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My name is Bob Land. I am a full-time freelance editor and proofreader, and occasional indexer. This blog is my website.

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Friday, November 18, 2016

Spain, Impressions 2

Wine is as cheap or cheaper than water or Coca-Cola in Spain. We spent more in the TGIFriday's at the Atlanta airport coming back than we did for all but one of our meals in Europe.

I was listening to an incredibly tedious Canadian couple on a 2-hour bus ride talk about their travels (thankfully they were talking to someone else), and how it was cheaper for them to go to Europe than to come to the US for travel. Once you got past the plane ticket, lodging and food were far less expensive in a small city in Europe than for the same in the US -- and over the course of a week or so, it adds up.

I also never quite figured out tipping in Spain. I don't think it's common. To wit, when you hand them your plastic, there's no line for adding a gratuity. And staying off the computer, I never bothered looking it up, nor did we get a straight answer from anyone we asked, including the locals.

So when you consider already inexpensive food and wine, and you're not throwing 20 percent on top of it . . . makes for a thrifty-by-comparison vacation.

As does having someone else pay for airfare and lodging.

2 comments:

moi said...

My first solo trip to Europe many moons ago, I initially left tips in my wake like I was a billionaire's daughter rather than a recently graduated high-schooler living on the kindness of relatives and acquaintances. Because that's what you do in the states, right? Everyone looked at me funny. A hair cutter in Stockholm actually flung my Kroner back at me and told me that tipping was insulting. So when I hailed a taxi to take me back to meet a friend with whom I was staying (he'd dropped me off but couldn't pick me up), I didn't tip the guy. Which prompted him to flip me the bird as he drove away, yelling something along the lines of "$%^#%& you, you cheap American!"

czar said...

Of course.