Not fully understanding and acting within the cultural norms and legal rules at your destinations can be disastrous when traveling internationally.
Being unaware of cultural rules and legal rules can cause international travelers significant difficulties. They may also subject you to jail. It can end a business deal before it starts or ruin a vacation. It can also cost you in your wallet. Whether you’re unaware, or just not paying attention, whether you break the cultural and legal rules of your destination because of ignorance or not caring, it can ruin your journey and end it prematurely.
Not knowing cultural norms can possibly result in fines, deportation, or imprisonment. Understanding them, particularly culture, can improve your journey.
It’s essential for every international traveler to research the crucial issues of culture and law at your destinations. You need to be prepared for locations that have different values, customs, cultures and laws than you have at home. Not only will it help you stay out of trouble, but it will help you enjoy your journey more.
Travelers must research their destination’s cultural and legal rules and heed them while traveling.
Here are ten cultural and legal issues that international travelers may face and must be considered and heeded while away from home.
Dressing inappropriately:
At home in the U.S. and many other nations, particularly during the recent heatwave, just about anything people wanted to wear to stay comfortable was acceptable in most locations. Yet, in some countries such as Thailand and Bali, at temples, clothing that isn’t modest isn’t appropriate at any time and can cause travelers serious problems from the local population and law enforcement. At the Vatican, for example, you won’t be permitted to tour inside unless your knees and upper arms are covered. In fact, most churches and synagogues say no bare shoulders, bare feet or flip-flops.
At Barbados, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, it’s illegal to wear camouflage clothes that are popular with some in the U.S.
Disrespecting monuments and memorials:
Everyone knows that you can’t steal a piece of a monument, carve into it, or mar it with spray paint. Well, most people know it. That’s not the only way that travelers can disrespect monuments and memorials. Climbing on and jumping off them is disrespectful too. Things got so bad with tourists in Italy leaving trash all over monuments, historic places and memorials that they’ve banned eating and drinking at such places as the Pantheon and Colosseum. In Venice and Florence eating is prohibited while on public streets.
Not paying attention to gestures, touching government officials, even accidentally, and yelling or swearing in public can get you into serious trouble in some countries and even land you in jail.
Not paying attention to gestures:
The body language and gestures you use at home may have a different meaning at your destinations. Body language can be just as or more important than what you say in some locations. In Kuwait, making gestures in public, whether directed at a government official or private citizen, is a criminal offense and can result in fines, deportation or imprisonment. That’s also true in other Muslim countries.
Touching government officials in any way:
While traveling you need to understand that it can be dangerous to touch government officials. For example, earlier this year a U.S. college student on a layover in Dubai allegedly touched a security officer’s arm when asking for help as she was putting on a waist compression device after surgery that security required her to remove. She was detained for two months and could have been sentenced to more than a year in prison.
Yelling in public and don’t swear:
In Dubai, which clearly has laws that citizens in North America and Europe are not used to, a woman screamed at a rental car agent. The agent apparently wanted payment before returning her documents after she was a passenger in an accident. She’s currently not permitted to leave the country and is possibly facing imprisonment. In Dubai, apparently, men are allowed to yell in public, but not women.
You can’t swear in Dubai either. Last year, a British tourist who was trying to get wheelchair assistance for his mother reportedly got into a heated argument about it and used swear words. He was sentenced to a fine and three months in jail.
Putting shoes on furniture or wearing them in a home, business, school or temple:
In Costa Rica and Thailand, putting your feet up on furniture while wearing shoes is a definite no-no. In fact, in Thailand your feet are also considered dirty, so you shouldn’t put your feet on furniture there, with or without shoes.
In many countries across the globe the cultural norm is to remove one’s shoes before entering homes, businesses, or places of worship. This is generally true in Japan and South Korea and in many locations in Germany and Finland.
Displaying affection publicly, even with your spouse, or taking photos of people in public and publicly displaying them on the Internet can land you in jail in some countries.
Displaying affection publicly:
In the U.A.E you’re not allowed to show public displays of affection, even if you’re married. While in public there, you need to dress modestly too. It’s also true of other Muslim countries. This means no kissing, hugging and even holding hands, etc.
In addition, it’s not permissible for a man to touch a woman’s face or hands there, even to greet them.
Taking photos of locals in public without their permission:
In the U.S., there is generally no expectation of privacy when a person is in a public space. Therefore, taking photos of people in public in the U.S. and displaying them publicly is not generally a privacy violation. The same is not true in the rest of the world. In Europe, for example, taking a photo of people in public and showing them without permission on social media is punishable by a fine and imprisonment.
Bringing weapons with you while traveling internationally and bringing banned or improperly documented drugs into your destination country may result in serious fines and/or imprisonment.
Bringing weapons while traveling:
Traveling with weapons internationally, unless you have all the proper licenses and permissions, can be costly. Your weapons must precisely conform to those licenses and permissions. In France, for example, travelers with unlicensed arms entering the country can be heavily fined and sent to prison. And beware the law in your home country. While letting you own and use a weapon there, you may not be permitted to bring the weapon with you when you leave the country.
Bringing banned drugs into your destination:
A drug for which you have a legal prescription in your home country might not be legal at your destination, particularly if your prescription is a controlled substance. For example, if you are taking a medication with codeine, it must be by prescription, and you must have a copy of the prescription with you to bring it into Australia. Some drugs are banned for travelers in Australia, even with a prescription. Countries throughout the world have put in place a variety of restrictions on travelers bringing drugs into them.
When you travel internationally, the customs and laws of your destinations will often be considerably different. You need to fully research your destination for its cultural norms, customs, values, rules and laws. That way you can head off some major potential trouble that you might otherwise encounter.
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After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
