Our RV Adventures

In many ways, especially culturally, Europe seems 10-15 years behind the US. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but it just is.

Smoking is still very popular, with a lot of people smoking on the streets and in the shops. And just about every restaurant, bar, and pub has a cigarette machine prominently displayed.

This one even has an app that lets you select and pay for your favorite brand online.

And you can even find them located outside along the sidewalks.

The other noticeable thing is that pretty much every female, young and older, wear leggings. Women in business suites wear them with skirts, perhaps shorter than they might without leggings. College girls may wear them with shorts, or many times just the leggings.

The other throwback is the young girl’s jean’s, and leggings, too, all have those horizontal slits cut into them up and down the thighs, with sometimes more leg showing than actual legging or jeans. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Again something else I don’t see much here in the States any more.

One thing they seemed to be a little ahead of us is in public co-ed bathrooms, even at the major airports and train stations. The stalls are all side by side with both men and women using them, with the urinals around the corner in a separate alcove.

Takes a little getting use to, but then you don’t think about it any more.

Another is that, especially in Amsterdam and Paris, it seems like everyone is pulling around one of those small carry-on sized wheeled suitcases, even behind their bikes. I guess that’s the replacement for briefcases and large purses.

Finishing up, one thing that was really surprising to me was that I never had any problem with my credit/debit cards. Of course I had called them ahead of time to let them know that if they had a charge in Houston one day, and a charge in Budapest the next, it was probably OK.

The only slight glitch was that my PayPal MasterCard would not work at ATM’s to get cash, but worked just find for credit or debit card purchases.

One other thing is that in every restaurant or pub we visited, the waiter never takes your card off somewhere in back to run it. Every place had one of those little hand-held devices that would run your card, let you sign it or use your PIN, and then print your receipt, all right at your table.

I’ll have some more thoughts in another blog.

Thought for the Day: 

I always hate it when liar’s pants don’t actually catch on fire. Hopefully someday.

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