{"id":1185,"date":"2022-12-11T05:53:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T13:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2022-12-21T16:12:12","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T00:12:12","slug":"breakfasting-at-starbucks-when-abroad-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/2022\/12\/breakfasting-at-starbucks-when-abroad-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakfasting at Starbucks when abroad. Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is breakfasting at Starbucks when abroad really traveling? I ask that myself when I enter one. Believe me, there are plenty of reasons not to enter one. Number one for skipping a Starbucks is that they don\u2019t have scones, at least not in the British Starbucks establishments I\u2019ve been in so far. But, despite this sconelessness, these are my reasons for frequenting this American franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Like it or not, Starbucks is usually there. In London and Paris, certainly. In smaller cities, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Yet another requisite stop for a cup of coffee in Bath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

8. It\u2019s open early. Like many Americans, I like an early start to my day, my lunch, and my dinner; yet, for instance, some of the coffee shops in Bath didn\u2019t open till 10 a.m. 10 a.m.! That is late<\/em> for Americans\u2014even Americans on vacation. On this trip in the UK, the Starbucks opened at 7:30 a.m. By American standards, that\u2019s still kind of late. And, maybe it\u2019s the American working people and commuters who drive the 5:30 a.m. opening time in the U.S. Tourists tend to be out and about when museums and other tourist sites start to open, often about 10 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

9. The counter people are friendly. This is a big plus in famously snooty Paris, where ordering a caf\u00e9 au lait at a small bistro can be an exercise in indifference. The Scots, the Welsh, the Irish, and the British seem friendlier. But at a Starbucks, openness seems to be baked in along with the chocolate chips in the muffins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Starbucks tables are big enough for laptops. And<\/em> a coffee and<\/em> a pastry. Also maybe even a guidebook or a map. Tiny, round Parisian tables are picturesque, but, at a small table like that, a writer might only be able to accommodate a small moleskin notebook. Many coffee shops in the British Isles do have larger tables, but at a Starbucks, I can be sure<\/em> there will be enough room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. A Starbucks is usually found in walkable tourist areas. That\u2019s where Americans tend to be. We\u2019re not usually in a foreign suburb with a car. Starbucks are usually not hard to find, and they\u2019re not hidden away in some dodgy neighborhood. They\u2019re on the boardwalk, the esplanade, in the shopping corridor, or at the corner of Main and Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. You instantly pick out the logo and the name. You know the Kelly green-and-white circle with the two-tailed mermaid \u201cSiren\u201d is coffee and carbs.  The font is Santana Black. Recognizable anywhere. I was walking yesterday and saw an \u201cAldi\u201d in the distance. Was it worth the walk? Was it food? Or clothes? Or a dental clinic? (It\u2019s actually a chain of grocery stores.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Sometimes you just don\u2019t have the patience for something unknown. It takes enormous energy to figure out new stuff. To be outrageously obvious, travel confronts us with new names, new schedules, new cultures, new vocabulary, and new attitudes. And we often<\/p>\n\n\n\n

haven\u2019t been sleeping all that well. Weird lumpy beds with a guy snoring in the next room, two girls excitedly yakking after coming back from the bar, or a shower that didn\u2019t get above tepid can put a damper on even the sunniest of mornings. So sometimes old, familiar stuff is good. Even an old, familiar franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. A tall, skinny latte is comfort food. To me, anyway. It helps me cope with the aforementioned lumpy bed, guy snoring, or girls yakking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. It has wi-fi. If you haven\u2019t been abroad in a while, you might think that most places\u2014restaurants, hotels, coffee shops\u2014would have wi-fi by now. Not so. But Starbucks is a reliable place to find it. A friend of mine likes to patronize local libraries, where it\u2019s quiet and you\u2019ll be charged just a small fee for Internet access. Even a Starbucks pretty much expects you to at least buy a coffee, if not coffee and a muffin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. In this uncertain world, there\u2019s a certain good, fuzzy feeling when you walk up to a counter where you understand the ordering language and can revel in the friendly ambience. Oh, the Costas, the Caffee Neros and other non-American chains seem to also have adopted or parodied Starbucks\u2019 friendly coffee culture, but there\u2019s nothing quite like just walking into a Starbucks, shedding the fa\u00e7ade of \u201cI\u2019m-so-worldly-and-I-have-a-lot-of-energy-to-figure-new-stuff-out,\u201d and ordering a damn tall, skinny latte and getting on with the day. And Starbucks was born as a company in Seattle in 1971, the same year I took my first trip to England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting here just now on the second floor of a Caffe Nero in this new-to-me town, I just noticed the local Starbucks\u2013a smaller one\u2013across the way on New Bond Street. Will it be \u201ctraveling\u201d if I go there tomorrow? By wide definition, most certainly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is breakfasting at Starbucks when abroad really traveling? I ask that myself when I enter one. Believe me, there are plenty of reasons not to enter one. Number one for skipping a Starbucks is that they don\u2019t have scones, at least not in the British Starbucks establishments I\u2019ve been in so far. But, despite this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-writing","category-united-kingdom-and-ireland-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}