European Travel Anecdotes
February 5th, 2008 by natalie
Random bits of info and travel tips compiled from my trip:
* Driving is fun. 
(Posted speed limits on the autobahns are more of a suggestion than a hard-and-fast rule. Our rental car didn’t have a cruise control, but I found that keeping the gas pedal depressed all the way to the floor did the job just fine, since it maxed out between 160 and 170 km per hour. Even still, plenty of other drivers went zipping right past us. I felt like I was crawling my first day driving back here when I had to observe the 60MPH posted limit…) Another note about driving: the one in the passing lane pretty much has the right of way. If you’re coming up on a slower moving vehicle in the passing lane just flash your bright lights at them and they will move over so that you can pass. Imagine trying something like that here in the States! The term “road rage” comes immediately to mind…
* Being inside public buildings is not fun. 
(Smoking is permitted almost everywhere and almost everyone smokes, resulting in polluted interiors that sometimes left me with burning eyes and a headache.)
* Don’t plug hair dryers into electrical plug adapters. (European electrical outlets require a different type of plug and run on a different voltage, so adapters and converters are necessary…or you can just borrow someone else’s electrical appliances…)
* There is a reason that airlines have a reputation for supplying passengers with distasteful cuisine. (I didn’t think they could make a pizza that I wouldn’t like…)
* I was in Europe for 18 days. I saw the sun 1 day. A couple of days a few rays penetrated the cloud cover, but it was cloudy and cold almost constantly.
* The pets are very well trained. And it’s a good thing because they are permitted in most stores and restaurants!
* The 24-hour store is virtually unheard of. Most establishments close by 7:00, so finding things to do in the evening is close to impossible. The banks and grocery stores were closed for several days at a time over the holidays.
* If you order water at a restaurant, the server will ask, “mit gasse?” meaning, “with carbonation?” Regardless of whether you order it with or without carbonation, it will be served in a bottle and you will pay handsomely for it - in excess of 2 or 3 Euros. (Thankfully, there is also the unpublicized and not-recommended option of ordering “tap water with ice.” The servers usually looked at me a little funny and questioned me to be sure I really wanted tap water, but hey, it saved me a good chunk of money and the water tasted just fine!)
* When dining at a restaurant, expect to wait a good while after being seated for the server to greet you. The same is true of the time between the end of the meal and when the check arrives. However, only a 10% tip is customary and expected.
* It’s helpful to brush up on conversion formulas. Europeans use kilometers instead of miles, Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, Euros instead of Dollars, kilograms instead of pounds, and centimeters and meters instead of inches and feet.
