Tacky Tourists

[koan]

What do you think the 'natives' say about tourists when we're not around? Do they laugh at us thinking they really wear grass skirts when we're not around? Have you ever sat, drinking out of a coconut shell, and felt like a total jerk?

[guppy]

ok..i have to tell this story..i was out at the okeefenokee swamp one summer and me and my crowd noticed a bunch of chinese tourists taking tons of pictures of a buzzard perched on a tree..we asked them what they were doing..they replied ...taking pics of a southern wild turkey....

[Patsy Warnick]

Koan
Have you ever been any Tropical?
Since I go to Hawaii every year - yes I see tourist with coconut drinks & pineapple drinks - I don't see anyone laughing.

Every Hotel has souveniors & cocktail lounges that issue a drink in any device of choice.

What I do find "Tacky" are tourist " a couple" dressed in the same pattern material - matching out fits, you know its they're first visit to the islands - They'll be on the beach, she'll have a bathing suit & he'll have the matching trunks on, or the dress & shirt out fit - and we do chuckle..

Aloha
Patsy

[koan]

LOL

matching bathing suits??

[anotherlisa]

As long as they don't block my path, I don't mind tourists. I work in midtown Manhattan, not far from Rockefeller Ctr/Radio City Music Hall. I hate when gaggles of tourists stop dead in their tracks to look at something and block the entire sidewalk. At this time of the year, that can happen multiple times in my one block walk from the office to my bus stop. I've missed buses trying to get around them and then I get stuck waiting another 20-30 mins to get home because they can't figure out if they're going to stop to look at something, move off to the side. I want to find out where they live, go to their town for my vacation & drive 5 miles per hour in front of their car when they're trying to get home, so they can see how it feels.

When I worked downtown, I took the ferry. Most are ok, but in addition to path blocking, some have to yell, scream & carry on and shove their way through to be first on the boat, so they can stop dead in the aisles when people are trying to board. Not to generalize, but certain countries & regions of the US tend to do this more. And some of them don't realize that just because there are dense crowds, doesn't mean you don't say excuse me when you bump into people. They will shove right into people to try and get a better view without saying excuse me or apologizing.

I did laugh with (as opposed to at) one when he was perplexed by revolving doors (I guess they don't have a lot of them where he came from). He started to hum the theme from Mission Impossible after studying the door and deciding to try it. Then there are the ones who stop dead at the end of an escalator to either look at a view or figure out where they want to go in a store (instead of moving off to the side). I've had to step around a few of them to avoid pile ups.

[Kathy Ellen]

NY is a trip trying to maneuver around isn't it AnotherLisa,Drives me nuts trying to get around people. Reminds me of O'Connell St. and Grafton St. in Dublin...a nightmare if you're in a rush.

[mikeinie]

I was checking out of a hotel in the west coast of Ireland when an American tourist came to the front desk complaining that the hair drying she had did not fit the plugs in the room. The girl behind the desk kindly explained that we were on a different system than in America and she needed a transformer to use her own air dryer, but the rooms also had hair dryers available.

The woman started giving out saying ‘that she did not understand why everyone could not just use the same plugs’. I said that they tried, but America was not willing to switch over.
It went straight over her head.

[koan]

True.

Those that go to another culture and attempt to fit in are much more reasonable then those that go and demand that their home environment be duplicated.

[anotherlisa]

Ironic that the repllies to my post are from the UK/Ireland or people who have been there, which is where most of my ancestors immigrated from & I plan to visit at one point! But I promise, when & if I do drop in for a visit, I plan to bring adaptors for my hair dryer & some sort of weather calcuation for Celsius temps. And to stay off the sidewalks while the locals are trying to get to work

And Mike's comment reminds me of a Canadian friend who'd get irate about the conversion to the metric system (apparently Canada switched over thinking the US would) and acid rain when he had a few LaBatts in him. But I kind of grew to appreciate his perspective & LaBatts.

[G-man]

I'm never an ugly American wherever I travel... I always do my research and try to pick up the language so that I can fit in... often I'm mistaken for a local... even when I was in Africa several years ago.

You're not going to drink your awa from a coconut shell when we go to Hawai'i, are you Koan? What about wearing one of those bras made out of coconut shells?