American tourist shares his thoughts on Glasgow after one month travelling in the city

Living in Glasgow, it can be hard to imagine how outsiders view our city on first impression - so we spoke to an American tourist travelling in the city to get his opinion.

Eric Boutin-Bloomberg comes from Houstoun, Texas, and is a PhD student currently making the most of a break from his studies by travelling around Europe and the UK.

After spending the month in Glasgow, he travelled up to Aberdeen and Inverness for a couple of days, and is currently staying in Edinburgh for a week ahead of visiting family in London next week.

Eric said:”I knew I wanted to go to Scotland, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be Edinburgh or Glasgow.

“After looking online and thinking about it for a while, I decided on Glasgow - it’s bigger, it’s less touristy, and there’s so much to see and do.

“I’m a big proponent of travelling in cities - spending a month in Glasgow really gave me the time to explore the city and really take it in - and I’m so happy I chose Glasgow.

“The city’s treated me really well, I’d love to come back one day - it sounds corny, but Glasgow is a special place for me - once you spend enough time in a place it becomes familiar in a certain way, and that’s what I love about travelling.”

The traveller has documented his experience in Glasgow through his Tiktok account @ericbloombergtravels - amassing hundreds of thousands of views from Glaswegians and outsiders alike.

Eric continued:”What I really liked about Glasgow is how pedestrianised it is - it’s a big shock coming from suburban Houstoun where everything is so car-centric.

“Obviously the people were amazing as well, and the free museums were amazing - it’s a huge difference from American cities.

“I’m a budget traveller, I’m a teaching assistant so my budget isn’t huge - so a lot of my travelling was walking around different neighbourhoods and getting a coffee or going to a local park.

“Exploring the south side and west end in particular was really super cool. I met a lot of cool people, went to a few bars and met some really interesting people.”

One of Eric’s most popular videos on Tiktok is his trialling of a traditional Scottish breakfast on Ashton Lane, which has 100k views, and involved him reviewing the plate - not before having to google what most of the food on the plate was however.

He called the square sausage incredible, tattie scone even better, and praised the beans as well - but he wasn’t too keen on the tomato.

Eric concluded:”The people in Glasgow were incredible both on Tiktok and in real life.

“The biggest difference between Houstoun and Glasgow is the focus on people - in Texas, it’s every person for themselves - but Glasgow was different in that way, and that’s the beauty of travelling - being able to see these differences.”