Hello there,

The folks at Expatica want to know what expats have to say about 'typically Dutch' holidays. Specifically, have you noticed things that the Dutch absolutely must take with them on vacation?

For example, this article was recently in the Dutch Press Review:



If you've experienced something similar on vacation with your favorite Dutchie(s), please reply to this post. We may use it for an upcoming feature article.

Thanks!

There used to be saying in Italy. NL stands for NO LIRA.

the Italian saying was:

"niente lire".

According to an Italian journalist (I don't remember the name) the saying was due to a cultural difference between Dutch and Italians.
In a newspaper/magazine/book shop, Dutch people handle the stuff on the shelves. Sometimes they even read an article before deciding to buy or not. That's unheard of in Italy. There, you enter the shop, you take the item, you pay and you leave. This behaviour of the Dutch has given Italians the idea that Dutch people don't buy papers or magazines but just want to read them for free!
It's rather strange since the Dutch read much more than Italians...

We go on vacation to get away from all that... But then we never have drop or chocolate sprinkles in our house normally.

In Canada people also read magazines in stores. And in large bookstores (like Chapters) you are even provided with chairs so you can read a book just like in library. Some of the convinience stores do not allow that.

So Dutch are not alone in it.

I used to buy a Starbucks coffee and take a pile of magazines to a comfy chair by the fireplace to read for hours. Entertainment on the cheap!

Then Chapters said we had to pay for the magazines we took into Starbucks -- bast*rds!! You'd think they were in it for the money or something!!

They usually take potatoes - yes! Really!

To be fair, I think you all are thinking about the Trailer Park Dutchies who's idea of 'vacation' is recreating their exact home environment in another neighbourhood of perfectly lined up trailers.

Seems to me, having watched the SIL and BIL in this environment, that it's only a vacation for the MEN, as the women are still running around like Edith Bunker, peeling tatties, cleaning the trailer and fetching Heinekens for the husbands...

Chocolate sprinkles still seem to be popular, as do those large sacks of potatoes (the ones that are almost equivalent to carrying another pasenger in the car and the NL'ers haven't yet realised are bumping up their fuel bills by a significant amount!).



Some of my acquaintance also wouldn't dream of going on hols without a fully planned agenda of their whole holiday itinerary......"spontinaity - oh goodness no!"

And then there is my Dutchie who plans absolutely NOTHING which can be equally annoying. It made our long-weekend in Paris a total disaster because he would suddenly decide he wanted to go somewhere, only to be faced by a lineup a mile long or a locked door.

I saw the outside of lots of castles and churches and museums that weekend...but inside none of them.

And what did he take away from this trip? Not that we have to tweak our usual lackadaisical, fly by the seat of our pants vacation habits...but that Paris SUCKS!!

Just a wee bit of planning -- checking hours of operation in advance, buying tickets in advance to popular attractions -- is all we need...Oh, and getting one's arse in gear before the maid comes to clean the hotel room before 11 am...

(Btw...I'm the agenda-holder of the family...he doesn't use those either.)

CW if you still do sughtseeing Wikitravel is a good site for travel planning. Probably you know this site.

so many of them take the toilet paper because they all go to the camping grounds with their caravans. Frankly I am surprised its only 'more than 50% of them'. While driving to Italy recently we discovered that, not ALL caravans were dutch (some were german) but ALL dutch cars had a caravan attached. Between here and Italy there were maybe 2 exceptions to that, I could only assume those two were like us - not all dutch but travelling with dutch plates.

My first trip out of Holland saw us in Luxembourg, where to my surprise I could pick the dutch tourists immediately.
1: the ones who dragged their chairs away from under the tables creating a huge racket whilst seating themselves.
2: The ones who walked between me and the chalk artist I was watching, stepping on her artwork as they passed.
3: Anyone carrying a refilled Spa Blauw bottle
4: The ones who took 'extra' food from the hotel provided breakfast.

I am sure there were probably other dutch people around us who didnt stand out, but the ones who did, were most often Dutch...

Funniest thing I witnessed was in a shop in Italy, the dutch woman making the purchase was pointing to her goods and saying 'those are not gifts, but this one is' (expecting gift wrapping of course) and the Italian guy looking confused kept trying to remove it from the counter and return it to the shelf saying 'no no, not a gift!' thinking she wanted him to give it to her free! It was very funny Clearly she didnt have the experience to know that we are spoiled here in Holland with gift wrapping services in shops which they dont do elsewhere, and he was probably working on the assumption that 'shes dutch and wants something for nothing'

Likewise... unless Imodium counts.

Sorry, I shouldn't larf, seems we have things in common...

Oh larf away, Wes! This is probably why we've put up with it here as long as we have despite all the hassles...because deep deep deep deep DEEP down, there is more than a little Dutchie in us than we'd like to admit!!

haha...nice one.On the spot.
You can't confuse these people with any other nation.
You even hear them before actually seeing.Lots of noice,shouting,tja and "he-eh" sounds,smells of mayo and other disgusting food )).
If you are on the beach prepare to confront this gipsy camp or get the hell out there if you are a well-behaved citizen.

At moments like this, you have to love the quote facility.

I spotted Dutch people in Scandinavia from a mile a away. There was a nice busy square where there was outside seating. In the middle of this busy area was a massive empty space... created by a group of about 20 Dutch people who had rearranged four tables worth of seats into a massive circle.

They just can't seem to break that ridiculous circle trend...

But it's gezellig!!!

May be for you dear...

*shudder*

It's what my Dutchie always tells me when I complain about (among other things) the women at the gym who insist on using the crosstrainer right next to me when the rest in the row are unused. Drives me crazy...I need my space...and I don't want to smell you or be your friend. Bugger off.

"But it's gezellig!!" he says, overly enthusiastically with this goofy grin on his face...

I have to agree with you there...
It's irritating when someone tries to strike up a conversation with you while on the bike/running machines, I've barely got enough breath in me to use them never mind talk at the same time as well!

You're leading me to a rant...but it's off topic...I think I'll start a new thread...

Folks at the gym ignore me that includes both the expats and natives
The gall at the counter once called me Schat but she probably says that to all average looking guys