Cars & Roadways

Speed Limits

In Europe, it truly seems like there are no speed limits!

According to Speed Limits in Germany,"While parts of the autobahns and many other freeway-style highways have posted limits up to 130 km/h (81 mph) based on accident experience, congestion, and other factors, many rural sections have no general speed limit."

Walking along the streets of a city is also a risky situation to be in! They do have posted speed limit signs in some cities, but those are just a suggestion for the drivers to follow. You can be walking down the sidewalk in a downtown area and a car will come zooming past you at 50 mph!

Types of Cars

In America, we have our typical Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Jeep, Toyota, and Honda cars/trucks that it seems like everyone drives. We do have our occasional more expensive cars such as Corvette or Audi. It also it very noticeable that America is drawn towards big cars! SUVs and trucks can be found on every street in America, even in the big city! But in Europe, on the other hand, every road is dominantly BMW and Mercedes. To us, those are "luxury" brands because of their price tag from being a foreign car. But in Europe, even the tour buses are made by Mercedes!

Dirt Race Tracks

This is more of a personal difference that I noticed because my boyfriend is a late model driver! Europe barely has any dirt race tracks, and if they do, they're for motocross! Europe is heavily into formula racing and stock/sports car racing!

Public Service

Public Bathrooms

The world of public bathrooms is on a whole different level in Europe! In America, you can pull over at any Walmart, Sheetz, McDonald's, and so on and use the bathroom for free. Even though they recommend you buy something, you don't have to! The cleanliness of these bathrooms is mediocre at best. But hey - they're free! In Europe on the other hand, you ALWAYS have to pay to use the bathroom (unless it's in a restaurant, but you have to buy something to eat!). I spent more money on bathrooms in Europe than I did on food and souvenirs! They charge anywhere from 20 to 70 cents! Sometimes they do give you a voucher back that you can use to buy something from the store with, but what can you by with 20 cents?! At first, I thought I would appreciate paying for a cleaner bathroom, but by the time we left I was begging for a free/dirty bathroom!

Tipping Servers

The rumor that you don't have to tip your servers in Europe is a myth. You DO have to tip your servers. But tipping 10% or more is considered excessive. In some countries, like France, leaving one Euro is enough. The servers in Europe earn a living wage no matter how good or terrible their service is and their "tip" is oftentimes included in your bill!