Things You May Want to Know Before Visiting the UK

I was chillin in facebook when I encountered this note in one of my workmates wall, his name is Paul, now somewhere in London, His a very bright dude, a monster in his field, funny and down to earth. 

Being able to speak English fluently doesn't always mean you would be at home at an English-speaking country. Here are some terms, phrases, ways and norms you will be encountering throughout your stay in the UK:

1. "Chips" is the British equivalent to "fries" and the normal chips we have in the Philippines is what they call "crisps"

2. Don't ever ask for "load" in a store if you want to add prepaid credits to your mobile phone, ask for "top-up" instead.

3. "Move down" is a common phrase used when they want you to walk further away towards your present direction of travel.

4. Debit cards are more commonly used than credit cards to avoid paying a surcharge. All debit cards have microchips that are inserted to a reader and not swiped.

5. Shoe sizes are half-an-inch less than the conventional American size. If you usually buy 9-size shoes in the Philippines, then get an 8.5-size in the UK.

6. If nobody informed you yet, vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road and drivers sit on the right.

7. Buses display route numbers but be mindful of the direction it is travelling to. You might just end up reaching the North when you are trying to go South. You will need to "request stop" or wave to the driver just like flagging down a jeepney in the Philippines. In other European countries, the bus will automatically stop if there are passengers waiting on the bus stop. Also, to avoid embarrassment, never try to request stoppage for a bus showing "Not In Service" even if the route number is still displayed.

8. Americans call it "subway" but UK residents would rather call it the "tube" since a subway is an underground walkway for pedestrians. They are not big fans of the overpass.

9. A "till" is a cashier or counter.

10. When travelling by train, "calling at" means "stopping at" and unlike the tube, long distance trains don't always stop on all stations along its way. Always read the route monitors.

11. They pronounce PANTENE as "panten" and GREENWHICH "grenich"

12. London is heavily inhabited by Indians, Pakistanis and Africans. Bago makarating dito, ihanda na ang ilong sa kanilang amoy.

13. "Cheers" means "thank you" in most occasions. Other slangs include "ain't it" that sounds like "INIT"

14. Ukay-ukay is not only prevalent in the Philippines, they also have it here in the form of a carboot sale (about a hundred cars gather at an empty field, equivalent to a rice field, filled with second-hand items.

I will have more to share next time. Thank you for reading through."

It was really interesting how our culture differ from one another, yet we all mean the same things.

We call it here in the Philippines "TANGA" moments when your in a situation, and you know your about to do something stupid and you realize it after.

I remember we went to Camarines Sur for the Ad Congress. Since its my first time, there are a lot of fail moments, lost in translation and decisions that had been pretty messed up. 

The good thing is, You learned your lesson, that's the greatest achievement you'll ever had, another thing that you could do is share it! Like my friend Paul, he created a list, a little piece of his mind based on his experiences.

Keep it up Paul! see yah in the Olympics!