Here in the UK, many of our towns and cities are connected by an impressive network of trains. A Brit who used Australian transport system for the first time was wowed by one feature
A British woman on a working holiday in Sydney, Australia was pleasantly surprised after getting on a train and spotting a “cool” feature – but many people were quick to point out it may not be as unique as she thinks. Despite both the UK and Australia sharing the same native language, there are many differences and culture clashes between the countries.
It can be an incredibly enriching and enlightening experience to live abroad, even in destinations that still speak the same tongue. Many people choose to go travelling around the world, or take jobs that offer them the opportunity to live in a different country, getting first hand experience of contrasting cultures and other ways of life.
This appears to be the case for Megan, a British woman who’s moved to the Bondi area near Sydney in Australia, on a working holiday. Working holiday visas are typically for younger people – usually aged 18-35 for UK citizens – and allows them to live and work in the country, on a flexible basis, for up to a year.
Like lots of others, Megan has taken to documenting her experiences on social media, regularly offering snapshots of her new life on TikTok.
In one particularly popular video, Megan shared her awe over the Sydney trains, which feature adjustable seats that can be flipped so they face forwards, backwards, or sideways. This then allows passengers to sit facing others.
Over the top of the footage, captured from her point of view and showing how to easily adjust the train seat, Megan penned: “As a Brit in Australia, this has baffled me…”
In the caption accompanying the clip, she simply added: “Their trains are so much cooler here lol!!”
The video has so far racked up more than 4.6 million views. In the comments section, people were keen to share their thoughts – with many adamant this was a feature here in the UK.
One person said: “This is very old technology. We used to have seating like this on trams over a hundred years ago. I know because I’ve been to Critch Museum.”
Another agreed: “Trains used to be like this in England”.
A third said: “British trams 100s of years ago did this” while a fourth echoed this: “Trams had this over 100 years ago in Scotland.”
One TikTok user simply said: “Blackpool trams were like this.”
Another shared: “I was on a literal steam engine built in the early 1900s last summer and they had this lol”.
Another joked: “When does this update drop in the UK?”
A local said: “As an Australian this has baffled me too because this is just a Sydney thing”.
Another local was surprised and commented: “TRAINS CAN DO THAT HERE..?”
Someone else observed: “Wait this is so cool”.
Another shared: “I (a Brit) once discovered this on a train in New York by accident and got the whole train of Americans doing it after hahaha”.
And another added: “As an American, I thought all trains did this”.