A travel thread to watch?

[CSE]

Seeking UK B&B and guide etiquette

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/ ... quette.cfm

[pete]

A TIP !! for me !! yes please, but no its never happened.

[la vache!]

I had a tip once, I was mortified.
I find it funny that a lot of Brits tip in restos and cafés in France. It is very rare for the French to tip, unless the service is spectacular, as the service charge is included in the price.

[CSE]

We tip in bars and restaurants here in Spain...if the service is really good.
Never dreamt about it when we went back to the UK late last year for the first time in over 12 years.

[Annew]

Someone left me a tip a few years ago. Like LV I was absolutely mortified!

However, when I was a waitress in my dim distant youth, I would have been quite peeved if I didn't receive a tip and, as I know what it's like surviving on a waitresses wage, I always tip the waiting staff in restaurants unless the service is included, whatever country I am in.

[charles cawley]

I always tip lorry drivers delivering and taxi drivers in memory of my days on the road in the late 1970s.

Someone gave me £5 for helping to unload a semi-trailer of TVs in Manchester. That's about £30 in modern money.

I never forgot that. The taxi drivers say thanks, the lorry drivers sometimes show signs of genuine surprise. Certainly, if I stay at a cottage where someone has gone the extra mile, I would leave something.

[French Cricket]

We used to get tips at our resto in the UK, which always felt a bit weird as it was just us and we didn't have any staff to pass the tips on to. But the funny thing was that people who stayed in our rooms (and also ate in the restaurant) never tipped!

Now we're back to just (hah!) doing chambres d'hotes, I too would be mortified if someone left me a tip. Bottle of wine, bunch of flowers, yes .... but money? Yuk.