2026-06-20

One amusing side note from having FIFA in the USA (and specifically
games in Texas) is the absolute explosion of popular tiktok videos
of "Europeans first time at Buc-ee's" all in a short period of
time.

These videos have always been around the internet but with so many
FIFA games in states containing Buc-ee's, it is reaching peak
popularity.

For those that don't know what Buc-ee's is...well it's kind of hard
and silly to explain why it is so popular. It is essentially a
gigantic gas station. There are 100+ gas pumps that you can fill
your car with at a single location. There is a fully air-conditioned
convenience store on-site that averages 74000sq ft (6800 sq meters).

the store itself sells a ton of restaurant quality hot food prepared
on-site including Texas BBQ. It has hundreds of bespoke snacks that
are only found at Buc-ee's and of course any type of drink that
you could want to drink including alcohol (which cannot be consumed
on-site). Buc-ee's is also known to have the cleanest bathrooms
for a gas station and of course each bathroom is absolutely massive
with up to 24-50 locking toilet stalls per gender.

It is essentially a gas station convenience store on steroids with
unique one-of-a-kind food and merchandise that isn't sold anywhere
else.

As a native Texan, Buc-ees is of course no big deal to me personally.
The one context I want to add is that Buc-ee's is not in every
state in America.  It is actually only in 12 states. So in-fact it
is not just Europeans that have these extreme reactions to visiting
Buc-ee's but it is also my fellow Americans. Buc-ee's is unique
even in America. So when Europeans say that Buc-ee's is the most
"American thing ever", to me it is actually more accurate to say
it is the most "Texan thing ever" as the entire Buc-ee's franchise
was founded in Texas and everything about it screams Texas.

As a closing note, the things that locals find commonplace and
mundane while foreigners find amazing and extreme is a shared
universal human experience.

It will never not be amusing. You only have to watch videos of
Americans traveling to Japan to see the American side of that trend.
The fact that Japanese people routinely get on Shinkansen trains
going 150-200mph every single day is mind-blowing to my American
mind. The only mode of transportation that goes that fast in America
is an Airplane. Like we just don't have anything like that.

Is the Shinkansen more or less mind-blowing than a 120 pump gas
station that serves fresh Texas BBQ brisket in a 74000sq ft
convenience store?

Depends on where you are from :-P