Mind The Gap

Thoughts on a recent trip to the United Kingdom

I visited England last month for about 8 days, with most of my time spent in London. I had been wanting to go to England since I was a teenager. Partially it was because of the colonial significance/hangover, a fascination with the place that most kids growing up in Pakistan have (or had) before the age of internet. The urge to go there was intensified by the 1999 Cricket World Cup which was held in England and Pakistan had one of the best (probably the best-ever for the country) world cup team that year. There was a competition started by Pepsi where they asked for lids of Pepsi glass bottles (then in use in Pakistan) to be sent for a lottery and a few people were to be sent on an all-expense paid trip to England. I collected those lids religiously and sent them to Pepsi. I saw the live drawing on TV, and my heart dropped anytime the name they picked out wasn’t mine. I never won that lottery. I was 12 years old.

My second opportunity came when I was at Cadet College Batrasi. Our Principal (a retired Brigadier of Pakistan Army) had made some arrangement (or was in process of doing it) for an exchange program with a similar school in England. In 2003, there was an all-Pakistan competition including debates, quiz, and sports, at Cadet College Kohat. I was part of the contingent since I twice topped the internal quiz competition. Brigadier sahib promised us that if we bring back a gold medal, he will send us to England on the exchange program. I won the quiz competition, despite being the youngest competitor. When we got back, Brig sb reneged on his promise, saying that he had wanted all of us to win gold medals, to fulfill his promise. Another chance spurned.

Then, when I was in medical school, I had initially wanted to pursue post-graduate training in England, since most of our Professors had trained there. It was only later, when I realized that there were not enough training spots in the NHS, that I abandoned that idea.

The last chance I got, while still being in Pakistan, came in 2015-16 when Husain Haqqani and Dr. Taqi organized a conference in London with most of Pakistan’s “intelligentsia”. I was deemed to be part of the group and got the invite for an all-expense paid weekend long conference. I applied at the British consulate, and after a month, told that my application was denied. The reason was wishy-washy, and I didn’t apply that ruling. I wasn’t the only one whose visa application was rejected.

It was only in 2023, after I had acquired a U.S. passport that I first got to London, albeit for less than 24 hours. I was with my family, en route to Pakistan and we spent the night one bus stop away from Heathrow airport. I met my friend, Bilal, whom I’ve known since 1999. He took us to a Hounslow area Pak-Afghan restaurant for Lunch. For dinner, a group of friends accompanied me to another Desi restaurant in Southall. I didn’t get a chance to visit London proper, since we didn’t have enough time.

In 2024, we had initially planned to visit England, but our plans had to change, due to unforeseen circumstances. Eventually, I ended up going to England in May 2025. I spent most of my time in London, with a day trip to Hastings, and an overnight visit to Manchester. Following are a few observations from my visit:

Size, does it matter?

I found everything to be smaller than I’m used to in the U.S., the roads, cars, houses, fridges, even vegetables and fruits; the only large or grand structures were train stations. Part of this is probably because everything is big in the United States.

Trains, planes, and automobiles

I did most of my traveling on trains and buses. Since the train stations were humongous (and unfamiliar to me), I had plenty of confusion while navigating the transit system. On my first day in London, I wanted to visit a part of London where I was going to attend an event. I followed Google maps to the station, but ended up on a train to a different city! It took me a few minutes to figure out I was heading in the wrong direction, but the earliest I could change the train was about 40 minutes away. I headed back, found the right station and arrived just in time for the event. Apparently there are more than one ‘Paddington’ stations.

Among other things that I notice regarding transit, both the entry and exit points required a transit card unlike in NYC (but like the DC metro), most places had signs for “Way out” versus Exit in the U.S., there were signs to “Stay on the left” in the stations which is the opposite of what happens in the U.S., on newer trains you sometimes have to manually press a button to open/close the doors. I also found way more people wearing cologne/perfume on the tube and buses than in the U.S. The typical British ‘subtlety’ was evident in the tube where it read, “Obstructing the doors can be dangerous” versus in NYC subways where you are commanded “do not hold doors”.

There were also narrower, double-decker buses, both in London and in Manchester. No such thing in the United States.

Yankee wins

The American branding was on fleek. I saw various people wearing clothes branded with, in no particular order, Oklahoma, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Yankees, and a gazillion variations on New York City, including “I love NY” shirts. Is that because this merchandise is ubiquitous (mostly made in China or Vietnam), or is it because London doesn’t need this level of material marketing? I didn’t see a single item of clothing, outside of souvenir shops, that stated ‘I love London’. That warmed my heart a little bit as a newbie New Yorker.

Culture shocks?

All plastic water bottles had attached lids, not detachable like we get stateside or even in Pakistan. I am not sure what the significance of that is (likely less need for recycling?) but I grew into liking it. As the cliche goes, British people love to queue. It was great to see. I saw a lot of European cars on the streets, unlike in the U.S., where the majority is Asian brands (Toyota/Honda/Kia/Hyundai), U.S. made (Ford/Chrysler/Chevy etc) or German cars (BMW/Mercedes). The streets were littered with MINI cars (an electric version of which I leased last year in the U.S.) and a litany of European auto makers that I had rarely, if ever, seen in the U.S.

One peculiar thing was that I couldn’t find paper towels in rest rooms, anywhere that I went, which is very different from the U.S. Similarly, I found very few places to fill up water bottles, unlike the U.S. where most large structures (train stations - but not subway stations - airports, and hospitals) have plenty of places to fill up bottles. Maybe because water is privatized? (Fuck Maggie!). I also found a lot more smokers on the streets than I usually find in New York.

I saw some ATMs where you can get cash without a fee (impressive!), never saw anything like that in the US. In terms of people I saw on the streets, I found a lot more brown, south asian faces, than I see in New York. What shocked me even more was religious verses being played out loud in Arabic on Oxford street, the “high-end street” of London. I also saw a lot more shuttle-cock burqas in London than even in Lahore.

New York City is infamous for a big population of homeless people. London had its fair share, but not as much. This one time, I saw a barely middle aged woman unconscious on a sidewalk and people walking by, a gentleman called an ambulance for her.

Linguistic idiosyncrasies

Americans are always fascinated by colloquial British phrases or words that mean the same thing as ‘American English’. I grew up in Pakistan with ‘British English’ all around me. Even for me, an adopted American with some British familiarity, I found some peculiar words while I was across the pond. In the grocery story, I found that what we call crackers in the U.S. are “savory biscuits” over there. Similarly, “main till” was where I had to check out at a big name store.

Sun sets on the Empire?

One of my friends asked me what I thought of England, while I was there. I compared the country to the famous red telephone booths littered around London. A former glory, now surviving as the husk of a once-mighty empire. England is still the sixth largest economy in the world, but it is not on the upward swing as of now.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed the trip, where I got to explore many cities and saw many friends. I attended a live podcast, of which I’ve been a listener for 15 years, and also attended a music concert (more on that later) at the O2. Good memories all over.