Some Tips on Visiting Europe:
1. Try to learn (at least) a few
phrases in the language of the countries you will be visiting.
You are considered rude, for example, when entering or leaving a small
shop if you don't say "hello" and "goodbye."
2. Bring a Marling Menu-Master.
Unless you are extremely fluent, these handy
little guides can help
avert disaster if you're squeamish
about eating what may be to you odd and unusual foods.
3. Have a bit
of the local currency before you arrive.
Although you don't get a particularly good exchange rate here,
it's not a bad idea to have, say, a hundred dollars' worth of the local currency.
You will get a decent exchange rate in the airport where you're landing, but
probably not as good as in a bank outside the airport. However, airport branches of
various banks are very speedy about changing your traveler's checks (more rapid than most
regular banks). ATM machines have become a normal part of the scenery, even in
Italy!
4. Bring a few souvenirs from the U.S.
I always have a handful of small gifts which are particular to the San
Francisco Bay Area. Linen towels with a drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge, bottle
stoppers with a cable car design, etc. These are most welcome when you have been
extended courtesies by the locals.
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