Updated September 30, 2022 7.1K votes 1.4K voters 94.0K views
Voting Rules
Vote up the most unbelievable differences.
We get accustomed to the way things work in the places we live. When we visit a new locale, it's the little things that stick out to us and remind us that we're in unfamiliar territory. People from the US and Europe seem to love traveling and visiting each other's lands.
We have a lot in common, but those little differences are immediately noticeable. These are the things about Europe that American travelers will probably never get used to, no matter how many times they visit.
Rental apartments in Germany often come without a furnished kitchen.
I'm stunned and amused how much attention this has gotten.
There's been some confusion by my use of “furnished,” which is kind of vague. I meant sink, refrigerator, stove and cabinets. Because these are almost always provided in rental apartments in the US, it was shocking to me as an American looking at rentals in Germany that I would have to buy and install those things.
When we were looking at apartments in Munich the agent wouldn't stop complaining that we wouldn't view any places without a kitchen. We were early-20s consultants there for work, I'm not buying a f*cking kitchen lol.
OMG the toilets. In the US every toilet I've ever come across has a flush lever on the left of the tank or (in public restrooms) a sensor or a button on the top. In Europe every single toilet has a different flush mechanism. Every. Single. One. It's like an escape room challenge. Foot pedals. Cranks. Pull knobs. Things attached to the sink.
I was once stuck in a bathroom for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to flush the toilet, it turned out to be a pulley on the other side of the room.
I don't know if this applies everywhere in Europe, but the lack of window screens in French homes was an adjustment for me. Every evening was a decision between leaving the windows open and being constantly harassed by flies and mosquitoes or closing them and suffocating in hot, stuffy air.
I get that they're not aesthetically attractive, but I'm more than happy to accept that tradeoff if it means I can breathe fresh air without bugs landing on me every 30 seconds.
Yes! I just returned from a trip to Scotland, England, and France, and I struggled with the very same. It reached 106° my last two days in Paris, and there was no way I could keep the windows closed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it. I wish we had all that here. But it's deeply unfamiliar. I have European coworkers who expect vacation. We've got a British manager who expects employees to take vacation.
As a Brit it really shocks me seeing Americans talking about their vacation days. Like I saw someone proud they had saved up their days for like 4-5 years and now had 25 days saved up to use after never taking any.
I was like that’s less days than I get yearly. And that doesn’t count the public holidays, extra days I buy, days we get given free. I can’t imagine having only 5-10 days a year if that.
For Poland you can only open a shop if the owner is working. So it's an opportunity for the smaller shop owners to earn money while big shops are closed.
The oddest thing I found in Copenhagen was that when we tried to go get food around 9 pm, nearly everywhere was closed. We were in a busy part of the city but it took us so incredibly long to find a place open late. I don't live in a huge city but I can throw a rock from my house and it will bounce off half a dozen places open until midnight or later.
