Penney

Scott-
I am right there with you - this is totally amazing!

Scott

What amazes me the most is the amount of people so quick to judge others that they have never met!?! That is nothing short of ignorant.

Before you judge anyone, you may want to meet them in person first. Life is way too short to have such a narrow mind!! What a waste of energy!!

Katherine

I am American and just living in Fort Worth Texas I find people with different standards and expectations.
Traveling for me is an adventure. I try and open my mind to something new (although I am a huge tex-mex fan and have had serious cravings while abroad!)
I think it is a shame that people have to act like they are better than someone else purely because of geography. I dont want to seem like a Pollyanna but I used to complain so much and make generalizations also. I was not very pleasant to be around. The more I traveled, the more I honestly learned. Even if I meet people who look down on me or make stupid remarks (Im from Texas remember), I just think to myself "This is a reflection on them and not me".
Good manners never go out of style.

Steve

I never recognized that these stereotypes and animosities existed between American and European vacationers. I am a 23 year old American college student, and have found that Americans can be the most blindly patriotic and self-critical people on this planet. Our standard of living seems to allow this opportunity to some members of our society. My roommate, Mike, traveled to the U.K. with a bunch of international students and was incessantly criticized for "American attitudes" and U.S. foreign policy. My other friend got sick of being insulted, while in Australia, and began telling people he was Canadian to just enjoy the trip. Why does this animosity exist?

xxxxx

I think you only need to read posts like the original one in the thread to understand why the attitudes exist. It's that attitude that starts the ball rolling.