European Travel Communications

I have to laugh sometimes when I see or hear communications to travelers in Europe. This can range from riding the tube in London to waiting for a flight in Helsinki, and everywhere in between. Everyone has heard "mind the gap", as the phrase constantly communicated for riders on the London tube. There are T-shirts, pillows, and underwear all with the London Tube logo reading "Mind the Gap". Very British. Fine. But what I find so amusing are the more direct, yet normal everyday communications that may be OK but just sound odd to a U.S visitor. For instance, I was in the tube and there was a sign that read "No smelly food" underneath a cartoon character eating something. What does that really mean? Hmmmmm. I think it might mean, "no smelly food". Hard to struggle interpreting that. On the other side of the equation, but equally funny to me was the PA annoucement in the Helsinki airport earlier this evening. The women had a Finnish accent, of course, and said "The flight arriving from Frankfort is delayed, ah, ... for the usual reasons". It was raining and bad weather. If I had been talking to a gate agent, I would not have thought twice about hearing that. But somehow, when it comes over the public address system, it just sounds odd.

I am clearly not a part of the indigenous population. Nobody else seemed to even notice.