Brussels

About Europe

Europe is a diversified and sometime complex collection of countries. They are made up of various ethnic peoples and cultures with deep histories for a traveler to discover. Europe’s unique geography also amplifies its natural beauty and wonder.

A little familiarity of the European countries, their cities, history, geography, people, languages and more, will only enhance your travel experience to this continent. 

While the United States is more similar to Europe than any other place in the world, they of course do some things differently than we do in America. That is why it is important to have some knowledge of the most common differences. The ability to convert and comprehend that information, while traveling in Europe, will only aid your traveling experience. In addition to the data listed below you will find pages about the:

Dates…

Abbreviated dates in Europe are written using the day first, the month and then the year. Be very careful when reviewing bookings or tickets on trains, hotels, tours, events, etc.

Holiday
Armistices Day
Bastille Day
Christmas Day

Independence Day
VE Day

Date
November 11, 1918
July 14, 1788
December 25, 2022
July 4, 1776
May 8, 1945

USA
11/11/918
7/14/1788
12/25/2022
7/4/1776
5/8/1945

Europe
11/11/1918
14/7/1788
25/12/2022
4/7/1776
8/5/1945

Time Zones…

When traveling, east to west or west to east, one can easily get jet lag. That’s when your body has been condition to eat or sleep at a certain time and your now in a different time zone when those activities are hours apart. Your body is telling to eat and sleep at your normal time but, you are now doing those activities at a different time. You’ll most likely be able to stay up late at night but, getting up in the morning could be a challenge.

As a reference the grid below reflects the difference in hours between Europe and US time zones. When Greenwich or Universal Time is 12:00 noon the corresponding times are displayed for the other US and european times zones. As an example, at that same time New York is 7:00 am (EST), Rome is 1:00 pm or 13:00 (CET)

Times in Major Cities…

Belfast
Canary Islands
Dublin
Edinburg
Glasgow
Lisbon
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Porto
Reykjavik

Amsterdam
Barcelona
Berlin
Brussels
Budapest
Copenhagen
Madrid 
Paris
Prague 
Rome
Stockholm 
Venice 
Vienna 
Warsaw
Zürich

 Athens
 Cyprus
 Bucharest
 Helsinki
 Kyiv
 Riga
 Sofia
 Tallinn
 Vilnius

Ankara✷
Antalya✷
Istanbul✷
Minsk✷
Moscow✷
St. Petersburg✷

✷ indicates these cities do not recognize Daylight Savings Time

Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Charlotte
Detroit
Miami
Nashville
New York
Orlando
Philadelphia
Tampa
Washington DC

Chicago
Dallas
Houston
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
New Orleans
Omaha
St. Louis

Albuquerque
Boise
Denver
El Paso
Missoula
Phoenix ✷
Salt Lake City
Tucson 

✷These cities do not observe Daylight Savings

Las Vegas
Los Angles
Portland
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle

UTC – Coordinated Universal Time

GMT = Greenwich Mean Time UTC +0 (BST = British Summer Time, WEST = Western European Summer Time, WET = Western European Time)
CET = Central European Time UTC +1 (CEST Central European Summer Time)
EET = Eastern European Time UTC +2 (EEST = Eastern European Summer Time)
MSKS = Moscow Time UTC +3
TRT = Turkey Time UTC +3

Change to Daylight Savings Time at 2 am- March 28, 2021
Change to Regular Time at 2 am – October 31, 2021
Belarus, Iceland and Russia have no time change to daylight savings in the summer months. Autonomous Republic of the Crimea has recently changed their time to MSK Moscow Time

24 Hour Clock…

Europe uses a 24-hour clock (military time) for official timetables. Things that use schedules like buses, trains, etc., use the 24-hour clock. Instead of using two 12-hoursegments, am and pm, it is one 24-hour segment. After 12:00 midnight hours start from 1:00 to 12:00 noon just like in the U.S. but instead of 1:00 pm it will now be 13:00. The hours go up  accordingly, until 24:00 or 12:00 midnight.

USA am
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00

Europe am
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00

USA pm
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00

Europe pm
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
24:00

To quickly calculate afternoon times just subtract 12 from the time. If the time is 15:30 subtract 12 from that and you get 3:30 pm.

Temperature Conversion Table…

Celsius

Fahrenheit

40o

104o

30o

86o

20o

68o

10o

50o

5o

41o

0o

32o

-5o

23o

-10o

14o

-18o

0o

 In the US we use the fahrenheit scale to measure temperature but, in Europe they use the celsius scale. The following table converts Celsius to Fahrenheit.

0º Celsius = 32º Fahrenheit water freezes / 100º = 212º water boils

Units & Measurements …

METRIC TO IMPERIAL

1 Centimeter = 0.393700787 Inches
1 Meter = 3.2808399 Feet
1 Kilometer = 1.0936133 Yards
1 Gram = 0.0352739619 Ounce
1 Kilogram = 35.27 Ounces / 2.204 Pounds
1 Litre = 35.2739619 Fluid Ounces

IMPERIAL CONVERSION TO METRIC

1 Inch = 2.54 Centimeters
1 Foot = 30.48Centimeters
1 Yard = 0.9144 Meters
1 Mile = 1.609344 Kilometers
1 Ounce = 28.3495231 Grams
1 Pound = 0.45359237 Kilogram
1 Pint = 0.473176473 Liter
1 Quart = 0.946352946 Litre
1 Gallon = 3.7854118 Liters

When shopping for clothes and shoes in Europe you will find those sizes vary in the UK and continental Europe from US sizes. For a conversion table of sizes on our ➾ Shopping page.

Alphabets & Letters…

It is one challenge to read and pronounce another language using the latin alphabet it is another thing when using a different alphabet. Several countries use different alphabets and will be almost impossible for the average person to decipher. Greece uses the Greek alphabet while Belarus, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia, Ukraine use the Cyrillic. Bosnia Hercegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia use both the Latin and Cyrillic. All other European countries use the latin alphabet.Subtitle

LATIN
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg H h Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


GREEK
Αα Ββ Γγ Δδ Εε Ζζ Ηη Θθ Ιι Νν Κκ Λλ Μμ Ξξ Οο Ρρ Σσ Ττ Υυ Φφ Χχ Ψψ Ωω

CYRILLIC
Аа Бб Вв Гг Д д Ее Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Хх Цч Шш Щщ Бъ Ьь Ээ Юю Яя

Most European countries use the latin alphabet and use all 26 letters as used in the US. However, several countries have extended their alphabets with ligatures, modified letters or digraphs.

Acute – Á á Ć ć É é Í í  Ĺ ĺ Ó ó Ú ú Ý ý

Ash – Æ æ

Breve – Ă ă Ğ ğ

Caron – Č č Ě ě Ň Ř ř Š š Ť ť Ž ž

Caudata – Ą ą Ę ę Į į Ų ų

Cedilla – Ç ç Ģ ģ Ļ ļ Ņ ņ Ş ş Ț ț Ž ž

Circumflex – Â â Ê ê Î î Ô ô Û û

Dot – Ė ė Ġ ġ İ i

Double Acute – Ő ő

Eth – Ð ð

Grave – À à È è Ì ì Ò ò Ù ù

Macron – Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū

O & E Ligature – Œ œ

Ogonek – Ą ą Į į 

Ring – Å å Ů ů

Slash – Ø ø

Stroke – Đ đ Ħ ħ Ł ł

Thorn – Þ  þ

Tilde – Ã ã Ñ ñ

Umlaut – Ä ä Ë ë Ï ï Ö ö Ü ü Ÿ ÿ

Country Codes…

International Organization for Standardization or ISO 3166 Codes are internationally recognized codes for each country. Depending on the situation they can be a Alpha 2 or 3 letter code or a numerical code.
Two letter suffixes like (.fr for France or .de for Germany) are used in top levels domains. Three letter codes are usually used in international events like sports, contests, etc.
United Nations M49 codes are the numerical codes for identification of countries, dependencies and other areas.

CountryISO 3 codeISO 3 codeUN M49 code
European UnionEUEUE150
Åland IslandsAXALA248
Albania ALALB008
AndorraADAND020
AustriaATAUT040
BelarusBYBLR112
BelgiumBEBEL056
Bosnia & HerzegovinaBABIH070
BulgariaBGBGR100
CroatiaHRHRV191
CyprusCYCYP196
CzechiaCZCZE203
DenmarkDKDNK208
EstoniaEEEST233
Faroe IslandsFOFRO234
FinlandFIFIN246
FranceFRFRA250
GermanyDEDEU276
GibraltarGIGIB292
GreeceGRGRC300
GuernseyGGGGY300
Holy See (Vatican)VAVAT336
HungaryHUHUN348
IcelandISISL352
IrelandIEIRL372
Isle of ManIMIMN833
ItalyITITA380
JerseyJEJEY832
KosovoN/AN/AN/A
LatviaLVLVA428
LiechtensteinLILIE438
LithuaniaLTLTU440
LuxembourgLULUX442
MaltaMTMLT470
MoldovaMDMDA498
MonacoMCMCO492
MontenegroMEMNE499
NetherlandsNLNLD528
North MacedoniaMKMKD807
NorwayNONOR578
PolandPLPOL616
PortugalPTPRT630
RomaniaROROU642
RussiaRURUS643
San MarinoSMSMR666
SerbiaRSSRB688
SlovakiaSKSVK703
SloveniaSISVN705
SpainESESP724
Svalbard & Jan MayenSJSJM744
SwitzerlandCHCHE756
TurkeyTRTUR792
UkraineUAUKR804
United KingdomGBGBR826

European Vernaculars & Customs…

As we said to be in Europe is to be in another country in which they will label, say and do things differently from the US. You can find it very helpful to gain a little understanding  on some common everyday uses.

Floor Levels on multiple storied buildings are labeled slightly different. While the ground floor is always the main floor the one above in Europe is the 1st floor, not the second floor as we called it here. This will be good for you to know so you can remember what floor your hotel room is on.

EuropeUnited States
Ground or Main floor1st floor or Main floor
1st Floor2nd Floor
2nd Floor3rd Floor
3rd Floor4th Floor
Make sure you take the lift (elevator) to the correct hotel room floor.

Variable Word Definitions…

Even when you converse with English speakers you will find they can use different nouns or verbs to describe the same object or action. While we may use multiple words to describe things in the States, there may be only the single use in some areas of Europe. Here are but a few for your traveling terms. 

An Apartment  is a FLAT
Beltway or By Pass Road is the RING ROAD
Cafeteria is a CANTEEN 
Cell Phones are called MOBILE PHONES
Collect Call is a REVERSE CHARGE
Cookie is a BISCUIT
When asking for Discounts say Concessions
Elevators are typically called LIFTS
Faucet is a TAP
French Fries are CHIPS (in the UK) and Frites elsewhere
Gasoline is PETROL
Garbage is TRASH
Over Pass on a road is a FLYOVER
Parking Lot is a CAR PARK 
To Pass in traffic is to OVERTAKE

Pharmacists  is a CHEMIST
To Pick Up somebody is to COLLECT
Potato Chips are CRISPS
To Rent something like a car is to HIRE
Round Trip Ticket or Journey is a RETURN TICKET or RETURN JOURNEY
A taxi or car Ride is to get a LIFT
Sidewalk is a FOOTPATH
Silverwareis CUTLERY
Sneakers are TRAINERS
Socceris FOOTBALL
Stores are SHOPS
Suspenders for pants are BRACES
To Go as food TO TAKE or TAKE AWAY
Restrooms are TOILETS
Truck can be a LORRY
The Trunk of a car is a BOOT
Vacation is a HOLIDAY