We ate at McDonalds in London all the time. Where else you gonna get a burger?

Wimpy!

AAAAgghhh. Americans abroad.

When in Tokyo, my traveling companion insisted on going to the 'foreign quarter' just to see if MacDonald french fries tasted the same. (they did...which, to my way of thinking is a bad thing...homogenization of culture, etc.)

In Denmark, I literally ran out of a restaurant in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush as a truly obnoxious couple.

In Norway, my seatmate on the train...a lovely woman of probably 75...sneered Americansk in the direction of a drunken Elder Hostel group that came on board at the top of their lungs. She scootched over me in a protective sort of way. I was honored.

Not all the Americans I have bumped into elsewhere were aweful, but honestly, the percentage was pretty darned high. Makes me weep for my kind.

I can wanting something familiar if one is feeling overwhelmed. Then, braced, going forth to wallow in foreignness again.

Eh, I've seen rudeness and embarrassing behavior by lots and lots of folks all over the world. Americans don't have rudeness trademarked.

I can totally imagine getting thoroughly overwhelmed with all the new food choices when abroad, and occasionally needing to retreat to the familiar. If you were to ever find me in a Starbucks in Venice, that would have been precisely what happened. If you find me in a McD's in another country, it will be because I am intrigued at the cultural differences. In fact, I am intrigued at the differences in McD's in different regions in the U.S. - having found out that they serve more seafood in the ones in Maine, for instance. It's not like I go there more than once a year when at home, anyway.

I'm really curious what they serve in McD's in India, where cows are sacred.

edit: Heck, go in, take a picture of the menu board, then leave.

Wimpy!

Having eaten there, NO. McDonald's burgers totally better.

Having said that, the hotdogs at Leicester Square are hands down better than anything I've ever eaten in the US. You people should be shamed.

Hard Rock cafe in London

This is actually the original Hard Rock, it isn't an American company, people seem to forget that.

My favourite American tourist story concerned a New Jersey couple visiting the Acropolis. They scale the hill to gaze upon the Parthenon, jewel of Classical Athens, and the husband - puffing and red-faced from the heat and the climb - stares at it, eyes bulging in disbelief. Finally, he complains to his wife:

"I don't know WHY we bother coming to these places! All of their buildings are falling down!!"

And as he turns to stomp back down to the city, he delivers his parting shot:

"AND they're only copies of OUR buildings anyway!!"

"AND they're only copies of OUR buildings anyway!!"

Ima start claiming to be Canadian, even before I go traveling. Sheesh.