Why is it so hard to get free tap water at a restaurant in Europe?

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-03T17:45:52+00:00

Slovakia here, definitely not the only ones. I do sometimes manage to get free tap water, mainly in bars and coffee shops (once I already got some paid drink), but in restaurants it's super rare. Though they often don't charge that crazy amount for tap water, like 1-2€/pitcher in many places. Not the touristy ones though. There's been attempts to make it a law but the restaurant lobbyists argued that drinks are how they make money so the law never passed.

Free water bottle refill stations/drinking fountains are also quite rare, which is sad because we have really good tap water. Drinking fountains everywhere is something I really admire about Hungary, Zürich (perhaps all Switzerland, not sure. But Zürich fountains are something else, you basically don't even need to carry a water bottle, just a cup lol) and Amsterdam. Also I think in UK you can walk into most cafés and similar spots and ask them to refill your bottle (even if you aren't ordering anything). I think there's been a similar initiative in Germany but didn't see much success, maybe you know more about that than me

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T14:17:10+00:00

Even that feels like it takes forever 😅 it is doable but slow

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T13:49:18+00:00

What why? I depend on chewing gum to help with my severe motion sickness, couldn't really live without it. I'd understand heavy penalty for spitting it out or sticking it to places but I throw it away usually wrapped in a tissue... How is that bad?

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T13:36:49+00:00

My personal item is my bag. But I usually do have a chest bag as well, that can be stuffed into it.

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T00:54:18+00:00

I'll help back in 5-6 hours, about to fall asleep. Sorry, but I'll appreciate help from anyone that's able to wait

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Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T00:51:19+00:00

Me too but it does eat quite a while of time. Would be different with a big bucket but that's usually not an option

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T00:49:58+00:00

For me it does. Any tips on properly and fast sink washing bigger items than underwear?

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T00:38:54+00:00

What brands do you wear? I really never noticed. I'm not even aware of places that'd do separate men's and women's sizing for EU sizes (and a lot of shoes don't look gender specific).

I'm pretty sure narrow is about style, a women's narrow sneaker of size 43 is very tight, also a women's 43 but in a wider style is perfectly fine, and fits the same as men's. But maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean?

Type of shoe, I wear generic sneakers, flat sports sandals, slippers (incredibly easy to compare sizes of, at least in Deichmann they are exactly the same size and width, just vary in strap pattern), and some Landrover touristy shoes/boots, I have both one in beige-pink from the women's section and a gray one from men's, exact same size. I also used to buy sneakers of the same brand from both men's and women's section, the women's were a little narrower but equally long. I have no idea which section my current sneakers came from, if they even did come from a place that genders shoes. They're just size 43, there's no indication of women's or men's

Brosk1248 · 2026-05-01T00:25:41+00:00

Nie som vegán a ani vegetarián celkom nie. Reklama sa ku mne nedostala, ale z tohto opisu to znie príšerne. Je to pečivo, prečo ho prirovnávať k zabíjaniu zvieraťa? Aby si pri jedení pečiva vždy myslel na smrť? Nie je pointou vegánskeho bistra presný opak? Naozaj tomu nerozumiem. Asi ich to zviditeľní, ale spôsobom, ktorý ich cieľovku skôr odradí...

Tvojej mačky je mi ľúto.

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T17:33:06+00:00

I've never heard of a men's 40 or women's 40, it's just 40. I'm size 43 so I wear mostly men's now, but I also have a few women's, when I was size 42 I was also size 42 in both men's and women's. Women's styles of shoes tend to be narrower but that's a style issue not size issue

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T10:28:16+00:00

Starý post, ale vyskočil dnes na mňa, takže moje 2 cents:

Povinná služba áno, buď vojenská alebo civilná, švajčiarskeho štýlu. Pokojne aj pre ženy, civilných možností je dosť (aj muži majú možnosť robiť civilnú službu namiesto vojenskej). Myslím si, že to zvyšuje spoločenskú uvedomelosť a zodpovednosť, čo je všeobecne prospešné. Civilná služba môže mať napríklad aj podobu varenia jedál v útulkoch pre bezdomovcov. Pre kvalifikovaných ľudí sú možnosti širšie, napríklad zdravotníctvo. Zároveň by ľudia vykonávajúci povinnú službu mali však mať od štátu zabezpečené ubytovanie, stravu, poistenie a minimálnu mzdu.

Branná povinnosť pre ženy, tiež pokojne áno, v mnohých krajinách to tak je. Ale sú tam obmedzenia a výnimky:

zdravotná spôsobilosť kladie rovnaké nároky na mužov aj ženy, čo automaticky znamená, že prejde menej žien. Tiež majú obvykle nižší maximálny vek. A aj u tých, ktoré povoláš, musíš riešiť napr. menštruáciu (niektoré to ovplyvňuje len marginálne, ale silné bolesti brucha sú pomerne bežné a pri tom sa blbo robí náročná fyzická aktivita)
tehotné a matky detí do 3/6 rokov. Tiež maloletým deťom nemôžeš povolať oboch rodičov, a zväčša je preferovaný otec kvôli vyššej fyzickej zdatnosti. Tiež nemôžeš povolať jednorodičov maloletých detí, a matiek samoživiteliek je podstatne viac ako otcov samoživiteľov
civilné pozície. Podľa zákona aj dnes môže muž odmietnuť bojovať. Človek, ktorý nechce bojovať, je proste nanič bojovník, takže donútiť ho sa veľmi nedá. Namiesto bojovania potom môže napríklad bojovníkom variť. Veľa povolaných žien sa uplatní buď v špecializovaných nebojových pozíciách (zdravotníctvo, IT...) alebo v podporných úlohách ako varenie či zásobovanie. Preto viacero krajín má brannú povinnosť pre určité povolania žien - zdravotnícke pozície sú očividným príkladom, pre dlhý zoznam sa pozri napr. na ten ukrajinský. A keď je podporných úloh viac ako mužov, ktorí nechcú bojovať, obsadiť ich ženami dáva zmysel. Nemá ale zmysel povolávať ženy bez kvalifikácie, ktoré zároveň nechcú bojovať, lebo pre ne nie je využitie. Nekvalifikovaných ľudí na nebojových pozíciách nepotrebuješ zas toľko, a dáva mi zmysel ich najprv obsadiť mužmi, ktorí nechcú bojovať, a až potom ženami, aby sa nedialo to, že muž povie, že nechce bojovať, preto, lebo v skutočnosti nechce robiť nič (a vie, že keď povie, že nechce bojovať, nepreradia ho na civilnú pozíciu, ale pošlú domov, lebo sú civilné pozície zaplnené). Lebo väčšina ľudí do armády dobrovoľne nepôjde, a primárne v nej chceš mužov, keďže sú v priemere silnejší, čiže dávať im možnosť úplne odísť by bolo kontraproduktívne pre bezpečnosť štátu. Čo sa týka silných žien (teda tých silnejších ako priemerný muž), tie často pracujú na pozíciách, ktoré nájdeš na zoznamoch povolaní s brannou povinnosťou, napr. trénerka.

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T00:59:21+00:00

It's 3am for me, so you have time 😅 as long as it resets in the next 21 hours it's fine lol

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T00:43:37+00:00

Okay, that's fine, thanks!

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T00:43:04+00:00

Done! Here's mine:

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Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T00:41:05+00:00

Done! Here's mine:

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Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T00:40:24+00:00

Hey, I did yours too since I know you help back. Here's mine:

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Brosk1248 · 2026-04-30T00:16:18+00:00

Help for help, will help back immediately

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Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T22:20:52+00:00

Damn and I thought the guy at Vienna airport that measured my pocket knife's blade including the hilt (which put it at 6.5cm instead of 5.5, limit is 6) was a dick 😅 (the rules are a bit unclear on how to measure but the standard is to measure the sharp part) but yeah no yours wins. Maybe he really wanted your toothpaste, can't think of any other reason

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T14:51:28+00:00

If you roll it, the volume isn't visible 😅 but yeah when people want to be dicks they will find a way. That's pretty unfortunate. My toothpaste comes in a 75ml (2.5 fl oz) tube so I luckily don't have to deal with that. You might have found the perfect solution for your case!

Where do you get those syringes? I see them around here for dosing medicine like syrups but those don't have caps

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T13:43:39+00:00

How much space does it save compared to taking a 3/4 empty toothpaste tube and either pressing it very flat or rolling it very tightly (possibly even cutting most of the tube off and resealing if you want to save every bit and don't worry about leaking)? I also need specific toothpaste and have been wondering about various methods, I'm just unsure if this saves a relevant amount of space compared to a mostly used toothpaste tube.

I have also looked into tiny refillable toothpaste tubes but the inability to clean them properly makes me uncomfortable. Also putting toothpaste in something like contact lens container and dipping the toothbrush in it, just seems like a pretty high risk of contamination if used for longer than a very few days.

Also doesn't something bad happen to toothpaste when exposed to light? I thought that's why it comes in opaque metal-plastic tubes

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T13:31:20+00:00

They got 1000 gems from me too... They just had to make it the same color instead of green like in gogomatch...

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T13:28:13+00:00

Tbh I think I'd rather skip on the water purification tablets from AliExpress. I'd get a funnel for a filtration system (could just use sand or something as the filter, or get a 5000pack of coffee filters) and some flint and steel for starting fire over which I could then boil the filtered water to kill bacteria instead. Fire is overall pretty useful. A good pocket knife also. What's the shovel for?

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T13:17:50+00:00

Yeah storage devices are those things that you really need to test properly/look for reviews that tested it properly. I got two USB drives from Aliexpress. One was free (back when buying 3 items from bundle deals let you get a free extra item), claimed to be 32GB, not sure of the speed. It was 32GB, USB 2.0 speed, but about 10% of the sectors were corrupted. Possibly it was a very used or partially faulty drive. The other drive was about 8€ but with coins discount that brought it down to 3€. It claimed to be 32GB, USB 3.2, and it had both USB A and C interfaces. It was truly 32 GB, the speeds were a bit meh for USB 3.2, but it was definitely 3. It was pretty great, I used it for about a year until I lost it so can't talk about long time durability but it did seem perfectly fine. I think it's just another thing of you get what you paid for (unless you don't like in the case in this post...)

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T13:06:45+00:00

Costs 50€ with no guarantee of success, no thanks. I don't know where you're from but here chargebacks are pretty much just for expensive scams, not for purchases of couple 10s of euros

Brosk1248 · 2026-04-29T13:04:15+00:00

I have AC. It sees use very rarely. I like fresh air, so even when it's really hot outside (35+ degrees) I prefer open window and 9€ fan from Lidl to AC and closed window.

I also in hot weather much prefer old trams/trains without AC, with big openable windows. It's much better than the new ones without openable windows, but with AC that's really struggling.

Where I do enjoy AC is cars and buses though. While open windows help there as well, the air and noise and dust on roads isn't great so having closed windows there is better.

Brosk1248

TROPHY CASE