Leaving tonight: last minute questions

Can't help with caffeine, but for photos, look for another couple who also have a camera. They are generally safe. Otherwise, look for someone you can outrun! :-) Have a great trip!

Tea is common in cafés in Germany. It is lemon tea. There is usually a choice of types. You get a cup of heated (not boiling) water, a tea bag and a slice of lemon. Tea with milk is not common, you would need to ask.

Pictures: Ask people who are already carrying cameras?

Tipping is always a subject that elicits lots of conflicting advice on this website. My advice is quite simple: don't. It is not normal in Italy or Germany to tip everybody.
Italy: never tip anybody
Germany: In restaurants you can, if you want to round up prices, for example to the nearest €5. But this is optional, you should NOT do this every time. No tipping apart from this.

These websites that many people quote on the subject (you may have been reading some which is where you got your info), turn out to be written by North American tourists, not locals.
Please regard tipping as a drug habit, and try some "cold turkey".

What is so tacky about it? Not at all.

If your hot water travel mug can hold water at 212F / 100C (if you have one of those plug in hot water gadgets), then you can make tea in the hotel room. I bring numerous tea bags with me, maybe 25 to 30 for a month to a six week trip, usually Tedleys or Twinning, all the better if the room provides a tea maker, which they do in London B&B, pretty rare in Germany and Austria, though it has happened.

You also check with the front desk if a tea maker can be loaned out, say for 20 Euro collateral, upon its return.

Tea is definitely not a thing in Italy. Give those tiny espressos a try, they are much stronger than a tea bag. Don't be fooled by the small size. Or try the other types of coffee just for fun. Experiment, experiment, experiment.....you never know, you may come back liking something completely new. The beauty of travel is it allows you to shake up your old habits and try something new.

Caffeine

I mainly drink tea for breakfast, so I don't really know about what you can get at cafes during the day. Unless you stay at a very high class place, tea at breakfast is in best case hot water and tea bags, worst case warm water and tea bags.

My main issue has been the variety of teas. I have often encountered a selection which included only flower teas, fruit teas, green teas, and scented teas - and I want a strong black tea in the morning, like English Breakfast, but even in England I have been in situations where I decided to have coffee instead.

Now I bring my own high quality tea bags.

that's where the gypsies tend to hang out

Please don't use "gypsies" as a synonym for thieves. Most gypsies are not thieves and most thieves are not gypsies - though of course the two groups overlap. Just like Danes and thieves overlap.

Relax, have a wonderful time, and remember to put your passport in your travel purse NOW. :-)

I'm a tea drinker (but not 5 a day!) and can't stand coffee. We will pack some packages of tea (like the single packs of Twinings - you can even get Tim's tea now at the grocery store) and have even been known to take some hot chocolate packs or coffee singles for hubby.

I believe most of our accoms have had a kettle and some mugs - many even provided different tea options...herbal, black, green. If there is only a coffee pot, you can always run the water thru on its own to heat it up. And for sure take your travel mug - cutting back on single use cups is always a good thing.

To avoid the "hope the hotel has hot water" problem, buy an immersion heater (or hot pot) when you get over there. You'll just have to ask (or Google) for a big department store. If you have one already, I wouldn't bring it because the 220V will probably burn out a USA one. You don't have time, but others reading this can buy one from a place like Aliexpress.com

I am also a tea addict but never had trouble getting good black tea at the breakfasts provided by hotels in Italy. Later in the day, not so much. If I need a caffeine fix later in the day I generally pop into a shop for a Coke, or have one at a cafe with a view while DH has a coffee.

I have also started bringing my own tea bags, but haven't done so in Italy yet (soon!).

The thing with the tea is in Europe you will get a small cup when you order it. There is no Tim Horton's large sized cups. You might find a Starbucks in Germany that might have a large cup of tea, but (almost) no places like that in Italy.

I would suggest taking the travel cup and some tea bags. Most hotels have in room coffee makers or an electric water pot. You could make hot water in either to then brew tea with in the travel cup.

Tipping in most of Europe is still not a thing. There are many reasons why and not enough space to go over them here. Many of the individuals you list out would be surprised by a tip and probably hand it back to you especially in the smaller towns. Resist the urge unless they do something spectacularly out of the ordinary for you.

In Italy we rounded up and gave the Euros to the cab driver. He gave us change back. No need to tip.

Photos: I'd like a few pics of he and I together, but am nervous about handing our expensive camera over to a stranger around touristy sites, as I hear that's where the gypsies tend to hang out. How do others get around this?

With the camera I agree with the above poster look for other people with cameras. Last week in Pompeii and then in Rome at the Colliseum people who could see my Nikon dangling from my neck ask me to take a their family picture and handed me their camera; afterward they offered to take one of me with my sister.

Caffeine: Hubby is a tea addict. He typically drinks 5+ large Tim Horton's/day. Is tea a thing in Italy? I don't think people drink tea or coffee on the go there, and tiny espressos aren't going to cut it. I'm thinking he should bring a travel mug and loose tea bags and hope for hot water at our hotel. Is this super tacky?

Bring the travel mug and your own tea bags just in case the hotel does not have a cup but I would not want carry that around in the street. Also believe it or not most train stops (not like in America) have a machine that you can buy a tea or coffee from and it is not bad. You should try it to see if it works.

I'm not a big tipper, but I'm also not a big user of services (drivers, porters, guides, etc.). I round up a little at restaurants and that's about it.

I did an exchange with the German Air Force. Each squadron I visited, the first thing the commander would ask is whether I wanted a cup of coffee. I'd say, I prefer tea and some enlisted guy would have to run around the base trying to find me tea. Eventually, I just asked for water.

If you're staying in nicer (American style) hotels. You may have an in room coffee maker. It's probably not a bad idea to pack a ziplock bag full of your favorite tea bags. Some people pack an immersion heater. You would need, at least, a plug converter and a cup that won't melt.

I think the espresso shots have the same caffeine as a cup of coffee - but I'm not the expert. I normally get my caffeine from soda and that's always a chore to find and too expensive so I don't drink much when I'm traveling.

I can't comment on elsewhere in Italy, but on a recent trip to Rome, we had no trouble getting hot tea at our hotel breakfast or at cafes. The tea was reasonably good quality and the water was hot enough. I don't know about the availability of to-go cups.

If you're fans of loose-leaf tea, I recommend a little store called "namasTey." It is in the pedestrian alley in back of the Pantheon. There are other tea stores in Rome, but this was my favorite - the proprietor is very friendly and happy to help you find new teas that suit your tastes.

I am a tea drinker and never drink coffee. I bring tea bags with me. As a matter of fact I just bought my supply of Twining English Breakfast tea for my trip next month. I also use Stevia, which as of 1 1/2 years ago I have never seen in Europe. I will also bring a supply of stevia packets. I drink hot tea in the morning, but I enjoy iced tea later in the day. Iced tea isn't a thing there. The closest I've found is peach iced tea. Not happening for me. Two years ago I was in Prague lamenting to myself that after a few weeks in Europe I just really wanted an iced tea. As I walked past a Starbucks I had a genius (I thought anyway :-)) idea. I could make my own iced tea. I ordered a hot tea and asked for an additional cup filled with ice. I let the tea cool down a little and poured it over the ice. Voila, iced tea! Italy doesn't have Starbucks, but my method should be workable in many places for all you iced tea lovers.

I also bring some tea bags with me, usually for the room at night. I have never had trouble getting hot tea during the day at any place where you would also be able to get a coffee. If you do not have an immersion heater for making tea in your room, or the room has no appliance to make hot water, go down to the bar and ask for a cup of hot water. I've done this several times.
Enjoy your trip.

I don't know the name of a kettle for boiling water for tea in Italian or German. Just FYI it is translated as water cooker in Dutch.

I always bring my own teabags to Europe, but we always stay in apartments.
If you are in a hotel, at least you could get a cup of water boiled or microwaved so your tea is hot, hot.

Wasserkocher in German as well: https://www.galaxus.ch/de/s2/producttype/wasserkocher-146

A Wasserkocher/electric kettle/Bollitore elettrico will have a 3-pin plug (it needs to be earthed). So one bought in Italy will have an Italian 3-pin plug and require an adapter for Germany. And a different adapter for Switzerland.

As mentioned above, you want an immersion heater. (weight 4.8 ounces)

Italians do not tip. No one will stop you, but know that you are not following the local custom if you do tip.

Germans, however, do round up, about 5%. In Germany, you usually pay the person who brings your bill, directly. If you're paying in cash, you tell the the total you want them to keep including the tip, and they give you change right there. (I have no idea how it works with credit cards). So, if the the bill comes to €35, you might hand them a €50 note (or two €20 notes) and say "thirty-seven, please."

As for tea, you can certainly get it in Italy at a bar (what we would call a cafe). Usually, they give you hot water and a tea bag. I agree that all over (not just Italy and Germany), the kind of teas available may not be the kind you want. Often the only black tea available is Earl Grey, and even if I do want an herbal tea, they may not have one I like. So, if you have specific tastes, bring your own bags.

As for kettles in the room; it's common in the UK and Ireland, and HIGHLY variable everywhere else. Any place that caters to British, Irish, or Australian guests will have them, because they will never hear the end of it if they don't. Otherwise, it's BYO kettle or immersion heater. Definitely get a 240 volt one, either here or in Europe; a 110 volt one from North America will blow a fuse or start a fire (not a joke).

If you see a bell hop, you are definitely staying in a fancier grade of hotel in Europe than I do. Smaller places, even nice ones, don't have them.

I always bring my own Lipton tea bags and an immersion heater. I usually buy a mug as a souvenir and use it during my stay.

Any hotel that gets a decent number of UK tourists will be used to guests asking at the desk if there's an electric tea kettle they can borrow if the hotel doesn't normally stock them in the room.

The OP's take on tipping in Germany was basically correct and it's a shame people have disabused her of that notion.

You don't HAVE to tip 10%, if it's bad service, and it's better off rounding up to the nearest easy point than making sure you hit exactly 10%, but it if you like your service it's expected for you to around 10%. This is why my German friends do.

However you don't tip at a bar when you get your own drinks, and some Germans don't tip in bars and cafes if they're only getting drinks. I probably won't tip 10% on a bill for just wine or coffee and cake, but I still round up.

Also I am a tea drinker and I don't find it that difficult to find tea here. Maybe it's more of a modern thing and it used to be more rare. But not the giant tim horton's style teas unless you go to a Starbucks or a Coffee Fellows or another more "international" coffee chain.

OP already left on her trip several days ago so additional suggestions are probably moot at this point.

Yup, i know the op is gone, but I have to weigh in on another source of group photos, either the customer at the adjacent table at the cafe or yr wait staff. But heres my pet peeve on that, based on a couple of friends i trsvel with : remember yr wait staff is working, and has other tables, don't give them multiple cameras and take time to rearrange (tidy) the table after you call them over. sigh

I don’t think German restaurants take credit cards.

Not true in my experience especially in my travels to Berlin, Frankfurt, Dortmund and Köln.

On German restaurants taking credit cards, you can be certain a good number will and conversely, a lot do NOT take cards, or if it does take a card, it takes only the EC card that Germans have. So, if you aren't, better look for the Visa/MC logo out front or look for any indication of it in the menu, or ask before you order if you are not carrying that amount of cash on you. I went to a place in Berlin Alexanderplatz this time and it was cash only.

I should keep a list of how many times I've witnessed international tourists, Indians, Asians, Americans, bring out the credit card in big cities in Germany, in Berlin, Hamburg, etc, eg, near the Hbf, only to have the waitress say to them only cash is accepted.