I can understand wanting someplace familar on occasion but ... coffee? in Italy? eesh
There's more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that's factually true.
Mayor ,'Lies My Parents Told Me'
Spike's Bitches 45: That sure as hell wasn't in the brochure.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Toddson - Jun 23, 2010 12:45:07 pm PDT #23564 of 30000
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
Laga - Jun 23, 2010 12:45:24 pm PDT #23565 of 30000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
now I want curried goat.
Polter-Cow - Jun 23, 2010 12:47:18 pm PDT #23566 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
There was one day, however, after a distinctly unpleasant experince with a shopkeeper when I snapped and walked for half an hour to find a Maccas for lunch
I had to Google that.
That is what Australian's call the giant golden arches conglomerate (McDonalds) that invaded our country like all other developed nation in the world.
billytea - Jun 23, 2010 12:47:38 pm PDT #23567 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
We ate at McDonalds in London all the time. Where else you gonna get a burger?
Wimpy!
beekaytee - Jun 23, 2010 12:48:40 pm PDT #23568 of 30000
Compassionately intolerant
AAAAgghhh. Americans abroad.
When in Tokyo, my traveling companion insisted on going to the 'foreign quarter' just to see if MacDonald french fries tasted the same. (they did...which, to my way of thinking is a bad thing...homogenization of culture, etc.)
In Denmark, I literally ran out of a restaurant in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush as a truly obnoxious couple.
In Norway, my seatmate on the train...a lovely woman of probably 75...sneered Americansk in the direction of a drunken Elder Hostel group that came on board at the top of their lungs. She scootched over me in a protective sort of way. I was honored.
Not all the Americans I have bumped into elsewhere were aweful, but honestly, the percentage was pretty darned high. Makes me weep for my kind.
Connie Neil - Jun 23, 2010 12:48:50 pm PDT #23569 of 30000
brillig
I can wanting something familiar if one is feeling overwhelmed. Then, braced, going forth to wallow in foreignness again.
javachik - Jun 23, 2010 12:50:48 pm PDT #23570 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.
Eh, I've seen rudeness and embarrassing behavior by lots and lots of folks all over the world. Americans don't have rudeness trademarked.
WindSparrow - Jun 23, 2010 12:51:12 pm PDT #23571 of 30000
Love is stronger than death and harder than sorrow. Those who practice it are fierce like the light of stars traveling eons to pierce the night.
I can totally imagine getting thoroughly overwhelmed with all the new food choices when abroad, and occasionally needing to retreat to the familiar. If you were to ever find me in a Starbucks in Venice, that would have been precisely what happened. If you find me in a McD's in another country, it will be because I am intrigued at the cultural differences. In fact, I am intrigued at the differences in McD's in different regions in the U.S. - having found out that they serve more seafood in the ones in Maine, for instance. It's not like I go there more than once a year when at home, anyway.
Connie Neil - Jun 23, 2010 12:53:44 pm PDT #23572 of 30000
brillig
I'm really curious what they serve in McD's in India, where cows are sacred.
edit: Heck, go in, take a picture of the menu board, then leave.
§ ita § - Jun 23, 2010 12:54:43 pm PDT #23573 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Wimpy!
Having eaten there, NO. McDonald's burgers totally better.
Having said that, the hotdogs at Leicester Square are hands down better than anything I've ever eaten in the US. You people should be shamed.