A huge part of travel means expanding your horizons and looking at how other nations and cultures live. Wherever you go, you’ll see lots of upsides—as well as a ton of downsides. It gives you perspective. Ultimately, what you like about life abroad will depend on your personal priorities, whether that’s good food, affordable healthcare, rapid travel, or something else.
The American members of the r/AskReddit community recently opened up about the everyday things that people living in European countries have that they consider to be luxuries. Scroll down to read their personal opinions.
This post may include affiliate links.
I'm an American living in Europe, so..
Affordable healthcare
28 days paid vacation
Sick leave
Affordable quality public transportation
Higher food/water/environmental standards
Seriously, I can never go back. Americans should be raging in the streets all the time.
Being able to walk. To the shops, gym, school. Just f*****g walking anywhere without needing a car.
It didn't occur to me until now, but shopping malls essentially simulate shopping, on foot, in a town. Except you have to drive a car to get a mall, malls are impersonal and bland, offering the same things as other malls, and they rarely have good restaurants.
Some of the main things that tend to come up whenever someone compares and contrasts life in the United States and life in the European Union include the healthcare system, as well as paid time off. These are extremely important factors to consider before you plan to settle down somewhere.
The US is the only economically advanced country on Earth that does not have statutory paid leave, while the global average, according to Business Insider, stands at 18.2 days. Meanwhile, around half of Americans simply aren’t taking time off, which can lead to additional stress and burnout.
Not having to worry so much about getting shot at work or at school, or anywhere for that matter.
The bread. Coming back from Germany recently and all the bread back home in the US feels like I'm chewing on a kitchen sponge instead of giving my jaw a workout.
Less sugar in products.
Not only "less sugar", but also "better sugar". High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), one of the main drivers of the obesity epidemic in the USA, exists in Europe but it has HALF the sugar content of the american version, and it is not nearly as omnipresent. European food industry prefers cane and beet sugar (sucrose), and they use much less of it in any product. The average pro-capite sugar intake in the USA is 25% higher than Germany's, that is the EU state with the highest sugar consumption by a good margin.
CNBC reports that the average American employee gets 11 vacation days each year. Meanwhile, people living and working in the European Union get at least 20 paid days off each year, mandated by law. That’s before public holidays are accounted for.
A recent Morning Consult survey shows that many Americans aren’t certain that they’d actually like longer vacations. However, what they do want are longer lunch breaks and shorter workweeks.
Chocolate. I lived in Finland for a bit at 18 and their basic Fazer chocolate made our Hersheys taste like wax. They had no idea how much better it was.
Fewer additives in their food. There’s a reason I lost 19 pounds when I studied abroad in London. The only way I was able to lose weight in America was through weight loss surgery!
mochahotness:
Food not filled with crazy chemicals. A lot of additives allowed in the US are banned in other countries
Appropriate drinking age (this whole have to be 21yo is f*****g stupid. Can die for the country and drive a killing machine, can own a killing machine, but can't handle a drink? Stupid).
Well American drinking culture is pretty messed up. In Europe, you might give a kid a bit of small beer or wine with dinner, but in the USA that is borderline child abuse. So the kids don't learn to hold their booze until they're on their own and have no guidance from their family.
It's not that common to give kids alcohol in Europe since at least 20-30 years my dear. Of course there're exceptions, but those are not the norm. Many European countries have raised the minimum age to 18 in the early 2000s. Alcohol had been proven to stun growth in children. So nope, maybe you do it in your family but it's definitely not common anymore.
Load More Replies...
You have to be 21 to smoke cigarettes and vapes, too. The Trump administration passed that one a couple years ago.
Vaping in the US is dangerous purely because US allows ingredients in liquid that are banned elsewhere. Another example of Americans being deliberately made sick for health care profit
Load More Replies... When drinking age in US was 18, teens learned to drink around adults. there was a lot less binge drinking, bc you could drink anywhere. It makes it too attractive when it's forbidden.
I am German and my mother was always pretty chill about these things. didn´t bat an eye when at 10 years I would sneak a sip from her Berliner weiße (beer with syrup, like raspberry or woodruff). She bought me my first, and only, Alco-pop at 14, I think it was a smirnoff Ice. I was kinda scared that you couldn´t taste the alcohol at all, it tasted like straight lemonade. And she always used to say, should I ever start drinking or smoking as a teen, I should come to her so she at least could be sure that I get the good, normal stuff and not something some shady person could have mixed something in.
the # of young people too stupid to know not to drink and drive, or heaven forbid, think they do it better is bad
Boomer, here and we fought to have the drinking age lowered. However, it was raised again evidently. I just recently learned this, because of the abuse evidently by those youngsters. Now changing the age, it's not gonna solve abuse of alcohol. But I just thought it was interesting. Because we fought hard to get the drinking age lowered. Because you could be drafted (cause the draft was in effect) And you could drive etc. Also, can't Europeans handle their liquor better? I mean, they're raised on wine LOL. That's a stereotype and I apologize.
Most Ameican teenagers have had alcohol before they turn 21. Mostly at parties or in the privacy of their homes. It's more so in public situations that it's enforced. First drink I ever had was when I was 11 or so? It was a champagne and orange juice thing to celebrate the new year. My mom has always thought it was easier to let us learn our limits at home then going out and getting into trouble.
My sentiments exactly. I have a 15 year old child who has been allowed to drink alcohol at family parties (within reason) for a couple of years, but I must admit I still worry about whether or not handling it at the age of 18 will be a problem.
Load More Replies...
Some Americans would rather show their their kids how to shoot a gun rather than give them a bottle cap full of beer... go figure..
well by killing machine, i assume you mean guns and guns preserve far more lives than they take
As per the CDC estimates of defensive gun use is between 500,00 to 2,000,000 annually and the CDC is not a gun friendly institution
Load More Replies...
Where healthcare is concerned, the United States has a very bureaucratically overloaded and wasteful system. It needs to be overhauled to make it more effective. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation reveals that the US spends more on healthcare per person than any other wealthy country in the world.
This number stood around $12,555 per American in 2022. That’s nearly twice as much as the average in developed nations ($6,414 per person). The issue is that even though the US spends so much money, the utilization rate isn’t much different from elsewhere. It means that you get less for each dollar than you would abroad.
Reasonable gun laws.
When it becomes "lavish" to expect that kids will come home from school every day, something is deeply wrong.
Rad architecture, lots of great food, exposure to a bunch of different cultures and languages without having to take a long flight.
Exposure to different cultures? My neighbors on one side are Korean, my neighbors on the other are from Myanmar. The couple 2 houses over is from India, on the other side is a Russian gentleman. The grocery store on the corner is Somali and next to that is a Sushi place run by Mongolians. And I live in the suburbs. What culture were you looking for? I haven't even gone over the restaurants.
Good cheeses.
OddConstruction116:
As a European that was what I missed the most, when I spent a few months in the US.
Hospitals in the United Sates are consolidated, meaning there’s less competition. There’s also massive administrative waste due and inefficiency. The US spends roughly $900 per person per year on administrative costs alone. That’s four times the average admin cost in other developed nations.
Overall, despite these costs, the American healthcare system does not perform better than in other developed nations. In fact, it performs worse in areas like life expectancy and unmanaged diabetes.
More time off. When my wife gave birth to our child, she had to use all her vacation and sick pay as "maternity leave". This was a government job.
I'd like to add: no high fructose corn syrup in pretty much every product must be nice.
Job security. In the EU, there are certain rules employers must comply with for terminations, including advance notice. There is also a works council process in some cases that employers must comply with before layoffs can take place.
In the US, they can pretty much terminate you same day in many cases.
I always find this a crazy situation. No wonder so many Americans are stressed out the whole time as they have to always be better than most of their colleagues to be relatively safe from dismissal. And it just takes a personality clash or your boss having a bad day to lose your job 😕
The ability to fly out to major world cultural and historical sites for just a weekend and have it cost relatively little. I did a study abroad program in London, and the ability for me to book a weekend trip to Berlin on RyanAir for like 40 pounds never got old.
Pretty sure some European countries have free university and that sounds nice, I wouldn't mind going back and learning more skills but it's crazy expensive here.
European here but Americans won't come up with it, so I'll help.
*the Erasmus program*
It isn't reserved only for Europeans (I met a Mexican girl and a Korean girl and plenty of Turks who are and are not European depending on who you ask) but generally it's mostly European centric program and a major privilege IMO.
For student exchange - you can broaden your studies and move to another uni to have an entirely different skill set than anyone in your coutnry. The system of international events is so well developed that you'll do things you've never dreamed of. Social aspect is also important. It's fun of course, but you also build an amazing network without having to be rich. You find a short event in Paris two years after exchange? No problem, your friend Pierre will lend you his couch. You get a monetary scholarship so you aren't really that worried about money you'll need to move. It's really amazing.
There's also Erasmus internship which helps with the problem of unpaid internships. As long as you're a student, you can take part in an internship and Eramshs will give money to you and your employer. They now have a reason to actually teach you and you actually get paid for your full time job.
Erasmus also does plenty of other shorter projects for younger and older people so it's not only reserved to uni students. The accommodation and food is usually paid and you do amazing things.
Access to ubiquitous and fast rail travel.
Since this is a German train in the picture: fast maybe, but not on time 😜
Affordable and effective public transit.
I love visiting Europe. I can pop on a street car, bus, or underground and get to where I need to go. No dealing with traffic, no money for gas, no worry about being late. Europe public transit is very time efficient.
Not just speaking of city public transit either. For the price of a tank of gas or two in America I can pop on a train and go through 3 countries.
Not to mention Japan’s public transit with the Shinkansen. Couple hours and you’re hundreds of miles away. It’s wonderful and very easy to do.
I don’t miss much about living in Japan, but my god do I miss the public transport.
Mandated employer supported vacations.
All these European government benefits are affordable because those countries are not obsessed with ruling the entire world. A huge military budget kills everything that might help America actually become great again.
Historical sites.
There were people here before 1492, and they built structures...even pyramids.
Long as hell lunch breaks.
I once worked in the US office of a French company. Folks in France would see movies on their lunch break. Some would play full tennis games, shower afterwards, then return to work. Some would go home and take a nap.
My lunch breaks: I consider myself lucky if I can squeeze in a quick walk, quickly jam some food down my throat, and maybe take a leak and then get back to work before folks start looking for me.
This misconception is common among Americans, for some weird reason. The usual lunch break in Europe is 30 minutes to an hour. Some places in southern Spain, Greece and Italy have a longer break, to provide shelter during the hotter hours of the day, but it is limited to a few regions, jobs and is not so common anymore. Something notable, Greece has at the same time the longest lunch breaks (up to 3 hours) and the shortest average lunch break (19 minutes) due to over 40% of the workers opting to skip lunch break and a further 35% opting to have just a 15 minute break, but go home earlier.
Excellent coffee and pastries in close physical proximity.
Especially when you leave near the french-italian border: you get the best viennoiseries and the best coffee in the same places. This is heaven to me.
Bike-able cities. When I lived in Munich it was a paradise for biking. I could take my bike almost anywhere in the city and region without much concern and I loved doing it. Not every city in Europe is like that obviously, and Munich is probably one of the best, but almost every major city I visited in Europe had a lot of people on bikes, and good infrastructure for it. Also intercity rail and bus travel. The US has both of course but just not in the same league.
Cubicle toilets. Public bathroom door gaps are uncomfortably wide.
Well, in the US we've decided that the war on drugs is so important that we need to take drastic action. No, not like invest in ending poverty or treatment programs or decriminalizing addicts. We just thought it was important to not give people a place to shoot up in public, and for that we're willing to watch other people take a s**t. It's called sacrifice! *insert crying eagle here*
I was gonna say those fresh squeezed orange juice machines in all the grocery stores, but I just read all the comments about healthcare and vacations and remembered I live in a delusional hell.
This is a thing in Spain. I have yet to see one here in Germany which makes sense because it's not like oranges grow in our climate.
Note: this post originally had 43 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
More than half of this isn't true or at least a huge majority.
Load More Replies...
About 24 hours after the last USA-bashing article. BP, even though I live in France, I am losing my will to continue reading articles on your site when all this looks like is that editors at BP have a personal issue with the US. Try taking a hot bath to relax or talk to someone. This bitter jealousy is so unbecoming.
Yeah, these articles seem more and more like Russian/Chinese propaganda...
Load More Replies...
Dear editors, especially Jonass. Sincerely and with a full heart I offer you a thorough f**k you and your brainless xenophobic threads about nothing. You're all pathetic and disgusting with this content. The majority of it's wrong and you repeat the same things. Your website is devolving into festering reddit reposts and xenophobic trash. Downvote
You know what Europeans have that is a luxury to American’s? Not being hated on by Bored Panda every freaking day. I’m not sure why I even read this anymore.
As an Americans who still goes on this app for some reason, go f**k yourselves BP “writers”
go f**k yourself bp is the the right sentiment
Load More Replies...
If you Google "sites similar to bored panda" and you're tired of being
Bashed by these clowns, check them out :). You're welcome
Load More Replies...
What I find funny, as a European, is that quite often you just try to nuance some of the points, and you get served the downvote with no explanation ^^. Not trying to praise the US or deprecate the European countries we live in, but there is a middle ground on some topics mentioned.
Not sure how that is funny. It why nuance of a comment is interesting. That's why you get the downvote.
Load More Replies...
Not sure how this is bashing. There is hardly a negative word in this post, rather it's a list stolen from Reddit in which (supposed) US citizens compare their subjective experiences of living in the US and another country. Given the size and diversity of the US, I'm not surprised that many US citizens' experiences differ - that doesn't make OP's experience bashy or untrue. It rather seems that those who consider these lists America-bashing rarely engage in critical discussion. I'll gladly make a list of things my country does not do as well as others/that the US does better and will not be offended if people agree.
Taken by itself, I'd somewhat agree with you. But this is a constantly recurring theme here on BP - and I mean constant. Over and over again. It's old, it's tired, and after a while, pretty offensive.
Load More Replies...
Americans wonder why the world makes fun of them then go vote for Trump, make it easier to get guns, and do nothing about mass shootings and rampant racism....gee, I wonder why we make fun of your country.
All that was said in this article about Europe is true. Strange how everyone is complaining about how often they are being reminded about the differences between Europe and the U.S. on this site. I can see how that frustrates Americans, but that doesn't make the articles untrue.
Hi! We're Bored Panda and we have a major inferiority complex. That's why we continually bash America and Americans. We hate them cuz we ain't them. It shows.
This is obviously a very European heavy audience on this panda venture, it is just too bad that you all live in controlled environments with limited scope. Get out more and look around, Europe, your country and your little village or neighborhood are not the only places on earth. Both sides of my family could see the narrow life lived there and packed up and came to a free country over 400 years ago. Your mind and viewpoints expand living here.
Mind you 400 years ago life wasn't easier here, just free.
Load More Replies... BP has no creativity, all they can do is steal reddit threads about how bad america is. I live here, and while it has its flaws, I love it, and I proudly wave the flag. There is no place id rather live than the usa, you xenophobic asswipes.
I know you hate education, but you MIGHT want to look up that big word you just tried to use... twice. You are the very definition. It was be funny if it weren't so nauseating.
Load More Replies... If the USA is so terrible, why do we have to build a wall to keep people out? If it was that bad wouldn't more people be fleeing into happy happy fun land (aka europe).
Read the news some day. We get thousands of people fleeing to Europe every day from Africa and the Asia.
Load More Replies... More than half of this isn't true or at least a huge majority.
Load More Replies... About 24 hours after the last USA-bashing article. BP, even though I live in France, I am losing my will to continue reading articles on your site when all this looks like is that editors at BP have a personal issue with the US. Try taking a hot bath to relax or talk to someone. This bitter jealousy is so unbecoming.
Yeah, these articles seem more and more like Russian/Chinese propaganda...
Load More Replies... Dear editors, especially Jonass. Sincerely and with a full heart I offer you a thorough f**k you and your brainless xenophobic threads about nothing. You're all pathetic and disgusting with this content. The majority of it's wrong and you repeat the same things. Your website is devolving into festering reddit reposts and xenophobic trash. Downvote
You know what Europeans have that is a luxury to American’s? Not being hated on by Bored Panda every freaking day. I’m not sure why I even read this anymore.
As an Americans who still goes on this app for some reason, go f**k yourselves BP “writers”
go f**k yourself bp is the the right sentiment
Load More Replies... If you Google "sites similar to bored panda" and you're tired of being
Bashed by these clowns, check them out :). You're welcome
Load More Replies... What I find funny, as a European, is that quite often you just try to nuance some of the points, and you get served the downvote with no explanation ^^. Not trying to praise the US or deprecate the European countries we live in, but there is a middle ground on some topics mentioned.
Not sure how that is funny. It why nuance of a comment is interesting. That's why you get the downvote.
Load More Replies... Not sure how this is bashing. There is hardly a negative word in this post, rather it's a list stolen from Reddit in which (supposed) US citizens compare their subjective experiences of living in the US and another country. Given the size and diversity of the US, I'm not surprised that many US citizens' experiences differ - that doesn't make OP's experience bashy or untrue. It rather seems that those who consider these lists America-bashing rarely engage in critical discussion. I'll gladly make a list of things my country does not do as well as others/that the US does better and will not be offended if people agree.
Taken by itself, I'd somewhat agree with you. But this is a constantly recurring theme here on BP - and I mean constant. Over and over again. It's old, it's tired, and after a while, pretty offensive.
Load More Replies... Americans wonder why the world makes fun of them then go vote for Trump, make it easier to get guns, and do nothing about mass shootings and rampant racism....gee, I wonder why we make fun of your country.
All that was said in this article about Europe is true. Strange how everyone is complaining about how often they are being reminded about the differences between Europe and the U.S. on this site. I can see how that frustrates Americans, but that doesn't make the articles untrue.
Hi! We're Bored Panda and we have a major inferiority complex. That's why we continually bash America and Americans. We hate them cuz we ain't them. It shows.
This is obviously a very European heavy audience on this panda venture, it is just too bad that you all live in controlled environments with limited scope. Get out more and look around, Europe, your country and your little village or neighborhood are not the only places on earth. Both sides of my family could see the narrow life lived there and packed up and came to a free country over 400 years ago. Your mind and viewpoints expand living here.
Mind you 400 years ago life wasn't easier here, just free.
Load More Replies... BP has no creativity, all they can do is steal reddit threads about how bad america is. I live here, and while it has its flaws, I love it, and I proudly wave the flag. There is no place id rather live than the usa, you xenophobic asswipes.
I know you hate education, but you MIGHT want to look up that big word you just tried to use... twice. You are the very definition. It was be funny if it weren't so nauseating.
Load More Replies... If the USA is so terrible, why do we have to build a wall to keep people out? If it was that bad wouldn't more people be fleeing into happy happy fun land (aka europe).
Read the news some day. We get thousands of people fleeing to Europe every day from Africa and the Asia.
Load More Replies... 
