Switzerland Lonely Planet

"Excuse me, where is the war?
This common false Not the French: "Where is the station (war / station)" translation can be found with a laugh, a laugh or a slap, depending on who you ask.
There is only so much a Lonely Planet, language tapes and a map can help you during the trip. At some point you may need to seek help. But who and how?
The helpfulness of the citizens of a country may be as much a drawcard as one of the seven wonders. Would you rather go to a place smiley happy, or a place sneery snob? Olympic cities train workers and citizens to be polite and help tourists to the map-tangle scratching their heads on street corners. But the three other years and other cities of the world?

My mother was recently in Switzerland for a tour by bicycle, alone for the afternoon when she lost her card and was driving on a highway danger. Management trucks to escape quickly, she has finally found a train station should be countered by the computer ticketing esoteric. Bursting into tears, the owner of the cafe next door came and smiled, told him "not worry lady," and showed him how to use the machine. Then a woman came and said she was in the same train and show Mom how to load and when to get off his bike. At the end of the trip, and mom Maria had a conversation about things and the mother was no longer curse the machine too clever Swiss and Michelin maps.

Typical problems-the small yellow box that beeps

Mom happily experienced the kindness of strangers and lived to tell the story. There are many reasons why travelers may need to seek help:

Lost: cards, even can be difficult, especially those given by the hotels where things can be distorted to make Hilton look like the center of the universe. And find the nearest church as a reference point, is like finding the nearest store sex in King's Cross. Even without a map, based on "sense of direction" can be thrown out of order by the skyscrapers, jet lag and confusion or lack of street signs.
Confused: Visitors to a foreign supermarket can wonder what these extra digits are the signs of fruit. The mystery is revealed only when going to register and to be blurred, and then look back along the queue to see consumers frustrated pointing to their banana with a bar code sticker. Oh. Oops.
And do not forget the railway system in some European countries on the ticket is validated in the yellow boxes. Ah, of course, what else whatsoever for. But even the most obvious things are a matter of learning and knowledge.
Injuries: slippery cobblestones and rainforest hikes are a Band-Aid waiting to happen. More serious accidents need help from others, like a mad monkey pulling away from your hair as he tries to eat the fruit scented shampoo nectar hotel.
Looking to make friends: there are only so many nights that you can spend alone in a hotel room eating sardines and watching the odd game. Sometimes breaking the ice with the local population can lead to a feint of the foregoing.

Who to contact

People of the same age and sex than you. Think about it, if you were a 18-year-old with a ring in his nose and black eye-liner, an Italian nonna would show you where the convent was built in the 16th picturesque? Better by asking the boys outside a gelateria goth (well, good luck finding that one ... but you get the idea).
Officials. While they look relaxed, for example, they walk along the Seine rather than push the Parisians rioting, then put on your best Touris innocent.