Manners and Customs (TS010)

Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure

Hello :)

This is the recording of the tenth edition of my semi-regular Twitter Space sessions.

This was recorded back in August, as you can probably tell from the conversation at the start about the weather. We had a chat, a longer chat than usual, about Manners and Customs at home and across the world, a topic V originally suggested because of my preference for being barefoot much of the time. In general though, you can probably tell that while I like to think I do the right thing most of the time, even I baulk at some of the minutiae of customs and might be seen as a 'bad tourist'. Who knew?!

Usual disclaimer, be aware this conversation took place over the phone and is then recorded directly from playback on Twitter, through my sound editing software, Audacity. One of the down sides of Twitter Spaces is that you can't record them on a computer - you can only use the app on the phone. This means I can't use my headphones etc, and you get to hear every time I click the mouse. We're looking into alternative ways of doing these recordings.

Topics discussed include: * The customs of being barefoot at home and in public places * Researching local manners and customs before you go * Local customs - seeing what the locals do * The advantages of being obviously a foreigner * Being slightly more conservative than you feel, when in a new place * Dress Codes and gendered clothing * "If you wouldn't do it at home, don't do it abroad" * Being a representative of your country and culture when you're abroad carries responsbilities * If you don't like a culture, don't go * Tipping and Haggling * The culture of hospitality and receiving strangers * Visiting places as a tourist during religious holidays * Cutlery customs, including chopsticks, especially with dyspraxia, and eating with your hands * Toilet customs and when you *should* use your left hand * What happens if you get things wrong? Apologising in a foreign language * Rude gestures and finger counting * Boundaries and taking part in closed cultural or religious practices * Queer presentation and travelling as enby, including locally * Off-limit topics, including religion, politics, and football

I was interviewed by the lovely Victoria, but you can call her V.

A PDF transcript of this episode will be available later.

As always, if you have anything to say about the topic, or indeed about my podcasting in general, leave a comment or let me know. You can also sign up to my newsletter and find out about future podcasts and recent blog posts.

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Until next time, bye for now. :)