"I assumed the equator was more or less at the upper edge of Africa/lower edge of Europe" - I've met Danes who thought along the same lines, so I'm not sure it's not a common mistake to make. Just as all of North America is north of the equator and all of South America is south of the equator; I guess it just seems more convenient that way.
On an unrelated note, nobody have explicitly mentioned the Gulf Stream or the North Atlantic Drift in the comments, so I figure I should point out the importance of this one when talking about the climate of We...
"Generally speaking, people are much too fast to try to explain [...] things in terms of cultural differences."
This is an important point I might have underlined if I'd written the post today. I think it applies to a lot of stuff besides the desired mode of transport problem.
My main point in this context would probably be that if you want to compare political- or societal structures and decisions - which many people seem to want to do even though it's very hard - you need to know a lot of stuff. Additional information makes it harder to maintain...
"The Equator passes through South America" - I know that. Ecuador's named Ecuador for a reason. My point was that people get both of these (Africa/Europe & North/South America) wrong.
If you'd read the last link in my post above you'd not have posted the comment you just did.