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You have been piled on a lot already in this thread but let me add my 2 cents: - you don’t have to be particularly careful about pickpockets anywhere in Europe

You have been piled on a lot already in this thread but let me add my 2 cents: - you don’t have to be particularly careful about pickpockets anywhere in Europe, at least not more than anywhere else in the world. - you always get free tapwater in restaurants if you ask for it anywhere in Europe, also most waiters are also generally pleasant (of course there can be unpleasant people anywhere) - not sure about the tax thing (why would you care about that as visitor anyway?) - atleast we have free healthcare and free university shrug - haven’t heard from anyone that got arrested for a „rude“ tweet lolwhat You don’t have to visit of course but it would surely expand your horizon. When I visited the US for the first time I realised that most of the prejudices against Americans weren’t true (that most Americans are fat, stupid and greedy for example - sure a lot of them are but not the majority)

alternative_a 3y ago
This is all true. You also can ask for ice with your coke. This will endear you with the wait staff as they can not resist snickering and muttering “American ..”
- sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
  In the US I always had to specifically ask to not have ice in my drinks. That was one thing I could never wrap my head around. The other thing was the extreme use of AC. I can understand AC to an extent, but they were making it so cold I had to bring extra clothes just to go in the supermarket for example - what the heck?!
- pezezin 3y ago
  That depends on the country. In Spain ice with your soft drinks is the default, even in winter.
  - alternative_a 3y ago
    Yes, this was France.
aden1ne 3y ago
> you always get free tapwater in restaurants if you ask for it anywhere in Europe In the Netherlands you'd have a hard time. Most places will refuse, especially if that's the only thing you're ordering.
- 1f97 3y ago
  that's not really been my experience. whenever i order something at a restaurant and then i ask for some tap water, most of them do
eloisant 3y ago
The thing about Europe is that it's large and diverse, you can't generalize by saying "in Europe". There are a lot of pickpockets in Paris, I've never been victim of it but I've witnessed it several time. Never saw that in the 5 years I lived in Tokyo or the 3 years I lived in SF. You always get free tapwater in France (that's the law) but not in Poland. I agree in that I would recommend anyone to visit Europe - even European should visit other European countries! But it's important to remember that Europe is made of several very, very different countries.
- sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
  You are totally right. It would have made my response much more complicated to include all the differences though. I would still argue all I wrote above applies generally to all countries in the EU. Could not reproduce your tapwater experience in Poland so ymmv

alternative_a 3y ago

This is all true. You also can ask for ice with your coke. This will endear you with the wait staff as they can not resist snickering and muttering “American ..”

sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
In the US I always had to specifically ask to not have ice in my drinks. That was one thing I could never wrap my head around. The other thing was the extreme use of AC. I can understand AC to an extent, but they were making it so cold I had to bring extra clothes just to go in the supermarket for example - what the heck?!
pezezin 3y ago
That depends on the country. In Spain ice with your soft drinks is the default, even in winter.
- alternative_a 3y ago
  Yes, this was France.

aden1ne 3y ago

> you always get free tapwater in restaurants if you ask for it anywhere in Europe In the Netherlands you'd have a hard time. Most places will refuse, especially if that's the only thing you're ordering.

1f97 3y ago
that's not really been my experience. whenever i order something at a restaurant and then i ask for some tap water, most of them do

eloisant 3y ago

The thing about Europe is that it's large and diverse, you can't generalize by saying "in Europe". There are a lot of pickpockets in Paris, I've never been victim of it but I've witnessed it several time. Never saw that in the 5 years I lived in Tokyo or the 3 years I lived in SF. You always get free tapwater in France (that's the law) but not in Poland. I agree in that I would recommend anyone to visit Europe - even European should visit other European countries! But it's important to remember that Europe is made of several very, very different countries.

sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
You are totally right. It would have made my response much more complicated to include all the differences though. I would still argue all I wrote above applies generally to all countries in the EU. Could not reproduce your tapwater experience in Poland so ymmv