Content Warning: The book contains potentially offensive language, stereotypes, and assumptions. In particular, the author occasionally and incorrectly uses the terms “English” and “England” to signify all of Great Britain.

Bryson discusses the difference between the British conception of distance and the American one: On a small island, distances that would seem easily traversable for an American are unacceptably far for a Briton. He also discusses his purpose in taking on the trip around Great Britain: After living on the island for 20 years, Bryson has decided to return to the US with his wife and children. He wants to take one final tour around the island before leaving it.

Thus, he begins in Calais, the French city across the English Channel, so that he can approach England as he initially saw it from the water back in 1973. He reminisces about his earlier experiences, sleeping on a bench in Dover before finding affordable lodgings. He found a modest boardinghouse run by a Mrs. Gubbins, who instructed him on the rules of the house. Bryson found the rules complex and bewildering, accustomed as he was to motels in the US. He was acutely puzzled by the proprietor’s use of the term “counterpane” to indicate a bedspread.