“My picture was photobombed by a bald eagle.”
The thread quickly filled with folks from around the world who had rather colorful encounters while visiting The States.
Here’s what people shared:
1.
The barbershop quartet stopped, turned to it, and started singing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’
u/eezgorriseadback
2.
We had a great time."
u/Stepside79
3.
“I’m posting on behalf of an older friend.
The dad was absolutely blown away and took like 30 photos before we could eat.”
Anonymous
4.
“Visited Arizona for the first time last year.
My picture was photobombed by what I am reliably informed was a bald eagle.
It felt like a very American moment in a, ‘Wow!
That seems lucky and pretty cool!’
sort of way.”
u/LongTimeFaller
5.
I ended up with a great black Stetson and gawked at all the guns behind the counter in amazement.
Sadly (or luckily), we had to fly back that weekend.
He was great and friendly, as were all the people we met.
u/smallcoder
6.
“I was in Montana after driving across the Canadian border.
It was so quaint.
u/yycokwithme
7.
I felt like I was American myself by the end of it.”
“I’ve lived in America for 25 years and 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 with lots of kids in the neighborhood.
It was like a scene out ofE.T.!
They went trick or treating, and the sidewalks were just full of kids.
That’s the most American thing I’ve seen, apart from free refills.”
u/mjc1027
9. u/BlackStar867
10.
“I was shocked at the number of American flags everywhere.
I would be hard-pressed to find a Canadian flag outside schools or government buildings.
u/ILikeCats
11.
“I had chicken-fried bacon at some breakfast BBQ place on the I-5 between Seattle and Portland.
Did it probably take at least a few days off my life?
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.”
u/parallel_jay
12.
“It sounds so dumb, but seeing yellow school buses.
I’m Australian, so we only see yellow buses in movies.
Seeing an actual yellow school bus was a dream come true for my 20-year-old self.”
u/kasparzellar
13.
“Everyone kept asking me, ‘How are you?
How was your day?’
Back home, people just mind their own business.
u/arsenejoestar
14.
“I finished my root beer, and the waitress came over and started refilling my glass.
I was all like, ‘Whoa there, calm down.
It blew my little 15-year-old brain.”
u/CapriSonnet
15.
They couldn’t understand that 1.
We couldn’t remember where we were when she died, and 2. u/JustLoitering
16.
“I’m an American immigrant from Europe.
I ordered coffee from one of those chain coffee shops during my first week in the US.
You know what we call those extra-large coffee mugs in the old country?
What I got was a bucket of coffee.”
u/milespoints
17.
I started having foot pain from all the walking on the trip, making walking quite difficult.
So I did what millions of Americans do: just shrug it out.”
u/cgyguy81
18.
“I lived in America for three years and I’d say: Walmart.
It’s the quintessential American experience, even better than Costco.
It’s consumerism in its purest materialization.”
u/AlexPaterson
19.
One day, we were sitting outside Animal Kingdom, waiting for the gates to open.
Next to us was an American family with kids about the same age.
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.
In a family RV.
On a family vacation.
Apparently, it’s much better than anything Disney cobbled together.”
u/ricoza
20.
“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.
u/zerbey
21.
“I spent months on a working holiday in Boston.
WhenThe Dark Knightwas released, I saw it in the cinema.
When the movie ended, everyone stood up and clapped.
As an Irishman, I found this unusual but also very American.”
u/tauruz_ie
22.
“The morning after a late-night landing in Atlanta, we discovered a diner near the hotel.
We decided to go there for breakfast.
We felt like we walked onto a movie set; it was so cliche.”
u/keepstaring
23.
“I went to a conference in 2023.
It was jarring, to say the least.”
u/TheRealCeeBeeGee
24.
“Bass Pro Shops.
The one I went to was also shaped like a pyramid.
It was one of the coolest stores I’ve ever been to.
From an outsider’s perspective, the United States feels like a simulation.”
u/twee3
25.And: “I met an old couple running a family-run horse ranch.
It allowed me to understand the Americans a little more for a brief moment.
It probably sounds ridiculous, but it was very special to me.”
u/Parthorax
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
