{"id":16912,"date":"2022-11-20T12:51:04","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T12:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/?p=16912"},"modified":"2022-12-01T12:09:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T12:09:32","slug":"local-rules-and-customs-for-happy-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/local-rules-and-customs-for-happy-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Good to know! Local rules and customs for happy travel"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approx read: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">mins<\/span><\/span><h2 id=\"want-to-avoid-the-stinkeye-in-\">Want to avoid the stinkeye in Singapore?<\/h2>\n<h3 id=\"how-do-you-say-'i'm-ok'-in-par\">How do you say &#8216;I&#8217;m ok&#8217; in Paraguay?<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad.&#8221; &#8211; Mark Twain, <em>Innocents Abroad<\/em><\/p>\n<p>These tips can help elevate you from tacky tourist to welcome visitor.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"respect-the-chope-in-singapore\">Respect the chope in Singapore<\/h4>\n<p><iframe title=\"&#039;Chope&#039; Culture in Singapore - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9VCB6uOnYtM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Want to save a spot at a table in Singapore? A packet of tissues will hold your place whilst you fetch your food. Choping, or the practise of using a small personal item to reserve a space, is similar to laying a towel on a deckchair, but more binding. If you see a random item on a table in a busy cafe, keep looking for an empty seat. Even better: chope your own spot.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"you-must-be-bare-a-naked-in-ge\">You must be bare-a** naked in German saunas<\/h4>\n<p>Germany&#8217;s public saunas celebrate a body-positive, egalitarian approach to sweating in groups. (It&#8217;s hard to divine social status when everybody&#8217;s naked) It&#8217;s also hygienic. Sauna participants shower thoroughly beforehand and enter only with a towel for sitting.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Anleitung f\u00fcr den deutschen Sauna-Kult | Meet the Germans\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jVf6AUEnBIM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"innocent-gestures-can-be-anyth\">Innocent gestures can be anything butt<\/h4>\n<p>Thumbs down to the thumbs up in Sardinia, West Africa, Russia, Greece, Iran. In many places, the ok is not ok!<\/p>\n<p>People in some parts of the world indicate (in a friendly way) with their middle, not index fingers. Memorably, I went through a lease, line-by-line with an elderly gent from Germany, who pointed out every essential detail with this digit, unaware that he was flipping me the bird!<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"7 Obscene Hand Gestures from Around the World | What the Stuff?!\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tMLFqziU1tA?start=355&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"no-selfies-with-centurions-in-\">No selfies with centurions in Rome<\/h4>\n<p>Despite a 2015 law banning people in historical costume from bilking selfie-crazed tourists, sandal-clad entrepreneurs still prowl the Colosseum. While tourists aren&#8217;t liable for the offense, it&#8217;s notable that the Italian government felt the need to crack down on the re-enactors who charge 20 euros or more for a photo op.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Rome Enforces Spanish Steps Sitting Ban, New Tourist Rules\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/teDStmVYtj8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Centurions felt differently.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Angry Roman centurions besiege Colosseum\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VCLF9pgGpKk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"don\u2019t-pee-in-the-sea-\u2013-spa\">Don\u2019t pee in the sea \u2013 Spain<\/h4>\n<p>In an effort to clean up both tourist behaviour and its coast, Spain enacted new rules for beaches. These include a ban on smoking, barbecues, and using soap in outdoor showers. A wee in the sea can land violators with a fine of over 600 pounds, though the Spanish government has not been forthcoming in how it plans to enforce the ruling.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"New beach rules in Spain could land tourists with \u00a32,500 fines\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JzH0D3izcQY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4 id=\"the-world\u2019s-weirdest-laws-an\" class=\"entry-title\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/the-worlds-weirdest-laws-and-how-not-to-break-them\/\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><em>The world\u2019s weirdest laws (and how NOT to break them)<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to avoid the stinkeye in Singapore? How do you say &#8216;I&#8217;m ok&#8217; in Paraguay? &#8220;The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad.&#8221; &#8211; Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad These tips can help elevate you from tacky tourist to welcome visitor. Respect the chope in Singapore [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":16918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1294,298],"tags":[1519],"class_list":["post-16912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-travel-tips","tag-travel-2022","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16912"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17013,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16912\/revisions\/17013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}