The little things that maybe you dont notice or do and pass over them quickly.

We found that washcloths are not a standard item in most hotels. So for us, that's an easy fix in that I pack inexpensive ones and leave them behind.

The first thing I thought of (I'll think of more, I'm sure) is that when we are at a crosswalk in Europe people actually cross the street when traffic is approaching! We do not do that in NJ, PA or NY. Many drivers just don't stop at crosswalks here.

For me at home when I go to an eatery that is counter service, I have the expectation that I clear off my own table and put trays, plates & cups, or rubbish at the designated receptacles. In the UK when going into the same sort of counter service eateries I have a such hard time just getting up from the table leaving my rubbish, I feel like such a slacker.

The first thing I thought of (I'll think of more, I'm sure) is that when we are at a crosswalk in Europe people actually cross the street when traffic is approaching! We do not do that in NJ, PA or NY. Many drivers just don't stop at crosswalks here.

LOL, ummm yeah I notice the same. There's no way I'm crossing that street until that little man turns green.

Unrefrigerated eggs

Jo, Katje and others living in Europe will agree with me that you get used to all these little things but are thrown when visiting the States. The way US dates are written and calling a main course an entree (as in enter) have thrown me for years. So I write out the month, such as October instead of using 10, and always say main course.

You should have experienced the TP in the 1970s...individual sheets that fell all over the floor, hot pink, non-absorbent slick on one side ????

Relaxed gender rules for the bathrooms. It's not a big deal if a male is cleaning the women's bathroom or vise versa. They don't close it for cleaning if it is an opposite gender like they do here in the US. Also, it's not a big deal to have bathrooms that are not separated by gender. Walking in and seeing a male in the bathroom always causes me to do a double check!

Mixed gender bathrooms I can handle but having urinals in front of the door I cannot. I had my husband stand guard to keep out any man who might enter while I was in the bathroom.

Needing to use ye electronic key card to activate the lights in a room. It makes total sense from an ecology standpoint, however, 2 of our hotels in Turkiye made us stand in line and leave a deposit to get a second key for the second person. As one woman in our group said, she wanted to walk to the lobby to purchaseasoda, but couldn't justify pulling out the card and plunging her showering husband into darkness

doric8, I've been told that any card that's the right size will work in those power slots. I've not tried that yet, but maybe someone here has?

I've been told that any card that's the right size will work in those
power slots

Very many, yes. Maybe even most, but not all. I wish I had one in my flat. Electricity is somewhat expensive here.

Oh, and you think that a loack of convenience outlets is a hotel room issue? At least where I live it the same in homes as well.

Ohhhh good topic. Electical outlets that take one plug. Pretty much the norm. Then the european plugs and wires are so large that the adapters to allow you to plug in more than one item are freeking huge. They really messed up with the whole 50hz thing.

On writing the dates: It depends.

If I am writing in English, I do that the American way, ie month , date , year. If it seems the year might cause confusion, then I use all 4 digits.

If I am writing in German, then I use the European way, ie, day, month, year. For the single digit months I show that by using a "zero" before the number, say "03" for March, "07" for July" or I write out the month.

No outlet in the bathroom, but the shower is electric. Is that just in the UK and Ireland? I no longer bother with a hairdryer, but I wonder where folks use them.

When in a restaurant they often refer to Toast as an open faced sandwich - not bread from a toaster. In Croatia, toast is a piece of sliced white bread - think wonder bread. Bread would be from a bakery.

And I do remember those pieces of pink TP. Sometimes you had to purchase it, it wasn’t for the taking lest you used too many.

To flip this, I had a conversation with a woman from Australia a few days ago - who had just finished a tour in Tennessee. Her questions were “where is the pie in frito chili pie” and why do you say “chicken salad sandwich” when there’s no salad.

Madly looking for how to turn on a tap in a sink in small cafes and bars in Italy, before realizing the water is operated by a foot pedal near the floor.
Much more sensible…… and water-saving!

My son said something to me after our recent trip to Japan that really shocked me. Something like----I guess I have traveled enough to this point, that I didn't feel any of the culture shock that I have on previous trips.

I took this to mean that the differences mentioned upthread no longer were as noticeable because he had become used to experiencing those differences and they were easier to roll with and he noticed them less. Because certainly, there were cultural and day to day life differences galore in Japan!

I also am less surprised by these differences and have come to look forward to them.

Overall in Europe you never know what you will get with the shower in the room. Handheld only showerhead with nowhere to hang it. A stall so small as to be prohibitive for bending down. Glass, no curtain, and it only covers one half the length of the tub. Step up into shower stall.
Hot opposite of US. Old fixtures that need an all the way to even get water.
It's a fun house of surprises.

In 1972 in Amsterdam learning that sliced cheese and meats would be breakfast offering. Warm beer.
Unisex bathrooms. Smoking in movie theatres. Mercedes Benz autos used as taxis.

Also got used to long queues and civility in London as well as using the “ opposite “ side on stairs and escalators.

In 2012 seeing garbage free streets anywhere in Cuba. No litter anywhere. Not even a gum wrapper.

As far as TP learned on that first trip to carry Kleenex packets. That remains a constant while I travel anywhere.

One difference that my husband & I have commented after each European trip is how refreshing it was to go to a restaurant in Europe and be able to enjoy the dinner without the US interruptions & norm where there’s this subtle or not so subtle “let’s rush you through dinner, so I can turn the table multiple times and make more tips tonight” behavior from the waitstaff. There’s more of a feeling of enjoying the meal and the social aspect.

For our European readers, the meal will be delivered to the table in the US. The waiter will come back to the table - sometimes before you’ve had your first taste, and they ask, “Is everything fine?” You might be partway through your meal, and they will come back and sometimes leave the paper bill off at the table with a comment, “No hurry; I’ll just leave this here.” Of course, that means, “Hurry. Here’s the bill, so you can pay quicker.” When they do that, we just skip ordering dessert because it feels like the waiter has finished with us.

Jean, I am with you on preferring the European model of service. I sometimes encounter it at home here in New York, in restaurants managed by European immigrants, such as my favorite local Italian trattoria. Dining there is much more enjoyable than doing so at a place where you are constantly being reminded that the management is eager to shoo you out the door and turn the table.

European habits I adopted after being an exchange student in Belgium that strangers here sometimes notice and comment on: writing style for numbers (7 has a slash), eating fries with mayonnaise, 24-hour time on my watch and phone, wearing scarves indoors in winter.

Initially I was very confused by the numbering system for building stories. Why does it start with zero?!? I also had a rude awakening when I drank sparkling water for the first time (by accident) because I didn’t know that is what a red cap signifies. I learned to like it, but getting sparkling when you’re expecting still is quite the shock!

When I get those fake credit cards in the mail I keep one or two just for hotels, and not just those in Europe. About half the time they’ll work in the card slot to turn on the power.

In the late 1970s when I was stationed there, Spanish toilet paper was more like crepe paper. When we traveled we’d take U.S. paper with us. Back then, if you wanted hot water you had to pay extra for the room. At camp sites there was a machine you put coins into if you wanted hot water,

Then of course were the holes in the floor toilets frequently found in Italy and Spain back then, even in large department stores. Fortunately I haven’t seen any of those for a number of years, but I’m sure some are still out there.

holes in the floor toilets

I saw some this September (2024) on a camp site in Italy :-)

They are still there. And - of course - they are much better for the body, but - ouch - the strain on the thigh muscles!

I ran into squatty potties in Italy in the 1980's Doubt many are left.

European electircal plugs are buly and unweildly. Yes, the prongs are "safer" especially on the UK variant but they have to be becuase the 230v has twice the potential to arc and the 230 is a bit more deadly. The 50hz means european transmission lines are more expensive to build.

The style of service in Europe is fine, uniless you only have 30 minutes for lunch. Then its best to pay when you order.

Oh, we still find hole-in-the-ground toilets in Italy, most recently in 2018 in downtown Torino --- it was out in a tiny shed in the courtyard of a nice bar/eatery. I have photos. Another was in Comacchio in Emilia Romagna in a nice bar next to the parking lot in 2016. I can remember two others, but not where they were. I dread them, but mostly because they are awkward and I start laughing.

Cooked beef ratings. It's only France and Italy I've noticed but there seems no point in ordering medium and above as it's still going to come to the plate mooing. The latest was in France earlier this month and I knew it was going to happen to my steak so I purposely said medium well, it still came what I consider rare to not cooked. A few days later I ordered a burger and specified well done...it came rarer than rare.

As for the comments on table service, since I'd prefer eating my meals standing over the sink so I can finish and get on to other things, I'll take North American attentiveness every time. I don't enjoy the lingering style.

Unrefrigerated eggs.

The reason eggs are refrigerated in the US is because they are washed and sanitized first, which destroys the protective coating that is there. That coating protects the eggs and can place it at higher risk of contamination. Therefore, eggs in the US are refrigerated to prevent other bacteria from growing.

Eggs from our chickens were never refrigerated and could stay out on the counter for several weeks. And European eggs generally are not sanitized. However, many of the hens are vaccinated against salmonella, so they don't feel a need to do the intensive sanitation process the US uses.

There's an interesting article by NPR about how this process started if anyone is interested. :-) https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt

No screens on most windows is still a mystery to me. All the different shower configurations in hotels. Outside of Italy, it is difficult to find a good slice of pizza. Store hours are shorter. The European train system--awesome and makes me hate car traffic even more when I am at home.

Veteran Traveler,

Well, its always new to somebody.

As is said on Facebook, "If you don't like it, scroll by."

Threadwear. there are many places outside Italy where the pizza is as good as pizza gets even in Italy.

Treemoss. Yes I agree, but hard to get just a slice instead of a whole pizza.

Nancys8, I can confirm that that same toilet is still in Torino (or there is a second one). Found it 2 weeks ago. Luckily the Savoys built a beautiful library close by and the toilet there was available:)

In Canada, with our bilingual system, the way we write numbers is similar ie the slash through the 7. And if you grew up with European parents who immigrated to North America, some idiosyncrasies came with them; I have been eating fries with mayo for 60 years:)

Most of the small things in Germany different from what I was used to in CA prior to my first trip in the summer of 1971 I had learned in class and were pretty easy to adjust to culturally, ie no problem. Our teacher had basically covered this topic in class assuming you were not absent on that day. I must have been absent on the day he talked about meals since I missed class due to illness for a couple days that semester.

When I came back after the 12 week trip, I went back to see him and told him that I was not aware of what in Germany is called "Abendbrot" ie, you didn't mention that, to which he replied that topic had been covered by him. Well, then it must have been on my absent days.

Abendbrot is fine, I like it but then don't expect a hot dinner, which in 1971 coming from here I was used to.

Probably the blatant surprise came on this trip was my first time drinking German mineral water in a small restaurant. It had the carbonation but the taste shocked me. This was when visiting Münster/Westfalen, had never ordered mineral water with the meal and decided to try it. Obviously, I wasn't prepared for the taste.

What's the thing I most miss now that I'm back in the States? Sparkling mineral water being ubiquitously available, and delicious. I love my Pellegrino, but I miss paying only 15 to 25 cents a bottle.

I bought a bidet! What a wonderful thing that I don’t find in American hotels.

The bar in Torino with the hole toilet in the courtyard was Caffe Vini Emilio Ranzini.

After countless tries I still do not seem to be able to:
-Shower with the half glass door without having to mop up the floor.
-Understand how to just wash (not dry) clothes in the one unit washer/dryer unit (I usually hang dry my clothes).

I never cease to enjoy and be surprised by:
Having a hotel bill close to the actual price (minimal taxes).
The amazing price of a delicious bottle of wine at a restaurant or market.
How much I enjoy seeing the world a 2-3 mph just wandering.

All the different ways to soap, wash and dry your hands in a public restroom. Also, many different ways to flush the toilet. How many different ways are there to open and close a window?

One of my pet peeves is that people and/or tourists stop right in front of the elevator or escalator or passage door thereby blocking anyone else from getting around or in and out. Especially when they are toting luggage.

I find it interesting how once you use a bill (Euro or other), that the return change seems to be spent rather quickly. Is it psychologically easier to dispense of coins than bills, as in the US?

I did encounter the hole in the ground toilet at a rest stop when driving away from CDG airport a couple of years ago. I searched and searched for a correct alternative, but found no other option.

Nancys8, close by but not quite the same spot. So evidently 2 places in Torino.

”there are many places outside Italy where the pizza is as good as pizza gets even in Italy.”

I would have to differ on that comment. I have eaten a lot of pizza in many countries and across the US while traveling for work& vacations and many were very good. But, I am salivating recalling a few of the spectacular pizzas that I had in southern Italy that don’t compare with anything I had in other countries or the rest of Italy. There was even a difference in the texture between the time of eating the first and then the third piece. I will be back there again next May and am willing to run confirmation pizza-eating tests to prove my theory - LOL!

No outlet in the bathroom, but the shower is electric. Is that just in the UK and Ireland? I no longer bother with a hairdryer, but I wonder where folks use them.

I use my hairdryer sitting at the dressing table in my bedroom, as is typical in the UK! The thought of trying to dry and de-frizz my hair in the still-damp air of the bathroom is such an alien concept to most Brits.

Yes, occupying the bathroom while doing your toiletries is rude. But I believe it's also for safety reasons: no electrical outlets in a wet environment. In the US , they now require ground-fault protection for bathroom outlets. Electric showers? Maybe you mean heated, or lights? That doesn't have the same potential for electrocution as standing in water and plugging in a hair dryer.

Yes, occupying the bathroom while doing your toiletries is rude. But I believe it's also for safety reasons: no electrical outlets in a wet environment. In the US , they now require ground-fault protection for bathroom outlets. Electric showers? Maybe you mean heated, or lights? That doesn't have the same potential for electrocution as standing in water and plugging in a hair dryer. I take it as a smarter approach to safety leading to a different cultural norm.

The standard that much of Europe follows is that the electrical outlet must be 1m from the water. The UK I believe is 3m. So if there is nothing in the bathroom, it's probably by choice or the room is too small. Switches on the outside of the room are seen as more convenient.

Mr. E, you need to tell your SO that back in the early 1960s, American guidebooks warned (accurately) that European toilet paper came in three flavors: wax paper, crepe paper and newspaper.

Although things are better now, a few of the inexpensive Balkan hotels I used on this year's trip had rolls of TP wrapped extremely loosely. They seemed to have less than half as much paper per roll than standard. One wonders whether people steal rolls of TP. (I'm aware it was one of many commodities not always available in at least some of the Iron Curtain countries.)

In 1971 I did encounter this feature in Germany in some (not all ) of the DJH hostels when taking a shower.

In these hostels you had to drop a 50 Pfennig coin , that exact single coin , ie no combination of coins, into the "apparatus " attached to the shower order to get hot water, which was timed other wise only cold water would come out with your taking a cold shower.

This meant if you didn't want to be caught unawares by this unpleasant surprise of no hot water as you stepped into the shower, you had better checked it out prior. Which hostels were these, I don't remember as I stayed in 13 of them in Germany in 1971.

I vaguely remember "wax paper" toilet paper in UK in the late 70s. A few public locations (maybe museums) had "Now go wash your hands" printed on it. I wrote a letter to a friend on some of the tp.

No electrical outlets other than a shaver plug in British bathrooms. It’s not safe!

I do think this is a good indicator of how poor we are at risk assessment in general and how we take comfort from familiarity even if that’s not always logical. There are often posts here worrying about the dangers of staying in an old building if there was a fire. This is something that Europeans never think about. But I do find having an electrical outlet in the bathroom worrying and I would never use it!

But I believe it's also for safety reasons: no electrical outlets in a
wet environment. In the US , they now require ground-fault protection
for bathroom outlets.

There are a lot of differences between countries here. The UK electrical standards date from WW2. The government realised that the reconstruction after the war was a good opportunity to introduce newer, and safer electricity standards. So the UK ended up with big clunky plugs, because the new standard required sockets to have shuttered holes (to protect children), and the plugs to have fuses. And because there were no RCDs yet they ended up without power sockets in the bathroom. (I think an RCDs is called a GFCI in the US)

My parents build their house in the 70ies in Belgium, when they had just introduced new electrical standards. These required automatic breakers, a whole house RCD, and a separate fast acting RCD for each "wet" room. So we did have power sockets in the bathroom. (but at least 1m from the shower...)

Later they also made shuttered holes mandatory for power sockets. But where I now live, Switzerland, they never made shutters in sockets mandatory, but in stead moved straight to making RCDs mandatory for each circuit.

There is a lot of path dependency going on with electrical standards. Early AC systems used lower frequencies, as lower frequencies mean lower transmission losses, and make operating motors easier. But they can result in flickering lights. Many railways still run at 16.6 pr 25 Hz. When electric lighting became common those frequencies were deemed to low. The legend goes that George Westinghouse was just a little bit more sensitive to flickering then Werner Siemens, and so we ended up with 50Hz in Europe and 60Hz in the US. But I think in reality it is more a metric versus customary units thing...

Germany used to be 2 phase 110V btw, but since from the point of view of an appliance 2 phase 110V is the same is single phase 220V that is what Europe ended up standardising on...

The first thing I thought of (I'll think of more, I'm sure) is that
when we are at a crosswalk in Europe people actually cross the street
when traffic is approaching! We do not do that in NJ, PA or NY. Many
drivers just don't stop at crosswalks here.

I tell American drivers that in Europe you need to drive as if pedestrians and cyclists are actually landmines that will explode and kill you if you get to close. In most European countries car drivers are automatically liable for damages when hitting a "weaker" traffic participant. And in some countries (eg. Switzerland) a traffic fatality is treated as a manslaughter (or in some cases even premeditated murder).

I dont need a hair dryer (not much hair) but where do I charge my electric toothbrush and razor in the UK. I have to find a huge bathroom so it can have a plug 3m from the water? And does this mean no plugs in British kitchens? Or is the kitchen water safer?

Yes, I know I can buy both in the UK, designed to work on the 115v shaver plug which is allowed to be within a foot of the sink (if ther is one, and they are expensive so don't count on it) But since the prongs won't work in the US or in the rest of Europe, not to mention the voltage difference ... not worth it. Wait, in the US the 11tv plug has to be 3 feet from the water? Safer?

Then there are the lights IP65 rated which isn't much different than you would find below the waterline in a swimming pool. Sort of limits artistic design in the bathroom.

The facts don’t lie and electricity in the U.K. is far safer than in the US with about 1/3 of the number of deaths in the home. But this is what I mean about attitudes to risk. You find the inconvenience more of an issue than the safety features, because you grew up with a different system and you didn’t expect it to harm you. However, statistically you were at more risk of harm you just didn’t know it so didn’t worry about it.

When people go a new country they see things that are different from home and they start to worry about them.

Relax, we are just having a little light hearted conversation. No judging ....

I dont need a hair dryer (not much hair) but where do I charge my electric toothbrush and razor in the UK. I have to find a huge bathroom so it can have a plug 3m from the water?

You will find most bathrooms have sockets for shavers and toothbrushes. Those shaver sockets are allowed in bathrooms.

Someone mentioned electric showers upthread - the switch to turn on the mains power will either be a hanging cord near the door or a switch in the neighbouring room.

Having a hotel bill close to the actual price (minimal taxes).

Oh there are plenty of taxes included in your hotel bill -- for example, the French VAT rate for lodging is 10% -- it's just that it's already included in the price when it's presented to you, so you don't perceive it as an add-on. So when you get your bill for a hotel room of €176, it's not like in the States where you are told the room is €160 and then you pay 10% tax on top. You are just told the room costs €176, and only if you look at the detailed breakdown do you know that €16 of that is VAT.

(Corsica has a different VAT rate, camping grounds have a different one, etc)

Electric showers.

I once walked into a shower in rural Honduras, turned the nob to the left, then on, and nothing but cold water. Then I looked at the shower head. It was huge and had an electrical switch on it and a wire that came out and plugged into the wall just above the shower head.

I got out as quick as I could and used a broom stick from a safe distance to knock the cord out of the socket. Then, I took a lot of cold showers.

You will find most bathrooms [in the UK] have sockets for shavers and
toothbrushes. Those shaver sockets are allowed in bathrooms.

Because in the UK they are much more safe at one foot from the sink, 115v and on quick trip breakers, while in the US they are more dangerous at 3 feet from the sink, 115v and on quick trip gfi breakers. This why there were only 70 fatal household electricutions in the UK last year, vs 200 in the US.

What I had hoped to avoid, I am now complicint in. LOL

Given that the US population is way higher than the UK’s, I wonder what the actual rate per 100,000 for each of them might be?

Sparrows in the morning, and their songs, reflecting off all the stone work. And misunderstanding just how devoutly religious people still are in Europe.

And misunderstanding just how devoutly religious people still are in
Europe.

You mean a lack there of?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=938065126954203&set=a.231559417604781&locale=en_GB

That chart is just silly. Especially Italy. We visit many religious sites, not because we are religious, but because of the cultural and historical influence these places and people had in the past. Its something you can't see in the USA cause there are only 90 Christian Monasteries in the entire USA. They are still every where in Italy and France.

Oh,and by the by, how did you get to near 20K posts, cause you haven't been around that long on RS?

Francis, Mr. E (James) has been posting here since, I believe, 2012. Mr E correct me if I’m wrong.

The toilet paper, Oh, the toilet paper! It IS getting better but I do remember the individual sheets that would be handed to you by the little woman who guarded the bathrooms and only gave you TP when you paid. The first time I went to Europe, in 1976, I wrote a letter home on some of these lovely sheets! My mom saved it and I still have those sheets of TP with a letter written on them.
Also, I will never understand the logic of one half of a glass door in the tubs that have showers. Although I try to be as careful as possible, water still manages to get on the floor. With only one towel per person, it's hard to dry yourself and the floor!

Francis, there are many churches in Italy, Spain and other countries not because people are very religious, but because they're historical buildings, architectonic landmarks that are culturally important.
Yes most are functioning, but it doesn't mean that the population is very religious, not in comparision to countris in Latinamerica for examples

The comment was, "And misunderstanding just how devoutly religious people still are in
Europe." Which is a world of differnece than the religious relics of nearly 2000 years .... of which for a very long time, religion was very much more important to Europeans than it is now. I happen to have strong religious beliefs, so the difference in meaning is important in how I look at the culture I am visiting. Part of the knowledge and understanding that comes from travel.

And yes, 2012 is probably correct. Still, I post too much. But I do wish they would take down those numbers.

The data about religion are reliable, especially for Italy; lots of people assume that the presence of the Vatican and the catholic cultural substrate make automatically italians (or spanish) more religious.. well, usually it's exactly the opposite and it's very hard to find a single person who attend mass regularly, except maybe elderly people.

There may not be religion, but there is still some sort of respect. We saw small memorials all over Italy. In the alleys and stuff and the narrow stairs. No one messed with them for 80 years. So there this is a cultural imperative that everyone understands.