Home Sweet Home

I've traveled to a few places and I've seen a thing or two. And when you have the ability to go outside of your routine or normal, when you get to experience same things in different way it makes you question the perception of normality.

As i made my way through Europe a few years ago I kept track of all the things that we as North Americans take for granted.

1. Parking - I'm not talking about free parking, I'm talking about unavailability of parking space as whole. Most of European cities are old and were not designed to accommodate large quantities of automobiles on the street.

2.Customer Service - many may not know but the concept of "customer care" as in "customer is always right" is an American Invention. Many countries in Europe do not follow our North American "customer etiquette.

3. Free Bathrooms - yeah, if you don't have dollar, you can't pee!

4. Free Water - next time you get a complimentary glass of water at a restaurant from which you typically only have a few sips anyway, just remember in Europe it would cost you like 5 Euros.

5. Elevators/Escalators - you may not realize, but elevators and escalator are relatively young invention. Well, at least they are younger than some of the buildings in Europe. You only realize how lazy and unfit you are when you have to walk 7 flights of stairs just to get home!

6. Free Condiments - yes, if you want extra mayo on your sandwich you gotta pay!

7. Air Conditioning - That's a big one. We have air conditioned everything, from stores to restaurants, cars and subway - but not all have that!

Side Note: Everything listed above is based on personal experiences. I also use the word Europe loosely as I'm trying to portray countries other than North America. I'm sort of consciously generalizing to make a point.