I love travelling and experiencing new cultures. The great thing about sitting in lovely homes is to also see how other cultures live on a day to day basis. What’s your most interesting comparison with your own culture?
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I’m not sure if my experiences are part of unusual cultural experiences, they might fall more in the category of being surprised that people in other places expected me to share the common knowledge of how they live, and possibly how most people in that country do things, that was completely new and unexpected to me.
In my various travelling experiences, some House Sitting, some volunteering, I have encounter situations like people commonly going to the doctor for simple sniffles, and being surprised that I would just make myself a hot tea and go to bed instead.
A HO got frustrated that I didn’t know how to turn off a piece of equipment common in their country but that we don’t have in mine… while following her instructions there were incorrect.
The way they react when we talk about my philosophy on treating pets as sentient beings, whereas for them they aren’t much more than animals that need to be made to obey (not a HO). They call it babying and coddling, I call it forming a bond.
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Whenever we stay with our son and his wife in Perth Australia they begin every visit with a detailed training session around the house- this is mostly to do with ants/termites/spiders etc. They moved from a 120 year old place and as they now live in a modern spotless high tech glass/chrome house with dressed concrete walls I was quite surprised for this last visit that the regime continued…apparently the ground earth under all of the buildings in Subiaco have ants/termites so you have to be vigilant when making toast and not leave even one tiny crumb…. 
are always watching!
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1/ We found the Swiss noise regulations rather funny 
If you live in an apartment block, you are not allowed to have a shower or flush after 10pm since the noise of the water in the pipes might disturb the neighbours. You are also not allowed/asked not to use the vacuum cleaner somewhere between 12-2pm not to disturb anyone’s lunch.
2/In Austria, a double bed always has 2 duvets iso one to share. They claim it makes for a better sleep since nobody is hugging the one blanket
3/ We found it weird that it is difficult to find a coffee shop open in Australia after 4pm a nd that restaurants stop serving food after 8-8 30pm
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I think the latter is due to the global problem of having difficulty finding hospitality staff since the pandemic
The Swiss 10pm thing drives us crazy @Els - a lovely friend who’s a fire fighter over there was “written to” by his neighbours about not showering too late after his shifts. His reply “I hope your house doesn’t catch fire as I won’t be attending if so” 
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This was true travelling in a Motorhome in NZ in 2009 and 2019 no cafes after 3pm and restaurants opening 6pm then closing at 8pm……
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Hmm, I’ve never even heard of it, yet I’ve visited the country countless times. It must be under very rare circumstances.
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Yes this has always been the norm in Aus/NZ. Coffee is a morning drink, and very few people drink it after 2pm, and all cafes close around 3pm.
Conversely, travelling all over Europe recently I was often dying for coffee in the morning (particularly if I had a bus or train to catch first thing) and nothing is open before 10am. I also think I offended a quite a few Spanish restaurant staff by declining coffee after the evening meal!
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I’m afraid of commenting again but the BIGGEST cultural issue for me is when I’m travelling in the USA and trying to get a cup of tea…… that’s a whole thread on its own I’m afraid 
. In Vermont I was given a mug of microwaved hot water a jug of boiled frothy milk and a green tea bag …. 
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Ah yes, the famous apartment living rules in Switzerland…
- Not using the vacuum on Sundays either.
- Doing your laundry in the communal
laundry room only on your assigned day.
In France: being considered rude if you don’t greet the entire store upon entering, instead of only the person attending you once it’s your turn.
In Italy: taking your life in your hands every time you cross the road (even at a pedestrian crossing) because drivers rarely stop.
In Mexico: besides greeting them, saying Buen Provecho (bon appetit) to customers in a restaurant as you enter and leave.
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@anon47943759 It’s only in apartment blocks though, not houses. We sat in 3 different apartments and were made aware of these rules 3 times. I’d like to think that most neighbours wouldn’t be too picky about it, but on several occasions we said to each other: “damn, it’s 9.45pm, quick, we need to shower!”
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@Peonie19 : gosh yes, the laundry room rota! One apartment had the schedule up for the entire year!
I asked the owner if it was ok to ask a neighbour to maybe swap a day, she advised me not to
As for the France greeting thing, I had been to France multiple times so knew about it, but warned my Irish partner before our 1st house sit there He thought I was joking, but quickly realized I wasn’'t!
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Come to the UK, some Greggs stores are open from 6am and some are open 24 hours.
Plenty chances for coffee
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I grew up in 70’s UK where we always eat our dinner at 6pm after my dad got home from work. I realised this was rather early for many European cultures where 7-9pm was more normal and when I lived on Lanzarote in the summer months when night time temperatures wouldn’t drop much below high 80’s it was not uncommon for whole families including small children to turn up at my local restaurant to eat at 10pm or 11pm!
The other thing that comes to mind (and without bringing down the tone of this thread) is toilets! Who knew there was so many different types of ‘standard’ toilet depending on the country you’re in!
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Can I say this forum?
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We used to climb volcanoes as a hobby and often visited very remote places like Vanuatu in the South Pacific. On one island we were climbing for 8 hours then camping overnight on the volcano to make the final ascent the next morning before an 11 hour scramble back down. The local tribesmen guides taught us their toilet etiquette …. dig a small hole plant your No 2 cover it up and place a particular type of leaf on a stalk on top. We then looked around and started to spot these particular leaves…. and knew where to avoid stepping in the future! Different Islands in the Solomons also had varying versions of this leaf toilet etiquette….
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I’ll join you in lowering the tone as, talking about toilets, you’ve just reminded me of something. In Spain it used to be common to put your used toilet paper in a bin rather than flush it. I think that doesn’t happen so much now
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I remember having to do that on Corfu @Smiley!
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They do in Greece, but never known it in Spain, unless it was over 30 years ago?
Its not choice by the way, all to do with the diameter of the sewage pipes.
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