Random Differences We Noticed In Portugal
Recently Madi and I got back from a two-week trip to Portugal.
It was the first time I've ever been outside of the country, and it was amazing. Definitely the coolest trip I've been on.
Here's a list of all the random things we noticed—good, bad and indifferent—that were different from the US:
- Caps on bottles are designed to not fully come off. It took us longer than I'd like to admit before we discovered this was intentional and not us failing to get the cap off.
- Every glass of orange juice we had tasted like someone just squeezed an actual orange into our cup right before bringing it out. Incredible.
- Water is never free. And do people really drink sparkling water that regularly? It was offered everywhere.
- The menus often don't tell you everything that is coming out with your meal. We were often surprised by some extras that came out.
- If you say "Thank You" it was common to hear "Welcome" instead of "You're Welcome" which I'd never heard before and enjoyed.
- We had air-conditioning everywhere we stayed, but it was much more hit-or-miss in stores and restaurants—and generally weaker than we're used to.
- Basically all the fruit we had tasted fresher and stronger than we're used to.
- Free refills on drinks aren't a thing.
- The Portuguese love a roundabout—I appreciate them more now too.
- The olive oil is unbelievable.
- The gas stations and rest stops on the highway are tiny. Far fewer food options as well.
- Coke was omnipresent and seemed to be everyone's go-to drink if they weren't getting water or alcohol. I guess this isn't different because Coke is everywhere here, too. But it seemed even more popular in Portugal. Maybe it's just fewer soda options?
- The average dinner time is multiple hours later than we're used to. People were sitting down to eat at 11 p.m. in Lisbon.
- Portugal generally seemed more energy conscious than we're used to.
- The most common chip brand we saw? Pringles.
- The male uniform appears to be a soccer kit. And it's funny how many of these soccer kits are just a giant ad for some big company like Emirates.
- I don't remember seeing a single pickup truck that wasn't a utility vehicle of some kind. At one point on the highway we counted how many trucks we could see in a 10-minute window. It was zero. An impossibility in the US.
- Waiters check on you far less frequently at restaurants, which was nice because it felt like we weren't in a rush at all. But it also somehow felt rude to flag them down to ask for the check.
- Clapping after a plane lands seems to be the norm. It happened on all four of our flights. I fly regularly in the US and this rarely happens. I can accept it since our European travelers were also super kind in letting passengers with tight connections deboard first. I've never seen this actually happen even when the flight attendants request it.