When I travel to a different country, I enjoy noticing the little things that reflect cultural differences. This Three Things Thursday post highlights three things I noticed on my recent trip to Europe.
1. Different Names On Familiar Products. One thing that always catches my attention is seeing familiar products with different names. I was particularly amused to see “American Ginger Ale” and “Indian Tonic Water” at a grocery store in Germany.
2. Different Health Concerns. Since I am interested in health and nutrition, I tend to notice when different issues get attention in different countries. I definitely noticed more smoking in Europe, and there even was a cigarette machine in my hotel lobby.
On the other hand, the same hotel had lots of nutrition information on their menus. Items with any of the following ingredients were plainly labeled.
(Hah! I didn’t notice that selfie reflection when I took the picture!)
3. Superstitions (or lack thereof). I thought hotels weren’t supposed to have a 13th floor–or is that just an American superstition?
At least the worst thing that happened to me here was leaving my toothpaste behind.
Have you ever stayed on the 13th floor?
Did you know that ginger ale is “American”?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Very interesting. I enjoy the different labels when traveling. When I was in Japan, I was fascinated by the smaller and more narrow Coke cans. And the variety of products available in vending machines was crazy.
I took home from Europe a love of strong and simple coffee. I still drool remembering the awesome Italian coffee.
Stop being so humble. You know darn well that’s not a selfie reflection. The restaurant imprinted a watermark of your pretty face on all their menus. You really should be proud, ya know.
I can’t believe that they had cigarette machines. Didn’t there used to be things like that here? (or maybe I made that up!)
I have never looked to see about a 13th floor. Now I am going to peek when I stay in hotels.
I have noticed that many hotels in Asia don’t have a 13th floor, but in Australia we do.