When I visit my family back in the United States, there are a few things that I get particularly excited about: stocking up on Trader Joe’s peanut butter, enjoying amazing Tex-Mex and being able to buy flavored creamer for my coffee. Okay, clearly all I care about is food. 

But there are a thousand things that make the US special, from the gorgeous landscapes to the friendly locals, so Redditors from around the world have recently been discussing what they noticed during their visits there. Below, you’ll find a list of some of the most quintessential American experiences travelers have had while visiting the land of the free. So enjoy scrolling through, and be sure to upvote the things that make you proud to be an American or make you want to visit the States as soon as possible!

#1

On a bus trip to the Everglades our English accents must have been overheard, and a minute later we were asked several questions about princess Diana by 3 different people.

They couldn’t understand that- 1. We couldn’t remember where we were, when we she died. (Given it was about 15 years earlier. 2. We didn’t really have much to say about it, except from “yeah was sad wasn’t it”

Image credits: JustLoitering

#2

Had chicken-fried bacon at some breakfast BBQ place on the I5 between Seattle and Portland.

Was it delicious? Yes

Did it probably take at least a few days off my life? Also yes.

And it was just the starter to my biscuits and gravy. Damn I wish I could remember the name of that place. I would 100% go back there.

Image credits: parallel_jay

#3

American immigrant from Europe…

On my first week in the US, i walked into one of those chain coffee shops and ordered a coffee. When prompted for a size, i pondered that I had not slept that much (jet lag) and selected an extra large.

You know what we call those extra large coffee mugs in the old country? Buckets. What I got was a bucket of coffee

Image credits: milespoints

To find out how this conversation about classic American experiences started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user JeffRyan1, who invited others to share their stories about visiting the United States. He was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and reveal what inspired this thread.

"I'm a writer myself – most of my books are on pop culture characters, like Super Mario and Mickey Mouse," he shared. "They represent more than just a dad-bodded plumber and a rat boy: they represent adventure and innocence and childhood and, yes, America. That made me wonder, for better or worse, what happened to visitors in American that they felt was quintessentially 'American'?"

#4

My sister-in-law visited Dallas couple of years ago. First time in USA. She went to buy a dress from a clothes store, and noticed the walls had tons of Bible-passages written on them. 

Image credits: Bicentennial_Douche

#5

Everyone kept asking me "How are you? How was your day?"

Random strangers, store clerks, everyone asked me that and I just really didn't know how to respond.

Back home, people just minded their own business. You don't talk to strangers unless you have to, and store clerks would only ask if they could help you and you can say no thanks

Image credits: arsenejoestar

#6

Went to a conference in 2023. I had been in Florida less than 3 hours when I saw a car with one of those stick figure family stickers in the back, except it was guns as the figures. It was jarring to say the least

Image credits: TheRealCeeBeeGee

We also asked the OP if he had ever experienced anything in his homeland that he felt was particularly American. "I've seen a bald eagle in the wild once – it stole a fish from an osprey," he shared. "I was at a Fourth of July where they accidentally cued the big fireworks finale to the love theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark, not the Raiders March."

#7

The morning after a late night landing in Atlanta, we discovered a diner almost next to the hotel. We decided to go there for breakfast. Our first, European, instinct was to walk but it was impossible to reach by foot even though it was less then 100 meters aways. When we walked in, there were 3 cops sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts while shooting the s**t with the server. We felt like we walked onto a movie set, it was so cliché.

Image credits: keepstaring

#8

I lived in America for three years and I’d say: Walmart. It’s the quintessential American experience, even better than Costco. Consumerism in its purest materialisation

Image credits: AlexPaterson

#9

I was shocked at the number of American flags just everywhere. I would be hard pressed to find a Canadian flag outside of schools and government buildings. There were American flags at the mall, random streets, stores, backyards, front yards, convenience stores etc

Image credits: lLikeCats

As far as what Jeff thought of the replies to his post, he told Bored Panda, "I was surprised at how uniform so many of the responses were. I guess we really do love guns and huge portions of food here in 'Murica."

We were also curious to know if the author had ever had an experience in another country that probably wouldn't happen in many other places. "Last year, I was in England, and on a morning jog through London, I saw a fox," he shared. "That was special to me, until I looked it up and found that foxes are considered garbage-eating pests."

#10

At a Blake Shelton's bar in Nashville listening to some live country music and the singer randomly breaks out into the pledge of allegiance in the middle of the song and the entire crowd joined in

Image credits: BlackStar867

#11

I've lived in America for 25 years, became an American citizen last year. My first time here was during Halloween, I stayed with friends, who had bought an ungodly amount of candy for the holiday.

They lived in a Denver suburb, lots of kids in the neighborhood. It was like a scene out of ET, even l when they go trick or treating, sidewalks were just full of kids.

That's the most American thing I've seen, apart from free refills

Image credits: mjc1027

#12

Visited Arizona for first time last year. Took a photograph of a fishing lake whilst in Papago Park outside Phoenix, as I thought it made a cool mock photo of an "oasis" in the desert. My picture was photo bombed by what I am reliably informed was a bald eagle. Felt like a genuinely very American moment in a "wow! That seems lucky and pretty cool" sort of way

#13

Dude took his shirt off in line at an amusement park to reveal no less than six 9/11 tattoos

Image credits: Peskieyesterday

#14

It sounds so dumb.. yellow school buses.

I'm Australian, so we only see yellow buses in movies so to see an actual yellow school bus was a dream come true for my 20 year old self.

Image credits: kasparzellar

#15

Taking cover while we waited for the tornado warning to pass.

Image credits: BooBoo_Cat

#16

I've lived here 25 years so I'm used to all the fun Americanisms. I'll answer for my British Mother when she visited for the first time. She went to the grocery store and saw Easy Cheese, which is cheese in a spray bottle. She talked about that the rest of the trip, and still brings it up now and then as the most weirdly American thing she ever saw.

Image credits: zerbey

#17

I finished my root beer and the waitress came over and started refilling my glass and I was all like 'whoa there, calm down. I didn't ask for another one' and she just said, 'it's free, honey'. Or something to that effect. Blew my 15 year old little brain

Image credits: CapriSonnet

#18

Probably visiting Austin, Texas back in 2000 and asking the cab driver to take me and my friends to a store to buy a cowboy hat (hey, when in Rome... :)) and Steve, our cab driver for the week we were there (he gave us his cell number) too us to some shopping park and a store called "Hats, Boots & Guns". I have never been to such a brilliant, pure USA hell yeah place in all my other trips to the USA from the UK. Ended up with a great black stetson and gawped at all the guns behind the counter in amazement. If I'd had more money would have loved a pair of boots as they had every style imaginable. Then a few days into the trip, Steve the driver invited us to come to his place out of town on the weekend to shoot some guns. Sadly - or luckily, I will never know - we had to fly back that weekend. He was great and friendly as were all the people we met. USA may be a crazy colourful and strange place to us Brits, but you sure are friendly and welcoming.

Image credits: smallcoder

#19

Montana after driving across the Canadian border:


Eating in a breakfast diner that actually had stacks of pancakes with the little square of butter on top, just like I had always seen in movies. The waitress was pouring coffee into everyone's cups, talking about the "potata salad" and saying "sir" and "ma'am" after every sentence. It was so quaint.

Then I noticed a guy with a gun on his belt, wearing a shirt that read, "I'd rather be a Mormon than a Moron".

The amount of Jesus and Stars and Stripes on that one little drive was peak America, from my outsider perspective.

Image credits: yycokwithme

#20

I asked a Japanese friend this. This is what he replied.

"The first bit of culture shock that I experienced was watching a woman drink coke directly out of a two litre bottle. The second bit of culture shock I experienced was noticing that the woman was shaped like the bottle"

Image credits: shiroboi

#21

An old couple running a family run horse ranch, talking about their history, how their great grandparents acquired that bit of land, while their two daughters and son taught us horseback riding. 

The way they talked about nature, freedom, their dreams and aspirations, so different to our home country and our own culture, while still sounding faintly familiar, as if he was talking about a really old dream I used to have. It’s hard for me to put into words, but that scene, the surroundings, the air, every sensation, never left me, and but for a brief moment, allowed me to kind of understand the Americans a little more. I truly hope they all are doing well and that America never loses this special way of striving for a new frontier. 

Sounds probably ridiculous, but it was very special to me. 

Image credits: Parthorax

#22

I got a turkey leg at Disneyworld that was the size of my head

#23

We went to Disney World with my parents (in their 60s) and 2 children (both younger than 10). The one day we're sitting outside Animal Kingdom, waiting for the gates to open. Next to us is an American family with kids about the same age. They hear we're talking a different language to each other, so they ask us where we're from (South Africa) and start chatting to us. The father tells us they're from Kentucky, and their town has a life size copy of Noah's Ark. In his opinion it should definitely be on top of our list of things to see once we leave Orlando (we told him we're going on a 4 week road trip across the States after Orlando). He then proceeds to tell us a funny story about how their neighbors in the RV park where they're staying at in Orlando are from the UK, and the English father is a policeman. He couldn't believe that the police don't carry guns in the UK. So he invited him to come see the gun collection he has in his RV. A gun collection, in a family RV, in Orlando, on a family vacation.

He also tried to convince us to skip one of the Disney parks and rather go to the Holy Land Experience, a Bible theme park in Orlando. Apparently much better than anything Disney cobbled together.

Image credits: ricoza

#24

I was on Main Street USA in Magic Kingdom, when in the distance we could see one of the Space Shuttles being launched into the Sky. The barber shop quartet stopped, turned to it and started singing the Star Spangled Banner, and a military dad and his two kids stood straight, rooted to the spot whilst they saluted until it went out of sight.

Image credits: eezgorriseadback

#25

I'm posting on behalf of an older friend.

Several years ago one of my friends reached out because there was a new international student joining a local college and their parents were hoping to find somebody in the US to help them out. The first day they came to visit us had a couple of major coincidences that created a weirdly over the top American experience.

Based on talks before they arrived, the two biggest things they wanted to do was walk around the downtown area to make sure it was safe and get some American BBQ.

We went to a local BBQ restaurant that serves a huge family style meal on a giant shovel (it's called KCs Rib Shack in Manchester, NH). The dad was absolutely blown away and took like 30 photos before we could eat. We then went downtown but didn't realize that there was both a classic car show downtown and a Elvis impersonator competition going on. this family that had never been outside of Japan ate brisket out of a shovel then immediately walked around looking at classic muscle cars while dozens of dudes dressed like Elvis walked around. We kept trying to explain that it was an abnormally "American" day, but the family was just so blown away and overwhelmed the whole time. The last time I talked to the student, she said her dad still talks about the BBQ shovel, car, Elvis day all the time.

Image credits: woogychuck

#26

Five guys dressed as the Statue of Liberty arguing in Spanish over turf in Times Square.

Image credits: Fakezaga

#27

Denny's breakfast. My meal was obscenely large. Literally big enough to feed my entire family of four.

Also, the angry guy prominently displaying his gun in the campground at Custer State Park.

Image credits: Super-Candy-5682

#28

My mellow coworker showed me his gun fully loaded and in his glove compartment, as a 'Way to get to know you better". He wasn't threatening or creepy, just casual chitchat.

#29

Spent months on a working holiday in Boston. Went to see The Dark Knight in the cinema when it was released. When the movie ended, everyone stood up and clapped. As an Irishman, I found this very unusual but also very American.

#30

My wife and I (Canadians) wanted to visit Detroit on a weekend because we love art-deco architecture and beautiful old record stores.

We didn't realize there was a Lion's game on and we said f**k it...let's go to the Market area (Sorry I forget the actual name) where there were thousands of people tailgating. Might not seem like a big deal, but to a non-American, the metric fuckton of good vibes, fried food and sheer *passion* people had for football was awesome. We had a great time :)

#31

Walmart in vegas at 3am

#32

I think for me was noticing that strangers can randomly strike up a conversation with you. I've been in this country for more than 20 years now so I'm used to it. But I remember being weirded out by it before.

#33

I am a European and the most American thing I saw was a guy riding on a motorcycle with an eagle flying beside him which he could call back by whistling. His bike also had American flags all over it.

#34

Went to Disney World and I’ve never seen so many obese people on scoot mobiles. Also went to a shooting range which is obviously very American haha.

#35

Buying a large coke in a restaurant. It's the equivalent of buying a 1,5 litre bottle in Europe.

#36

Was visiting the Smokey Mountains for some hiking.

I was excited to visit a pancake house. My wife ordered waffles and couldn't finish her meal. She still had three 7cm (2 inch) across balls of vanilla ice cream on her plate.

She offers to let me have it... bliss ensues... until I take my first bite and realize it was butter...WHO THE HELL needs THREE balls of butter that big for some waffles... it never even crossed my mind that it was butter.

Gross

#37

Going for a walk near my family's hotel as a 12-year-old and being stopped and frisked by police for being out alone. And in case you're wondering, I'm white. Absolutely freaked me out since I was just minding my own business.

#38

First time I visited New York City, it was around 2010 and it was at the tail-end of a multi-city trip. I started having foot pain from all the walking on the trip that made it quite difficult to walk. I wanted to visit a walk-in clinic to have it checked out, but I didn't have health insurance. So I did what millions of Americans do -- just shrug it out.

#39

People being super friendly in bars. 

I loved the bar vibe. In London people can be friendly but reserved first, and that wastes time. In the US people make the effort. 

I thought that’d be nice to share in a thread where people probably tend to badmouth American stuff.

#40

Went to watch Monster Trucks at the Georgia Dome (RIP) with family during the winter. We were a group of 6 brown people in coats and beanies and gloves amongst 59,994 rednecks wearing trucker caps, shorts, and sleeveless flannel shirts. Had my first Bud Light and funnel cake. What a time.

#41

Going into a Savalot supermarket and discovering the meat counter had an option for you to drop off a deer carcass to get it prepared by the butcher.

#42

As if going to the NASCAR wasn't 'Merican enough, before going into the stadium, my mate and I had a walk around the fan park they had built outside it. Within 5 minutes of being there, I heard an engine being revved up to within an inch of its life, and the smell of petrol filled the air.

Turned around, and this engine was on board a Harley Davidson three wheeler, on which there was this big f**k off drum kit built onto it, driven by a bloke in full leathers, bandana, shades, the lot. All of a sudden "Born To Be Wild" blasted out of the speakers also attached to it, and the bloke started playing the drums along to the tune, and started badly singing the lyrics, revving the engine every so often in random places.

I felt like I was American myself by the end of it.

#43

Formerly a non-american, i noticed was how grocery store employees at the cash register are not allowed to sit.

#44

Bass Pro Shop. The one I went to was also shaped like a pyramid. One of the coolest stores I’ve ever been too.

The United States feels like a simulation from an outsiders perspective.