When I lived in Lebanon, I missed:
big box stores. I know, people hate them; but it really isn’t fun to have to visit five hole-in-the-wall computer shops to find the monitor you want. I’m all for one-stop shopping.
decent bookstores
cheap delivery from Amazon.com
Nevertheless, the advantages still far outweighed the disadvantages for us, which is why we are probably (90% chance) moving back to the Middle East this summer.
Might do just that later today! 
Heh? I have one in my office. This one. Costs $14.47 + shipping on Amazon.com. I got it at Target or Sears or something. They’re pretty plentiful.
Oh yeah. Samoas. You can only get the good ones from those damn girl scouts. They’re like drug dealers.
Clearly you’ve never travelled in the south of Spain. The fresh-squeeze OJ in Seville was squeezed on the spot from local oranges, ridiculously delicious and usually the same price as a cafe con leche (much to The Boy’s delight, as he had an upset stomach for most of our stay and couldn’t handle coffee… I, on the other hand, reveled in good-quality espresso shots at a euro apiece)
Things I miss when I’m not in Canada:
You had me until the mushy peas. Ewwww.
What I missed most when I was in England were real honest to God hamburgers. I don’t know what Wimpy’s served, but it wasn’t hamburgers. It might have been my imagination, but even McDonald’s didn’t taste like McDonalds.
cheese
girls who don’t wear high heels every day
bread that isn’t white and with the crusts cut off to boot
pants that fit my big american ass and shoes that aren’t agonizing
cheap fruit and vegetables*
being able to efficiently solve my own problems
a horizon without power-lines
Not sure how silly all of those are… but definitely important!
Amen to that one…
*I saw a zucchini at the store for the equivalent of US$3. No, not $3 a pound. THREE DOLLARS PER MOTHERFUCKING ZUCCHINI.
I’m not getting what’s so exciting about an electric kettle. The one linked at Amazon looks like the Hot Pot I had in college, way back in the dark ages, before we were allowed to have microwaves. We used them to boil hot dogs or make hot drinks. Today, I have a whistling tea kettle on my stove and it serves all my boiled-water needs.
In the spirit of “what I’d miss if I left” … I’d miss exactly what Gomiboy doesn’t miss: Complete strangers telling you their entire life history, including diseases, miscarriages, divorces, etc. Hello, yes, I am from the South and require all the details of every last bit of your most private business. 
I agree with those that mentioned store hours. Why the hell must every little store around here have its own hours (often not posted anywhere I can find) and everything closes on Sunday.
Amusingly I was complaining about the lack of convenience around here to my wife and she couldn’t even understand where I was coming from.
Oh my life’s blood for a Taco John’s…or even a Taco Bell if I must.
Grape…grape anything! I’ll show you what you can do with that Blackcurrant flavor and it isn’t pretty.
Spelling words without extra 'u’s thrown in. See ‘flavour’ above.
Going to a store finding the cheese section with a wide array of different types of cheeses instead of “Cheddar mild, Irish Cheddar Mild, Welsh Cheddar, Strong but mild Cheddar, Medium Irish Cheddar, Welsh Medium Cheddar etc etc etc oh and some Caerfilly as well” I just guess this country cares about it’s cheddar selection above all else.
Buying meat (or cheese) without worrying about where it’s from. “Honey is Irish pork better than Scottish?” Seriously why would I care?
Reading a paper that doesn’t suggest that any attempt to make people work for their money isn’t some sort of evil suggestion. The paper we get runs articles like “Scandal! Council suggests bill that would lower benefits for unwed mothers with children over 8 that don’t work!”
I didn’t say they were exciting, just handy and not terribly common in the US. A few of my friends do have them in their dorm rooms, but in my (limited) experience, if you want to buy one and it’s not Back-to-School season at Walmart and Target, you’ll have to do some searching or order online.
Oh, I’d forgotten about that! My first day in Europe, in Dublin, I unwittingly bought a bottle of what I assumed was grape soda, as it was purple, and for my prior nineteen years of life, purple beverages were invariably grape-ish. I was thirsty and I love grape soda, so I took a big ol’ swig and very nearly spat it out. It was Ribena. If you’re expecting the delicious, sugary, vaguely-grape carbonation of grape soda, and you get blackcurrant juice instead…it’s even more foul than it usually is.
OK, Americans who want an electric kettle: here ya go. Wal-Mart has them. I bought two of the first one on the page. One for home, one for work.
We’ve had threads about this in the past. Yes, you can find electric kettles but it’s uncommon. Americans have automatic coffee makers but not general purpose water-warmer-uppers. We use a regular tea kettle and the stove top for that.
I’m getting into this posting kind of far down the line, I was getting tired reading about all the things that people miss. The things I missed slowly got to be fewer and fewer as more time went by. By the end of 20 years, the list was quite short. From the USA to Japan, I missed:
BBQ sauce
David’s Sunflower Seeds
Going out to eat and getting just beef in a burger.
American clothing.
I did not miss:
Christmas. (It is a one day affair in Japan, not the commercial marathon it is in the US.)
One thing that I thnk no human being should ever have any reason to long for is the stuff called Vegemite. If you miss that, maybe you shouldn’t have left! (disclaimer: I say this of course just to get under the skin of my Ozzie friends and mean no offense to the general public.)
Oh, I don’t miss the toilets. I never felt comfortable with them - the water level was way too high and my lifetime of experience in low-water toilets made me consistently fear the pipes were blocked up. I never once used a toilet without secretly fearing it was going to overflow. :smack:
We spent about 5 weeks in Washington state last year. What I miss (other than my friends) is: Jack in the Box (yum!), US-style biscuits (it was like having damper available everywhere - wicked!), onion rings, and supermarkets that stay open late. Most of all, the glorious Autumn colours, how green everything was, the gentle, cloudy skies, the wet*, and the softer sunlight. 
God, I miss it.
[QUOTE=Darkhold]
Going to a store finding the cheese section with a wide array of different types of cheeses instead of “Cheddar mild, Irish Cheddar Mild, Welsh Cheddar, Strong but mild Cheddar, Medium Irish Cheddar, Welsh Medium Cheddar etc etc etc oh and some Caerfilly as well” I just guess this country cares about it’s cheddar selection above all else.
Get thee to a supermarket my friend, take your pick of all the cheeses on offer…gazillions of 'em and not just Cheddar.
You certain you’re in Manchester?
When I was in Mexico, I bitterly missed well-marked streets. And highways with shoulders.
Good bookstores.
Readily available maps.
Grocery stores open late.
Laundromats.
I did NOT miss:
Smoking restrictions.
Overpriced hotels.
Cops who’ll bust you for any little thing.
That was nice, chowder. There will always be an England… (I miss most of that stuff, too–I like the UK. Could I move there and then miss American stuff?)
Stuff I think I’d miss if I lived in UK or Europe (my imaginative scope is somewhat leashed these days):
hot showers that go on forever
front porches with swings
iced tea
lots of ice in my drinks
economy sized grocery products
road signage I can understand
not having to pay to pee in a public place
cab drivers that just take you where you want to go instead of berating you about your country of origin’s foreign policy and wealth etc.
laundry detergent in English/Spanish instead of Chinese or similar
flat or minimally rolling hills with wide open blue sky all day long
violent thunder storms/hail storms/blizzards
barbeque
biscuits as a bread product at a meal
cookies–real American cookies, drenched with chocolate chips, nuts and loaded with refined white flour, sugar and nothing good for you.
Dairy Queen ice cream cones
yes, even baseball news–at least news about the Cubs
Really bad small business TV ads: “I’m Homer Fudd and I sell cars!” sort of thing
newspapers with American focus
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
That was nice, chowder. There will always be an England… (I miss most of that stuff, too–I like the UK. Could I move there and then miss American stuff?)
Stuff I think I’d miss if I lived in UK or Europe (my imaginative scope is somewhat leashed these days):
hot showers that go on forever…We have these y’know
front porches with swings…but very few of these
iced tea…Yup, got this
lots of ice in my drinks…and this
economy sized grocery products…these as well
road signage I can understand…and these
not having to pay to pee in a public place… :dubious:
cab drivers that just take you where you want to go instead of berating you about your country of origin’s foreign policy and wealth etc. ::cough, cough::
laundry detergent in English/Spanish instead of Chinese or similar…got this
flat or minimally rolling hills with wide open blue sky all day long…got the hills, not the sky
violent thunder storms/hail storms/blizzards…Oooh, we get some stonking storms
barbeque…only in summer
biscuits as a bread product at a meal…nope
cookies–real American cookies, drenched with chocolate chips, nuts and loaded with refined white flour, sugar and nothing good for you…got 'em
Dairy Queen ice cream cones…nope
yes, even baseball news–at least news about the Cubs…nope (Thank Og)
Really bad small business TV ads: “I’m Homer Fudd and I sell cars!” sort of thing…we have crappy ads
newspapers with American focus…some American coverage is unavoidable
Try a supermarket.
See post 55