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It's
Good To Know
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CAR
RENTALS - You
probably don't think twice about what car you'll get when you rent in
the
States or Canada, because agencies almost always offer automatics. If
you're
going to Europe, it is another story and it pays to drive a stick,
because
an automatic transmission can cost much more. There's only a small
market
for automatics. Ask your car-rental agent about price before you rent.
When
renting a vehicle in a foreign country, always ask for an extra set of
keys - or have a set made.
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LEARN ABOUT GERMAN CULTURE
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Learn About German Culture - One of
the best ways to learn about German culture is to travel in
Germany. Travel is a good way of learning about the cultural traditions
of cities as diverse as Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin and many
others. These cities showcase aspects of German culture such as
museums, beer, wine and food festivals, theatre and music, and so on. more>
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MANNERS
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| When
doing business in Asia, never put someone else's business card away
without
reading it first. It's as rude as smacking your gum on a conference
call,
rummaging through your briefcase during a presentation or applying
lipstick
at the dinner table in the States. |
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| Use your
right hand at all
times for accepting and passing articles and eating/drinking. As is
with
many cultures, the left hand is considered unclean or inappropriate. |
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| Never
ever exchange business cards at social events! Instead, offer your
business
cards with your phone number at your hotel. |
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| Footwear
and head coverings
(hats, etc.) should be removed before entering Buddhist shrines. Do not
attempt to shake hands with yellow-robed Buddhist monks. Do not pose
with
Buddhist statues for photographs. |
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AGRA
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| Since
1984, when terrorist bomb threats made it necessary to close the Taj
Mahal
at night, the 5 million tourists who visit the the jewel-studded
monument
each year have seen little reason to linger in Agra after dark. Hoping
to convince some of them to spend at least one night in the city,
authorities
have tightened security and will now open the domed, minaret-flanked
mausoleum
- built by the Mogul emperor Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite
wife
- on full-moon nights. |
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THE
LOCALS HAVE HAD
ENOUGH
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| In many of
Europe's great
cities, inconsiderate tourists - the kind who bathe in fountains, eat
in
museums and sleep in piazzas - have grown from an irritant into a
plague,
and the locals have had enough. In Florence, a new city by-law bans
eating,
drinking and loitering on the steps of the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, a
popular lunch spot for tourists. The move follows similat crackdowns in
Rome, which bars people from sleeping or eating on the Spanish Steps,
and
Venice, which has outlawed picnics in St. Mark's Square. In Greece,
where
ancient monuments have been used as ashtrays, the culture ministry
recently
banned smoking at archaeological sites and in museums. |
RETIRE TO ASIA
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There must
be a better quality of life in retirement, and
there is! Nowadays, more retirees are not only moving from their house
to another city or state, but are moving out of the United States. more>
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