If you are planning on taking a trip to Spain in the near future, you’re going to want to trade in your Aussie handshake for two kisses as your new form of salutation.
Spaniards embrace kissing one another’s cheeks as a form of introduction, greeting a friend, or saying goodbye. For someone not familiar with this form of greeting, it is something that catches you off guard quickly. In Spain you greet anyone, even strangers for the first time, with two kisses, brushing cheeks and making a kissing sound.
It is a custom that shocks most because it introduces a personal connection by getting up close and personal to someone’s face whether you know them or not. This is a main cultural difference between Spain and Australia and one of the first differences you will encounter when you travel to Spain. It catches you off guard at first and is a little awkward, but after the third or fourth person you’ve kissed, you start to feel integrated and a part of Spanish culture. It is very welcoming, but if you’re a person who does not like physical contact maybe Spain isn’t for you.
If you go to Spain knowing this cultural difference you still will be caught off guard the first time it happens, but you will recover more quickly than if you had never researched or learned about this custom before. The culture shock of “dos besos” will fade. Like anything beautiful, you soon will find yourself missing them when you’re back in Australia shaking the hand of a very attractive person.
thelosttraveler 