# Ask the Scottish lady about her solo US trip **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958 "2017-08-28T21:17:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/81 "2017-08-30T20:15:13Z")
> [@Remember\_me](#): > > Well, I would say some go from floor-to-ceiling and the rest does indeed have a gap. But the gap at the bottom is noticeably smaller in Europe compared to the US rest rooms I visited. I just sneaked into my office rest room with a folding rule. Here, the bottom gap is 15 cm (so about half a foot). > But the more important difference, at least for me, is that there is no see-through-gap along the doors. In many restrooms in the US, there is a small gap of maybe 5 mm on each side of the door that you can (only just) look through. In Europe\* this gap is usually closed. I may be mistaken, but I thought it was common knowledge that the gap was to allow easy surveillance by vice squads to deter illicit drug use and ‘public’ [homosexual encounters](https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-gay-stings-police-20160527-snap-story,amp.html) (yes, as recently as 2014 :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/82 "2017-08-30T20:36:20Z")
I hope ^ that is a whoosh, because there is nothing in the cited article - or any other to my knowledge - that supports the gaps = surveillance “theory” ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/83 "2017-08-31T00:52:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > One of the things I miss about California is never having to worry about being tailgated when I’m on a motorcycle. Eh? What!?!? **Johnny** , I know from previous threads we’ve shared that you’ve basically left behind an area pretty close to where I’m living now. How long ago did you leave? I ask because not a week goes by without me commuting to work and thinking (or shouting inside my helmet), “Mister, just because you can see right past me doesn’t mean you can drive right through me. We’re doing over eighty in a 65 zone with four lanes, so why the hell are you pushing me to go faster when you can go around on either side of me?!” –G! Highway Patrol’s got his eyes on me. Nobody’s thinkin’ that it ain’t good! …–Tom Johnston (Doobie Brothers) …_Rockin’ Down the Highway_ …Toulouse Street ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/84 "2017-08-31T15:36:45Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > You’ve got to remember that we get exposed to an awful lot of American culture through films and TVs, so most terminology is understandable to us. Fine, but I like translation mishaps. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/85 "2017-08-31T16:03:28Z")
I chuckled over “nipped to the loo.” I would imagine that sounds like a completely different language to a lot of Americans. Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/86 "2017-08-31T16:17:02Z")
_Loo, loo, nip to the loo, Loo, loo, nip to the loo, Loo, loo, nip to the loo, Nip to the loo my darlin’_ ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/87 "2017-08-31T19:44:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _Loo, loo, nip to the loo, > Loo, loo, nip to the loo, > Loo, loo, nip to the loo, > Nip to the loo my darlin’_ I’m so glad mine wasn’t the only brain to get this song stuck immediately on reading. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/88 "2017-08-31T19:48:24Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I chuckled over “nipped to the loo.” And “dual carriageway” was a bit of a giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/89 "2017-08-31T19:51:53Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > I ask because not a week goes by without me commuting to work and thinking (or shouting inside my helmet), “Mister, just because you can see right past me doesn’t mean you can drive right through me. We’re doing over eighty in a 65 zone with four lanes, so why the hell are you pushing me to go faster when you can go around on either side of me?!” People going faster than I was riding was an issue that never came up. Of course if traffic was slow, I avoided people getting too close by simply riding between the lanes. . ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/90 "2017-08-31T20:07:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And “dual carriageway” was a bit of a giveaway. Good point. What do you call a road with two lanes either way and median down the middle? It wasn’t an Interstate. I used the term because in the UK, on a “Motorway” you never have to cross the carriageway - ramps and bridges will deliver you to where you need to be. On a “dual carriageway” you do have to drive across the traffic. What would be the equivalent US terms? ---
**Author:** ![Gladys\_Overnow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gladys\_Overnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gladys_Overnow)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/91 "2017-08-31T20:22:37Z")
Travelling solo! I’m curious. Can see it in my future. By personal preference or just work,out that way? Have you done it before? Is the US easier or harder to do solo? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/92 "2017-08-31T20:38:46Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > It used to mean a fifth of a gallon but now refers to a 750 ml bottle. Also called a ‘metric fifth’. We used to, and a lot of people still do, call it a 26er in Canada (as in ounces). As far as I know we’ve never used “a fifth.” Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/93 "2017-08-31T21:07:17Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > Good point. What do you call a road with two lanes either way and median down the middle? It wasn’t an Interstate. > > I used the term because in the UK, on a “Motorway” you never have to cross the carriageway - ramps and bridges will deliver you to where you need to be. On a “dual carriageway” you do have to drive across the traffic. What would be the equivalent US terms? Hmm, good question. I always assumed that “dual carriageway” was roughly equivalent to an interstate highway; access is by ramps and cross traffic goes over bridges. Now it sounds like you’d call that a “motorway”. I learn new things here all the time. With that in mind, I think the American equivalent of “motorway” would be “divided highway”, and “dual carriageway” (a road with a median, but with intersections and crossing traffic) would be a “parkway”. But I wouldn’t say we use either “divided highway” or “parkway” in a really technical, well-defined sense. I’m sure traffic engineers could cite chapter and verse about different types of roadways, why you’d want one over another, and what they’re called; but for the rest of us it doesn’t matter much, we just get on and drive. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/94 "2017-08-31T21:32:36Z")
> [@Gladys\_Overnow](#): > > Travelling solo! I’m curious. Can see it in my future. By personal preference or just work,out that way? Have you done it before? Is the US easier or harder to do solo? Well, I’ve been single for nearly ten years. I love travel far too much for that to stop me doing it. In that time I’ve been on vacation with a friend many times, I’ve been on vacation with a guy I was dating, but the majority have been on my own. Sometimes I’ve joined an organised tour, sometimes independently. This was the most ambitious trip I’ve done solo. It has some great advantages. You just do exactly what you want to do, when you want to do it. No arguing. I once saw a great argument between a couple on a train on Majorca (“Well, what side of the train did _you_ want to sit on?”), and I just sat and thought how great it was to not have to worry about such things. It does take a bit of balls. I’m comfortable sitting at a bar and striking up a conversation. I don’t feel awkward booking a table for one in a restaurant. And these days it’s so easy to research and join small group tours where appropriate - so I joined a family of five on an airboat tour of the Louisiana swamps near New Orleans; did a music tour on a vintage bus in Memphis, that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/95 "2017-08-31T21:37:46Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > We used to, and a lot of people still do, call it a 26er in Canada (as in ounces). As far as I know we’ve never used “a fifth.” > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk For spirits in the UK a “bottle” is 700ml. A “half bottle” is 350ml. There is a smaller 200ml size as well, which of course is a fifth of a litre. Hence my confusion at “fifth”. It was also notable that convenience stores could sell beer but not spirits. Over here you can either sell alcohol, or you can’t. And I just loved the term “adult beverages”, which I’d heard before, but assumed was in a slightly sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek style. So when cabin crew started saying that “adult beverages” were available, it tickled me. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/96 "2017-08-31T21:48:53Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > It was also notable that convenience stores could sell beer but not spirits. That isn’t even a US wide answer. Alcohol sales are managed at the state level so there are multiple different legal schemes. We do it to keep tourists confused 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/97 "2017-08-31T22:03:14Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > It was also notable that convenience stores could sell beer but not spirits. Over here you can either sell alcohol, or you can’t. It varies by state here. I grew up in Washington; beer and wine could be sold in grocery stores, but hard liquor was sold in state-run stores with no promotion or advertising. (It may have changed since I moved away.) Massachusetts has a law that any particular business can only have a limited number of licenses, so for a chain of grocery stores a few of them might have alcohol sales, but most don’t. Sales hours are limited, but depending on where you live you might be able to drive across a state line to where stores are still open. And counties and towns may have their own laws, such as only selling alcohol at restaurants to patrons who also order a meal. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/98 "2017-08-31T22:16:58Z")
> [@](#): > > What do you call a road with two lanes either way and median down the middle? It wasn’t an Interstate. I’m in the US, and call it a “divided highway”. [Signs](http://www.trafficsign.us/w6.html). Not that I ever heard any term at all used IRL - just no reason to specify in any conversation I’ve had. I only call it a divided highway because that’s the label on the signs. I can’t even recall if I saw a sign with words IRL, actually, or if I got it from a driver’s manual when studying for my permit. Definitely have seen the yellow sign with picture. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/99 "2017-08-31T22:33:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It varies by state here. I grew up in Washington; beer and wine could be sold in grocery stores, but hard liquor was sold in state-run stores with no promotion or advertising. (It may have changed since I moved away.) Massachusetts has a law that any particular business can only have a limited number of licenses, so for a chain of grocery stores a few of them might have alcohol sales, but most don’t. Sales hours are limited, but depending on where you live you might be able to drive across a state line to where stores are still open. And counties and towns may have their own laws, such as only selling alcohol at restaurants to patrons who also order a meal. Ah, of course, counties have their own laws too! My trip included a visit to the Jack Daniel’s distillery, and I was warned more than once that I wouldn’t get a tasting as part of the tour because it’s a dry county. Thankfully, you now can - but only if it’s unusual variants, presented in an “educational” manner. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958/100 "2017-09-01T00:23:25Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > On a “dual carriageway” you do have to drive across the traffic. What would be the equivalent US terms? The warning signs at intersections in my area say “divided highway”, but that’s not really a term you hear in conversation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-scottish-lady-about-her-solo-us-trip/794958.md?page=6)