lots of v old museums in the city centre which is a 20 min walk from the train station has a very long history being one of the first major cities

  11. Helpful advice from a Local in the UK ( one thing in the video )Its Arundel Castle its pronouceded Aren-dull….. Places to Go , try Leeds Castle in Kent( leeds castle is not in Leeds a bit confusing I know) Or Chartwell ( Where Winston Church Hill lived his house and garden) also in Kent you can go inside his House from about April well worth a vist . If you can be part of the National Trust this allows you to vist places in the UK really cheaply that are run by the national trust of course.!
    We British are a friendly bunch, but please dont talk us about politics big no no. Please also dont try and correct our English when we are speaking to you might get rude answer. For example you might say" side walk "and we say"path" . Always be polite and we will be polite back, say thank you if sombody does something for you.! ( obvious I know) but people that dont, we tend not to help that person how might be rude to us more readily again.
    Pub food is the cheapest kind of food in the UK ( cheap in price not in quality) men and women from the age of 18 can drink alcohol. Check with the pub landlord if your kids can sit in the pub if they are younger. This is sometimes due to the language used by the locals. So its always polite to ask the landlord if the kids can come in. The best time to come to the UK I think is the Autumn or you call Fall is probably one of the best times to come from about the Middle of September to late November. Summers are very hot and locals (UK) are on holiday as well. In the UK in some places ( Cornwall ) in some villages you would be able to buy a holiday house . But other places fine . Cities and countys to vist .Yes London , Kent, Cornwall ,Cotswolds ( believe it or not Disney liked the Cotswods so much he bought a house and literally had it shipped stone by stone back to the US , Scotland the Highland of Scotland breathtaking ! . Anyway good Luck

  12. You should at least visit SOME of:
    ENGLAND – Cambridge (ancient college/university buildings, churches etc).
    York (worth several visits!)
    Whitby (The Abbey with its 199 Steps, its museum, the Dracula connections, the kippers smokery etc)
    Durham (the Cathedral, river)
    Ripon (its Cathedral and, just outside, Fountains Abbey & Studeley Royal which together are worth at LEAST half a day)
    Bath (Roman Baths, Georgian Crescents and Jane Austen connections)
    WALES:
    Hay on Wye (books capital of the world!),
    Snowdonia
    Conwy and Caernarfon Castles
    SCOTLAND:
    Outside Edinburgh & Glasgow go to…
    Stirling (great castle
    and the nearby Wallace Monument and Bridge of Allen),
    Pitlochry,
    Ullapool and the North West Coast (people often visit these as part of the NC500 trail around northern Scotland),
    Gairloch,
    Skye (need to say no more)
    Orkney – MAGNIFICENT archaeology all in easy reach).
    NORTHERN IRELAND :
    Giant's Causeway
    and various "Game of Thrones" locations

    BUT I WOULD DEFINITELY SAY – Join English Heritage (or National Trust) for a year. If you do it part-way through your visit it would cover part of your visit next year. If you go to an EH or NT property, you pay an entry fee which add up BUT if you join for a year you get a Credit for that entry fee when paying your membership fee. Then entry at all the other properties are included for the next year. You will save LOADS!

    For example, in Yorkshire: Rievaulx Abbey, Whitby Abbey, Helmsley Castle, Pickering Castle, Middleham Castle, Richmond Castle, Mount Grace Priory (all within easy reach of each other) are all EH properties, and Fountains Abbey (FANTASTIC!) with Studeley Royal (lovely walks in a sculpted country park with a big lake) are jointly run by EH and the NT so members of both organisations can go to both properties which adjoin each other.
    Much better than paying for each visit and we save lots of money each year. (Probably visiting Middleham Castle of King Richard III fame again at the end of this week).

    If coming for an extended period joining the NT or EH is my strongest advice.

    32:42

  13. You really didnt see all the important bits of UK at all. You need to do more general research on the different areas before you arrive. Nowhere would be cheapfor a holiday home unless you were preoared to get a 1 bed starter place.
    You cant spend your life chasing Bars from Ted Lasso etc rtc etc etc

  14. For amusements, I live on the Kent coast currently and grew up on the Essex coast, we have always done seaside holidays so I know my arcades! I would not suggest dreamland, this is close to where I live and not the best in my opinion. I would say clacton on sea is great, although meant to be one of the poorest places the pier and amusements are great. Blackpool also great; and Brighton is a great seaside town. I also would not recommend Southend. You should try some English beaches too, Botanay bay in Thanet is beautiful!

  15. As an American who married a Brit, I have lived in the Cotswolds for a decade. There are great things on both side of the pond. The downside is the weather…rain & wind. I miss warm sunny summer's and snowy winters. Daily English weather is very similar to our fall weather, in most of the states. Living in a period cottage is fantastic, the ocean and the darling villages are wonderful. If you're looking for convenience, this is not the place to be. All and all, it's a different world. You learn to live with the good, and the not so good. I'm sure Brit's would feel the same way with the swap to the states? Also, a trip is a whole lot different than living in the U.K., once you own property , have a bank account, car, a Vet etc.( Mrs. P)

  16. Always enjoy watching your videos. Love how you immerse yourselves into the UK and the detail of thigs you really like. Just after you mentioned M&S, I got an advert for M&S in You Tube! Your influence clearly extends to You Tube advertising algorithms!

  17. Special experience in a place you already know and love: visit the steampunk festival in Lincoln — four days at the end of August, possibly the largest steampunk event in the world (and there is tea-duelling, based on dunking biscuits).

    And you two in Japan would be wonderful, please go so you can tell us what you thought about it all!

  18. Consider watching some Womens' Rugby. Not being as strong there is less kicking because it isn't worth "giving away" possession for the smaller gain of territory, so a lot more running and passing goes on. That varies in Mens' Rugby too, depending on the Meta that it involves, but men having stronger legs can kick further so the meta frequently goes back to a game of tennis where one side kicks and that is returned with another kick, and everyone watches a game of football pretending to be Rugby….

  19. Id kove for you to elaborate on tjat £100+ supermarket spend thing. As a local I've never experienced that, and am now wondering if it's a thing specifically for travellers to our country. Whats the deal?

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