An Overview of Great Britain

I’ve been to Great Britain in 2012, and spent more than a month there. I landed in Luton airport (near London), spent a few days in southern England, and then travelled north, to Wales, then Scotland, before returning to London. I had the best of times there.
Before going to Britain, the idea I had of the British people was that they were polite but a little bit snobbish. I was prepared to face that, so I was positively surprised when I came across with very polite, very nice, very smiley and very funny people, not snobbish at all. It made my entire experience a much better one.

It’s really hard, because everything was “upside down” from what I’m used to. But, since the British are the best drivers I’ve ever seen, it was easier than I expected. They keep safe distances, don’t honk to other drivers about anything, and are very respectful. And that is great, because we were driving on the left side of the road and that was really confusing, so I can’t imagine being able to spend an all month with no accidents, if they were like many of other European countries’ drivers.

We tried fish and chips and it's good enough and not very expensive. The supermarkets sell already made sandwiches and that's nice too, because there are a lot of gardens, parks and other spaces for picnics, so we just bought some sandwiches and made picnics and that was very pleasant. They also have a lot of Indian food counters, where you can buy some affordable fast food. I love their cheddar cheese!
Analysing the “real” food: we went to “nice” restaurants twice. Both times we regretted it. The food didn’t taste very well and it was really expensive. But, in our 4th or 5th day, someone suggested that we went to one pub to eat. We were surprised, we didn't know they served food in a pub, but went anyway. It was the best suggestion ever! The food in English pubs is amazing! And not that expensive! We drank some pints and stouts and ate some nice chicken and it was great! We started going to pubs more often to have dinner and never regretted it. I just can’t understand why they don’t serve the "pub food" in their restaurants.

General cost in Great Britain

Since everything is paid in pounds it makes daily life there very expensive.

It is, generally, a very clean country and they take really good care of their cultural heritage. A lot was destroyed in the past but now there are at least two organizations that manage things and they are doing an amazing job.

Great Britain is very beautiful. Especially the Scottish landscape, which is amazing! All the lakes and castles, everything is just breath-taking. Great Britain is very green, and has a lot of fauna. It was one of the things I liked the most. We could find squirrels, geese, rabbits, and a lot birds everywhere. For my 8 year old daughter, at the time, that was magical. She still talks about all the squirrels she saw and fed there. One of the greatest thinks about Great Britain is the way they take advantage of their open spaces, gardens, palaces and estates.

In Portugal we are used to the sun, we take it for granted, so we don’t enjoy it as much as we should. Whenever it is sunny you can find Portuguese people at home or in the shopping centres, and the gardens and playgrounds are almost empty (or just non-existent). In Great Britain they really enjoy the sun. Whenever it isn't raining (and sometimes even in the rain), the British leave home and enjoy the many open spaces, parks and playgrounds they have. People will just be reading sitting on the grass, having picnics, walking their dogs, or playing with their kids in the playgrounds. And that's a great way of living.