3 Typical tourists you don’t want to be

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not taking aim at a certain nationality when writing this list. Yes, I know that the individuals’ education, customs, and culture comes into play when dealing with others from another country. But because there are recurring themes from particular countrymen, it kind of makes it easy to stereotype (such a bad word, but very useful – please don’t hit me!).

The  ”American”

image by joguldi

Let me paint the picture: Your waiting in line to enter the Louvre. You a hear din of languages – talking, laughing, commingling. But one conversation rings louder, “How long do we have to wait? Isn’t there a Handicap line around here that we can take; I’ll pretend I’m crippled! Ha ha ha. Oh my god, how can these people wait like this? What’s this place anyway? I hate reading all those little descriptions under the paintings, who freaking cares? I’m hungry. Isn’t there a McDonald’s here?” And as you turn to see  the origins of these tirades you glimpse a slightly over-weight couple sporting khaki shorts, the man has a T-shirt that reads” My Chevy pissed on your Porsche”, both with a layer of sun lotion, the woman holds a bottle of coke to her mouth, dribbling some on her Disney World T-shirt. They both have promotional visors on.

You get the idea.

The Drinking Brit

image by HenrikeGodoy

You are bound to run into them if you book a hostel with a bar or enter a pub with the British flag swaying in front. This is their watering hole,  their vacation. If you notice they will spend the majority of their time downing pints, and debating if there last served beer was a “proper” pint, or about the Queen. From robbo21′s answer, robbo agrees that his/her countrymen can be a bit overbearing and insensitive to the differences of other cultures, but if the money is weaker than the pound, then: “Oi, I love this place. The beer is cheap!”

The loud tourist

image by db*Photography

Tourists get loud. Human beings in general get loud; it’s a human trait. And yes it can be extra annoying especially if it’s in a different language. But what i’m talking about are the ones that get louder and louder and louder, repeating the same word or phrase to a stoic local, that’s wondering why this person is yelling at me. Its as if yelling and repeating a word/phrase in their own language will make the local understand.  These are tourists that should be steered cleared from; they will not bring good to those around…Fear the screamer (well, eventually the local will understand what they are saying on the 20th time — when it’s accompanied with sign language).

If you have any to add, please comment away.