A few years ago, on a trip to Scotland, our group found an unusual way to cut costs and improve our experience at the same time. We were greeted in a very friendly way in a non-customer service culture. A buffet restaurant tripped over itself to make custom celiac-friendly dishes for one of us. We received a substantial discount on a week’s stay at one of Edinburgh’s loveliest B&Bs.
Why? The kilts didn’t hurt, but these all happened while someone was wearing the American Traveler International Apology Shirt, available here from CafePress. Here’s the back:
That was all it took to be treated the way…well, the way most Americans expect to be treated abroad. So remember this simple strategy if you’re traveling this summer. Of course, if you can’t afford to travel, it’s not a bad thing to remember in November either.
Stephanie Zvan is one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She serves on the board of Secular Woman. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions.
Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird.
Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.