I appreciate your candour. Being a Brit I was too polite to say .....

My recent experiences have not been positive. My encounters with Americans have put me off taking cruises where on the lines I've taken they have represented more than 70% of the passengers and have seemed louder and ruder and more inconsiderate to the staff than the minority. On my last cruise I was lectured by an American about how America had saved the world and how the rest of the world didn't appreciate it enough.

When I travel around Europe, it is the "large group of Americans" who seem to be the loudest of all and disrespectful and the most insensitive of local culture and ways.

A few weeks ago I asked an American to stop playing with his American football in St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna where he was bouncing it against a wall. A few months ago I asked whether some Americans could stop shouting at each other whilst the service continued with a nuns mass and choir in the Sacre Couer. On a recent flight the American couple in front of me became abusive to the flight crew because pillows weren't available on a 1 hour flight. They demanded a complaint form.

These are just a few experiences and must be balanced with some delightful people I've might. But what remains is an impression of a people that as a rash generalisation seem to think of others as "lesser".

I join you in waiting to be engulfed with flames.