From my experience in 20 plus odd years of traveling several different continents, most Americans I have met do not come close to the stereotype of the loud, poorly educated, narrow-minded and self-important boor.

I have met a handful (for example the lady in the Seville train station who screamed abuse at the station manager because "nobody here speaks English") but it seems this sort of person is a dying breed, at least among those who have the means and inclination to travel abroad. Surprisingly most of the Americans I have met abroad have been agreeable and pleasant.

Most people whom I meet while traveling somehow guess that I am from Canada, not the U.S., despite my failure to festoon myself and my belongings with the Maple Leaf.