Ellie

This spring, my husband & I will be in Germany, Austria, France & Switzerland. We want to blend in with the locals. We don't want to dress in any way that by looking at us you can tell that we are obviously Americans (at least not until we speak). I have been told that cowboy or western style boots is a dead give-away. Is there anything else we should avoid wearing that screams USA?

martha

Ellie-- <BR>Do a search using "tacky tourist." <BR>The short version is that everyone will know you're American, but if you dress like a grown-up they'll know you're a nice American.

Bob Brown

I am always amused by these questions because I found it almost impossible to fool anyone for very long that I was not an American, even in Scotland no matter what I did. <BR> <BR>Please don't take my comments the wrong way, but here are my experiences. When I lived in Germany, I spoke German well enough to keep from being recognized instantly as an American, but as soon as someone saw me, that person knew good and darn well I was from some place else. Being of Welsh - Irish - Scottish ancestry, I simply don't look like a middle European and even less like a Frenchman. No way. I was sometimes mistaken for being English, for a short time, but I never could fool anyone after a conversation started, except for Americans who spoke zero German and I was talking in German when we chanced to meet. <BR> <BR>Of course cowboy/western boots are a giveaway as are baseball caps on backwards, spandex encasing rolls of fat, sweatshirts that say Michigan State Spartans or Stanford Cardinal, or Georgia Bulldogs, or just about anything else about our dress and physical appearance: like the way we talk too loudly on trains and in cafes, wear our hair, use our knives and forks, the appearance of our luggage, and the shoes we wear. My wife claims she can even tell by the way American walk and move their hands, particularly if they smoke. <BR> <BR>I guess you could let your hair grow very long, and take no clothes or luggage. Then when you get there, have a redo and buy all of your clothes locally. You will fool people, maybe, until you ask for something or respond. <BR>Or, I guess you could buy locally shoes, a long coat and hat and wear them all the time you are out. That might work. <BR> <BR>But after all is said and done, you will not fool many people for very long. And, my final question is this: why would you want to?? And secondly, I found very few people who cared, particularly in Switzerland. <BR> <BR>(The one exception to that was in Germany around big American military bases. There, I found it in my best interests to not be identified as a person in the military. And it was impossible there to fool anyone who was used to seeing Americans.) <BR>

elaine

This question is related to past threads such as Tacky Tourists and is bound to generate diverse opinions. <BR> <BR>There's being recognized as a tourist, being recognized as an American tourist, and there's being recognized as an <BR>AMERICAN TOURIST!!! The latter comprises <BR>inappropriate dress (inappropriate for your age, size, and the activity you engage in), inappropriate voice decibel level, discourteousness, excessive informality. That's our national stereotype. <BR>However, appropriate is a relative term. If you're 19 and backpacking, tee shirts, shorts,caps, jeans, & sneakers will fit right in wherever you go. If you're 50, and spending time in the sophisticated cities and towns,dining in nice restaurants, shopping in nice stores, the above ensembles will certainly brand you as tourists at the very least, and most probably as Americans. <BR> <BR>I live in a large American city that is considered a sophisticated place. We welcome millions of visitors to our city each year. Most of us who live here can spot an American out-of-towner a mile away,without having heard a word. The Am. tourists are walking through the business districts, into fine shops and restaurants, into the churches, into the museums, wearing very large sneakers, tee shirts, fanny packs,nylon windbreakers, etc. <BR>From the tourists' point of view, they have every right to dress comfortably and wear what they probably wear at home, and behave as they d. well please while spending their hard-earned money. Those are the same people who also walk the chic streets of Paris and Rome dressed the same way as they do at home. <BR>They're not wrong, they're just doing what they prefer, which is certainly an American trait. For many Americans, the only option for casual or comfortable dress seems to be jeans and sneakers. But I digress. <BR>I'm not sure you can get away with the non-American deception entirely and I'm not sure what the point would be anyway unless you're spies. If you are in the large cities and you are not a kid, avoid the ensembles I describe above and if you are not mistaken for a local, you will at least look like a well-groomed American. <BR>

Al

One particularly bad costume is the exercise suit. Pink, yet. They make people look as if they were wearing their 'jammies, getting ready to go night-night. Then they wear those humonguous rubber shoes, with all sorts of black, or red, or blue markings on them. Women wearing their hair in pin curls. I've even seen some wearing what looked like orange juice cans in their hair. Chewing gum with their mouths wide open. No, you can't look like the locals -- and why would you want to? But anyone can dress sensibly, be clean, well-groomed, and low key.

ilisa

Are you ashamed of being an American that you don't want people to know? Instead of trying to hide it, just act well-behaved and well-groomed, thus disputing the Ugly American stereotype. <BR>

greg

Ellie, <BR>Like Bob Brown, I am always amused by these questions but for different reasons. <BR> <BR>The responces come from different angles depending on how each of us interpret the need to do so. Here are some categories I have noticed: <BR> <BR>1. Nationalism angle: whether being associated with the US itself is at stake. <BR> <BR>2. Respect angle: whether it offends the feeling of the locals. <BR> <BR>3. Restriction angle: at places with obvious dress code requirements. <BR> <BR>4. Scam magnet angle: whether it further increases chance of attracting scam artists and pickpockets. <BR> <BR>Let me comment on the last angle: yes, we attracted our shares of pickpockets and scam artists (thwarted both,) but why would one want to attract even more attempts at both incoveniences? Yeh, if one looked at us at 20 feet for few seconds they could tell where we came from, but we felt there was no need to catch attention of others who would have otherwise left us alone.

Erin

I've got a whole different take on this. As an African-American travelling in Europe, the LAST thing I am ever asked is "are you American?". When Europeans see Black tourists, thousands of other nationalities come to mind, and American is never one of them. I never try to fit it because, obviously I can't. When we explain to people that we are Americans, we usually get big smiles and "OH!". It's kind of funny...

Tony Hughes

I am with Ilisa on this one, enough said. Bob, what did you mean by saying '..even in Scotland'.I'm sure i am wrong but it reads as if you think the Scots are backward and would be easily fooled by someone draped in tartan. I don't think you meant this but could you clarify the point,mate?

Neal Sanders

Some years ago, my wife and I went to Tuscany for a few weeks, and were bound and determined to "blend in." We took an immersion course in Italian, omitted from our packing list anything that was overtly American in design, and rented a Fiat that was, we were told, authentically Italian (it had all of the power of a Vespa). <BR> <BR>We did pretty well for a while. Then came the "dopo" debacle. <BR> <BR>Tuscany shuts down for several hours in the middle of the day. It's an Italian thing (also a French thing, a Spanish thing...) But as Americans on vacation, the idea of taking a three-hour lunch or relaxing under the shade of an olive tree to watch a game of bocci was anathema. So, we took to buying the makings of a picnic lunch each day at mid-morning and using the noon-to-three siesta to drive from town to town through the countryside. <BR> <BR>About a week into our sojourn, my appointed task was to buy sandwich meats and cheese at a supermarket in Poggibonzi. I carefully rehearsed my order, then took my place in line at the deli counter. Behind the counter was a demure young lady of perhaps 17 years. I gave her my order with an air of studied, Italian nonchalance. I was rewarded with her nodding in all the right places. <BR> <BR>Then she said, "Dopo?" <BR> <BR>Dopo. I racked my brain and my mental dictionary. "Dopo" was not in it. <BR> <BR>"Dopo?" she repeated, a little less friendly, no longer quite so demure. <BR> <BR>"Dopo," I muttered under my breath and tried out possible responses. "Dopo....what?" There were now five people in line behind me. <BR> <BR>"Dopo?" she said, glancing at the line behind me, clearly annoyed. My mouth was hanging open, utterly lost for words in any language. <BR> <BR>"WHAT ELSE YOU WANT?" came the shouted translation from an elderly woman at the end of the line. Clearly, only an English-speaking moron could be holding up a line in this manner. <BR> <BR>"Nothing else," I said, skaing my head, then added, a bit too late, "Niente." The girl prepared my order, sneering. <BR> <BR>In Italian, "dopo" literally means "after." In colloquial Tuscan, it means, "what else you want?" "Dopo" my ignominious defeat at the hands of a 17-year-old shop girl, we gave up trying to blend in. We spoke Italian when it seemed appropriate, English the rest of the time. We stopped trying to mimic the 9:30 p.m. dining schedule and distinctive, overhand eating style of the Italians and started eating dinner at a more reasonable 7:30 with all of the other tourists. "You are Americans?" became an opportunity to break the ice with many people from many nations. One afternoon, on a hilltop in Arezzo, an elderly man showed us the path the Fighting 29th took to take that bastion from the Nazis. Half in English, half in Italian, he communicated what, to him, was one of the momentous events of his life. We would never have had that conversation if we were still trying to "blend in." <BR> <BR>So Ellie, enjoy your vacation and don't worry amount being spotted for what you are. Don't offend the populace (see the "tacky tourist" thread) but if you want to wear shorts, wear shorts. Just don't wear them to Notre Dame. <BR> <BR>

Bob Brown

Here is what I said: I found it almost impossible to fool anyone for very long that I was not an American, even in Scotland, no matter what I did. Perhaps I should have prefaced that with the fact that I am of Scottish - Welsh ancestry. I did state that later on, but perhaps not in the most advantageous order or sequence, particularly if someone read it quickly. <BR> <BR>To spell it out further: Even when I am in the place that is the motherland of my gene pool, I cannot fool anyone. <BR>So if I cannot fool people in Scotland, there is not much chance I can do it elsewhere. The accent was a dead giveaway every time even if I might look like I belonged. <BR> <BR>I might add that my wife, who is of direct Irish ancestry gives away her identity as soon as she speaks. But she looks like she is where she should be.

Cheryl Z.

<BR>No way will you be able to disguise yourself, no matter what you try. Just wear comfortable, nonoffensive clothing, preferrably darker and neutral colors, comfortable walking shoes. I don't mind being identified as an American - as mentioned, it's a great chance to meet and talk with the locals. Polite behavior is more important. As suggested, you can search this forum for LOTS of opinions and experience on how to dress.

Nuba

I actually look forward to being an American in Europe. I hope people do notice I'm American because, as others have mentioned, it seems to open the door for some interesting things to happen. <BR> <BR>There's a saying (paraphrased), "People travel to far and distant places to meet the kind of people they ignore at home." <BR> <BR>Anyway, like Erin ... I can't just "blend in" so easily because I'm also African (black) American. So I have to be content with just being REALLY nice and sensible. <BR> <BR>

Jay Frank

It's really quite easy: simply rent a dog, preferably a very small one, and take it with you everywhere. You will instantly look European. With a little effort, the effect can be enhanced by renting a bicycle and riding around with the dog and a few loaves of bread stored in the basket mounted over the handlebars. <BR> <BR>On the other hand, you can simply be yourself. That is, after all, what you want from the 'locals'. No? <BR> <BR>

Caryn

Jay: Ha Ha! <BR> <BR>

Caryn

Jay: Ha Ha! <BR> <BR>Bob: I clearly understood that you could not fool the Scots b/c you are Scottish/Welsh/Irish from your first post.

Denise

Hi Ellie, <BR> <BR>What I would like to know, as an Australian who saw many Americans in Italy last year, why do you knock yourselves so much. The ones I recognised as American where all very nicely dressed. Could tell by those distinctive voices. You're a tourist, do the locals go around gawking at the wonderful sights all day long? Can't hide it too much. <BR> <BR>Buy a dog?? OK, but don't forget to dress it from the doggie shop in Venice - matching coat, lead, hat, collar (no tie to my knowledge) and bless mesocks, booties. <BR> <BR>Poggibonsi supermarket - Must have been the same one we went to. Lined up at that deli, only ones there, didn't take a number (didn't see the infernal thing) and the chap wouldn't serve us. Well, being good tourists trying to blend in, we did what we had noticed all good Italians do, threw our arms up in the air........and left........starving. <BR> <BR>All part of being somewhere else. <BR> <BR>Denise the Aussie.

joel

Seldom do I agree with every single response on a posting, but I agree with all of the coments on this one. Experienced folks. <BR>I will add this, based on living in Europe for a number of years, in hopes you find it helpful and easy to do. <BR>My wife and I became "acclimatized" or maybe "acculturated" is a better word. We saw things as the french did. Things that bothered our neighbors eventually began to bother us too. We began to notice people who stood from other tourists due to what seemed to us then to be annoying behavior. Of all the Americans we ran into during those years the only thing that we (or our French neighbors) found irritating was the very loud voices of about 10-20% of the Americans and the fact that they couldn't slow down and take things at a liesurely pace---so frantic! <BR>So my advice to you, is to be cognizant of your decibel level (as a previous respondent termed it) and slow down to their pace. In particular, think less about itinerary and schedules and see what is where you are right now. Sit in a park and watch the people for a half hour---it's more informative than a tour through Notre Dame <BR>

Tony Hughes

So hang on Bob, you thought you would blend in because your ancestors were from here? To me that's mildy absurd. Your basis of being unobtrusive is that you had relatives living in the country a couple of hundred years ago or whatever, that's it? The world, it is 'a changing', Scotland is now poulated with Scots-Asians, Scots-Africans and others from mainland Europe. You would be hard pressed to say who is Scots and who isn't. <BR> <BR>Going to a foreign country is not some sort of covert operation and, indeed, it may help at times for you to be identified as a tourist/foreigner.

Vincent

The very fact of asking this question shows that either Ellie or all the other respondents are totally aware of certain elementary precautions a tourist should take in a foreign country. Ever since I've been "hooked" on this forum, I've been amazed by the accuracy, the tolerance and the knowledge of the - mostly American travelers - who take part in it. If all the tourists - American, European or French - we get in Paris were as attitude-conscious as the Fodorites are, there would be no problem. The main problem is actually the voice level. All the rest is a matter of common sense. And to get rid of all your complexes, try something : observe some groups of European tourists (I particularly recommend French people in Tunisia or Morocco, Germans in Mallorca and Britons on the Costa del Sol), and you'll realize that you respondents are the most discreet are cultured tourists !