Larry Dighera wrote:

On 16 Apr 2005 10:15:37 -0700, Bob Fry
wrote in
::


On a personal level, the best vacation I ever had was my trip to
Europe, where my wife and I visited only France.


You speak with the wisdom of a cosmopolitan traveler. I suspect that
Mr. Honeck has never stepped foot in France or anywhere else in
Europe, else how can his provincial attitude be explained?

I can't speak for Jay, but I've travelled extensively in Europe, lived
in England for more than 4 months and have travelled in Asia a little as
well. I don't find the French terribly less friendly than other
Europeans, however, it is true that they are the least friendly of the
Europeans in my experience. The Brits, Germans and Russians are all
friendlier and more helpful to business travelers and tourists alike.

Having said that, the only group in France that I'd particularly single
out as being rude and very unhelpful are the taxi drivers. I used taxis
on my first three business trips there and each was a disaster. I
decided to rent a car and try driving after that figuring it couldn't be
as bad as dealing with French taxi drivers. I was right. Driving in
France wasn't bad at all and much better than putting up with arrogant
cabbies who seem to delight in causing their fares grief.

However, Europe in general doesn't come close to Asia in dealing with
business visitors and tourists. Japan, Taiwan and Korea are miles ahead
of anywhere in Europe.

Unfortunately, I've never had the change to fly privately anywhere other
than the US so I can't compare GA in Asia to Europe, but I don't think
either can compare to the US.


Matt