Americans, what are some practical tips you wish Canadians visiting your country knew?

33 comments

1. If you speak French as a first language, There aren’t many if any signs in French

2. Canada is so culturally and geographically similar (as in it’s a big place and there are different geographies) to the US that any practical tips would have to be regional as the difference between a place like Chicago and Toronto would be as different as Chicago and New York City.

   I guess if I’m giving a tip, the Loonie is about the same size as a quarter, so if you carry coins, you’ll find them mixed up a lot.

3. You can download locations to your phone ahead of time with things like Google Maps so you aren’t dependent on WiFi or cell services.

4. The alligators are not there for your amusement, do not throw food at them.

   Similarly, if you’re in the Keys, do not harass the Key deer. The Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies *will* brutalize you. And that’s the *best case scenario* compared to the locals getting their hands on you first. And most Floridians will consider both of them entirely justified in doing whatever they do to you.

   Like every American interstate, I-4 has multiple exits. If you miss the one you’re looking for, you can get off at the next one. Cutting across multiple lanes of traffic at 75mph is not appropriate driving etiquette and is the reason it’s the most deadly stretch of road in the country.

   The bartenders and the liquor store employees literally could not give less of a fuck that your 19 year old ass can buy a drink in Canada. If you want to drink, stay in Canada. You are not special enough for a business to risk their liquor license on your behalf. Yelling at the bartender does not change this fact.

5. Don’t freak out if the server takes your credit card away from the table. They’ll bring it back safe and sound.

6. Buffalo are cool looking, but they don’t want to be your friend

7. In most states, liquor is available in grocery stores and privately run liquor stores, not just state-run ones. Most states don’t even have state-run liquor stores.

8. you won’t be hearing “eh” all the time

9. Nothing, Canadians are so similar to Americans that there’s little they need to be aware of. Other than the fact that Tim Hortons doesn’t exist every where, it’s practically identical.

10. If you are 19 or 20 years old, you cannot buy a drink in the US.

11. If you don’t like the way we do things down here, go home. I literally could not care less that ice storms “feel like summer in Halifax,” it is dangerous for me to be on the road just to open an outlet store or seafood restaurant so you can go shopping and not cook your own food. I don’t care that the 50° January ocean feels like your pool back home, you will get hypothermia and I’m going to be very irritated at having to damn near catch it myself dragging you to shore. We don’t expect you to do hurricanes— don’t expect us to do blizzards or ice storms.

12. For better or for worse, people will treat you like an American, not a foreign visitor.

13. That we know you tip in Canada and the bartender is not there for you to gleefully take all of your passive aggressive animosity out on.

14. This is specifically for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (not sure how prevalent this is in other parts of Canada)

    Here in the U.S. haggling is not a thing! The price on the tag is what you pay and the cashier has no control over it.

    (My wife used to work at the mall and they’d frequently get buses of tourists from New Brunswick and there’d always be that one person that wanted to haggle over the sticker price of something)

15. Try to have fun, most people will be very welcoming as long as you aren’t condescending. For example, please try to just accept that we don’t use the metric system in daily life or bring up your Healthcare or our school shootings. Think twice when you feel like you’re about to start a sentence with “Well, in *Canada*…” Most people also probably won’t know a whole lot about specific things about. If we are curious we will ask, you don’t have to tell us or give us shit for not knowing all your provinces or whatever.

16. It’s not that big of a difference… it’s basically the same country save metric and imperial systems

17. This ain’t Canada and we don’t wanna be Canada. They’re pretty similar for the most part, though. I knew a Canadian girl during grad school (in Texas) and just thought she was American. Loved hockey though

18. Every time I’ve seen a Canadian in the US I wasn’t aware of their Canadianness until they mentioned it.

19. How do you tell a Canadian from an American?

    – The Canadian will tell you he’s not American.

    The two are so similar that there’s no other reliable way, not even accent. If a Canadian acts like they would have at home, they’ll act pretty much like an average American.

20. Bringing up ways in which America is worse then Canada is a sure fire way of being sent home in a cast.

21. Honestly, there are no tips. Canadians do fine in the states and as far as I am concerned, they are always welcome here. Many Canadians have been across the border enough times that they are quite familiar with everything.

    A lot of times, you won’t even know someone is from Canada unless they tell you. Even a Canadian accent is hard to distinguish from some accents you run into in states along the border up there.

22. Speaking purely as somebody living in Vermont. I wish you guys would drive like normal people and acknowledge that our laws also apply to you while you’re here.

23. Don’t trust your French to protect you from the consequences of boorish comments. One of us might have just enough French to call you on it!

24. I am always irked hearing about how amazing Canada is compared to our backward ways as they tour the national parks and enjoy our beaches and fantastic food scene and everything else American.

    Don’t do that. I wouldn’t do it to you (or anyone else).

25. I don’t think there’s anything to know. Not much culture shock going from Winnipeg to Fargo. Or Toronto to Chicago.

26. Every time I’ve met a Canadian in the US, they’ve been completely indistinguishable from Americans, and every time I’ve been to Canada as a tourist it’s been completely indistinguishable from the US.

    We have similar climates, geography, wildlife, accents, demographics, infrastructure, cultural norms… I don’t really know what I’d tell them.

    I guess the main one is you’re a guest when you’re a tourist in another country. Don’t be rigid or judgmental. Many people seem to think it’s ok to do this in the US when they wouldn’t do it anywhere else.

27. It’s great that a lot of you speak French. A surprisingly large number of people in the U.S.A. also speak French.

    There is nothing quite so amusing as watching two idiots say rude things in French about the teenage girl in front of them….right before her Mom lays in to them with a purse while yelling in Haitian Creole.

    Better to assume that everyone around you can understand the basics of what you are saying. Spanish and Portuguese are also Romance languages and Spanish is the most common secondary language taught here.

    Read up on natural disasters in the location you are visiting and what to do in case of one. You might not have Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, or Forest Fires in your part of Canada, but having a basic emergency kit and following the orders given by first responders is just plain common sense.

    Your emergency kit might be a first aid kit, peanut butter crackers, and some bottled water in the back of your car, but that’s better than nothing at all.

28. Do not turn right when oncoming traffic is coming. They will not merge! You will also notice our lack of pedestrians and buses. Everyone here is on their own in that area. Americans don’t want to hear what Canada is like. They don’t care

29. I work at a gas station near-ish to the border. If you’re getting gas and it asks for your ZIP code, use the three numbers in your postal code followed by 00. Also, as long as you’re within about two hundred miles of Canada, we take Canadian change, but not loonies or toonies.

30. That there aren’t many tips needed because Canada is just America #2

31. That you as a Canadian probably have a significantly better grasp of our politics than we do of yours. Also, be nice and don’t take advantage of the widespread stereotype of Canadian culture means all of you kind and friendly people lol

32. Don’t trigger the border police to bring on the K-9s if travelling by train. Wasted an hour of everyone’s time.

33. I live just off of the border and I must say one thing, STOP DRIVING SLOW! Thank you for your time.