My Oxford trip was also my first one out of the hemisphere since moving here (actually, properly out of the country, even), and I found myself surprised by the weirdest things -- that I was expected to bag my own groceries, that the bread sold in supermarkets was not sliced (but *was* tasty), that cars did not observe pedestrian right of way -- which was all rather embarrassing, since I'd grown up with all that stuff.

We've been trying to find a good excuse to go to Aruba -- from everything I've heard, it sounds like paradise on earth -- but getting there from the West Coast is such a pain, especially when compared to the proximity of Hawaii, which is practically next door from here...