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?

When we lived in Brussels, visiting family were outraged about having to pay a measly 20c to use public toilets.

They were also quite put out that there weren't enough mirrors in our house, but if don't think that was peculiar to being in Brussels.

I love it when people bring tea bags though....

I am also very happy to receive teabags in fact I demand them

my mum always asks me to "phone the post office" to find out why my parcels havent arrived yet, (going by ship passing through 4 or 5 countries, slowing to a snails pace as soon as they hit latin america, they never get here in less than 4 weeks) Apart from the fact that there is no such thing as a customer service phone line, nor tracking system, I would dare expect anyone in Latin America to understand why I was bothered about something being late!

I haven't had any visitors from the UK for any length of time so have no experience - but whenever I come over here I always buy certain things to take back to Aus with me:
• Bisto powder (hate Gravox)
• solid stick Sure deodorant - can't get it in Aus and the only solid stick they do only works for about 6h!
• antihistamine cream - can't get it in Aus any more
• underwear - haven't yet found any decent stuff in Aus, so M&S all the way for me.

UK visitors, what are they

Doesn't everyone know that Latin America is just jungle infested with killer spiders and piraña that leap out of rivers to attack passers-by?

Why would anyone visit family living there?

Bitter, moi?

We have every type of coffee machine and maker you could want - drip / percolated/ steamed / filtered /plunger / cappuccino machine - even a grinder for freshly ground coffee beans

My mother packs her own jar of nestle instant coffee and keeps it in her handbag in case any of us are tempted to partake in that particular instant delight

My dad will endlessly ask where the milk comes from, where the bread comes from, where the tinned tomatoes come from - I shop in Waitrose, its all imported, its exactly the same as you buy, arghhh!!!!

And my mum cannot get her head around the fact you can't just wander into a mosque for 'a little look like the churches at home' - especially through the male entrance at prayer time.............

And they bring around 80 types of medicine 'just incase' even though we have Boots the chemist!

The cold. Mind you, it's regularly below -30 here in Winter. It's a dry cold though, not like damp and cold UK. Visitors freak the first time their snot freezes!

thumbwitch. I can by Bisto in my local (in Melb) Coles and Woolworths. Do your local supermarkets have a UK food section? Maybe you could ask the store manager if they are able to stock some for you. I think they are about $5.95, and far far superior to yucky gravox.

Have you tried the greens brand of instant gravy? It is quite nice too. chloeb2002 recommended it to me a few years ago.

nursey I've just asked my 9 year old DC about the spoon thing in the Cantine at school and he says yes it's true at his school. I have to hang on to my knife and fork between starter and main. I've got used to it now but wasn't happy in the early days.

My visitors get very concerned when the server walks off with their credit card in a restaurant. And confused about adding tips. Oh and my FIL in particular gets very perturbed when his drink keeps getting refilled without asking (he didn't realise it was free).

But they all being us PG Tips as requested . And my current guests brought 6 big bars of dairy milk for me. They can come again.

The difference between celsius and fahrenheit. I explain and explain and explain that 14 fahrenheit is well below freezing point and therefore really, really cold, not pleasantly warm, 'so pack thermal underwear Mum', but it goes in one ear and out the other - 'oh that's nicer than we are here. It was 5 degrees yesterday. I'll be fine...' I can picture her on the other end of the line making faces at my preciousness and tapping her forehead with her index finger, with a little shake of her head. Then she arrives and is surprised at the arctic blasts and laments that she packed nothing useful.

I have tried giving her current winter temps in celsius but she doesn't believe the numbers

She doesn't believe the celsius temps for heat in the summer either.

I have lived out of the UK (always in Europe) for 19 years. DAunt and DUncle always ask about the time difference!!

We always get presents of teabags and marmalade. We have a very good shop here that sells loose leaf tea which we prefer and we make our own marmalade and also supply a lot of our French neighbours. We have also had presents of English apple juice and cider (we live in Normandy which is pretty well known for these things).
We do sometimes need emergency supplies of horseradish and Barkeeper's Friend though.
Re the re-use of cutlery; I do remember this from visits to France when I was young, but haven't experienced it for many years now.
I also love it when visitors tell you in great detail what has been in the papers and on TV. We have a subscription to the online Guardian and have all UK channels on Freesat scattered around the house (we do watch French telly too).

In France here. Our letter box is out on the street, not in the door. When we get a parcel the postie opens it with her special postie key and puts it in the box. No need to come to the door, and no need for me to wait in for small-medium sized parcels. It is apparently incomprehensible. "I just can't get my head round it" says someone who shall remain nameless.

We live in Sweden. I constantly have a pot of real coffee. FIL just excitedly presented a pack of instant mocha. DM wanted to know if we needed her to buy us swimmers for our joint holiday to Orlando. They are all obsessed with bringing us underwear.

I love that they bring proper cold and flu tablets.

Can I just stick up for some of the people who are worried about water? Tap water in other countries (including grotty old NZ ) always gives me a dodgy tummy. Not because of cleanliness - I'm sure it's because of the different mineral content.

People are funny though. I get the teabag thing (Lipton yellow label? Bleugh) but it makes me feel embarrassed when tourists don't respect local customs as a PP said - for example not covering shoulders etc.

My mum gets hung up on the different dates for mothers day and explains to me in long, repetitive, insistent detail every single year why the UK date is the "right" one - she appears surprised anew every year when I phone her to wish her a happy mothers day, and she enquires whether I was bought anything nice because that's the main thing and I point out it isn't mothers day here...

She also likes to try to translate for me in cafes etc. because she took an evening course in the language (she invariably has totally the wrong end of the stick and I've lived here 7 years and rarely see English speakers). She comes over for a week or so twice a year, and loves to inform me of local customs I may not have noticed - she's over now and just told me that I wouldn't be able to take the children shopping on Sunday as "it seems as though most things seem to close on Sundays" - yes... I've lived here 7 years!

Nowt wrong with reusing the spoon!! says a half frenchie :D

Yes the time difference is a point of eternal (and I mean eternal) pain

Father: "what's the time difference there dear?" - hmmmm the same time difference as the last 14 years

Thankyou to those who answered my question! brittany I wonder if it's just a thing kids have to do then very strange!

Oh no sorry just read your post properly. I would take some getting used to for me to ha

Maybe the spoon thing is regional? I'm glad I've never come across it.

IME Soup spoons are always much bigger than the spoons you eat dessert with. (Whereas in the UK they're about the same size but a different shape)

Reusing the starter knife and fork for the main course in an informal setting makes sense when people regularly have a starter or a salad course as well as a main dish.

In just that anyone uses instant gravy. Barf

really enjoying this thread now, its nice to know its not just me!!

surrounded I can totally relate to the repeat conversations about time difference... and I'll raise you - seasons! 4 times a year I have to explain we are in a different season from the UK.

and adorabell no one visits me in Latin America anymore either! I am waiting for it to be "in" again.