I am state side!

Well, that is the law.

Person to get to the 4-way stop intersection first has the right-of-way. If two cars get there are the same time, right-of-way goes to the car on the right.

We have some roundabouts. I don't like them. Around here, they take twice as much time as the simple stop sign intersection. I will admit though, watching a F350 Extended Cab try to squeeze around a small roundabout is quite comical. I think the size of our vehicles makes roundabouts a bit tricky here unless the roundabouts are HUGE. But then they take up too much room.

I think myth busters did a stop sign vs roundabout test!

http://m.autoblog.com/2013/10/07/mythbusters-four-way-stop-roundabout-video-poll/

We have mini double roundabouts here. That's a MINI roundabout 2 right next to each other

Anyway I digress.

Your bread is sweet!! At least the whole grain loaf I picked up to make toast with is! Not good...

And I tried a biscuit. Its not like our biscuits lol.

everything is sweet here if you don't make it yourself. They even put corn syrup in ketchup.

Well, what you call biscuits we call cookies. What we call biscuits are more similar to your scones or other pastries.

And yeah, bread bought from the store is sweet - corn syrup keeps it moist and people in the US tend to like sweet things. Can you tell I worked at a bread company for a while? Bread from local bakeries tends to be much better, but more expensive than the standard wrapped stuff in the grocery store.

I wish we made more use of roundabouts here... I really liked them in Ireland and Scotland... they make so much more sense to me!

Packaged bread here is super sweet... and gets wet in the toaster. Weird, right? I'd definitely recommend getting bread from a local bakery where they make it in house.

Definitely be weary of ingredients. Unlike the UK, almost everything is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup unless otherwise mentioned on the packaging.

Have you tried many American foods? Maple syrup (real maple syrup, not "syrup") is SO good on our pancakes, good BBQ restaurants, etc?

I'm happy to hear you're having a good time! I love traveling internationally!

It seems like there is some corn product in almost everything.

Anyway, yes... Everything is sweet here. Even things that aren't suppose to be sweet.

I just buy whole wheat bread which has no corn syrup. I've heard that American food is sweet compared to elsewhere.

Dang I can't seem to find the mythbusters video. I don't like roundabouts, at least the big ones. People are nuts and it's just too dangerous sometimes when they switch to the right lane to exit while you're trying to get in (Place de L'Etoile anyone? YIKES). I do like the 4 way stops better, even though they left me totally dumbfounded at first, lol.

Packaged bread, it drove me nuts, it gets all wet when you toast it, I mean, wth? Even if it has no corn syrup it often has sugar in it though. I guess I got used to it, I never really noticed (but I never ate much packaged bread in France anyway).

DON'T use your left foot. Keep it jammed on the dead pedal off to the left. I've slammed HARD on the brakes in so many car going for the clutch.

Yes! I've avoided this (usually slamming my left foot into the floor instead of the brake) but my husband has done it a couple times and it's quite a shock.

I've driven now, lots. Such bizarre driving lol

You can undertake and sit in which ever lane you fancy on the motorway. Odd odd. Going to be a bit nerve wracking when I have to do it on my own :yikes:

I still don't fully understand all the lanes and intersections. Oh well!!!!! Will muddle through!!!! And get beeped at a lot. Oh I've only tried to drive on the wrong side of the road once so far too

I'm not staying in LA now. Arranged to stay with my friends mum in San Clemente, so probably more preggo friendly than a hostel in Santa Monica! And I'm now staying 2 nights instead of 3 so I can have more time on the coast chilling out

Vegas is HOT. And crazy. Almost unnecessary at times! But funny, and fun to people watch (well, I can't drink can I...!). I haven't even gambled yet... That's today. Mostly I wake up silly early and want to sleep by 9.30pm lol!! ROCK AND ROLL opcorn:

NO! on 2 lane, right is for traffic, left is for passing, pass and move over. If you're moving faster than traffic and someone faster comes up behind you, move over when you can then when you need to move back left to pass.

So many don't get it. there's signs everywhere, slower traffic keep right and so many just plunk down in the left lane and sit. Knock it off!

3 lanes, right is for traffic, slow and merging and exiting. Middle is for straight thru traffic, and furthest left again is for passing, not to sit in because there are less cars over there

Huge pet peeves of mine.

Well that's how we drive here (you can even now be fined for driving in the wrong lanes!!) and undertaking is a big no no. And I HATE HATE HATE people who sit in the wrong lane. HATE VENOMOUSLY!!.

But I can assure you on the 6 hour drive we did yesterday no one was observing those rules here!!! No one except me of course

oh, it's true, most drivers here are complete ****ing morons drives me nuts. and then you find the ones that will sit in the left and after 15 miles there's a huge break in the right and they just sit there, so you undertake and they speed up till you're blocked in by the next set of cars, then slow down. Like they're some speed limit police.

I'd like to see every one of them pulled over and fined double a speeding ticket for impeding traffic. They seriously screw up traffic patterns and make everything more dangerous and they're so blissfully unware or just that big of an asshole they don't care

It's against the law here too in a lot of states, doesn't always make much difference.

Yeah here people don't care about staying on the right side of the road either. Drives me a little nuts, to be honest. Slow people in the middle or left lane drive me nuts.

I don't know if it's a regional thing or not though, but here in most places you can turn right if you have a red light and there's no traffic coming (obviously). Might be why you've been honked at.

you can always turn right on red, unless stated otherwise. Of course after you've come to a stop and the intersection is open, otherwise you must yield to all other traffic

In Oregon, you can make a left on red onto a one way street. Most people only do it one way to one way, but it is apparently legal to go from a 2 way to a one way .

Just added to add to the confusion. Don't do it anywhere else.

I don't even know what to update! I'm in California now have been for a few days. I'm taken back by how much I like it here too!!! I stayed near Laguna beach. And have just done the mega drive up highway one and my first stop off alone! The drive was great! Well. LA was not great, as I wanted to see venice beach, and the traffic was mental. Venice beach is mental. Like utter madness!!!!! I didn't stop long, just enough to eat and leave!

The coast is pretty. I took a bit of a detour away for awhile and went inland, and that was just as nice. Loved it! Rolling hills and vineyards.

I'm at my motel now, and I'm happy with my first America motel experience!! To be fair, I've paid extra for a posh "boutique motel" and I'm glad I did it's lovely! Strange being on my own for the first time in a week!!

Observations so far.

Omg filling the car up with fuel is a traumatic experience every single time.

At home - pull in to pump. Insert nozzle. Fill car up. Go to shop. Pay. OR pull up to pump. Insert card and PIN number. Fill up car.

Here.... Arrive at pump. Try to fill up. Wonder why it won't. Ask man in shop. Man in shop asks how much fuel I want. I have no idea??!! Man in shop tells me to pay at pump and enter code. I explain I don't have a code. Man says I need to pay for fuel up front and enter code. Explain I don't know how much I want and I don't have a code. Man takes my credit card and driving licence. Realises I'm not local, calls over manager. Manager finally says oh you won't have a code! Go fill up and come back and pay here.

It kind of runs like this every time, except now I hand them my card, say I don't have a zip code and I will fill up then come in and pay of they will unlock the pump. Seems to be working..... They clearly don't trust you with fuel here!!!!!

Otherwise I'm having fun I might even go in the sea tomorrow if it's warm enough and I'm going to find moonstone beach and collect rocks!

Welcome to California! Is it warm enough? We're kind of going through a heatwave right now.

If you pay in cash, gas is a little easier. You can go inside, give them cash, fill up, and go back in to get your change (if there is any).

It's perfect. After driving through the desert which was 41c (107f) it's heaven