The Only Gringos on the Bus | Round the World Travel

Here are some of the things we’ve seen on our travels that we’d love to take back to the UK. What have you seen around the world that you’d like to adopt in your country? Add your comments below.

Things we’d love to adopt

1. Vietnamese employment practices: get a job; spend the day sleeping… brilliant. We probably wouldn’t thank you for their wages though.
2. Petrol pumps from New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam (and probably others): key in the amount you want to spend and the pump will automatically stop filling at that price.
3. Lao coffee: strong enough that your spoon stands up in it. Espresso is for girls.
4. South American buses: several levels of comfort ranging from “way better than National Express” to “fully reclining airline business class seat”. Marvellous.
5. Ecuador diet: meat, meat and more meat – vegetables are seen as being for animals and the very poor, everyone else gives them a wide berth.
6. Australian Clearskin wines: $5 for a cracking bottle of Sauvignon Blanc – we’ll take a case.
7. Argentinean barbeques: not a pasta salad or undercooked chicken drumstick in sight.
8. New Zealand thermal springs: Seemingly everywhere. Random back gardens, campsites etc
9. Vietnamese bia hoi: exceedingly cheap and tasty beer made with no preservatives. It’s got to be drunk as quickly as possible? OK, if I must.
10. Brazilian PR: ALL Brazilians are gorgeous. Unless you go there, in which case not many of them are.
11. Thai beaches: white sand; no hawkers; hot sun; hot sea.
12. Chilean night sky: more star than sky.
13. Ecuadorian coca tea: for medicinal purposes when at high altitude!
14. Tokyo street vending machines: beer; a full meal; or (apparently) a pair of (used) girls’ underwear – you can get it all.
15. New Zealand empty roads ( and the vistas that go with them).

and some things we wouldn’t adopt……….

1. Buenos Aires street cleaning and repair.
2. “Flexible” pricing in SE Asia.
3. Vietnamese traffic laws.
4. Australian internet connectivity.
5. Repetitive Vietnamese tour guides.
6. Chopsticks: we use them; we like them; but you can’t tell me that they’re more practical than a knife and fork.
7. “Entertainment” on buses in South America and SE Asia.
8. Australian attitude.

Let us know below what you think of our choices.