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I consider an everyday does of journey reminiscences might be good for the sou. Here\u2019s certainly one of my favorites<\/span> \u2014<\/span> and I\u2019d love to listen to a few of your most memorable journey tales, as properly.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s the summer season of\u00a02008, and\u00a0I\u2019m hanging out in the lounge of my B&B within the Amsterdam suburb of Haarlem with my hosts Hans and\u00a0Marjet. Reaching for my Heineken, I discover it sits on a handbook the Dutch authorities produces to show prostitutes about secure intercourse. Thumbing by it, I say to Hans, \u201cIt\u2019s both artistic and explicit.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Victoria without the secret,\u201d he whispers playfully.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIsn\u2019t this shocking to a lot of people?\u201d I ask.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOnly to the English and the Americans,\u201d he replies. \u201cRemember, this is Holland. Last night we saw a local TV documentary. It was about body piercing, in full graphic detail\u00a0\u2014\u00a0tits, penises, everything. Last week there was a special on the Kama Sutra. Sexual gymnastics like I had never seen. To us Dutch, these were only two more documentaries . . . no big deal. Perhaps these would have been big hits on American TV.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I say, realizing that I used to be discovering the handbook extra attention-grabbing than Hans. \u201cBut you know what the most-visited page on my website is? A goofy little article comparing Amsterdam\u2019s two sex museums.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSex is not clickbait here. It\u2019s not a taboo in Holland,\u201d says\u00a0Marjet. \u201cBut we are not reckless with sex, either. The Dutch teen pregnancy rate is one-half the American rate.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Staying in a B&B saves cash. As a bonus, I discover that B&B hosts are sometimes nice college students of intercultural human nature and like to share their findings. They give me an intimate glimpse of a tradition I couldn\u2019t get from the entrance desk of a resort.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is actually true of Hans and\u00a0Marjet, who encourage visitors to make themselves totally at dwelling. And of their front room, with its well-worn chairs, crowded books, funky near-antiques, and an upright piano affected by tattered music, it\u2019s simple to really feel at dwelling.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans and\u00a0Marjet\u00a0dwell in three rooms and lease out 5. Hans would love a little bit extra residing house. Like his neighbors, he may glass-in his tiny yard, however he couldn\u2019t bear buying and selling away his lush however pint-sized backyard. Bringing me one other beer, he asks, \u201cHow long do you stay here this time?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNot long enough\u201d is my common response. I\u2019m Hans\u2019 pet Yankee. He\u2019s on a private campaign to get me to calm down, to decelerate. To Hans, I’m the quintessential schedule-driven, goal-oriented American.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans supplies extra perception into the cultural variations of their visitors. \u201cWe Dutch are in the middle,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are efficient like the Germans\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that\u2019s why there are many American companies here in Holland. But we want to live like the French.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd crack jokes like the English,\u201d provides\u00a0Marjet. \u201cEverybody here admires the British sense of humor. We watch BBC for the comedies.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans sees cultural variations of their visitors\u2019 breakfast manners, too. \u201cAmericans like hard advice and to be directed. Europeans\u00a0\u2014\u00a0especially the Germans\u00a0\u2014\u00a0they know what they want. The French take three days to defrost. But Americans talk and make friends quickly. Europeans, even with no language differences, keep their private formal island at the breakfast table.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pointing to their two kitchen tables, he continues. \u201cIf there are Germans sitting here and Americans there, I break the ice. Introducing the Americans to the Germans, I say, \u2018It\u2019s okay, they left their guns in the States.\u2019 We Dutch are like the Germans\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but with a sense of humor.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Getting again to our discuss how totally different cultures method intercourse,\u00a0Marjet\u00a0says to Hans, \u201cTell Rick the \u2018Dutch boys on the English beach\u2019 story. This body stuff may be stressful to Americans, but it sends the English under their pillows.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs a schoolboy I traveled with a buddy to England,\u201d Hans begins. \u201cWe changed our pants on the beach without the towel hassle\u00a0\u2014\u00a0no problem. We\u2019re good Dutch boys. As usual, the beach had an audience: bench-loads of retired Brits enjoying the fresh air, suffering through their soggy sandwiches. When my friend began changing into his swimsuit, all the people turned their heads away. Amused by our power to move the English masses, we repeated the move. I pulled my trousers down and all the heads turned away again.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Marjet, laughing like she\u2019s listening to the story for the primary time, says, \u201cWe don\u2019t see many\u00a0English\u00a0on our beaches.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe get mostly Americans,\u201d says Hans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d be happy to fill our house with only Americans,\u201d says\u00a0Marjet. \u201cAmericans are easy to communicate with. They\u2019re open. They taught me to express myself, to say what I really think.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans breaks in with a Tony the Tiger vacationer imitation, \u201cOh wow, this is\u00a0grrreat! What a\u00a0grrreat\u00a0house you have here!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAmericans get flabbergasted,\u201d\u00a0Marjet\u00a0provides.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe English don\u2019t know how to be flabbergasted,\u201d says\u00a0Hans.\u201c<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I believe you almost flabbergasted them on that seaside,\u201d\u00a0Marjet\u00a0says. \u201cWhen we visited Colorado, my trip went better when I learned to say \u2018wow\u2019 a couple of times a day.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Curling comfortably within the nook of the couch, tucking her legs beneath her small physique,\u00a0Marjet\u00a0explains, \u201cWhen an American asks, \u2018How are you?\u2019 we say, \u2018Okay,\u2019 to mean \u2018good.\u2019 The American says, \u2018That doesn\u2019t sound very good.\u2019 We explain, \u2018We\u2019re European.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans says, \u201cThen the American replies, \u2018Oh, yes\u00a0\u2014\u00a0you\u2019re honest.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fascinated by the smiley-face insincerity of America,\u00a0Marjet\u00a0says, \u201cIn the US, even supermarket shopping bags have big \u2018smile and be a winner\u2019 signs.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s true,\u201d I agree. \u201cOnly in America could you find a bank that fines tellers if they don\u2019t tell every client to \u2018Have a nice day.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans says, \u201cDid you know that the Dutch are the most wanted workers\u00a0at Disneyland Paris? This is because most Dutch are open-minded. We can smile all day. And we speak our languages.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Marjet\u00a0explains, \u201cIn Holland when someone asks, \u2018Do you speak your languages?\u2019 they mean: Do you speak French, German, and English, along with Dutch?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans continues. \u201cAnd for us, acting friendly is maybe less exhausting than for the French. Can you imagine a French person having to smile all day long?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hans tops off my glass of Heineken. \u201cGod created all the world. It was marvelous. But France . . . it was just too perfect.\u00a0So\u00a0he put in the French to balance things out.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd Canada could have had it all: British culture, French cuisine, American know-how,\u201d says\u00a0Marjet.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut they messed up and got British food, French know-how, and American culture.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As I climb the steep Dutch stairs to my bed room within the loft, I ponder the worth of mates on the street. The most memorable moments of at the present time got here after I used to be carried out sightseeing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n