Culture Clash

After having travelled across the UK for some weeks, American woman Amber Kacherian has shared four things about British hotel rooms that she found confusing or mind blowing

An American has shared the four things she found strange in her hotel room during her recent visit to the UK, but Brits soon came to explain the reasoning behind it all.

A woman named Amber Kacherian has taken to TikTok, where she has over one million followers, to share her experiences as she’s been travelling across the UK with some of her friends. While her viewers have loved watching her experiences, Brits have often taken to the comment sections of her videos after they were left confused by different things that differed to the way they do things in the USA.

In a recent video, Amber went on to share four things that she had found weird in one of the hotels she’d stayed in, but Brits soon came to explain the differences usually were for the better.

“Things in my British hotel that are weird to Americans,” she said at the start of her video, where she was seen standing in what appeared to be a standard hotel room.

No plug sockets in bathrooms

The first thing on her list was not having any sockets inside the bathroom.

“So the only outlet in this bathroom is just a small one for an electric shaver,” she explained.

Amber went on to say that she in particular had found this frustrating due to not being able to use the hair blow dryer or a curling or straighten iron when in the bathroom, as the closest plug was in the middle of the hotel room.

“Which begs the question, where do you plug in your hair styling tools?” she asked her viewers. “How do you do your hair with no mirror?”

Two flush buttons on the toilet

“Number two, no pun intended, two different buttons to flush the toilet,” Amber revealed as she showed the two flush buttons on the wall above the toilet.

She went on to explain that over every toilet, there are two buttons – a big one and a smaller one. She went on to explain that she’d assumed they are different depending on what you’re flushing.

“So, in America, there’s just one switch that flushes everything, We do not have two different flushes based on how much you just deposited into the toilet,” she explained. “Just one switch takes care of it all.”

Ground floor is not the same as first floor

For her third point, Amber went out of their hotel room to the lifts, where she showed the sign which had all the different floors of the building.

“The ground floor here is called zero instead of one. In America, we would call the ground floor the first floor,” she told her viewers. “And the floor above that would be the second floor.”

She went on to explain that when they had gotten their room number, which was on the first floor, they had found it confusing that they’d had to go up to the first floor, which is what they had considered the second floor, in order to find their rooms.

Light switches outside the bathroom

Next up, Amber expressed her confusion after finding that the light switches for the bathroom was located outside the bathroom door instead of inside the bathroom.

“Why do they put the light switch outside the bathroom?” she asked in confusion. “Because that means you could turn off the light on someone who’s in the bathroom while they’re in there.”

This sparked inspiration, as she was then seen running over to her friend’s room in order to turn the light to the bathroom off while he was in there.

While the American friend group had been left confused by these things, Brits soon took to the comment section to explain the reasoning behind some of these ‘weird‘ things.

“Yeah it’s against the law to have sockets in bathrooms because you know safety,” one person explained. Another person added: “Anything electrical that needs a 3 way British plug aren’t used where there is water and steam. Too dangerous…”

Someone else went on to say: “To be fair I’m not sure most of us understand the flushes. We just press something and hope for the best.”

A British man who travelled to Canada to see his wife for the first time was left amazed by the size of the houses in the Toronto area – but many locals were quick to tell him ‘the truth’

Rayhaan, a Brit who recently jetted off to Canada to meet his partner, has gone viral on social media after sharing his first impressions of Canadian homes, which he found astonishingly different from those back in the UK.

The astonished traveller took to TikTok to post a video from the car as he headed to his wife’s home in the Toronto area – a clip that’s now racked up over 1.4 million views. Used to the more modestly-sized homes in the UK, Rayhaan couldn’t help but express his amazement at the size of the local houses during his drive as they travelled through a residential neighbourhood.

“F**k me are these not mansions?” Rayhaan said at the start of his viral TikTok video, as the camera pans over several grand detached properties boasting multiple storeys and integrated garages.

As they continue driving by the residential neighbourhood, he stated: “That’s a mansion in England. Then, oh, another mansion. You’re telling me these ain’t mansions?”

In disbelief, Rayhaan questions his partner behind the wheel, who quickly denied his statement that the homes were mansions, prompting him to say: “What do you mean no? Look at the state of these houses. You’re telling me they ain’t mansions? […] F**king hell. Mansion ones.”

** Caution: The accompanying video contains strong language. **

As they continued to drive past through the neighbourhood, they continued to pass several similar houses that were all large detached homes with built in single or double garages, multiple storages, and included a large driveway and front gardens. Some homes also had porches that wrapped around the side of the home.

“This is a madness, I’m telling you, yeah. The houses here are insane,” Rayhaan said to his viewers. “I just can’t get over it. This is just f**ked, it’s just stupid. It’s absolutely stupid. What is going on bro?”.

“I don’t know why she’d come to England,” he said.

Viewers quickly chimed in with their thoughts, with many pointing out that these were not typical Canadian homes.

“I’m canadian, those…are NOT standard houses, those people are wealthy,” one viewer insisted, while another added: “Those are definitely NOT average middle class houses.

“They’re priced like mansions now so let’s just call them mansions and be done with it,” another commented wryly.

A British expat also weighed in, saying: “As a British man in Canada I can confirm this is true… but after living here for five years it’s sad to say that these are just average homes with million $ price tags which is ridiculous and what makes it worse is that these homes are made out of cardboard literally not even worth that much at max they should be $350 K..”

A fellow Briton remarked: “In South England they build a house like that, divide it into 4 terraced houses and sell them for 400k each.”

Marta Budzyska moved to Madrid in 2022 after having lived and studied in Italy for years – but there’s one thing she just can’t get her head around when it comes to Spanish culture

Spain remains a top holiday hotspot for UK sun-seekers, with a staggering 17.8 million visits from Brits in 2023. That year, Spain emerged as the favourite escape for British holidaymakers, commanding an impressive 21% of all overseas jaunts by those from the UK, according to stats from the Office for National Statistics.

It’s also believed that thousands of Brits each year also make the sunny Spanish shores their home. But having soaked up Spanish sun and culture beforehand doesn’t necessarily mean that people looking to make the country their home won’t come across a few surprises when moving to their new country.

This was exactly what happened to Marta Budzyska, a Polish woman who moved to Madrid in 2022 after years of living and studying in Italy.

Marta thought she was fully clued-up on Spanish and Mediterranean ways of living before moving to the Spanish capital. However she quickly encountered one aspect of daily life in Spain that continues to baffle her – and it has nothing to do with the sunshine.

Marta turned to her TikTok account to share her major cultural shock since moving to Spain.

“One thing that will never stop surprising me about Spain is that they go to eat so freaking late,” Marta said in her video.

She continued to explain that she’d gone out for dinner with friends the previous evening, but that their booking hadn’t been until 10pm. Even then, people arrived more than half an hour late, which she said is a common occurrence in Spanish culture.

“And you know you have to think about the order, gets some starters, the main meal. And literally it took so much time,” she said, explaining that they were eating until midnight.

“And I’m not complaining, it was so much fun, I love it,” she said. “I love to live fully with another culture where I’m living or where I’m at, like at holidays. Spain is my home now, but like, that is just so funny and I think it’ll never stop surprising me.”

Marta went on to advise tourists: “So if you go to Spain, just don’t be necessarily on time. Stick […] with easy and chill, it’ll be better for you.”

People quickly took to the comments to share their own experiences, with many Spanish people relating to what Marta had to say.

“As a Spanish this is so true haha,” one viewer wrote. A second person said: “It’s shocking haha. How do you even work the next day.”

A third person also confirmed that similar eating habits also existed in Italy, but that the times could differ between 8pm and 10pm depending on what area of the country you were visiting.

Have you experienced eating dinner at a later time when you’re on holiday? Let us know in the comments.