The Subtle (and not-so) differences between Australia & America

From a first time traveller...

So as we prepare to fly out to Spain, I figured I’d write this blog based on the things we have noticed that are different between the two countries. No bias opinions, no stereotyping (well limited) and no bullshit. Some that may help you on your travels, some that are well known already, and some that are purely for amusement. After all as it stands there are a lot of similarities. We are both lucky democratic countries, predominately English speaking, however extremely multicultural...and we are both fat.
So starting with the basics.
Taxes are not included in prices & vary from State to State. I.e. something worth 99c may cost you $1.08 in one state, and $1.12 in another. And this price isn’t written anywhere. It gets added at the register. So Beware purchasing down to your last penny.
Speaking of Pennies, obviously the money is different. Duh. But the thing that surprised me is it is not logical in size. Dimes are worth 10c yet are smaller than the nickel (5c value) and although I must say at first I thought it’d e annoying counting 1c coins, I found it refreshing to not just lose money for no real reason. Screw the roundup.
Driving - Now there are the obvious points. Other sides of the road, other side of the car, but other than this all the road rules are extremely similar. The lines are all the same, and the only thing that really confused me is that when you turn right at traffic light, you can turn on the red. Now this is the short corner, so think turning left at home, you just duck round the corner. Here you can do that even on the red provided it is safe. Legal, unless there is a sign saying that you cannot turn on the red. So if the red light isn’t enough there’s a sign telling you that red actually means stop here. Handy huh?
Tipping – This again is well known, but just in case. You must tip for all kinds of service. Cabs, Waitresses, porters, some tour guides, bartenders etc. fast food you’re good without but the average is 10-15%. If you do plan to sit down, this along with the taxes can quite easily turn your $10 bill to $15; keep it in mind is all.
TV. TV needs a category all of its own, or probably one specifically – Advertising
I’ll start with ads for law firms. Constant ads from law firms specializing in everything from getting the IRS off your back to Mesothelioma. And then there are ads for drugs. Prescription drugs that is. We have some at home & late at night I guess, but they just seem incredibly common here. I didn’t know I needed to know so much about so many different diseases & which drugs are available for them. As entertaining as that is are the disclaimers. No fine print here! For every add about a medicine, you have a 3 minute dialogue at the end of it telling you every reason possible that you should not by their product. May cause….heart disease, cancer, swollen legs, itchy eyes, don’t drink etc etc. All those things that are printed neatly on the back of all our prescription drugs are spoken about in every single add.
The other thing highly interesting is that companies will slug each other in their ads. There is an ongoing war between Verizon & AT&T over here, and its classic. They are two phone providers…and whilst at home they will claim to be the best or whatnot. They quite clearly are at each other. They pisstake each other’s products, customer service, quality, speed, and each add then has a rebuttal again.
Service Level
Generally fast food vendors do not give a shit that you are there. We had one guy in Maccas not even say hello or ask what we wanted. Just walked to the register & looked at us. It can be brutal… On the Other hand though, those working for tips will fall over backwards for you, even though you have to tip them anyway, they will always work that bit harder. We had a bartender in Memphis tell us he was working for $4 an hour!! And the rest is made from tips. It’s hardcore.
Food
Bread tasted like sugar. No joke it is really really sweet. We had kind of forgotten about this as it has been so long, but it shocked us at first. Now we have just kind of gotten used to it.
Bagels, Doughnuts, Muffins. All your standard Breakfast food…. Yum.
In their coffee. It’s not milk. They have powdered stuff called creamer which is used. Otherwise it’s a mix of half Half, which is cream and milk, again sweetens everything up But is soo good. We had it on coco puffs one night for a snack and it was like chocolate heaven.
Maccas. Now in all honesty we have eaten a bit of maccas but haven’t ventured from the Dollar Menu. Fast food competition is so fierce over here that they all have value menus. This is generally a host of items from $1-$2 and includes McChicken, Double cheeseburgers, Sundaes, at other places Taco’s, Drinks, Junior Whoppers etc. They are smaller versions I think that the norm, but still a cheap way to get by, so we have taken full advantage of that. Aside from that the drinks are larger. Our small is kid’s size, Medium the small etc, and of course the large is huge. In most maccas bar New York it is also free refills, so the soda is very cheap & free flowing over here. Cans of Coke are still only $1.
There are a whole heap of other foods that we either do not have at home, or we do not do nearly as well. Nacho Cheese Dip, Buffalo wings, Alligator Sausage Chili, BBQ Ribs. I have to say I love Texan BBQ food and they are incredibly good at cooking spicy food and keeping the flavor strong, especially wings. They do however try and do some things…not so well. Steak... not everywhere, but alot of places sell chopped steak. Its steak, but chopped up (oddly enough) til its kind of just a meat pattie. Strange…. Other than that coffee isn’t as good as it’s all dripolator coffee, and there seems to be lot of bad jam, well jelly. As they don’t have our beloved vegemite there are all kinds of assortments jelly’s and some as nasty.



The multiculturalism.
I think its fair to say at home that we have a wide variety of cultures from Europe & Asia. (loosely using these terms) Here it is fairly similar but it has White/Black/Mexican dominance, with a range of South Americans also. Miami had a massive Cuban influence, and everything in LA was in English & Spanish. Everywhere had a Chinatown, and we have also visited little Italy & little Korea here in New York too.
I’m sure there are a lot more differences to mention but these are the ones that come to mind today.. Some of the people we have met have been absolutely lovely, there are of course others though who almost think they need to live up to the arrogant American stereotype, but it has been an amazing journey and we have learnt a lot!
Looking forward to moving on, but America has definitely been an eye opening adventure. From the Beaches of Santa Monica & Miami to the desert we drove through in Arizona and New Mexico, to the snow in Nashville & NYC, and the swamps through Louisiana. Big City New York and the tiny trucker towns we stayed at one the way through. Its over. Its nuts!
Bring on Spain!
Love you all xxx