afterall

Silly question really as the answer is written all over these boards.

Is there anyone willing to say they will dump the recommendations of their next door neighbours in favour of info offered by locals?

If yes, please give your reasons why.

cathies

As long as the posters are offering good advice I don't care where they are from. I've had good advice from people from lots of countries.

willit

Are non Americans allowed to answer ?

Both points of view are valid, and both are normally incomplete.

When I give advice about my local area, I cannot truthfully answer on hotels or B&Bs as I have never used them.

I can answer about places to eat out, but are they the sort of place a visitor wants to eat? I have sometimes tried to point out places that I like to visit, but many of my visitors prefer to see the "Big name sights" from the guidebooks rather than the places that I feel they might like.

So now I try and aim my recommendations at those places and things enjoyed by my family and friends visiting from overseas. If they liked them as tourists, I presume others overseas visitors may also like them.

quokka

Some people here seem to value posts from their fellow citizens confirming their own views higher than those by a local telling them something different.

kleeblatt

Living in Switzerland, I enjoy reading trip reports and advice from tourists who have just visited the country. I don't know BO well and have learned a lot from the posted info.

Use both local and tourist info for planning a visit. I keep telling everyone to try the Cafe Zwetchgen and go to the local fests for the true "Switzerland" but have found only a few tourists take this to heart.

For a list of events, the best source is the local newspaper. Ask your hotel receptionist to help you find any local events or yodel masses. Both are HIGHLY recommended!!!!

BTilke

Many of the Americans posting here are expats living in Europe. So we are locals AND Americans.

I'm curious to learn where all these posts are by Americans who don't want locals' advice.

However, if a post by a "local" is sprinkled with anti-American snobbery and stereotypes, then it's disregarded strictly because of the poster's attitude (example I remember from a now deleted thread: "Americans won't like this restaurant because it's not listed in Rick Steves.&quot

traveller1959

>>>I'm curious to learn where all these posts are by Americans who don't want locals' advice.<<<

I remember a thread on Traveller's Cheques. All the European posters told that Traveller's Cheques are hardly accepted in Europe, but the OP stubbornly insisted in taking these cheques to Europe. Some fellow Americans seconded.

I also remember a couple of threads, where Europeans very carefully tried to tell that white tennis shoes scream "tourist" - and some American posters did not want to hear this. This might be funny, but it is amazing to read that some American posters insist in wearing shorts everywhere and anytime when they are in Europe - even when it is freezing cold, e.g. in Barcelona in March or in the Baltic in July. It must be a matter of U.S. national identity to wear shorts - while we locals learned to identify American tourists by gooseflesh on their bare legs.

Another, very frequent matter is the itineraries. Many posters from the USA try to maximize the number of destinations. Often they make itineraries as if a European would visit New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Yellowstone and San Francisco within one week (which is technically possible). By this style of travel, they miss the genius loci and often return disappointed. Posts like "I don't like Paris" probably come from this style of travel.

Another point, and here Rick Steves (who is otherwise unknown in Europe) may come into play, is the destinations. American posters tend to think that München is the only attractive city in Germany, Rothenburg o.d.T. the only quaint town and Burg Eltz the only castle - thus leaving 80% of the country and many gems undetected.

Luckily, only a minority of American posters belong to the above mentioned kinds, but they do exist, and sometimes they make themselves pretty audible.

BTilke

Traveller, since both Americans and locals have said don't use traveler's checks, I don't consider that a valid example. Those people didn't want ANYONE's advice, no matter where they came from.

As for the crammed itineraries, I'm not surprised that people with limited time (and money) want to hit the tourist highlights on their first trip. Europeans do that too, you know, I've met Europeans who've spent two weeks seeing: NYC, SF, and Las Vegas. They, too, don't want to hear from locals who suggest other itineraries.

As for white shoes, first, many Americans do NOT wear white sneakers or shorts everywhere. And unless many Americans have learned to speak perfect German with Franconian accents, I have seen quite a few German tourists in shorts, sneakers and t-shirts in places like Bourges and Angers (France), Lugano (Switzerland), and even Paris.

flanneruk

It's certainly an odd question.

I'm struggling to think of a travel-related question you could ask where the respondent's nationality would matter. Possibly "do immigration officials in (name any country Britain's currently having a spat with) give you a harder time with a UK passport than with an Irish one?" But beyond that, I'm stumped.

Otherwise, I want to know whether the respondent shares - or at least understands - my tastes in food, art or whatever, and I'd have thought everyone else would start from the same point. A shared nationality is no indication of shared, or even understood, tastes.

francophile03

I sure don't.

francophile03

To clarify my reply is in relation to this statement:

"Otherwise, I want to know whether the respondent shares - or at least understands - my tastes in food, art or whatever, and I'd have thought everyone else would start from the same point."

Padraig

I have no compunction about saying that I think all this Blarney stone stuff is a load of, well, blarney and that while I might be caught dead at a Bunratty Castle banquet, there is little chance of catching me there while I am still of this world. But I don't mind at all if Americans say they love it. I would mind a bit if they claimed it was authentic, because that would be to say something about Ireland that is simply not true.

But when it comes to understanding the culture and the mores of the Irish people, I think I know a bit more than most foreigners, and I find it a bit much to be contradicted by people who don't know what they are talking about. It's okay to be contradicted by people who do know what they are talking about, but such people generally don't contradict: they usually express disagreement in a temperate manner.

kleeblatt

"This might be funny, but it is amazing to read that some American posters insist in wearing shorts everywhere and anytime when they are in Europe - even when it is freezing cold, e.g. in Barcelona in March or in the Baltic in July."

I agree with traveller. Most Europeans will not wear shorts in Barcelona in March or the Baltics in July if the weather is freezing cold.

However, I also believe tourists shouldn't change their clothing style unless it's frowned upon in the land their visitng.

AtlTravelr

"Is there anyone willing to say they will dump the recommendations of their next door neighbours in favour of info offered by locals?"

I will! If I know a poster is a local, whether ex-pat or European (and I really am not familiar with every poster and who they really are), then I will absolutely consider their advice well above those of my neighbors or even other American Fodorites.

I even did this for our upcoming trip to Seattle. Too many times I have asked a hotel concierge for a restaurant rec only to get a very pedestrian answer. I look at the restaurants that are published in Atlanta travel guides and though they are often upscale they are not my type of place at all. I really do prefer the neighborhood gem with great interesting and/or local food. I got great responses from local Seattle folk and am looking forward to our trip.

Also - I have found that the things that locals have suggested to us are things that we would not have done otherwise and end up being such a cool part of our trip. We met an English family in Cornwall several years ago who told us about the surfing lessons offered in the area that their own kids enjoyed. Believe me, this is something I would have never known about - that there even WAS a surfing culture in Cornwall. Well it makes for a much better story to tell friends than to talk about how we saw the Tower of London!

Dukey

I really wish I knew all there is to know about my own country, what is "authentic" and what isn't and all the other stuff but I don't.

When I read a post from someone who claims they DO, I get put off pretty fast no matter where they are from..sorry

StCirq

I take all information with a grain of salt, no matter the source. But then, I hardly ever come here asking for information. When I do, I tend to rely on certain posters whose opinions I have come to trust over many years. I read a lot of information here from posters, American and otherwise, that I would never use in my own travels.

And I don't see what "American" has to do with it, since this board is populated by people from all over the globe.

But to answer the actual question posed by the OP, I probably would "dump" the recommendations of my next-door neighbors in favor of local information if I deemed the local source reliable based on previous postings.

travelgourmet

It depends. Things like restaurant recommendations or transit questions are prime territory for locals. But hotels? I'll gladly take advice about location or general reputation from a local, but wouldn't trade this for the experience of an American that stayed there.

Of course, all of this is subject to the general sniff test. If your restaurant recommendation leads on price and short-changes a discussion of the food, then I'm going to discount the advice of a local versus a more detailed posting from an American.

Padraig

The real test -- and one that exposes the obduracy of some participants in this forum -- is whose guidance you should follow on the appropriate level of tipping.

mnapoli

Frankly, I really like advice from people who come from a similar background as me. My family travels on a limited budget, and I like to get advice from people who are a bit frugal but still like to have the best travel experience.

noe847

<i>&quot;Otherwise, I want to know whether the respondent shares - or at least understands - my tastes in food, art or whatever, and I'd have thought everyone else would start from the same point.&quot;</i>

I agree that this is the ideal, and it's certainly what I would like. I've read enough trip reports and planning threads to realize that there are LOTS of different tastes and styles of travel (and I don't mean just different budget levels!)

Many Fodorites do try to fit their advice to the needs of the traveler when responding to a question - how many times do we see responses to very general questions that ask the OP to clarify interests, budget, etc. so the advice can be better suited to the person.

I love seeing advice from locals (and am very grateful that people take their time to help others visiting their area). At the same time, postings from others who have previously been visitors to the same area can be quite valuable. I realize from reading posts about my city, Atlanta, that the perspective of a visitor and of a local is very different. I'm not always able to put my mind into that perspective well enough to give great advice about my own city!