Friday, April 27, 2012

My friend traveling to London, Paris and Rome. What tips can you give her?

We think she's pretty well set. She will be on a tour with others so won't be renting a car. She has notified her credit card company that she will be overseas. She has a Passbook so she won't be carrying a lot of cash. No backpack or fanny pack. She has a long flat shoulder purse that fits tight against her body under her coat and a passport/credit card, etc. pouch she wears around her neck and in her bra. Proper adaptor for the hair dryer.



What should she avoid doing, etc. so as not to get on the wrong side of the locals? Anything else?



My friend traveling to London, Paris and Rome. What tips can you give her?

When riding buses in Rome, tell her to not get comfy and prop herknees upon the back of a seat, no matter if the bus is full. For some reason, this is highly offensive to the Roman folk, inspite of rather lax social codes on PDAs and bodily exposure. If she's called out on anything, tell her to argue back, and loudly. My experience with Romans is that they frown on humility and admire hutzpa. She should try to speak some Italian, and figure out certain customs before hand, (such as entering a cathedral only if her her head and arms are covered), especially if she's an American. We need all the positive PR we can get right now to prove not all of us are like W. :)



My friend traveling to London, Paris and Rome. What tips can you give her?

The best advice I can give her is to learn the greetings for each country she visits, and to know how to say some version of, "I'm sorry, but my French/Italian isn't very good. Do you speak English?" And to use that phrase every time instead of speaking immediately in English.

No comments:

Post a Comment