For me it would be the green landscapes in England— I took this for granted until I lived in various countries abroad. Nowadays, I really appreciate it as it’s beautiful and symbolises life.
I thought 50 shades of green and overgrown vegetation was pretty standard until I started travelling more internationally. I’ve since realised it’s mostly normal in regions with a mild, humid and rainy climate, with islands being overrepresented.
What about you?
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In Greece we have a great reptile and amphibian diversity.
Having people in the streets, for me it means having towns with “soul”
Being a kid and going to France with my parents was a sock when everything was close at 6 pm or so. Later I realized we were the expection, at least in the European context
The exceptional bike infrastructure. I had no idea this wasn’t normal until I started living abroad in a few places. I’d still do everything by bike while living in the US, South Africa and Russia… but it never felt quite right.
Direct democracy and generally the unique political system.
The proximity to water. Not just that we have a very long coast line but there’s lots of lakes ([97 500 seems to be the official number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_of_Sweden)) all around the country so there’s nearly always a body of water close by.
The traditional architecture. I used to not really value it much, because in my mind the old buildings I’d see in places like France and Germany fit the image I had of “European architecture” a lot more. But that’s because a lot of what I considered “European architecture” were the types of buildings I’d see in Mediveal-inspired fantasy. It wasn’t until I actually began studying architecture and art history that I began developing more of an appreciation for our traditional architecture, even more so when I studied abroad. The white walls and orange roof tiles commonly found in my region that I used to think were bland suddenly looked a lot more appealing to me. I realized there’s actually a lot of architectural variety throughout the country and that houses differ in appearance depending on the region. Nowadays I love exploring old villages and buildings in Portugal and take photos of details that catch my eye. I even purchased a book about a [specific architectural feature](https://www.sulinformacao.pt/2018/03/imagens-de-um-singular-algarve-as-platibandas/) found in a many traditional buildings in my region.
That I’m usually never more than 15 min away from a forest. Finland.
Our trains. People complain every time about them about the supposed fact they’re unreliable etc.
I don’t have a car, I use them a lot. Sure, there would be a a lot of things to improve like connections through our landlocked mountains (vosges, Jura, Massif central) like Rhône-Alps to Burgundy without passing by Lyon.
But a train being late is definitely rare for me. And going from A to B without stress, sitting on a comfy seat and looking at a window that isn’t a windscreen is for sure luxury.
The large forests in Germany here where you can hike. Thats one of the things I missed whenever I was in southern Europe for instance.
Maybe only in my region, but the ubiquitous red bricks that make every building here
How well lit the streets are at night! Most countries look very dark in comparison.
I just thought about it and – the lack of dubbing. Basically everything is translated with subtitles with the audio kept original (apart from children’s shows and Disney, but those are dubbed well so it’s not even noticable. Afaik only Netflix has awful dubs)
In Latvia at least I was shocked (I’ve lived there) how everything is dubbed, and not even well. The audio lines are on top of each other making both audios awful – especially as the Latvian audio is often just one guy speaking without interest as all the characters
Dirt-cheap internet/telecom. 3 euros for a mobile subscription with unlimited voice/data, 8 euros for 300Mb/s internet with no data cap. 1Gb/s isn’t much more expensive, but I don’t really need it.
Then there’s… erm… the food, I guess. Mom cooks wicked sarmale.
And also… other stuff. I’m sure there’s other stuff.
Mobile data is very cheap and reliable. It’s not uncommon to pay 6-7€ for 200-300GB of data. Most people use a modem with a sim card.
The ocean is always close in Denmark. Nowhere can you be any more than 66 km from the sea. And we have a huge amount of coastline for how small the country is.
When not close to the ocean, I get a peculiar feeling of claustrophobia.
The cold weather. I went to the US in the summer and it felt like nothing I had ever experienced before, the heat got to me QUICK. And all that was after spending my entire life moaning like “why is Scotland so rainy and cold and miserable!?”
Walkable cities and public transport. Whenever I go to the USA for work, I’m reminded how awful, lonely and restrictive American suburban life is.
Fall. The darkness and the quiet in the countryside.
Good public transport. The buses and trams are clean. Almost always arrive on time. You can buy a ticket with an app or in a kiosk inside the bus/tram. We have an app that tells you what you need to get on and when to get somewhere. You can easily live without a car here.
What a great thread.
I’m really enjoying reading everyone’s answers.
Access to the countryside.
A lot of city people have some sort of weekend home, like a small house [like this](https://i.imgur.com/gNBHLRB.jpeg), usually just a couple small bedrooms, no heat insulation or heating, it’s exclusively a summer place. Often there’s no running water and the toilet is outside.
Everyone goes there on weekends when the weather is good, which means that cities (especially Vilnius) get quite empty.
Best ones have a sauna and are near a lake.
The fact that the uk doesn’t get extreme weather – extreme heat, hurricanes, massive snow storms and huge floods. I know we do floods sometimes. But nowhere near the extent of other countries.
Who would’ve thought it? A Brit not complaining about their weather!