Americans are world's worst tourists, says new survey
Feb 16, 2013, 3:02 pm
#151
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Some Brits make awful tourists too.
Try Torremelinos or MegaMuff in Spain and the Balearics. Playa De Las Americas in Tenerife is rife with them too.
Try Torremelinos or MegaMuff in Spain and the Balearics. Playa De Las Americas in Tenerife is rife with them too.
Feb 17, 2013, 12:25 pm
#152
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To be fair, groups tend to be very different from individuals. IME, groups will far more often (& far more gleefully, IMO) descend into their national stereotypes. Individuals are just that - individual and variable.
Feb 17, 2013, 8:52 pm
#153
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Yes the Russian group on the Eurostar, from London to Paris,drunk, loud and obnoxious. In Paris it was a competition between the Chinese and Italians for rude behavior.
The drunken Italians teenagers running through Darling Harbour Sydney, screaming obscenities and insults, weren't amusing, but what prompted me to post was the elderly, very well dressed, softy spoken American, who very politely asked for me directions,as he was lost and trying to find the Opera House (Sydney) he thanked me for my time (which was all of about 40 seconds) and shook my hand, while saying goodbye.
That encounter left me speechless because he was such an exception to the stereotype !
The drunken Italians teenagers running through Darling Harbour Sydney, screaming obscenities and insults, weren't amusing, but what prompted me to post was the elderly, very well dressed, softy spoken American, who very politely asked for me directions,as he was lost and trying to find the Opera House (Sydney) he thanked me for my time (which was all of about 40 seconds) and shook my hand, while saying goodbye.
That encounter left me speechless because he was such an exception to the stereotype !
Feb 18, 2013, 11:59 am
#154
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Deleted
Last edited by bsagator; Feb 18, 2013 at 12:21 pm Reason: NEWMT
Feb 18, 2013, 12:15 pm
#155
Join Date: Sep 2006
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What are we looking at? If we are critiquing wardrobe choices I could stand outside my flat and take photos of inappropriately dressed people from various countries, but I don't see the point. I see far worse at the MCO theme parks, frankly.If there is something I am missing in the photo, please let me know. I don't agree with the vast majority of American FTers on the 'fashion' threads, but I don't feel the need to post photos of the middle aged American women wearing pyjamas around Paris.
Feb 18, 2013, 12:46 pm
#156
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Seriously, people fawn over you because you share a birthplace with people who came up with ideas for things like bad coffee from places like Starbucks and bugged computer programs?
And I'm sorry to break it to you, but more than once I've been on the end of an attempted line break by someone who needs to buy a train ticket ahead of me purely because they come from somewhere like Buffalo Poo Indiana.
And I'm sorry to break it to you, but more than once I've been on the end of an attempted line break by someone who needs to buy a train ticket ahead of me purely because they come from somewhere like Buffalo Poo Indiana.
The Americans have out-invented the Australians a thousand times over. And they have a great deal more Nobel Prizes. That is fact, not emotion. All you have to do is Google it!
How you came to the conclusion that I am American is beyond me. Maybe you should befriend one, rather than focusing so much intensity on complaining about them.
I seriously doubt that you know a single American, but you certainly have a multitude of negative opinions about them from your posts. I sense an "issue".
Feb 18, 2013, 1:10 pm
#157
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,967
As an American who has been abroad a bit, I can see Americans being voted worst as it seems to me that many want a US travel experience when visiting a different country, rather than accepting the culture/tradition/food of where they are traveling to. Where's McDonald's? Where's Mickey Mouse? How come these locals don't speak English? etc etc
+1
I've encountered the good, the bad and the ugly from every nationality, but overall, the Americans seem more prone to trying to dominate everything - they want 'American' food (usually McD's, pizza and American-style Mexican), English translations on menus, good local command of the English language, and to export their views on tipping.
IME, Americans are much more likely to judge ("these brats aren't as good (in Germany) as the hotdogs we get back home because there's no onions", "I'm going to tip the way we do in America because we're not cheap in America") instead of observing differences ("wow - fresh tomatoes and cucumbers on the breakfast buffet", "what do locals consider a generous tip?").
And they judge LOUDLY, as though everyone else is stupid for not speaking American.
I've encountered the good, the bad and the ugly from every nationality, but overall, the Americans seem more prone to trying to dominate everything - they want 'American' food (usually McD's, pizza and American-style Mexican), English translations on menus, good local command of the English language, and to export their views on tipping.
IME, Americans are much more likely to judge ("these brats aren't as good (in Germany) as the hotdogs we get back home because there's no onions", "I'm going to tip the way we do in America because we're not cheap in America") instead of observing differences ("wow - fresh tomatoes and cucumbers on the breakfast buffet", "what do locals consider a generous tip?").
And they judge LOUDLY, as though everyone else is stupid for not speaking American.
And both those posters are.... American.
I don't know how accurate 'a thousand times over' is, but with 22,600,000 or so vs 313,910,000 or so, it isn't surprised that the country with the larger population has resulted in more inventions and Nobel prizes. But then again, many of those American inventors were originally from another country.
There have been votes for many countries on this thread, not just Americans. Many are posting from their own travel experiences. Someone for instance who travels to Paris in summer may encounter more Americans vs someone who travels to Paris in winter and encounters more Italians. The summer traveller may vote one way, while the winter traveller may vote another.
Or not.
But considering that yesterday was a nice springlike Sunday in Paris, I'll just bite my tongue.
Feb 18, 2013, 4:57 pm
#158
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Feb 18, 2013, 5:06 pm
#159
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Feb 18, 2013, 5:14 pm
#160
Join Date: Sep 2006
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In fact, it was a German contemporary, Karl Benz, who was awarded the first patent for an automobile fueled by gas in 1886.
In March of 1902, the New Zealand farmer took flight for roughly 350 yards (by most eyewitness accounts) in a monoplane aircraft before crashing into a hedge
Instead, German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen was first, and to this day X-rays are called "Röntgen rays" in his native language.
But Frenchman Louis Le Prince was the first to shoot moving pictures on paper film.
While Edison may have invented the phonograph, with its ability to play back recordings, it was the invention of the phonautograph in 1857 that gave us the first machine to record audio
(I will admit that I was mistaken on the Kiwi; I was going to give the French credit for that one so thanks for teaching me something!) And pffft! Most Germans wouldn't classify air conditioning as one of the world's great inventions.
I'll add another stereotype to the thread by saying that our friends from down under tend to be a lot of fun.
Last edited by exbayern; Feb 18, 2013 at 5:19 pm Reason: The English, she is hard
Feb 18, 2013, 8:11 pm
#162
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The French, no doubt about that.
I do think some people from UK are a pain in the ... as well when they are touristing outside UK.
I do think some people from UK are a pain in the ... as well when they are touristing outside UK.
Feb 18, 2013, 9:35 pm
#163
Join Date: Dec 2009
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americans worst tourists?
i would say they forgot the italians
....
....
Feb 20, 2013, 4:56 am
#164
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The typical American tourist, resplendid in his uniform of either jeans or shorts, white socks and ditto XL trainers, polo and sometimes a plastic bag for a jacket, cap on top, may present the biggest traveler stereotype there is. And for quite good reasons too. Some within that group are a bit tosserish, but then again there's hardly a group of nationally defined tourists who haven't got their fair share of tossers too.
But to my mind, which I must admit is hindered by the fact I've only been to 60 odd rather than 200 odd countries, the worst tourists defined by nationality are - by a country mile - those hailing from the shores of Mother Russia. Everything you can think of as "bad tourist behaviour" you may amplify by several magnitudes before you get to the atrocities these idiots commit. I dare you to visit any southern facing shoreline along the Mediterranean coast during July, and not be appalled by what you see, should you encounter a colony of the aforementioned specimen of ill-adjusted scum.
'sides that, Italians are pretty bad, and the Chinese can be really bad too. For the Italians, I don't really know what causes it. The Chinese has the same problem the Russians do: Too much money gained too fast and no idea how to handle it all, eminently displaying to all the true meaning of "rich b@stard".
I'm thus afraid the US has lost the crown it once held as "worst tourists", and handing it over to the new economies of the world. I wonder what the Brazilians and Indians will be like when they start an invasion in 5 or 10 years?
But to my mind, which I must admit is hindered by the fact I've only been to 60 odd rather than 200 odd countries, the worst tourists defined by nationality are - by a country mile - those hailing from the shores of Mother Russia. Everything you can think of as "bad tourist behaviour" you may amplify by several magnitudes before you get to the atrocities these idiots commit. I dare you to visit any southern facing shoreline along the Mediterranean coast during July, and not be appalled by what you see, should you encounter a colony of the aforementioned specimen of ill-adjusted scum.
'sides that, Italians are pretty bad, and the Chinese can be really bad too. For the Italians, I don't really know what causes it. The Chinese has the same problem the Russians do: Too much money gained too fast and no idea how to handle it all, eminently displaying to all the true meaning of "rich b@stard".
I'm thus afraid the US has lost the crown it once held as "worst tourists", and handing it over to the new economies of the world. I wonder what the Brazilians and Indians will be like when they start an invasion in 5 or 10 years?
Feb 20, 2013, 5:48 am
#165
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,967
But with the promise of Disney cruises returning not just in 2013, but also in 2014, I shudder with anticipation. The online chatter has already begun about bringing enough toilet paper (because apparently we use leaves here) and other such nonsense which is common on certain leisure websites about how they can best endure their visit to this backwards part of the earth. Sundays were nice and quiet last year, but I'm already considering a change for this summer.