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I love traveling to other countries. My family has a big European trip coming up this summer, and I can’t wait!
However, every time I travel to another country, I’m ready to come home at the end. I miss many things when I travel anywhere, but here are the things I miss when I travel to international locations:
Drinking Tap Water
In the U.S.A., we take for granted the fact that we can just drink water out of the tap. In many countries, you have to drink filtered water. It can be a bit of a challenge to remember not to drink the tap water. And yes, I’ve gotten sick from it. When we stayed in Russia, we had to go to the lobby to fill up a pitcher of filtered water every day. In Guatemala and Mexico, we relied on bottled water.
Ice
Americans love ice in drinks! I think we are the only ones, though. A European visitor to Texas asked me why we put ice in all of our drinks. I told her that since it gets so hot here in the summer (like 100 degrees) that drinks don’t taste good when they are that warm. She asked why we do it in the colder weather, too. I had no good answer.
Free Drink Refills
My boys have become accustomed to free refills on soft drinks at restaurants. And for some reason, whenever we go out to eat, they drink a lot of soda. I guess it’s because we don’t typically have it at home. Anyway, most restaurants in other countries don’t have unlimited soda. I will be talking to my kids about this a lot before we travel to Europe this summer.
Bathrooms
With the exception of a few major cities in the U.S., I’ve found bathrooms to be plentiful at tourist places in this country. Most attractions have free bathrooms. In other countries, finding a bathroom can be difficult. I had a real hard time in Italy. Finding a bathroom adds another level of complexity to the trip. And, I’ve been to a few bathrooms in other countries that would shock many Americans (like the toilet is a hole in the floor).
Softer Beds
Based on my experience, Europeans like harder mattresses. Like, much harder. At one hotel in Russia, the mattress was so hard that my husband and I didn’t get a wink of sleep. It was like sleeping on concrete. No joke.
Driving
Most of the time when my family travels internationally, we use public transportation. It’s easier than driving. However, sometimes I miss the simpleness of just getting in a car and pulling up to a parking lot.
Final Thoughts
Of course, every place is a different experience, and not all of these apply. And, the benefits of traveling to other countries far outweigh the inconvenience of missing some of the things I’m used to.
What do you miss when you travel to other countries?
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We haven’t traveled a lot internationally but I have to say it’s the tap water. Just taking a shower I’m always paranoid I’ll get some in my system!
Strangely enough, in Costa Rica the tap water is fine to drink.
@projectx Yes! Same.
Finding bathrooms in Europe is tough especially if you want a free one. We always use the bathroom anyplace we go that has one (restaurants, museums etc) although they often still cost money!
Another thing that we take for granted in the USA is diaper changing stations. They were basically nonexistent in Europe! The only other country we’ve traveled to with our kids is Mexico, and they weren’t common there either. Where is everyone changing diapers? I guess their kids only poop at home lol
@Tammie Oooh, going without diaper changing stations would be difficult!