When you're away from home, particularly on a long-haul trip, the last thing you expect to see is something you find in your everyday life. After all, most of us go on Vacation to escape our day-to-day lives and to experience different cultures.
However, occasionally, you will see something unexpected that stops you in your tracks. A Redditor recently asked the travel community about things they've spotted while traveling from their home countries. Here are the nine best responses.
1. Made-in-the-USA Souvenirs
One user said that they were in China once and found a bunch of souvenirs that had “Made in the USA written on them.” Seeing the irony, one user replied: “The real upside down.”
2. Hometown T-Shirts
One commenter recalled a story about a scuba diving trip. He said: “I was scuba diving at Sipidan in Borneo on Christmas Day. It's a protected sight, so they only issue 176 permits daily. While having our surface interval/lunch on the island, I see a guy wearing a t-shirt from a small brewery in my hometown (a mid-size US city).”
3. A Caribou Coffee Shop
While it's common to see restaurant chains pop up internationally, it is rare to find a coffee shop that is famous only in your state. One user said: “I expect to see Americans chains overseas to an extent, and I wouldn't have thought much about it if it was a Starbucks, but a relatively small, Minnesota-based coffee chain was certainly not something I was expecting to see in Bosnia.”
4. Newspaper Cuttings
One Colorado native told the community about a freakish encounter she had in a restaurant in Edinburgh. She said: “Eating in a Chinese Restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, all the walls were decorated with newspaper articles of reviews of theater shows. All of them were from Colorado papers back home. So strange.”
5. Sports Shirts
One person recalled the time they spotted a Philadelphia Eagles jersey in Copenhagen. They said: “I was riding my rental bike through a quiet section of Copenhagen and saw a lone person wearing an Eagles jersey. We exchanged an astonishing “Go, Birds!” And I pedaled on”
6. Art
One user went to an art Museum in Barcelona and had the shock of her life. She said: “When I went to Barcelona years ago, the Picasso museum was doing a Picasso and Dali exhibit full of art on loan from the Dali museum located in the city I lived in, Florida, US.”
7. Trees
One Australian recalled a moment that freaked them out in Madeira. They said: They have eucalyptus from Australia in Madeira. That was bizarre. Felt like we were driving through the bush again.”
8. A Boat Trip
Sometimes, these discoveries can make you ashamed to be from your home country. Explaining one of these moments, one person said: “I was in Paris in 2018, and someone drove a boat down the Seine River BLARING country music and had several American flags decorated on it. Giving us Americans a bad reputation.”
9. Shoes
A Dutch commenter said she turns this kind of thing into a game. She said: “Whenever we're in a gift store in Canada or in the US, we look for Dutch wooden shoes. It never fails; they seem to be everywhere.”
Is there anything you've encountered on your travels that you want to add? Has it taken you away from the moment, or did you find it funny? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Reddit.
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