"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
...
> jmcquown wrote:
>
>> Considering the tipping customs vary in so many countries how is anyone
>> supposed to keep up?! I can't recall who it was earlier in the thread
>> (Lia?) said tipping a small gratuity is expected in Italy even though the
>> menu price includes service, or something like that.
>
>
> Nah, wasn't me. I'd love to be someone who had traveled in Italy such
> that I could comment on their tipping customs, but I'm not.
>
>
>
> So if I'm travelling
>> and I go from France to Italy to Hungary, for example, I'm supposed to
>> have
>> something akin to Cliff's Notes handy to tell me what to do whenever I
>> cross
>> a border? Just curious. Most people I know who have visited Europe
>> aren't
>> just going to one country.
>
>
> Of all the customs to get used to when traveling, how much to tip doesn't
> sound like the most difficult. That information is readily available in
> travel guides, or from asking the first person you meet. More difficult
> are matters of safety, getting medical care, replacing medications,
> approaching strangers or members of the opposite sex, language, etc.
>
>
> --Lia
>

Here's an interesting pitfall: The mother of a Puerto Rican friend told me
there were two ways to say "Take the bus" in Spanish. Both were OK in Puerto
Rico. But, in Argentina (or it might've been Venezuela), one of the two ways
is also slang for "Have sex with a child". I will definitely call her for a
refresher course if I ever travel to South America.