The Big Wave Blog

1. The crushing exchange rate: Your inheritance is now lower thanks to the dinner you had with your client after landing.
2. The Nano hotel room: You don’t get a closet, you sleep in a closet.
3. The tap water: Tastes like it has been flavored with liquid bleach and baking soda.
4. The expanded vowels: British English has incorporated new vowels and sounds that others cannot be expected to understand.
5. The omnipresent ethnic food: You can’t find a single restaurant that doesn’t feature kebabs and pasta in the front window.
6. The Oyster Card: You are using it on the subway, not at Red Lobster.
7. Open containers: People on trains and buses are drinking their beer or liquor straight from the bottle, without a paper bag. You might even see a creative bunch mixing drinks on the go!
8. Potatoes have funny names: The chips are crisps and the fries are chips.
9. Smile! You’re on TV! The CCTV cameras are everywhere, and I mean everywhere!
10. You are feeling damp and hungry. “Bad food, worse weather” is no longer a joke!

It’s great to experience life in London. I enjoy seeing the British driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way home, where they sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV!

It’s always fun to laugh at our differences, but I had an awesome time in London last week. Despite the exchange rate and occasional rain shower, it is one of my favorite places to do business and also take in a museum or a show. I can only imagine what a Londoner’s Top 10 US list would look like! Maybe I’ll work on that for next time…