The opinions in the following comments are based on visits to small and medium sized towns in Canada rather than large cities, and of course there are certain to be many exceptions to these very general comments.

• Although both countries have Dollars and cents, their currencies are different - both the notes and the coins. Canadian banknotes have a very different design to American, but Canadian coins are very similar to American.
• The rate of exchange for the two currencies is quite different; for example on 12-Nov-97 the US Dollar was worth 0.60 UK Pounds (60p) and the Canadian Dollar was worth 0.43 UK Pounds (43p). It is important to remember the difference in the exchange rates when comparing prices in the two countries.
• If you are visiting the USA then be sure to obtain American Dollar travellers cheques. If you are visiting Canada then be sure to obtain Canadian Dollar travellers cheques.
• Based on visits to small and medium sized towns, Canada, particularly rural Canada, tends to have a rather old-world atmosphere compared with the USA - but that isn't necessarily a bad thing of course. Also, there are plenty of small American towns with the same old-world atmosphere. Compared with towns of the same size in the USA, we feel that the pace of life is somewhat slower and more relaxed in Canada, and as a general rule there are more older buildings in small Canadian towns than in similar towns in the USA.
• Prices for most things are a little higher in Canada, even allowing for the difference in exchange rates. In particular, petrol (gas) is quite a bit more expensive in Canada. In June 1997 we paid the equivalent of an average of 0.195 UK Pounds (19.5p) per litre for petrol in the USA and the equivalent of an average of 0.266 UK Pounds (26.6p) per litre for petrol in Canada. These figures take into account the difference in the exchange rates for the two countries and the fact that in the USA petrol is sold by the US Gallon while in Canada petrol is sold by the litre.
• Canada has budget motels and fast food chains, but their penetration is less than in the USA. This is largely explained by the considerably lower population density in Canada.
• All official signs in Canada are in both English and French, except in the Province of Quebec where signs are only in French. English is the predominant language other than in the Province of Quebec.
• Whereas the USA uses Imperial units (miles, gallons, etc) Canada - at least officially - uses metric units (kilometres, litres, etc). Canada would appear to be somewhat further down the road to metrication than Britain, but I imagine that the same split exists in both countries between older people using Imperial units and younger people using metric units. This seems to be borne out by conflicting reports of the degree of penetration of the metric system from various Canadian correspondents. Conversions
• Canadians use the British date format (dd/mm/yy, i.e. day/month/year), whereas Americans write dates in the mm/dd/yy format (month/day/year).

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