My son and I spend half the year in France. His biggest culture shocks are the Coca-Cola, the gas stations, and the tiny roads.

16.07.2024 - 09:26 / insider.com

I spend about half my year in Europe , an arrangement that's existed for the last few years mostly due to my partner's job as an international basketball trainer. The perks are tough to beat, and my work as a journalist means it's easy to jump on a flight as long as I have my computer with me. My teen son joins us frequently, mostly made possible because he homeschools and agenerally likes to travel.

Despite coming and going to and from Europe frequently, my son is always surprised by a few key differences between life in the US and life in France . And I don't mean the obvious things, like outlets (we have so, so many adapters) or the ease with which we can jump on a train in Paris and be almost anywhere in the city where we want to go in under 30 minutes; no, I mean the things that really matter to a teenager (or at least to mine).

If there is one thing all three of us agree on, it's that, for whatever reason, Coca-Cola in France is the best Coca-Cola any of us have had anywhere else in the world (so far). We rarely drink it at home in the States because it always feels too sugary, but in France? We are drinking Coke multiple times a week. There is something so refreshing, so very nearly clean about it.

Don't get me wrong: I am pretty sure that at the end of the day, Coke in France isn't any better for us than it is in the US. But I do know that one of the things we talk about before we head over, while we're on the flight, and again as we are getting on the train or settling into our first Uber after arriving, is sitting down at a café and enjoying a glass of Coke.

This summer is the first one we've rented a car and spent significant time driving throughout France. We typically stay in Cannes and Paris and often fly or take the train between the two. This experience has come with a startling experience: Shell gas stations in France are wildly more clean and comfortable than they are in the States; in fact, they're even borderline beautiful.

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I am sure I can't speak for every Shell station in America, but by and large, the ones I have frequented are small and usually dirty, and you're lucky if there's more than one restroom stall. To contrast this, we've encountered Shell stations that boast not one, not two, but three separate restaurants or cafés, Starbucks coffee stations, bookstores, the cleanest gas station restrooms with at least 10 stalls, and dining areas that can hold around 30 people.

Another favorite fact about France is that when purchasing bottled water (which is super popular in the country even though tap water is totally safe), you can rip open the plastic packaging that encases 12 bottles and just remove one — and you can buy just that one. This never