I’ve never noticed a particular difference in how people drive in the US vs. Canada. I’ve also driven in the UK, which seemed similar, and New Zealand, which was May on the South Island, and there weren’t enough other people around to observe their driving.
In some parts of the world, clinging to the sides of trucks, busses and trains was an acceptable mode of transportation.
Peru, too.
This was weird. I’m used to many countries not supplying toilet paper. You either carry some with you or pay a little bit to a restroom attendant (who also cleans the restroom). But even somewhat mid-market restaurants in Peru had toilets without seats, forcing you to squat or sit on the narrow bare porcelain. What the hell? Also almost none of the bathrooms had soap.
Soviet toilets were the same. I also found it odd, but the amusing book “The USSR… from an Original Idea by Karl Marx” pointed out that your bowel movement was one of the few things that was more varied and colorful in the Soviet Union than in the West.
More to the point was that in the 10 months I was in the Soviet Union in 1990-1991 I found toilet paper for sale twice. Once was when I was on my way to the U.S. embassy. The Marine guard who checked my knapsack asked why I had a dozen rolls of toilet paper. I explained that I had gone through the line twice (because there was a limit of 6 rolls per customer).
There are just so many meanings, SO many ways a post like this could have gone! 
During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, many westerners were exposed to the wonders of Russian bathrooms. Much was made of notices requiring toilet paper to be deposited in wastebaskets after use and not flushed down the toilet, which seemed like quite a charming practice, especially for the wastebaket-emptiers. Some were speculating that they must have really crappy plumbing, so to speak, but I’m pretty sure the problem was not the plumbing but the paper.
There might not have been any truth in Pravda or news in Izvestia, but they were good for something.
This. And not just in Japan. When I visited the AT&T factories in Madrid and Hilversum, they both had excellent coffee machines, with fine espresso drinks. And employees in the Hilversum factory had smart cards which not only were used to pay for the drinks but also specified the amount and type of cream and sugar that went into it.
This was over 20 years ago. When the hell are we getting this?
I’ve always noticed the totally different attitude towards alcohol. Beer and wine are cheaper than soda and water, and there isn’t the American puritanical attitude towards getting wine in a fast food restaurant or something.
And tiny - though good - coffees. My German son-in-law took a while to get used to free refills in the US.
No, the US was in the lead nearly half a century ago! The Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) had the world’s first (and probably only) computer-operated vending machine. Called the Prancing Pony (named after the room it was in – all the rooms were named after Lord of the Rings stuff) it let you buy stuff from your computer terminal. You would get billed monthly through an amazing means that hardly anyone had heard of at the time, called “email” (short for “electronic mail”)! 
I have conflicting feelings about them, but they have their benefits, one being much less splash.
Over 20 years ago? Then what you got out of the machine may have been barely considered coffee by local standards. Now lots of factories have The Old Coffee Machine (which may even be free) and a vending machine with Nespresso caps, sandwiches, sodas…
Spent 3 weeks in Bavaria (or southern Germany). Breakfast is often made up of cold cuts, cheese and bread. Or at least that was always offered at the little hotels we stayed at. Eggs where not usually offered. You had to ‘pay to pee’ as you need a Euro or so to enter a public bathroom. BUT, for instance the public bathrooms at the Munich train station where immaculate. Private stalls, and basically, each ‘sink’ was a little ‘grooming’ station with power to plug in your electric razor or what have you.
I’ve never really used public transport in the USA. But in Germany, they REALLY ran on time. To the minute.
Oh, and they take their beer very seriously in Germany, and it was very, very good. At one hotel, I went down to the bar to get a few beers to take back to the room, I was given the beer, and a special type of glass to be used with each different kind. And, the barkeep said “We are closing soon, if you want more just get it out of the refrigerator, and write what you took and your room number in this book”.
Yeah, the breakfast you’re describing is a “continental breakfast,” and I see it quite often here in the US, too, though less often with cheese and cold cuts and more just sugary stuff and cereal. But I’ll see meat and cheese here, too, from time to time.
Thats because they KNOW how an espresso should be served.
I love the islands…
tsfr
Breakfast in Holland (and also staying with Dutch people outside Holland) bread and cheese - with the cheese cut in thin slices with a Dutch cheese slicer.
Continental breakfast of a different kind:
Key & Peele - Continental Breakfast
The last bit is not a surprise. Anyone who lives in NJ knows of the two major corridors in the state and is quite familiar with the location of various exits.
The running joke here is “You’re from Jersey too? What Exit?”, hence the name of one of our fellow Dopers. (It’s 7A for me.).
Besides, when you enter the Turnpike you come to a divide where there is a sign saying “Turnpike North, New York; Turnpike South, Delaware”
What do signs for the M25 motorway around London say? I imagine that all Londoners are aware where the road goes.
As you get out of the major metropolitan areas, highway signs do indicate where the road goes. A sign for I-90 in South Dakota would say “I-90 East, Sioux Falls” and “I-90 West, Rapid City”
I did notice a great difference between UK and US driving (besides the side of the road used): the UK drivers were very well disciplined with regards to their lane usage.
On the aforementioned M25 I was surprised at how in multiple lanes people never drove faster in the slow lanes and vice versa.
Americans do drive whatever speed they want in any lane, with a vague notion of going faster in the left lane. There is a significant subset of society that says “I’m going ten over the limit, so you can all stuff it” and holds up traffic on the left (fast lane). I suppose that individual would not be tolerated in the UK.
One of the biggest differences in both Europe and Japan is that the price shown on the menu and on the shelf is the actual price you pay. No tipping and any sales tax or VAT is included.
Exposing your bare feet in some countries in public is viewed as a major faux pas, especially when the bottoms of your feet are exposed.
I’ll often prop up my bare feet on a chair seat in outdoor cafes around Europe, but when I went to the Middle East, I got a LOT of negative attention. I was younger and ignorant back then (early 20’s). I was informed about the rudeness of it by a kind woman who was sitting nearby.
Considered extremely rude in Spain as well, not because of the “bottom of your feet” thing but because feet do not belong on chairs.