Weird things your UK visitors have been hung up on

[thanksamillion]

We had some visitors last week who brought their own toilet roll with them. Admittedly I don't live in the most well developed place and the toilet paper we have isn't luxurious white and fluffy but I was a little.

They left it in the bathroom and made clear it was for us to use as well which was nice. You can buy fancy paper here but I don't for various reasons so to me it seemed a slightly strange thing to lug on an aeroplane.

So it got me wondering what are the everyday things where you live that your UK visitors can't cope with/feel the need to bring you?

Aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen, vicks, plasters.

I live in Spain

They wanted to know where they could get a full english breakfast [we live in rural France]

laylalilac we had someone here who couldn't understand why when we were out she couldn't just pick up a sandwich for lunch "but don't you have M&S Foodhall?"

Spicy food and hot weather in Asia....

I've felt very inclined to take my own loo roll to the USA, theirs is just naff compared to good old andrex.

Not drinking the tap water unless first boiled and cooled. We're in the well-known centre of pollution and disease, New Zealand

I always take tea bags but in my defence, I always leave them behind for my hosts and you can never get pg tips abroad (or they cost a million euro). Hosts have always said they're grateful...

To be fair WhatSheSaid, we are in NZ and while I'm on mains water, most of the area round us uses tank water (i.e. rain water collected from the roof) and there is always an anecdote going round of someone finding a possum in the tank.

I know tank water may sometimes be dodgy, Horopu, but we're not on tank water. We're in the middle of urban Auckland!

Fair enough WhatSheSaid
My MIL insists on asking for vinegar with all her meals out, she normally brings a bottle with her when she travels abroad apparently. In the end I found a little bottle and filled it with malt vinegar for her handbag.

My sister has just arrived with a suitcase full of jaffa cakes and waffles. But they are for us, not her, so that's OK.

Wilson I'm more than happy for visitors to bring teabags and chocolate but I can't get my head round not being about to cope without a particular type of toilet roll for a week

My mum is baffled there's no heating in my apartment. I live in Southern Spain!

But what do you do if it gets a bit nippy ManAlive?

We are just 45 mins out of Brisbane cbd but on tank water only.. I love possum, snake and frog flavours the best. No we don't boil it first. Normally it's filtered via the fridge. Funnily enough no one has complained. They do all go.. What... Really... In the gutters ... Oh.. As an initial response ?? funny now it just seems normal! Dh works for water companies. The quality is so poor that some days they spread the word not to drink it!

The fact I will not let them put wet wipes down the toilet. The Chinese are responsible for many amazing inventions, but decent plumbing isn't one of them!

But we're not meant to do that in the UK either, *Shanghai!" Even the supposedly flushable ones.

We have to put all toilet paper in a bin but no one has complained to me about it yet. Maybe they just haven't mentioned it to me .

I remembered that we had someone who was really shocked by the state of the roads and said couldn't we complain to the council or write a letter to someone about it. We live 20km from the nearest made up road and I don't think that one English person complaining is going to make them tarmac it!

Complete disregard for local dress codes when in public places.
I'll say "pop a cardigan/shawl/something longer on , we are going to the mall " and they are reply "oh god this place has certainly changed you" or " I'll let them wear Burqa's in my high street but I'm not wearing one"
It is actually law to cover shoulders and knees in Qatar and it is embarrassing to accompany a guest in her daisy dukes and strappy top .

I snurked at some Swedes asking staff at a Dutch hotel if the tap water was safe to drink. I felt like quipping that they actually pumped the tap water out of the canal (which they don't, shall I reiterate).

Accepting that local food was bloody delicious just food instead of insisting on trying to find 'normal' food

And that was just when I lived in Spain laughs that back here they pay premium for the gorgeous food that they once considered 'too weird' to eat there

My parents live in Southern Spain. DGD and his wife insist on bringing their Heinz ketchup, and moan that Kellogg's cornflakes (that DM buys specially) tastes different...

TBF they are horrible old bastards.

Good thread!

Is there anyone from France here? I have a quick question:

When I went on a school trip we were given 3 course meals. Nothing fancy, plain stuff but okay. The only problem was they wanted us to eat our dessert with the same (unwashed) spoon as we'd ate our soup with. Now I refused and asked for a new spoon but apparently this isn't the 'done thing'. Please tell me these were just people being weird and not an actual rule!

Had to laugh Nursey as that brought back memories of 'pacing ourselves' in Italy by counting the cutlery to see how many courses we had to get through (6) then they brought more cutlery and we had another 2 courses before pudding!

NurseyWursey, I think they were being weird. I've never come across that and I've lived in France for over 15 years.

Nursey Oddly, that is also quite typical in HK. You keep your cutlery between courses. If you leave on your plate UK style, they will take them off and put them back in their original positions. They do normally give you a new spoon for dessert though.

My dad is obsessed by HK taxis- i.e how there are loads of them (prob 1 in every 2 or 3 cars is a taxi) and they are super-cheap. He spends a lot of time pondering the economics of them