My family went back to Scotland for the first time in 6 years. The restaurants were allergy-friendly, and we were surprised by how friendly people were.

Nicole Findlay and her family enjoyed their trip to Scotland.

Courtesy of Nicole Findlay

• My family has dual US and UK citizenship and just went to Scotland after a six-year hiatus.
• We were surprised by a few different things during our trip.
• The restaurants were allergy-friendly, but there were a lot of cigarette butts on the ground.

I'm an American born to British parents. My husband is British and recently obtained US citizenship after living there for 10 years. When we had our son (who also has dual citizenship), we knew we'd spend significant time on both continents. However, the pandemic, finances, and busy schedules kept us from traveling internationally.

Recently, after six years away, we returned to Glasgow to visit friends and family. We knew the accent wouldn't be a surprise to our 7-year-old. His dad and a lot of my family have a heavy Scottish brogue. We also knew our little one would love the street art and the chocolate. But after being away for so long, a few things did surprise us.

People are friendlier

I had forgotten how lovely strangers can be. While on the bus to visit my grandmother in her new house, the driver and a fellow passenger happily helped us figure out which stop to take. A friendly ticket collector on the train paused to chat with my 7-year-old about his new Lego bricks, and locals greeted us with smiles, jokes, and tales about the last time they'd traveled to America.

When I asked my son if he thought the people in Glasgow were friendlier, he said, "They're like the people in Hawaii," where we also recently traveled with him. I'd never thought of it that way, but he might be right. Traveling to Glasgow does feel similar to the warmth (despite the cold temperature), generosity of time, and genuine welcoming feeling you experience with traditional Hawaiian hospitality.

Nicole Findlay and her family were pleasantly surprised by how friendly people were in Scotland.

Nicole Findlay

Chips (french fries) come with almost every meal, and the potato chip (crisp) flavors are better

My little one was pleasantly surprised that he could order chips — or french fries, to Americans — in almost every restaurant. He loves them, which isn't a shocker because most people do. They're bigger than most of the french fries we get back home, and our family much prefers them in the UK.

When it comes to crisps — or potato chips— the UK's also got America beat. Our favorite salty snacks are salt and vinegar and cheese and onion. But a few flavors were new to me, like haggis and black pepper, turkey and stuffing, and beef teriyaki, which were fun to try, and equally delicious.

Restaurants were more allergy-friendly

We live in California, which is generally a great place to live if you have food allergies. But Scotland took it to a whole other level. In America, when asking about allergy specifics for my son, servers often make a note on their notepad to pass along to kitchen staff. In Scotland, servers asked us if we had allergies before I even had a chance to inquire.

More often than not, Scottish servers passed me an iPad (or QR code) with detailed nutritional information for each menu item so that I could see the specifics about potentially dangerous ingredients in each dish. My child felt safe eating. And as a mom to a kid with food allergies, I found this extremely comforting.

Nicole Findlay's son enjoyed his time in Scotland.

Nicole Findlay

Everywhere is tap-to-pay

Tap-to-pay is everywhere — seriously, everywhere. Restaurant servers brought card machines to our table, and we also tapped to pay in shops, on trains, buses, and even in black taxis. My husband was surprised at how much this banking convenience has grown since we were last there.

We saw more cigarette butts and disposable vapes on the ground

In surveys in 2022, 15% of adults in Scotland said they smoked, compared with 9.7% of adults in California. My kid, who rarely sees cigarette butts on the ground where we live, got a kick out of spotting so many "dangerous" things.

While the cigarette butts surprised my son, my husband and I noticed way more people vaping. A 2023 survey on litter in Scotland suggested that single-use vapes were the fastest-growing litter item in the country.

Still, we loved every bit of our trip to Scotland and can't wait to visit again. Until then, we'll enjoy the bags of crisps we stashed in our luggage.

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