Punctuality

Because punctuality is a social construct, it changes from one culture to the next. For example, in Greece punctuality is not so important but in a business meeting they expect the foreign person to be on time even though they might be late.

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Politeness

Different cultures around the world can have different notions of politeness, and how they expect polite people to behave. For example, in most Middle East cultures it is impolite to cross an ankle over the knee to display the sole of the shoe while talking to someone else. Another example is that in Japan running a minute behind is considered running late, whereas in Mexico thirty minutes is common.

 

Etiquette

An example of business etiquette in Malaysia is to entertain others outside the office, so most of the business is done in restaurants, compared to US where people tend to have the meetings in a conference room in an office. Another example is when young adults study abroad they tend not to respect the rules. In Milan, Italy a foreign student broke a statue dated from the 19th century trying to take a selfie, he sat on the leg of the statue and it caused for it to fall off. Adding another example, one of the many things that people can feel completely in shock from, is nudity, while is common in France in the majority of US nudity is prohibit.

 

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Dining:

Food is another part of traveling that can be very difficult. When traveling to a new culture food on the menu can be completely unusual and strange. Although people might not want to eat everything trying a little bit would be polite. Not trying the food could insult the person hosting and can make a bad impression.

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Greeting

For instance, when traveling to european countries like Austria, they are very cultured, reserved and formal when they greet each other physical closeness like touching, hugging, and kissing is not as common as other Latin american countries.

For many reasons it is important to do research before traveling abroad.