40 Ways to Spot an American Abroad

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This is another huge giveaway. Here in the US, we may pick on people for wearing socks with sandals, but odds are the socks themselves are a giant white, uh...red flag whether you're wearing them with sandals or not. White socks scream both tourist and tasteless, for that matter.

Wearing White Socks

By now, who doesn't know the rule of no socks with sandals? If you don't want to look like a huge nerd, please, for the love of all things, STOP. People across Europe and in the UK tend to wear darker socks, and if you're wearing those white numbers—especially if you've got them pulled way up onto your calves—you're an American.

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Did you know...

  • Minnesota might say that it's the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," but Canada has it beat. The country as a whole has over three million lakes. That means Canada has 60% of the world's total number of lakes within its borders. It must seem like paradise for people who like to fish or boat!
  • Even though it is spread across five time zones, the entire country of China is set to Beijing time. Having a single time zone in the United States would certainly make things easier. Currently, the USA is spread across six, but a single time zone would make things a little wonky in Alaska and Hawai'i.
  • You've heard of the phrase "wanderlust," but do you know the German word "fernweh"? It means "far sickness" or an intensely strong urge to travel. The next time you feel the need to head out on a road trip, you've got a case of fernweh. And the only cure is to travel somewhere new!
  • The surface area of Pluto is just under 6.5 million square miles. The CIA Factbook lists the area of Russia to be just over 6.6 million square miles. That makes Russia bigger than Pluto (and much closer to visit). Are you still very upset that Pluto isn’t a planet anymore?
  • There are over 61,000 people on a plane in the air over the U.S. at any given moment. That makes sense because the U.S. has one third of all the airports in the world. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world with over 100 million total passengers every year since 2015.