40 Things That Are Totally Normal In Some Countries, Yet Make The Rest Of The World Confused

To learn more about the cultural differences visitors find when traveling internationally, we reached out to Australian travel expert Alyse, also known as The Invisible Tourist. Alyse was kind enough to share a list of things that are perfectly normal in the Land Down Under that might be surprising or confusing for tourists.

“There are quite a few!” she told Bored Panda. “Having Christmas in summer is awesome. We have our extended holiday period over Christmas and New Year's to relax, enjoy beaches and to catch up with family and friends. School kids call erasers rubbers, thongs are what you would call flip-flops, and a slippery-dip is a slide at the local park.”

“We always welcome visitors from abroad with a warning about our Drop Bears,” Alyse added. “These are vicious koalas that jump from trees onto unsuspecting tourists, and the only way to soothe them is with Vegemite (spoiler alert, only visitors believe Drop Bears are real).”

The travel expert also noted that Australian slang can be confusing for foreigners. “To get by in Australia, it's essential to shorten words then add an O or IE to the end - arvo (afternoon), barbie (barbeque), mozzie (mosquito), cozzie (swimming costume/bathers), servo (service station/petrol station). An exception to this ends with an A - Macca's, our word or McDonald's.”

“If you're wanting to purchase alcohol for a party, you won't find it in our supermarkets,” Alyse continued. “We have separate stores that sell alcohol only that we call Bottle-o's."

You also probably don't need to worry about snakes if you're taking a trip to Australia. "Visitors are surprised that there aren't snakes everywhere, like social media would otherwise have you believe," Alyse says. "I've maybe seen a real snake in the wild once or twice in my entire life.”

There are some food names that might confuse visitors in Australia as well. “Cilantro is called coriander here, peppers are called capsicums, aubergines are called eggplants and courgettes are called zucchinis,” Alyse explained. (As an American, I have to say that sounds like a hybrid of British and American terminology…)

“All Aussie kids grow up eating Fairy Bread (bread with butter and sprinkles), Sausage Rolls (meaty pastry), mini Meat Pies and Tim Tams (choccie bikkies) for snacks at parties,” the Invisible Tourist shared.

Alyse also shared some of her most memorable moments from traveling abroad when she noticed local customs that were different from what she's used to. “Ordering food from a vending machine rather than a waiter in Japan, then sitting down inside and having it brought to the table,” she noted. “Paying for a chair on the beach is weird for us in Europe. We just throw a towel down anywhere on the sand at home.”

“Getting drinks/food from a waiter rather than the bar in continental Europe (ordering it all from a bar must come from our British ancestors),” the travel expert continued. “Having to tip for everything in the USA. We understand why now, but it adds so much extra on top. Not having the taxes included on price tickets in the USA, and having to fumble for change at the register to pay the difference. Paying to use the toilet in the UK and Europe, as we don't need to do that.”

We were also curious if there were any customs from other nations that Alyse wished Australians would adopt. “Australia can be a great place to live, but being an island continent has its challenges,” she noted. “Many of us would love to adopt European high-speed or Japanese-style bullet trains to travel between our capital cities. Most visitors don't realize how far away everything is here, for example Sydney to Melbourne is 9 hours drive (870kms), and Melbourne to Brisbane is 18 hours drive (1776km). Heck, even flying from Sydney to Perth or Darwin is 5 hours.”

“The other would be not tolerating drugs and other crimes,” the traveler added. “Countries in Asia have very strict consequences for such things, and therefore crime and delinquency is much lower than major cities in Australia. We tend to go a bit easy here, in my opinion.”

If you’d like to learn more about Alyse’s travels, get some tips for your upcoming trips or learn more about Australia, be sure to visit The Invisible Tourist! 

We also reached out to travel experts Dave and Deb of The Planet D to hear a Canadian perspective on this topic. "There are so many things that Canadians find perfectly normal that may seem strange to foreigners," the travelers shared.

"The first thought that comes to our head is that we call our one-dollar coins a Loonie. When Canada changed from dollar bills to coins, the new coin had an engraving of a loon on it. A loon is an aquatic bird that is very common in Canada. So instead of calling it a dollar, Canadians called it a Loonie," Dave and Deb explained.

"When the two-dollar coin came out a few years later, it had a polar bear on it. Instead of making a nickname to do with the polar bear, Canadians ended up calling it a Toonie. It rhymes with Loonie and totally makes sense to us." 

Dave and Deb also shared their thoughts on customs they've observed in other countries. "Something I find really weird about our neighbors to the south is that they wear their shoes indoors," they told Bored Panda. "Most Canadians don't walk into their houses with shoes on, and when we visit our friends and neighbors, we always take our shoes off. In America, it is common to leave their shoes on. To us it is weird. There is a lot of gross stuff on the streets and sidewalks, why would we want to bring that into our house?"

Dave and Deb also admitted that they wish Canada would get on board with the heated toilets you can find in Japan. "We loved the Toto toilets that washed and dried our private parts, and that warm seat was so welcoming. They even had Toto toilets in the park's pavilion at Nikko National Park during our hike," they noted. "It was heavenly. Canada should adopt that, and we'd also never have to deal with the 'Great Toilet Paper Shortage' again."

"Canada has a lot of quirkiness," the travelers shared. "I sometimes think we are quirkier than other countries, and we all seem to like it that way. It is a huge country, and there are many quirks in different regions. For example, when visiting Dawson City, Yukon, it is customary to drink the Sour Toe Cocktail that contains an actual dead human toe. When visiting Newfoundland, visitors (Come from Aways) can become honorary Newfoundlanders when they drink Screech rum and kiss a cod fish."

If you'd like to hear more about Dave and Deb's travels or learn fun facts about the great nation of Canada, be sure to visit their blog The Planet D!