Things in Europe That Don't Make Sense to American Tourists

Pay to Use Public Restrooms

Imagine you go to a public restroom in a city or at a highway stop, just to find out that you need to pay to access the restroom.

This isn't everywhere the case, but it surely is in central Europe, for example.

On the flip side, most pay toilets along the highway tend to be cleaner than those in countries where they are free to use.

Public toilets in France and Italy come with long queues and no toilet paper, and they are truly nasty.

Lack of Ceiling Fans and Air Cooling Systems

Summers in Europe are hot, but air conditioning and ceiling fans are rarely an option when you book a room.

Therefore, I always recommend checking your hotel details because it's absolutely not the norm, and you would rather not cook in your ceiling room in August.

Just be mindful of the environment and don't keep air conditioning and ceiling fans on while you are touring the town. This behavior has been the reason hotels have not been pro A/Cs.

Hotel Half Glass Shower Doors

Most hotel bathrooms across Europe are fitted with half-glass shower doors.

The problem with these trendy glass doors is that the water splashes out, or worse, that the full bathroom is inundated.

It doesn't matter whether you get a budget room or an expensive room. Most hotel bathrooms are fitted that way.

To make matters worse, the bathroom can be absolutely minuscule, and the drainage system doesn't drain.

Window Screens to Keep Bugs out

Window screens do exist in some places in Europe, but they are not very common.

Hotel rooms never have window screens; only private homes sometimes install them. You might encounter an Airbnb with window screens.

It's not that there are no bugs in Europe; plenty of mosquitoes will torment you when the days are hot.

The logic behind this inconvenience , is that most places in Europe can count the hot days in the year, and there are not many. Bugs don't survive in the cold, and you will probably keep your windows closed or just tilted at night.

No Ice in Cold Drinks & Carbonated Water

You'll rarely find cold drinks served with ice in Europe. It's just not something that Europeans ever cared about.

But drinks in restaurants and cafes should be served cold. If they are not cold, ask for a cold version when they serve it to you.

In grocery shops, you get the room-temperature bottled drinks on the shelves, and then there is a fridge section with the same cold drinks, just cooled.

Also, you get two types of waters across Europe. Regular water, which is sometimes also sold as water with natural minerals, and carbonated water.

Pay attention to the bottle label when you buy water and when you order it at a food place.

Paying for Water in Restaurants

Water isn't free in restaurants, cafes, or any other food places.

When you ask for water, they will usually ask if you'd like to have plain water or carbonated water, and then they will bring you either one, which will cost you almost as much as a soft drink.

In a few places in Europe, you will be able to get tap water if you specifically ask for it, but even then they might charge you for that.

The only place where you can get a small free glass of water is at a coffee place in Austria, as it's part of the coffee house tradition in Austria.

Grocery Stores being closed on Sundays

Several countries, specifically in central Europe, like to honor the family time of their people.

What does this have to do with closed grocery stores? Well, most people employed by grocery stores have a family, and political parties in these regions have been promoting this idea to their beloved voters, the hard-working middle class.

Therefore, you'll rarely see grocery stores or any other shops for that matter open on Sundays in Germany, Austria, and neighboring countries.

Only very specific tourist resorts have recently begun to keep at least one grocery store open during the peak season until noon. It's better than nothing, I guess!

Driving Manual Transmission Cars

Electric cars are on the rise, and that means that automatic transmissions will soon be the norm in Europe.

Yet most car owners still drive manual transmission cars. Europeans love driving geared vehicles, especially old-timers!

Therefore, you will need to account for the fact that rental cars have a manual transmission and not an automatic option.

Check your driving license if you can drive manual transmission cars in specific regions in Europe or filter for automatic only when hiring a rental car.

Countries like the UK and Austria will restrict you from driving manual transmission cars if your license isn't valid for manual cars.

No Free Refills

While you might be used to free soda refills in the US, you'll definitely not encounter that anywhere on the European continent.

Every Coke that you order will be billed separately.

The only place where you get to enjoy free refills is at a breakfast buffet in a hotel chain. But here you'll only get, coffee, tea and orange juice.

Pickpockets

Pickpockets are a real menace in Europe. They appear in the most touristy places, and they target tourists, specifically Americans.

So, why is it that the Parises, Romes, and Milans of the world are incapable of cleaning up and ultimately getting rid of these organized crime groups?

These pickpockets are gangs from Eastern Europe, and these countries are part of the European Union, so free unregistered movement is one issue.

The pickpockets are usually teenagers, and the charges don't stick, and most probably somewhere along the way, we can blame corruption as well.

Tip: Learn how to blend in as an American tourist in Europe.