Outside of the UK, almost no one makes the distinction between 'continental' Europe and those islands on the coast of France.

Also, that water between England and France? Most of the world refers to it as 'the Channel', while the British tend to refer to it as 'the Atlantic'. Both are correct, of course, but it does show how significant the British find that 4 mile wide gap.

I'm British and I have never heard anyone call the Channel the Atlantic. I'm not saying your generalisation is wrong (there does seem to be a very us|them mentality here) but just thought it was worth a note - in fact, we call the tunnel, The Channel Tunnel.

Nobody has a monopoly on exceptionalism.