‘What do tourists get wrong about the UK?’ – 21 ways we are not a nation of tea-swilling queue obsessives

Tea, queuing, bad teeth and an insatiable love of Greggs. That’s British people down to a tee, right? Well, maybe there’s more to us as a nation if you dig a deeper.

AskUK subreddit user AlucardVTep3s has been mulling this over, and posted the following:

What do tourists get wrong about the UK?

People that work in domestic tourism. So tour guides, mountain guides, hotel/resort staff, airport staff, etc. People that see a huge influx of international visitors from diverse regions of the planet.

The UK of GB and NI has a vast history which probably comes with plenty of stereotypes. One we’ve heard many times over is the cliché “British Politeness” but we all know this such a huge generalisation. We all know really nasty people but also people who are good as gold, it’s person specific.

Just like how French people have a stereotype for being rude but I know many French people who extremely polite, it’s just something people get wrong about France. My question to people who work in the domestic tourism industry (also open to other opinions) is: What do think tourists coming to the UK get wrong or have misconceptions of?

An excellent question, and one that lots of people had thoughts on, like these…

1.

‘Thinking it’s unsafe and we dodge knife crime at every turn.’
–oliviashrewtonbong

2.

‘Its amazing how many Americans ask if London is “safe” or ask if they can use “tap & pay”. Its like they think we’re a third world country.’
–No-Zombie9567

3.

‘Thinking that because it’s a small country, it’s easy to get around.’
–FiveYardFaded

4.

‘The posts in UKtravel that are like “we will be based in London, planning a day trip to Edinburgh and then popping over to Cornwall the next day” always tickle me.’
–rocketscientology

5.

‘Lots of tourists seem to get confused that Liverpool and Liverpool Street are not the same. Lots of tourists that actually make it to Liverpool think that’s where Abbey Road is and get disappointed they can’t recreate the Beatles photo.’
–Bobby_-_D

6.

‘Very few Americans know that Wales even exists. I’ve seen so many people going “I want to tour the UK – I’ve pencilled in London, Cornwall, Stonehenge, ‘Cotswold’, York, Edinburgh, Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye, Belfast, Dublin and the Blarney Stone…Am I missing anything?”

And you’re like, well for one thing, Ireland isn’t part of the UK any more. It’s a lovely place to visit, but did you mean to go there? Also, the Cotswolds is a very big area, not a single location. And also: Wales.’
–Normal-Height-8577

7.

‘The presence of non-white people is not a sign that our civilization is collapsing.

We don’t all revere the monarchy.

And for people from you know where: your great great grandmother’s supposed nationality does not interest us and doesn’t make you one of us. It especially doesn’t give you any kind of right to criticise the existence or supposed “problem” of non white Brits.’
–Zealousideal-Low3388

8.

‘I often say something a lot of people get wrong about this country is how much freedom we actually have.

For example, before the war, I went to Ukraine. Did Chornobyl and Kyiv, and during the walking tour of Kyiv, he pointed out the Bank of Ukraine. I innocently asked if we can go in there. He gave me a snort of derision and answered “of course not. Can you just walk into the Bank of England off the street?!” “Well, yeah…”.

In hot weather, we can go to a park and get drunk, or even drink on the street. We can just walk into Parliament during PMQs. We can spend 10 minutes on Companies House setting up a business. You can (within the incredibly lenient rules) just pitch a tent in the middle of Scotland and camp overnight. Even little things like, I really want to go to that Gregg’s over the road, so I will simply cross the road right here instead of looking for an intersection, crossing at a designated crossing then doubling back on myself.

It often startles people how much we can actually freely do in this country. Even British people sometimes.’
–Jimmy-The-Perv

9.

‘They think British food sucks because they go to tourist traps.’
–T_raltixx

10.

‘Assuming that UK, Great Britain and England are the same thing and that money is synonymous with upper class.’
–Sea-Still5427

11.

‘Americans think our portions are small, like no mate your portions are monstrous.’
–BarbiePeonies

12.

‘Scotland is not Outlander and Scottish people really don’t give a fuck about what clan your great great great granddad’s third cousin might have been in.’
–lovesorangesoda636