Embarrassing travel culture shocks

[WildBalonz]

Since it’s summer and holiday season I thought it might be fun to share some silly or funny or embarrassing cultural shocks we’ve all had when travelling!

I’ll start with an incident that is both funny and embarrassing depending how you look at it. A few years ago me, my brother, his wife and her brother (my brother and sister in law) went on a trip all through China. We were on a tour bus traveling through some rural areas outside Guangzhou. We had a pit stop to stretch our legs and use the toilet etc and our driver proudly told us that the public loos we had stopped at had western toilets which were very uncommon in these areas. Great we all thought, however what he didn’t mention is that instead of individual cubicals they had very small almost like shower screens separating each toilet. Not much privacy at all! It made for a very embarrassing poo for me my sister in law and two other ladies on our tour 😂. I laugh at it now but at the time it was probably the most awkward and embarrassing experience our lives. Luckily she’s a good sport and we joke about it these days!

Good grief, your gut must hate you. Do you just hold it in unless you are at home? What is it about a natural bodily function that is so disgusting?

Heaven forbid you had a bowel movement giving birth or something equally horrifying... but i guess you'd just wait and tell your bowels to clench it in 😅🤣

I went to a museum in Amsterdam like that about thirty years ago, clear glass doors on the toilets. I fiddled about washing my hands - actually waiting for the whole toilet to be empty- then realised that by some strange alchemy the glass doors went completely opaque when you locked them. Relief. I think those doors are more common these days, but that was the first time I had encountered them.

It’s not so strange, if experience has shown that people regularly misuse those toilets because they’re used to a different arrangement — we used to have those signs in the toilets in the university building where I mostly taught, and which also hosted large numbers of overseas students taking pre-sessional courses designed to bring their English up to the required level. Lots of Indian and Chinese students. Others too, but the university had done a big recruitment push in those two countries. Given that the signs were regularly renewed, I assume the cleaners/buildings maintenance had flagged it as a regular issue.

Visiting Lagos around 35 years ago and seeing a couple of dead bodies by the side of the highway where they had been knocked down and left.

I remember floor toilets being the norm in France in the late 70s/early 80s. Thank god they went, as I’m not sure I could get up from one now, without using my hands!

Why are MN users obsessed with people shitting in public. I get it some people enjoy it but no need to flaunt it 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

A pleasant culture shock in Brno, Czech Rep. at the end of a long, lovely walk, we came across a help yourself bar (no staff), 5 types of beer, two of wine and fruit juice, work out the price and post the money through a slot, also crisps, nuts and soup! all clean, with a sink to wash up afterwards, and people choosing, and paying. Would it work in Britain?

@GoodbyeRosie its the whole sewerage system though, not just the plumbing in an actual building that’s the issue. You shouldn’t have put paper down at all.

Did you swim in the sea later? Because you might have met up with your own pooey paper again floating alongside you. It’s not the toilets that can’t cope with paper , it’s the inadequate sewage system, the paper is a dead give away so they ask you not to flush it.

Not me but my DD. She was on a trip through Bulgaria with her (fairly new) boyfriend and his (male) best friend. They were sharing hotel or hostel rooms to save money. In one place the ensuite bathroom was a glass cube, with a toilet and shower inside, all completely visible from everywhere in the room. She thought it was hilarious and sent me a photo of herself sitting on the toilet taken from the bed...it didn't put the BF off obviously as they are now married!"

I was visiting Kinshasa where my DH was working (for the UN there). There was gunfire outside in the street every night. No-one seemed in the least fazed by it (I have no idea if anyone was shot).

Well I guess they could have sh*t in their hands and thrown it out the window 🤷‍♀️

Yes! I spent a couple of months in India with work and became worryingly accustomed to seeing families of 4 balanced on a moped with bags and bags of shopping. Incredible place, but zero concern for road safety!

When we were trekking in Nepal one of the toilets at the accommodation was in a barn which stuck out over a field, well it wasn’t a toilet it was a hole in the floor. Everything you did dropped into the farmland below for fertilisation.

if you are on a trek they are all public toilets! So Kilimanjaro Nepal Borneo , Nepal was three weeks that would have been a long time to hold it in!

So you’d what just go in your underwear ?

I am British and definitely agree with that but don’t other countries have the same mass hysteria. Captain Tom, the saintly, was another example. If you didn’t think he was wonderful you kept quiet about it during the pandemic here. One of many confusions for me was when I first went to America hearing about someone who had bathed at the side of the road..later found out it meant barfed…vomited.

I don't choose when to poo, my body tells me it is going to happen.

I was in Rome celebrating the New Year. I was 12 at the time. Italy still had Lira, not Euro. Found a note of 5000 Lira in the street. A 12 year old me went like 'Woah, I'm rich, baby!!!!' until our Italian guide told me that I can buy a single portion of ice cream with it. Just about.

The UK. First ever visit, second time abroad and haven't met many British people before. Was called 'love', 'darling' in the shops and I was perplexed (and a bit embarrassed 😆) until a local person explained that it's completely normal, they're just being friendly/polite and don't mean anything by it. Felt even MORE embarrassed then, as the person who explained it probs thought I have a massively overblown ego, thinking that every person in shops fancies me 😆I didn't really think that, it was just a bit odd to me.

The food (UK). Many things, but was genuinely amazed to see the weirdest carbs+carbs pairings, like crisps between breads, chips between breads, garlic bread with lasagna, etc. That was shocking (still is, tbh).

Sweden. Herring for breakfast. We also love herring where I come from, but eating it for breakfast would be considered extremely odd.

Someone upthread mentioned a unisex bathroom with transparent glass cubicles. I'm going to Prague for the first time in July and lots of (cheaper) hotels seem to have this on Booking. Booked one with a traditional, ensuite bathroom. Turns out, I'm a bit of a prude.

I don't find the Diana thing that weird, tbh. There were lots of celebrities' deaths with fans going hysterical. The recent one was that guy from One Direction, Liam something. Was in Cologne when he died and saw young teens and even some adults crying in the streets and the next day there were mini 'shrines' for him here and there. With photos, flowers, teddies and suchlike. Just and example, there were lots of others. Michael Jackson, etc. Sure, Diana wasn't a singer, but she was incomparably more famous and 'bigger' than the One Direction guy.

What do you actually expect people to do if away from home for a fortnight or sometimes longer?

And Costa Rica.
Seems very wrong at first, but you get used to it surprisingly quickly.

Classic mumsnet

"bad manners" 🤣

Surely you realise that is totally batshit? Why do toilets have loo roll in them if they are not intended to be used as actual toilets????

They put changing rooms in M&S in France before they had them in the UK because customers would strip off on the shop floor to try stuff on.

Sorry, but I HAVE to ask…………what is wrong with having a poo in a public loo?
FWIW, I’m not sure any doctor would be particularly impressed by anyone deliberately holding onto their stools until they reach home. Even with my limited medical knowledge I do know it is dangerous and can lead to serious problems.

I'm from the U.K. and thought this too - as did many people. It's not a culture thing!