International travel for pleasure

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by pandus13
Like others said:
-learn couple local words
-google maps/some paper map on you
-do not wear flashy things/phones/etc
-watch some Rick Steves Europe on PBS
-go with an open mind
-DO NOT BE THE TYPICAL AMERICAN!


Was visiting a company in China a few years ago and we stopped the meeting for lunch. Lunch in the US might be cold sandwiches brought into the meeting room but lunch is more formal in China. Meals are hot cooked food and we moved to a dining room. At the table were various place settings and I noticed one setting had a fork and a can of Coke. I purposely didn't sit there even though I knew it was for me. They had me move to that seat. I thanked them for thinking of me but told them I'd use the chopsticks and drink whatever they were drinking. They said the previous visitor from the US asked for the fork and Coke so they assumed I'd want it, too. I can get that at home. Might was well experience as much Chinese food and culture as possible. But no chicken feet for me.

 

[ffhdriver]

Until "the virus" goes lessens I wouldn't take any international pleasure trips. In 2006 the worse place I ran into with little English in restaurants and on menus was Brussels.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted by CKN

There are hundreds of millions of people in China studying English, but less than 1% of Mainland Chinese are conversational, according to some estimates. Not surprisingly, more English is spoken in China's large cities than in the smaller towns.


Yeah, this has been my experience as well. At the Shanghai airport, you'll find lots of people asking you if you need a $125 USD cab ride to downtown (about 3 times what it should cost, or 10 time the Maglev and the subway...), but once you get past "May I provide a ride to your hotel", you realize that's really all they can say.

In Shanghai, it's unusual to find someone who speaks conversational English. Once you get to a place like Wuxi or Suzhou, you can pretty much forget out it. In addition to my poor language skills, I use a translation app (Pleco) which is downloaded, and Google translate. Many service industry folks have translation apps as well.

To the OP, personally, I really enjoy the challenge of getting around without speaking the language. I find I'm much more aware and engaged in my surroundings, kinda like a blind person has other heightened senses since they can't see. It makes traveling to English-speaking places almost anti-climactic. You can always fall back on translation apps when it's not working out. Just learn a few phrases and make an attempt, and people will end up being more than willing to help you.

 

[PandaBear]

Greece: had no problem with English everywhere that Tourist went, once on a bus and once on metro people around me would try to find one English speaker to translate for me, super helpful and nice people there. The constant strike on the other hand is a bit inconvenient.

Spain: people don't usually speak English but most of the time you can find a guy among them that can, and will help translate. I try to use a few broken Spanish word I picked up from my kids' book and the locals sort of figure out what I wanted to do, and help with their broken English. All went well.

Thailand: they are good with English as most travelers won't speak Thai.

Costa Rica, Puerto Rico (surprisingly Puerto Rican aren't all fluent in English), Cabo, Cancun all seems to be English friendly if you stay close to the tourist traps instead of venture out on your own.

 

[4WD]

Biggest security trashing I ever had was in Spain ... everything, and that must have been a hundred items had to come out of my bags ... it was spread across two tables while these clowns picked up item after item asking questions

Cold day in —//-! before I'm going to Spain again

 

[jstert]

here are my thoughts, corona virus aside, based on my 25+ year career living/working overseas, mostly in asia, some time in mideast and eastern europe. don't sweat the english, just be quiet, smart, pleasant and polite. don't cheap out flying budget air carriers, you will be screwed over in some way, shape or form. premium economy seating is nice and restful, the journey is part of the fun. suck it up and pay for a premium travel credit card. chase sapphire reserve is $450/yr (up $100 on 1 april), offers $300 immediate cash back on travel charges, $100 global entry card reimbursement, airport lounge access, medevac and foreign health insurance, all exceedingly useful. don't forget to pack your common sense in your hand carry bag. stay far away from both drugs and too much booze. if you travel dressed like a bum or like you are going to the gym, you will be judged silently but harshly. whatever you do get decent medevac and foreign health insurance for all travels. suggest japan and south korea: lots of great hiking, interesting, developed infrastructure, easy, safe, fun. southeast asia is nice but tougher than north asia for a first timer to have an easy, safe, fun time without knowing someone, i'm in indonesia writing this post. eastern europe is quite nice, friendly, cheap, anyone under 30 speaks english, way better than western europe. if you want mideast then enlist and deploy.

 

[4WD]

Terima Kasih, Pak

 

[jstert]

Originally Posted by 4WD
Terima Kasih, Pak


sama sama pak.