Major Faux Pas London Tourists Always Make

If you're visiting London for the first time, these are the cultural faux pas that tourists always make... try to not make them if you can! If you do, don't worry, it's ok :D

More tips for first-time visitors to London:

[WaniZame]

The Queue is sacred. Every Englishman observes the queue and will automatically subconsciously know to form one behind the person that was there before them. It’s inherent. Sometimes you skip the queue you’ll get a few stinking looks but sometimes you’ll be confronted and you can bet your bottom dollar every single person in that line will be backing the person who calls you out. It’s the same logic at pub bars. If you are at the bar and there is someone else there you make damn sure that if the bar person comes yo you first you either gesture that person was there before you OR you ask the person themselves.

[evas]

As an Aussie living in London for 18 years I’ve only found Londoners to be very friendly and helpful provided you aren’t in their face and being a social freak.

[peerkbh]

Good point about loud conversations. If you have a room with a hundred people and only two of them are American they are the ones you are bound to hear.

[TripHacksDC]

Walk Left - Stand Right. Keep spreading the good word!

[rachelel]

You forgot a super important faux pas: stopping RIGHT before or RIGHT after the barriers in the tube to take out/put away your Oyster card/daily tube card. This one drives me MENTAL.

[waziotter]

A couple more from an Irish man who has lived in London for 25 years...
If you are on a busy bus/train/tube, take off your backpack and keep it at your feet. It allows more people to get on.
If you need to stop in a busy street, do it to the side. Not in the middle of the pavement/sidewalk.
Please don’t take it personally if you you find it difficult to engage a Londoner in conversation. We aren’t (generally) rude. Just stressed and busy. We work the longest hours in Europe and have the longest commute. That’s why chat is at a premium.

[lndsyvghnbubert]

The line cutters get me every time. I almost got my butt kicked by a woman in Chicago because I actually said something to her. It’s just so rude and inconsiderate!!!

[johnwilletts]

I’m a volunteer tour guide at two historic houses in the North of England and enjoy meeting groups of American tourists. For me their greatest Faux Pas is the habit of ignoring the real history and wanting to talk only about movies. If I mention a movie that was shot there, they become awestruck.

[DS-uyjw]

You are really intelligent. I'm English and wish I'd watched this before i moved to London. Not a faux par but I'd add that the police and officials in general are very friendly and helpful. My Dutch friend was smoking a spliff when we asked for directions. The policeman gave us directions and pointed out he wasn't allowed to smoke it.after first offering the cop a go on it he realised the issue and dropped it. Cop laughed and told him to make sure it was out before he put it in the bin, not the pavement.

[markp]

Don't call Football 'Soccer'.

[mark]

We Britons tend to excel in passive aggressiveness - we will quietly seethe with absolute rage, but we're too polite to actually do anything about it. On the odd occasion if you push in, unless you're with family and friends, you will probably be told where the queue actually starts i.e. move to the back of the queue it really isn't worth the aggro. or a trip to the hospital... The conversation thing is regional Londoners tend to be a bit stand-offish whereas here in Sheffield we tend to enter in to conversation with anyone - it's usually a limited conversation at a bus stop etc. or just to say good morning to a passing stranger. As you move round the UK you tend to find people have different attitudes toward engaging with their fellow citizens and you've just got to roll with it.

[paulb]

Americans are always very noticeable abroad because in cafes/restaurant EVERYONE hears what their conversation is about!!! But the Spanish are also very loud and even talk at the same time. We British generally talk at a volume that only our table can hear although this can change with the amount of alcohol consumed!!! Enjoyed the clip!

[mscott]

Something that is commented on often is that tourists sometimes forget that the guards outside St. James's Palace and Horse Guards in Whitehall are real, trained soldiers, not Disney characters. If you get in their way they won't stop. Also, don't try to touch their drawn swords. It's disrespectful and dangerous. They may be on Ceremonial duties but they have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[norvanernorvaner]

Peter Ustinov: '''The Englishman, wherever his is in the world, even if he is by himself....He will form an orderly queue of one!"

[hughjazz]

1:10 the same happened to me but in the US during my first visit as a tourist. It’s was in a Home Depot in LA. As I finished shopping I went straight to the checkout desk and started paying, when I saw in my peripheral vision a huge, long L-shaped cue to this very checkout. I guess they all realized I was a silly tourist from a third world country and simply let me do my thing, without saying a word. Americans are the nicest, most polite and easy to talk to people I’ve ever met. I worked in Malaysia and in Ireland after that for a few years. These days I live between Dublin and Bristol, UK and I still think Americans are the nicest people on the planet.

[lestorhaslam]

Maybe I’m not a typical Londoner but I love chatting to people, especially our Yankee cousins.

[Claymor]

I live in London and never knew the cutlery thing, it explains a lot LOL. And the 'not wanting to talk' thing is very much a London thing, up North it's the opposite - you'll never get rid of them if you start.

[joannm.]

Jess I swear, your content is spot on. I think your An American In London perspective (sorry Paris) is so unique it really does keep me watching your videos. Besides the fact that it helps me immensely in planning my 2023 trip.

[mmartin]

"respect the queue" -- said no Italian, ever

[boatlover]

I lived in Washington DC for quite a while, all three things you mentioned for the London Tube are the same on the DC Metro. Interesting for some reason they wouldn't stand on the left and walk on the right since driving is opposite.