European Travel Annoyances — how do you deal with them?

Maybe it's where I live but I've never understood the infatuation with "having" to have air conditioning. I think some places are over-the-top with its use. I recall taking the train at Dulles airport and the AC was on so strong that I felt if I had licked the pole I was hanging onto, my tongue would have frozen to it. How did I deal with it? I didn't lick the pole.

The smoking, I agree and we tend to avoid eating outside at some places as well.

But the biggest annoyance is all you tourists getting in my way when I try to push myself to the front of the line to take my selfie at all of the must-see sites. I have learned to try and plan my day for earlier or later to avoid the crowds as much as possible.

“ What are you annoyed by”

Truthfully? Well, I’m annoyed by people who group all of the countries in Europe and all the Europeans together and who based on one experience say or write things like “In Europe they…” or “Europeans do…” when they actually mean “In France they…” or “Norwegians tend do be….”
Also, I don’t understand how cramped plane seats is a European problem.

Also, I don’t understand how cramped plane seats is a European problem.

Because in order to get there (Europe) typically we need to fly on an airplane. I suppose we could take an ocean liner, but that would take a while.

Note I am asking about European TRAVEL annoyances, not annoyances with specific Europeans.

@Allan, I totally agree. Its all those other tourists getting in my way. Why don't they just stay home and this beautiful place to me alone. :-)

I guess I didn’t express my annoyance clear enough. Lack of airconditioning may be a problem in Spain in the summer, but it’s unlikely to be a problem in Iceland for instance. So why would you still classify it as a European travel problem? And not as a Spanish travel problem?

OK, so I should have been more informed on the cigarette smoking rates in Europe as compared to the USA.

I am surprised to learn that Norway, Sweden and the UK actually have lower smoking rates than the USA according to this website: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-rates-by-country

I guess I didn’t express my annoyance clear enough. Lack of airconditioning may be a problem in Spain in the summer, but it’s unlikely to be a problem in Iceland for instance. So why would you still classify it as a European travel problem? And not as a Spanish travel problem?

Because they are all in Europe, and you have a good point, that one way to deal with it is to not go to Spain in the summer if you are concerned about the lack of air conditioning.

Oh, and try not to get offended, it’s not an attack on a country’s lack of air conditioning. Even the Rick Steves travel site mentions that tour participants should expect street noise and lack of A/C. It doesn’t break it down on a per country basis.

1) Pay a bit more to sit in the front of the section so there are no seats directly in front of you. As you said, you get what you pay for.

2) Smokers have been moved outside so they can smoke. If you want to avoid smoke, sit inside.

3) Have you ever asked your hotels if they have fans? I have and they usually do.

I carry a small portable fan to cool me off in case the hotel doesn't have any. I also have a small white noise machine that can fit in the palm of my hand yet can drown out quite a bit of noise.

I travel to places expecting them to be different than they are at home. That's the whole idea of traveling internationally.

Or is this post an April Fool's joke?

Most of the common complaints I've seen could be avoided with either flexibility, research, or budgeting. Crowds? Pick a different time of day or time of year. Airplane seats too small? Throw money at it. I fly PE or BC. Cigarette smoke? Find a table up wind or inside. No AC? Look harder. I've yet to find a city without a hotel that has it. Or dont travel to that place when it's hot.

My biggest annoyance- tourists who complain that things arent the same as they are back home. While lines pile up behind them at ticket counters, hotel front desks, security checks, yadda yadda yadda while harried service people try to deal with them.

1) Pay a bit more to sit in the front of the section so there are no seats directly in front of you. As you said, you get what you pay for.

I feel like I’ve given them (the airlines) enough money, and part of their profit model is to make airline travel so uncomfortable that travelers will pay even more money to avoid being even more uncomfortable, for example paying extra for early boarding so you don’t have to contend for overhead bin space for your carry on. I refuse to reward them for it. My strategy for dealing with these particular issues is to just endure it, and know that in several hours it will be over and we can start enjoying ourselves.

2) Smokers have been moved outside so they can smoke. If you want to avoid smoke, sit inside.

True, but I’d still rather sit outside and hope for the best, or a favorable wind/breeze direction.

1) I choose bulkhead seats and fly premium economy. For short connection flights I pay for extra legroom if I can't reserve bulkhead.

PS- that passenger's hair would not have been in my space or touching me for more than 10 seconds.

2) It is what it is and varies from place to place. I try to choose my table wisely and then just ignore it. Otherwise, I sit inside.

3) I try not to travel to hot destinations in Europe from June to September. Otherwise, I choose a hotel with AC or, if I choose a hotel without AC, I shut up and just deal with it. If I were staying more than a few days, I would consider purchasing a fan if the hotel didn't provide one. I stayed in an apartment once that had sad, thin towels. I bought a nice bath and hand towel at the Monoprix and left them behind.

There is so much about the different countries in Europe that I enjoy, I can put up with the little annoyances that I can't change.

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My biggest annoyance is probably getting lost. Even using a GPS. One time it took us through an olive grove in Crete!

Very funny afterwards but both of our nerves were getting frayed as we tried to find the olive oil factory.

But I try to allow enough time for mishaps and to consider them part of the adventure-if not in the moment soon afterwards.

I think this post falls into read and “let it go” category.

Sorry I didn’t think this topic would cause so much angst, rather we could all brainstorm on how to best solve “first world problems”, for example, the Barista didn’t make my cappuccino hot enough.

I get what the OP was going for with this post. It was not meant to be a complaint. He was just expressing aspects of travel to Europe that required some adjustments/accommodations. Also, he didn't appear to be someone that constantly complains without making an effort to adjust.

I do love to eat outside when we are in Europe, and I am also bothered by smoke, so it is frustrating. I don't make a fuss, and will try to a table that is more isolated or I do eat inside. I don't know if more smoke in the countries I've traveled to, but I think at home, my demographic tends to be nonsmokers so I don't encounter smokers that often. Also, my home state, has very strict indoor (which extend to outdoor public areas) act laws.

A couple things I've encountered are no washclothes and oddly shaped pillows or rough pillow cases. I bring a couple quick dry clothes or pads for make up removal, and I've started to travel with a pillowcase. I use it on flights stuffed with the airline's pillow, a sweatshirt, etc. I also use it for lodgings when I encounter the odd pillow or case. I just always make sure the items I bring are not pricey and are brightly colored.

My biggest annoyance when traveling, are fellow Americans who talk loudly in quiet spaces.

Will never forget walking about in the Louvre on my first trip in 1972. The quiet was broken with a distinctive NY’er accent screaming, yes screaming
“ Harry where is it? I wanna see it. Where is it?”

I cringed and still cringe remembering her.

She was referring to La Giocanda. The Mona Lisa.
She and hubby were upset no sign said Mona Lisa this way.

I also learned to pack a wash cloth, ear plugs, Kleenex packets, to carry a coin purse and adjusted to no ice in my drinks. Too this day can drink a warm beer.

Now a days no longer fly in economy, stay in mid range hotels, bring my own ground
coffee, strainer, along with a mug, also have an xtra long charging chord for the iPhone.

Also don’t lug a 35mm camera around. The iPhone will do.

Is there a reason so many in Europe still smoke ?

Maybe we like it? Puritans beware!

Cigarettes in the UK are USD21 a pack and smoking is really quite rare now. It's only the French that are showing much dedication to smoking these days.

To boot, she fell asleep and for half the flight I had to put up with her long hair draped into my space and across my knee.

Why not just tap her on the shoulder and politely ask her to move (presumably after suppressing the urge to tug on her hair lol)? Or ring for the flight attendant to wake her and ask her to move? You didn't actually sit there for hours with someone's hair on your lap, did you? 🤨

Why not just tap her on the shoulder and politely ask her to move (presumably after suppressing the urge to tug on her hair lol)? Or ring for the flight attendant to wake her and ask her to move? You didn't actually sit there for hours with someone's hair on your lap, did you? 🤨

I woke her up and asked once, and then about an hour later the hair came back. I did not want to make a scene so I just put up with it. I did take a photo (of the hair and my knee only) for posterity, and to amuse myself and friends when the subject of airline hell flights come up.

Everything mentioned is within my control to change and I can choose to do that or I can choose to accept. For me at least, when I get upset or bothered about something I know it’s half real and half just my attitude. I do my best to damper my attitude on holiday so that I can get the most enjoyment out of it.

Cramped airline seats
I am 6’-0” and weight more than I should. I fly economy. If I want to upgrade, I pay an extra $30 on the long leg of the trip for the exit row seat. But rarely. I can survive the economy seats fine. If someone tilts their seat back, I do the same with my seat, and the resulting arrangement is good enough for the few hours of the trip. But yes, a seat upgrade would be wonderful, for me, but not for the goats.

Cigarette smoke
I grew up at a time when it was permissible to smoke in cars, movie theaters, airplanes, restaurants and even hospitals, so maybe I am just used to it. I am now an Extended-Tourist in an Eastern European country where the local culture accepts the smoking to the degree and in the manner that some Americans might object to. I knew before I became a guest here. If someone lights up in accordance with the local law and I don’t like it, I move my seat. But if someone lights up contrary to the local law, then I … well … move seat. So far that’s working for me.

Lack of air conditioning in hotels
I cannot recall having ever rented a room in the warm part of the year that didn’t have an air conditioner. Might just be that my Western European 3 Star budget gets 4 Star hotels in Eastern Europe. If the outside temperature is good, I do prefer an open window. I am a bit claustrophobic, and the street noise settles me a bit.

No window screens

I do and try my best to not let things annoy me, it just is not worth letting things that you don't have any control over manipulate your emotions. I just go with the flow.

If anything for me it's my own introverted self and there does come a point that I've reached my limit and I need to retreat somewhere. Followed by an annoyance of groups when they're taking up walkways and pedestrian areas by walking abreast of each other.

Maybe it's where I live but I've never understood the infatuation with "having" to have air conditioning. I think some places are over-the-top with its use. I recall taking the train at Dulles airport and the AC was on so strong...

Well it is the upper south. It is not like some places when you get one hot day in summer, here its high heat and high humidity from June to the end of August and sometimes into September and October. Right now Calgary is reporting 40° and DC is reporting 86°. AC is absolutely necessary for many down here like heat is up north.

All things one has some control over.

Pay for a premium economy seat with more legroom.

Go to de restaurant that’s non smoking. At worst, it’s only an hour out of your life you need to deal with smoke, assuming multiple people are smoking.

Only book a room at hotels with A/C.

Can it be annoying, yes, but it’s all part of the experience.

Interesting topic, especially if we're just commenting, not actually looking for answers.

I can't think of anything that actually annoys me about traveling in European countries. I am not a fan of air conditioning, so am delighted when I don't have to figure out how to turn it off when I enter a hotel room.

We did have one hotel, somewhere in Spain, in which the TV came on as soon as we put the key card in the slot to turn on lights. That did annoy me.

My husband hates duvets, but I love them. So when we enter a new hotel room and find a duvet, he grumbles and sighs, while I say "Oh, goodie!"

And yes, I have told him that we could take the duvet out and stash it in the closet, and simply use the duvet cover as a top sheet, but he has always declined the offer.

Of the annoyances listed above, the one that bothers me and is a distinct nuisance is the smoking, especially if I'm down wind. Other than that I am not that bothered by it.

In Basic Economy the seats are tight, true, for 11 hours I can make do, put up with it, sleeping through some of that duration in that cramped seat all the better. Leg space has to be decent, ie no luggage under the seat in front, since I'm also 6'

The hotels having no AC or very weak AC is not an annoyance, not a problem. I don't need it, not interested , certainly not a deal breaker , that deciding factor, in choosing a hotel when I'm over there in the summer. If the room still is a broiler at night, 80 F, I have the window open...no problem, except for the mosquito flying in.

Hair over the seat and in my lap?

I think the second time that happened I would have helped her out by fastening it securely between the tray table and the back of the seat.

1 Buy your tickets sooner and book the bulkhead seat or premium economy.
2 Write on your hotel reservation that you want a room on the courtyard side, not the street side. Open the window, get naked, throw off the covers. You'll be fine.
3 It's mostly the young high school and college students who still smoke. Go to better quality restaurants that they can't afford.

It's mostly the young high school and college students who still
smoke.

Here everyone under 35 vapes and everyone over 45 smokes. But all you have to do is sit inside to avoid it. Or sit up wind outside. People are fairly considerate without giving up their right to smoke.

Joe, I fly Delta. Economy is fine for domestic flights. But for international flights, I opt for the section immediately above economy that offers more leg room.

My pet peeves:

1. Train-station monitors that don't post the track your train is on until right before departure.

2. Hotel rooms on the hotel's street side with nearby bars that stay open seemingly until 4 or 5 a.m. Paris.

3. Being in the back of a plane, trying to depart with a tight connection, and spending 10 minutes watching the passengers ahead struggle with their carry-on suitcases. Yep, this is a contentious one.

4. The difficulty of using Delta Skymiles when you're trying to fly out of smaller or even less-than-huge European airports.

About the most annoying thing I see here is grouping Europeans together. Beyond that it’s “life”, get over some of this and plan on visiting the country with the least irritation from your preferences.

I love France but my irritation is the immigration authorities. Always real frustrating but done with a smile. The incredible expense of little things in Norway is irritating but I’ve loved every minute of my visits there. So yes there’s stuff to carp about across Europe but life goes on.

I love to travel to Europe and nothing much bothers me. If I could send out a wish, it would be no train strikes. When I’m traveling in Italy, I pull up the train strike upcoming list each morning to hopefully mitigate future strikes with traveling a different day and enough notice to switch hotels while they are still free cancellation.

The strikes have cost me one hotel night and a few alternate day itineraries. Fortunately, Delta switched my flight home for free when a train strike would have left me away from Rome for the day before an early flight home.

We have also found the lack of screens and the duvets a challenge.

With the screens, we haven’t really found an adaptation.

I like Duvets, especially the fact that every piece of bedding gets washed between guests. My husband is always hot. Occasionally, we’ve asked for a flat sheet which has been cheerfully provided.

I do love ice, but it makes me really appreciate it when I get home.

Again, I think the query was intended to be “what do you find different and how do you adapt.”