- Surprisingly, dental floss can be difficult to find — I scoured shops in Portugal & Spain and couldn’t find a single tube!
- Do not assume you will always find a public toilet for free to use; you may have to pay 1 EUR or 2 to get into one
- Everybody smokes. Okay, not everybody, because babies aren’t old enough yet 😛 But seriously, they smoke a lot more than in North America, which can be surprising for newcomers
- Be careful in certain countries, because if you aren’t a local they will purposefully try to screw you* on prices
- Their pharmacies are really just for drugs and basic things like sunscreen; do not think you will find things like lint rollers
*True story, we were staying at a hotel in Evora, helped out by a local to book it, and the lady looked at BF and I, turned back to the nice local who was helping us and said: These two are foreigners. They don’t pay the same rate as locals. It’s double. Look at them, they are clearly not from here, and therefore have more money. They pay more because they can afford it.
A little fast talking, and the local convinced her that HE booked the hotel room and it was for us, but HE was the local and HE authorized the booking. We ended up paying the 30 EUR rate, but other Americans sauntering in for the night were charged 60 EUR at a minimum, depending on how rich they looked.
There you go 🙂
Other things I might add:
- Don’t assume that they do or don’t speak English and don’t speak louder in an effort to be understood — they aren’t deaf! Try your best is all I can say, and try to speak in their language. Some speak it perfectly (perhaps better than you :P) and are very kind to help you out (in Stockholm, they were THE NICEST people EVER, on top of being some of the most beautiful I’ve seen so far). However, some don’t speak English at all, or others speak English but are embarrassed to use it and would rather have you struggle through their language because it’s easier for them, and so on. Whatever the situation is, try your best and DO NOT get all haughty by saying: Well they SHOULD know English. *huff* *puff*
- People will stare at you because you’re a foreigner (your clothes give it away, if your accent and city map hasn’t already), but they won’t try to take pictures of you like they would in China 😛
- Assume they are not as outspoken, frank or as overly bright & friendly as they are in North America — cultural personalities are very different here, in my opinion
- Everything is WAY MORE expensive than in North America, like .. whoa!
- Not all hotels are the same — do not assume there will be private toilets (unless you book with a big name brand), and do not assume internet or local calls are free. Assume you will be charged for everything and anything.
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I live in Portugal in a small village, and dental floss can be found in the local store, less than 5 minutes way from my house. I’ve also lived in other parts of Portugal, and it was as easy to find. But it usualy doesn’t come in a tube, so maybe that wasn’t helpful when you tried to find it. As for the “hotels” without private toilet, it may happen in hostels or smaller inns. And the price list has to be available for clients, to prevent situations like the one you described. Unfortunately, I know some people try to get advantage from tourists, but I can tell you that those are not the majority.
I agree with most of this. Did you mean that floss comes in a tube? If so, that might be why it’s hard to find – I’ve never looked for it that way. Yes, national personalities are very different; I think of that as part of the ‘cultural experience’ of travel, along with food, language, history, geography, etc. Local phone calls on land lines aren’t free even to locals, never mind tourists. I’ve not been to all the places you have; so the differences may be even more extreme. I can well believe the story about the woman who charged people by how they look. We tend to book through the tourist information office if we haven’t booked ahead. That way the price is fixed.