I hate whining. Hate, It. Especially if you are whining about little stuff when great stuff is happening to you—like getting to be in Scotland. So these are the rules. You don't have to follow them, but if you are with me, I wish you would.
- You aren't getting any ice, or if you do, it's going to be one cube. That's how it is. Move on.
- Chances are excellent you are not going get your meals at 6:30 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. Let's just roll with it. Okay?
- There are stairs. There are not many elevators. Sorry.
- Do not pack more than you can handle. Nobody was put on this earth to tote your luggage.
- If you are with other people, you just might have to do something you don't really want to. Wait. You don't really. You can elect to do something else. Or you can stay in your room.
- If you want to go back to your room to rest, go. Nobody is going with you.
- It rains in Scotland. Rain makes you wet. What a surprise.
- They do not use wash cloths. No, I don't know why not. I do know they aren't going to start on our account. There are several ways to cope. Take your own. Take an old towel and tear pieces off and discard after use. Use a bath puff and face wipes. Just let the shower barrel down on you.
- You are going to need to go back to the drawing board on learning to operate a shower. Come on, you can. It's not much of a learning curve.
- Yes, there are French fries every meal. Chips, as it were. If you don't want them, don't eat them, but they are going to be on your plate. Oh, you are tired of them? Sorry.
- Yeah, about that mattress. It's not yours. It's different. What to do, what to do. . .
- Yes, I have noticed they eat a lot of fish. It's a relatively small country surrounded by water. It happens.
When I got home, I drank one down without stopping with the refrigerator door open.
What do you find hard about foreign travel? Does it override your desire to be there?
HA!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny, Jean, and so you!!! I love it. Yes, traveling to Europe is like landing on another planet. It is sooooo different from America. But that's why we go!
I spent six weeks in Germany, and it was amazing. Yes, traveling is hard and often uncomfortable, but to get the chance to be in Germany ... it is so worth it.
I spent eleven months in Ukraine, and at first I loved everything about it. I loved the people, and I loved the way nobody ever complains about the unpredictable public transportation, I loved their amazing parks and everyone's self-sufficient spirit. I loved the young people who were so eager to learn American slang.
This is what you call the honeymoon stage. It lasts about 4 to 6 weeks.
After that, there were times when I hated the unpredictable public transportation and the way every store in town closes for two hours in the middle of the day, only they don't all close the same two hours, the frequent random holidays that I didn't know about, the very uncertain state of the plumbing in my apartment building, and various other things.
But for the most part, it was amazing just to be in a foreign country, getting to know people, learning to live in a place where I didn't even know the language. What an adventure, right?
And then, the last two weeks I was there, wishing only for America, for a car of my own again, for huge supermarkets where I can buy everything I need in one place ... this is called "smelling the runway." It lasts until you get back to America and literally have to stop yourself from kissing the ground.
Melanie, I know what you mean. I love, love, love being there, but closer homecoming gets, the more I notice what's not "right".
DeleteMy inlaws have ice trays that they only use when I'm in town. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's odd about the washcloths. Hmmm. I've always been given one. Will ask if that's the new norm.
My one piece of advice for everyone traveling to Scotland -- take a waterproof jacket that you like and looks good on you because you'll be wearing it in every picture.
So true about the jacket, though we were very lucky this time. It rained two out of 17 days.
DeleteMaybe I am staying in the wrong places, but on three fairly long European trips--including this last one--, I've only gotten washcloths twice. And one those was in a Hilton. Not that I let it bother me. If I've got some relatively hot water and a mostly clean sheet, I'm good.
I lived in Germany for 4 years and traveled all over Europe while there. That included a trip to the other side of the Berlin Wall and a visit to Eqypt and Israel. After seeing so many "ugly Americans" early on in my travels, I made darn sure I wasn't one of them. I learned to enjoy warm Coke. Better yet, order spaetze, which is Coke with just a dash of orange soda in it. Wunderbar! I still do it at places where you fix your own fountain drink. Most times I was delighted when I visited a country where you could drink the water and didn't have to take shots to visit.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the washcloth shortage, but I never went to Scotland. In Germany they had washcloth mitts. I thought they were cute and gave them for presents one year. I the one I still have use it to carry my wireless mouse in my laptop bag.
Everyone traveling abroad should read your blog piece. It's just appalling how some folks act when they travel outside the USA.
Marilyn
It is appalling the way some people act. I was once in Puerto Rico, which, though is technically part of this country, is a totally different culture, and the people at the next table in a NICE restaurant demanded fresh bottles of water because the waiter had removed the tops on the first batch.
DeleteI was embarrassed for them.
They must have seen.... oh darnit, can't remember the title. It has David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. Her father owns a restaurant and when a customer gets snotty about a certain kind of bottled water, she removed the cap, filled it with tap water and took it to the table.
DeleteYeah, I'd have been embarrassed for them too.
That was Return to Me, Marilyn. She didn't want Swiss water, she "got sick on swiss water once." :)
DeleteMust see that movie.
DeleteWhen we went on a Med cruise I packed a small suitcase full of diet mountain dew! We each had enough for almost 2 a day - hee hee! Then I had an empty suitcase to pack all my wonderful souvenirs and bottles of wine!
ReplyDeleteYou are too smart for school. Next time. . . .
DeleteThe only places I've been outside the US are Juarez, Mexico and Vienna, Austria. And I don't think Juarez really counts. The only real discomfort I felt traveling was the flight there and back since they wouldn't let me choose my seat and Sister and I were not able to sit together. But we lived and laughed through it. Once there, the most common phrase directed at us was "Shh! You're too loud!" said by my daughter, of course which is why we were there to begin with. She was there studying abroad. But we knew to Austrians were a quiet bunch going into the trip, too. It's just that apparently Sister and I are loud even when we don't talk? It's all in the eyes and facial expressions and the arm movements? Well...? I did my best. Really, I did! But then I came home and told everyone to be quiet. The US is a really noisy place! Hahahaha... I still can't figure out how to be quiet after having a few cups of Punscht, though. How do they do it? And what's with the whispering on all cell calls? I can't hear when someone's yelling at me over one most times....if they're whispering I'm probably hanging up. Sigh. My next international stop needs to be a jovial, celebration kinda place...like Rio or Germany or Scotland. But I may go back to Austria at Christmastime for the Punscht!
ReplyDeleteAnd wow...that made me sound like the rude traveler. I wasn't. Really, I promise I wasn't. I just have animations about me...?
DeleteNever confuse animation for rudeness. You have beautiful manners.
DeleteI would travel with you. I do not say that to everyone.
Oooh! Let's go! Where will we go? I can't wait! Squee!
DeleteThe point of travel is to experience things that are different from home. I try to eat the local specialties, like haggis, even though I really don't want to. I want to see the sights and live the life. Traveling (aside from flying) is my favorite thing. If you want things like home, like you said, go to Epcot. And I do like Epcot for that reason... a little exotic, a little comfortable.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I also am happy when I get home. After a week in Germany and Austria, traveling mainly by myself, I broke my own rule and went to a Burger King. I just needed something that tasted like I expected it to taste. It didn't. Like you said, two ice cubes, coke light, which does not taste like diet coke, the beef tastes different, so the whopper tasted different... I ended up feeding it to a homeless guy that watched me while I tried to eat. Serves me right for trying. But you know what tasted great in Germany? The pastries. So that's what I ate a lot of. Chocolate croissants, pretzels, rolls baked with ham and cheese inside. YUM. Not like at home at all. So if sausage isn't your thing, like me, you have to get out of your comfort zone, and you'll be surprised to find things you like.
In Scotland, we rode on a tour bus with some really horrible Americans. It made me VERY aware of how I was acting and how local people might perceive me. I never want to be those people.
I don't think you could ever be "those people" even if you tried. I love to do ordinary things, like get my breakfast at a bakery and sit outside by myself to watch people. I like to go into convenience stores and see what kind of candy and chips they have. I don't want to miss a thing.
DeleteBut I admit by that last morning, I was ready for some McDonald's at the airport. And I don't even eat McDonald's at home.
Lol! This is funny and so very true, Jean. Thank you for sharing your rules.
ReplyDeleteI've traveled a lot in my lifetime. Key point here is you are a visitor, an ambassador of the USA. Behave well and expect to be uncomfortable. In another country, you have to try and fit in. Not the other way around.
So glad you're back and that you had a great time!!!
What a good way to look at it. You make a good ambassador.
DeleteI lived in Germany for 4 yrs., traveled all over, & it always floored me when I heard Americans demand, "Doesn't anybody speak English in this place???" Really it only takes a little bit of effort to learn how to say hello, goodbye, yes, no, please, thank you, how much does this cost? and where is the bathroom? in every country you visit. Natives usually answer in English when you pay them this courtesy (at least they always did when they heard my accent!) It costs nothing to be polite & I wish we all were.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's what it comes back to, isn't it? Polite. Respectful.
DeleteRain? No joke, I spent 10 days in Scotland and barely saw a CLOUD, never mind a drop of rain. It was May, and the temp was in the high sixties and low seventies every day. Wonderful. The Scots asked "the good-weather Americans" if we would please stay :-). Funny; I usually have good travel weather.
ReplyDeleteThe eggs, milk, and meat all have a different taste, which doesn't bother me because I don't like eggs and milk anyway. And we found a great little Mexican restaurant in Edinburgh (yes, Mexican) that thrilled us. The hotel food, except for high tea, wasn't very good, but in all the little pubs and restaurants and sandwich shops, it was great. Different, but great. And I wouldn't eat haggis here in the states, so I see no need to eat it anywhere else, either.
We were very lucky this time. Two days of rain on the whole trip and none when we scattered my sweet David's ashes.
DeleteI found the food good and bad, like everywhere else. Indian food in the UK is generally very good--if you like Indian and I do.
As to haggis--the first time I was there I tasted The Guy's (he likes it) and it tasted like liver, which I cannot abide. I don't know what made me go in for a second bite this time, but it was great. It was made by a company called MacSween's and did not taste anything like the other I had. Kind of like meatloaf with a whiskey sauce.
I really enjoyed reading these rules and picturing Pantster in the different situations but I have an international travel rule to add to these...
ReplyDeleteIf you have a writting partner and leave the country then you MUST have an international phone!
Especially if you have just sold.
DeleteBecause that is the polite and respectable thing to do. It's all about good manners. :) Well... that, and taking care of your Sisters. It's a good rule. We all really missed you Jean...especially Stephanie. <3
Delete