What conveniences have you seen abroad that you wish your country had?

10 comments

1. I have moved from Italy to Finland. (This is going to be nasty.) From Finland, I wish Italy could copy all the stereotypically Nordic things: a welfare state that works well, free universities, clean air, reliable public transportation, good-quality cultural programs (not scraps) for every person, in whatever position in the social ladder they happen to be, more gender equality, respect for the environment, a culture of shared civic duties that made things like mask mandates and distancing less frenzied in Fin (and their imposition based on consensus and adult public discourse, as far as I’ve understood) than in Ita. Less corruption. Young women in politics. Older women on magazine covers. Recycling. You get it.

   But on the other hand, I wish there was something in Finnish culture that compared to the piazzas, bars, grannies chatting in a courtyard or at church. All those shared, but unconspicuous environments where one could get a piece of human contact at whim. In Finland, if you are not part of a social net, you are on your own. If you have no one to talk to, you shut up. If there’s not any law or strong social norm that regulates a certain thing… people don’t do that thing – or they’ll create an association, club, regulatory board, first. So yeah, I thought I’d never say that, but I wish Finns were more Mediterranean in certain aspects. And had espressos.

   Edit: grammar.

2. I like the ‘Aires’ on the Autoroute in France, basic WC facilities and parking, regularly space along the road and only once have I used one that wasn’t fairly clean. Usually with an area with picnic benches. Of course in the UK we have service stations on the motorway but they’re designed to extract as much money from people as possible, overpriced restaurants and shops where a can of coke can be like £2, nowhere to sit and eat a packed lunch either as they want you to spend £10 on a limp burger.

   In fact the Autoroute in general just seems to function better than UK motorways.

3. I was an exchange student in the US 25 years ago.

   I always liked the American dress code of “wear what you want”. People dress much more casually than in Austria and I loved it.

   Also, American friendliness and positiveness. Americans will make each other compliments much more often than Austrians and if you succeed in something (can be a school exam, or financially or anything really) people will give you a thumbs up and it feels honest. If you succeed in Austria there is much more envy and a “keep it to yourself”/”don’t brag” attitude.

   I also admit that American service culture, particularly opening times of stores, is very convenient BUT I don’t actually want to introduce that to Austria. I agree with the unions here that retail workers shouldn’t have to work past 8 pm or even through the night.

4. I live in the UK now and the one thing I miss more than anything from the Netherlands is ‘Terras cultuur’.

   It isn’t just having seats and tables outside cafes and bars, it’s the culture that is tied up to it. In the UK you will struggle to find a good beer garden and terraces tend to be tiny. I want a market square full of tables and chairs with excellent service (and proper coffee, god damn do I wish pubs and bars had proper coffee in the UK!). A place where I can spend the afternoon and meet up with friends and acquaintances who use the place in the same way. ‘Accidental encounters’.

   In the UK this happens in pubs, but they tend to be much smaller places and the number of people you encounter is therefore also smaller.

5. The biking & pedestrian infrastructure in line with the Netherlands or Denmark would be lovely. Generally getting rid of the car-centric city planning that still goes on in some towns.

6. Well-insulated apartments and buildings.

   We’re so bad at that because of multiple reasons and it’s the one thing I miss most from living abroad.

7. I wish there were more UK-like pubs in Portugal. Don’t get me wrong, I like our bars and cafés, but they work best in the warmer months. I love having a beer or coffee in a terrace or just outside the café/bar, and I also appreciate the “tackiness” (for lack of a better word) of old cafés. But I miss the coziness of pubs. Many cafés and bars, at least in my region, lack the warm atmosphere of a pub, and so they’re not that great to visit during the colder months. In fact, so many cafés/bars round here have that awful cold fluorescent lighting that make me not want to be there. And I like the whole “going to the pub after work on a Friday” thing the UK has.

   Actually, I wish in general we were better at replicating the coziness of colder countries, because there are so many places here that are very obviously not built with the winter in mind.

8. I lived in Galway in Ireland, and something that I loved was that there were always musicians in the streets (in the main street at least). I usually had headphones on when walking, but I would always take them off when arriving in the city center because I knew there would be talented musicians and/or dancers performing.

   Irish people’s friendliness was refreshing too (although sometimes a bit overwhelming lol, because of small talk, which was new to me).

9. OV-chipkaart in the Netherlands is a bliss. It allows you to use public transport anywhere in the Netherlands by tapping a scanner when you enter and again to check out when you leave. Be it an intra city bus or a train to travel from one end of the country to the other. Would be great to see that introduced back home rather than having to bother buying tickets for all different sorts of public transport

10. The possibility of purchasing alcohol at any time of the day. Seen that in some other countries, can walk into a store at 3am and buy a 6 pack of alcohol.

    The laws regarding buying alcohol are strict and annoying here. In grocery stores/supermarkets you can’t buy alcohol after 20:00 on a normal weekday, and 18:00 on a saturday. These laws have probably helped in decreasing the use somewhat but I still find it very annoying. It’s late night at a saturday and you can’t just head to the store to get you some beer. Always gotta plan when you shop for alcohol over here.