British culture goes beyond tourist attractions like Big Ben. Courtesy of Flickr
By Pasquale Gianni
There are countless things one could say about London, a global city perhaps only rivaled by New York City on a world scale. It is historic, charming, expensive and gigantic. I saw, of course, all the main attractions: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The Tower Bridge, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe and St. Paul’s Cathedral, and they were all quite impressive spectacles. Instead of rattling off about these sites like a tourist manual, however, this article is going to take a different direction. As a writer, one who travels and relates his experiences, I must be honest and forthright in relating my personal take. So, quite truthfully and simply put: I have never before seen a country as pretentious as the U.K.
Before you get offended, allow me to explain.
Travelling to Great Britain is a much different experience than going to any other EU member state. For starters, The Schengen Agreement, brokered in 1995, sought quite successfully to abolish travel borders within the European Union. This measure got rid of customs and passport controls within Europe and unified the travel visa process in order to comply with primary aims of “free movement of goods, services, capital, labor, and people.” The U.K., of course, managed to secure an “opt-out” of this agreement. In addition, the Brits were able to find themselves in a position to opt-out, once again, this time in the early 2000s to the unified currency adoption (the Euro) and instead still operates on its own British Pound Sterling. You might ask why Great Britain has stood firm against adapting to the core principles of European integration, thus completely undermining the purpose of joining the European Union, but the simplest answer comes down to the fact that the British will always remain the British.
The country does do a lot of things right, and remains a world superpower. As far as recent history is concerned, the U.K. has been considered a crossroads between the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. and U.K. have long been, and will always remain, incredibly strong allies: from WWII to the Reagan Era to the recent Iraq War. At the same time, the U.K. has long stood as a leading moderate voice in Europe (with Germany placed firmly to its right and France to its left).
There are still many nice things I can say about the place as well. London is an attractive city despite the crummy weather and average, yet improving food. For starters, the shopping is incredible; everywhere you look there are upscale shops in this very fashion-conscious town. The parks are plentiful and luscious green. The history and architecture are admittedly fascinating. It is useful to note, though, that the city itself is an incredible urban sprawl which calls for long commute times. English cuisine, typically characterized by English pub food (fish and chips, English pies) is nothing to write home about. The booming international food scene, however, is quite good: Chinese, Middle-Eastern, Indian, Japanese, Italian and so on. So, like many things British, the allure of it came from elsewhere.
London impressed me, but like traveling anywhere in the world, it is important to come with open eyes, and to see the good and the bad. As a traveler, it is quite difficult to not have a good time in London as it has just about everything to offer. And I am being generous here by ignoring the absolutely brutal and ugly history of the country and only focusing on the present. Exceptions aside — because I do know many upstanding and polite Brits — the country needs an attitude adjustment. Even the little things are frustrating. The airport controls were, unnecessarily, the strictest I have ever seen; they made me take every item out of my shaving kit, and whatever toiletries I could not fit into the smallest Ziploc bag known to man had to be disposed. And while some may find the backward driving ways of the British to be cute and comical, I find it quintessentially British that they refuse to join virtually the rest of the world and drive, figuratively and literally, on the right side of the road.
So when the country votes in 2017 to remain or withdraw from the European Union, I hope they vote themselves out because they are not willing to be part of such an inclusive, collaborative and civilized organization committed to making the world a better place. The British Colonial Empire is a thing of the past, but do not tell that to a Brit. The sun has set on the Empire, but the afterglow still blinds too many eyes.
