My best friend from college & I went to Rome in November. He just retired & it was his first trip abroad. He got food poisoning & collapsed on the Piazza Navona. An Italian lady who spoke English held his hand & tried to keep him awake & talking.
She called an ambulance. The medics worked on him about 20 minutes but he did not improve. So they drove him to a hospital emergency department on a stretcher while I sat up front with the driver. They worked on him with fluid I.V.s, etc., for about four hours till he was up & around.
He worried how much it would cost based on what such services run in the US. Back home he got the bill five days later. He was charged €400, at the time about $464. So our experience based on Italy is they treat Americans very well indeed!
Edit: I’m a bit at a loss on remarks suggesting Europe “gave” my friend food poisoning. Many of us at one time or another, including me, have got food poisoning in the US & it never crossed my mind that the US “gave” it to me. Most likely I didn’t wash the organic veggies enough.
I was in Belgium last week. I have been there many times but mostly for work, so this time I thought I’d do some tourist things, like a guided walk of Brussels. I met Frank and Yami from Miami, a well-traveled, utterly charming couple. They were treated exactly like I (a Brit) was.
The following day I caught a train to Bruges, a very picturesque town an hour away for another guided walk and a boat trip. Quite by chance and much to our mutual surprise, Frank and Yami from Miami were there too, so of course we were chatting away together as we wandered around. It was delightful, and when the tour ended we said our farewells and I headed off to find a cup of tea and a waffle. I found a little place and was just tucking in when in walked Frank and Yami.
They were heading off to Paris the next day, and I was catching the train to London so I was fairly sure their stalking would end, but a nicer, more charming couple would be hard to find. I am pretty sure they encountered only politeness and friendly faces, and why should they not?
