For all you folks worried about looking like a tourist in Europe...
 

So...we know there are lots of posts about what to wear in Europe and comments about what not to wear so that you don't stand out & look like a tourist (even though no matter what you are a tourist)...

I happened to be out and about in my beloved home of NYC the other day and was in midtown and it was wonderfully swamped with tourists from all over the globe. And you know what...they all looked like tourists...cameras, back packs, camera bags, funny hats and sun visors, some even wore funny sandals with socks, and I even saw a few Europeans with fanny packs around their shoulders. Do you think that they worry about coming to America and looking like a tourist? Now, mind you, there were also many who were dressed quite fashionable but they too had cameras and guidebooks and looked like tourists.

Of course, it is not just in the US that I notice tourists...I notice them when I am in Europe too. There is nothing wrong with looking like a tourist and I even find the folks who dress a bit quirkey endearing.

As for the tourists who are walking around NYC with tons of shopping bags... well, they are not endearing (just kidding) I am just jealous. Oh, how I long for the days of the Lira.

Viva tourists!

Fanny packs around their shoulders? ;-)

New York must have very strange tourists.
It reminds me of Othello's description of "men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders"

In this case, it's not their heads but their....;-)

I'm being a very naughty little old lady especially as in England "fanny" has a very different meaning from the one in American English.

> Fanny packs around their shoulders?

Actually that's what I used to do (I don't have any anymore since some time) hanging it on one shoulder so it served as a small shoulder bag (and it looked nice that way too ranther than attaching around your waist, I thought). I did wear it around the waist when I was skiing though.

MissPrism, "fanny" has the same connotation in Australia as in England. I am as anatomically confused as you.

maybe it was Fanny pack? aka Bum bags?

I am no native English speaker, but do I understand right that a fanny pack is mainly intended to carry a kind of emergency kit for an unplanned overnight stay (latex products etc.)?

.. marsupio?

Marsupio?

Increases anatomical confusion, but is not too far from fanny:

http://tinyurl.com/622wfd

Fanny doesn't mean any one thing. In addition to being Brit slang for vulva, it also refers to

- an 1980 novel by Erica Jong
- a 1749 novel by John Cleland
- a 1961 song
- six movies, from 1922 to 1995
- American slang for buttocks, over which a belt pack may be slung

I suppose you giggle over "pussy," too.

OK, I might agree that the man wearing the sandals with dress socks is perhaps from Europe.

What I would really like to know is whether or not somebody with a camera and a backpack/whatever is necessarily a tourist from somewhere all over the globe or from New Haven?

There are "lots of posts" here from people wanting to fit in and whether you like it or not..most of them seem to be from women and IMO all of them are from people who need some sort of confidence boost.

they are almost as bad as the poster who declared that they are "intimidated by walking through large lobbies in hotels" (I kid you not) and it makes me grateful with all my own hang-ups and phobias that "fitting in" is not one of them.

Well I can always tell the tourists here in Seattle because they're clutching this one particular street map with red background that's given out everywhere, standing on a street corner, looking confused. Usually they are a couple blocks away from Pike Place Market, when they ask "Can you tell me, where's the Market?"

>>I'm being a very naughty little old lady especially as in England "fanny" has a very different meaning from the one in American English.<<

There's a shocker. That tidbit has been trotted out a couple of million times on this forum. Sure makes the Brits titter.

This summer my brother was concerned about looking like a tourist in Germany for some reason. At one point he needed shoes and bought a pair that looked like the kind of shoes he saw many, many German men wearing. He seemed very proud of the fact that he had found something that made him feel like he looked like a local. I didn't have the heart to tell him that his Tommy Bahama shirt its design of foliage all over it far outweighed any shoes he wore!

I've always thought it amusing that so many people want to not stand out as a tourist. How in the world would you NOT stand out as a tourist. Do you not use a map,do you not refer to a guidebook, do you not carry a camera, do you not carry a bag with all the day's needs for your sightseeing, JUST so you don't look like a visitor? It's all quite silly in my opinion.

>>How in the world would you NOT stand out as a tourist. <<

Very easy in Europe. Just wear a tailor-made business suit, preferably dark blue, a tie (not too colourful), leather-soled shoes and a briefcase.

But do not expect to be treated normally when you walk inside the Colosseum in this attire.

How not to look like a tourist? Don’t even go to the Coliseum! My goodness, everyone will know. In fact walk right by the Coliseum without giving it a second glance, just like the locals.

If you come to San Diego and don't want to look like a tourist, leave you bathing suit at home and don't go to the beach.

Instead opt to visit a neighborhood, try somewhere like the suburbs like Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Otay Ranch or Clairemont. It's boring and not much to do but at least you won’t look like a tourist, let me assure you that you won't have to worry about crowds.

<i>Sure makes the Brits titter.</i>

Not the ones having a modicum of sophistication.

We see all kinds of tourists in Hawaii, most of which do not seem concerned at all with not standing out as tourists.

I especially like the families that all get matching aloha shirts (usually in a screamingly loud print) - it always makes me smile.

There is no way my husband and I could not look like tourists in Europe. He is Mexican. He does not blend - LOL.

Novembermoon, that reminds me of when I was in a small seaside village in Mexico with my blond, fair, blue eyed BF and he came out of the hotel wearing socks and sandals! I told him, you can't wear that, you will look like a tourist. He said, shall I go back and dye my hair too? We had a nice laugh and then went on our way with our cameras and maps!

If you're a stranger in a strange land, there's no way on God's green earth that you aren't going to stand out as a tourist. No matter how good your camouflage, the very act of paying attention to what is unique and interesting to you and everyday-so-what to the locals will necessarily brand you as not-of-this-place.

&quot;No matter how good your camouflage, the very act of paying attention to what is unique and interesting to you and everyday-so-what to the locals will necessarily brand you as not-of-this-place.&quot;

Yep - pretty much.

I was asked for directions a few times in Germany, but always when I was sitting on a bench, reading a book, and eating a snack while my husband was off taking his 300th picture inside some church. I guess some tourists figured that I must be local, otherwise I'd be taking pictures of the church too - LOL. I don't think it had anything to do with what I was wearing.

For one thing, if you are in a small town, the locals know you don't live there! (or even nearby!)

For some reason, I'm never mistaken for a tourist. I always bring a camera, but it's small and is in my bag, never around my neck. I don't have a map or guidebook- I prefer to ask the locals. I dress casually, not as a travel warrior.

foodfreak wrote: &quot;For some reason, I'm never mistaken for a tourist.&quot;

First, if you are a tourist and are thought to be one, you are not mistaken for one.

Second, you don't know what most people take you for.

It's incredibly easy not to be taken for a tourist. Spend 30 years learning and practicing a foreign language and speak it like a native. Even if you're wearing one of those dumb fanny packs and a Hawaiian-print shirt and sporting Crocs in lime green and carrying a map and a camera, no one will ever guess you're a tourist.

As I've said in a thread on this similar &quot;how to look like a local&quot; nonsense, just because someone asks you for directions or for info, does NOT mean they think you're a local.

They're approaching you because you look APPROACHABLE. You don't look busy or harried--IOW, you look like you might be willing to help them, rather than give them the brush off.

People who need directions usually stop and ask the first kind-looking face they see and it has nothing to do with whether they think the person is a local or a tourist.

As for St. Cirq's suggestion, we've opted to bypass all that and simply take our dog with us on most of our travels. People usually think someone walking a dog knows the area, no matter how the dog walker is dressed. And, of course, dog walkers also tend to look like they're not pressed for time (esp. if you have an English cocker like ours who believes it's important to stop and check out every intriguing smell).

<i>For one thing, if you are in a small town, the locals know you don't live there! (or even nearby!)
</i>

And even if you live there, it doesn't make you a &quot;local&quot;. Small towns have long memories, and even a 10-year resident can still be treated like the new kid in town. In the town that I grew up in, everyone called the pizza place by a name it hadn't had in 15 years. Ditto for the butcher. And directions - 'well then you turn at (long dead) Bill Johnson's place'...

november_moon - very funny. I have to say, I find it liberating traveling to countries where you have no chance of blending in.

Hmmmmm, I can't remember any locals anywhere I've been coming up to me and saying &quot;You're a tourist!&quot; So I guess they aren't mistaking me for a tourist?

On a recent trip to Paris I was asked by a shopkeeper in an elegant store if I was on their mailing list.
A clerk at Galeries Lafayette offered me the store credit card.

I would never presume I was taken for a &quot;local&quot; because of my French or my outfit ( neither one that great).
People from around the world live, shop, visit , work in big cities like Paris, New York, London
Not looking like a tourist ( whatever that means) is important to some , but the local businesses will be happy to accommodate you
&quot; Even if you're wearing one of those dumb fanny packs and a Hawaiian-print shirt and sporting Crocs in lime green and carrying a map and a camera, &quot;

risab, I think you make a great point. I've never understood why tourists are so often ashamed of themselves that they are afraid to appear as when they really are?

And while we're at it, I might add the idea that it is equally silly to think you want to avoid anything touristy (the most famous attractions anywhere are famous for a reason) or to avoid any restaurant where &quot;other tourists go&quot;. These days there are so many very savvy tourists, that many have already well sought out the very best places to eat. If no tourist has found it in their serious quests for great eating, then it probably isn't worth going to! I'll never understand the traveler who thinks he is the ONLY person to ever go to Venice or Rome or Paris who has looked for a great off the beaten track restaurant. If it's really good, some other tourist with the same goal has already &quot;discovered&quot; it. Trust me.

I'm a tourist. I'm a traveler. I'm proud to be both.

But sometimes you get crap advice on Forums about how to dress when abroad. This one just takes the biscuit.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g1...For.Spain.html

Well I have been to places where I definitely do not want to look like a local, thank you very much. Not every place we visit is a fashion capital or a healthy place. How about just looking like yourself.

travelgourmet, I agree!

A truly funny comment Padraig.

I live in NYC and it is a common question, how do I not appear like a tourist.

First your comportment is different. Locals walk with purpose, while tourists walk in a variety of ways including circles.

If you are dressed in shorts, particularly a family in shorts, in a business district you are easy to spot.

Second, if you are an American in Europe your watch, accessories, hair style, shoes, and eye glasses may also give you away.

Third, many tourists go to tourist areas. A pickpocket who wanted to fleece a tourist would not go a residential area.

Fourth, besides fanny packs, there are travel guides amd cameras that might give you away.

Clothes are but one aspect.

Well, Padraig, I speak 6 languages so, in Europe, I'm certainly not thought of as a tourist, certainly not an American one.... as the locals will tell me themselves (because I like to talk to locals rather than gawk or consistently consult a guidebook). An out-of-town visitor, but not that kind of tourist.

foodfreak, I am impressed.

&quot;because I like to talk to locals rather than gawk or consistently consult a guidebook). &quot;

no wonder locals in some cities get annoyed with people who constantly ask questions instead of consulting a map or a guide book!

I have a great picture of a friend and myself in Hawaii.

As we were going out the door on our way to the beach, we realized how touristy we looked, so we grabbed some extra stuff, including inflatable rubber mattresses, bags with the names of tour companies on them, and even floppy brimmed hats--these along with our sunglasses and bathing suit coverup.

We looked smashing, so we had our picture taken.

What is the definition of “out of town visitor?”

I've lived in San Diego most of my life. We welcome tourist here, it's never been a problem for someone to stop me and ask for directions. Business travelers are welcomed with the same enthusiasm as tourists.

I don’t know any San Diegan who has not had the, “out of town visitor”. And they come in different flavors.

There’s the friend who not only lives in an equally desirable city with a guest room. She’s delightful company and is a great cook to boot.

Of course, there’s the relative who just wants to substitute our home because the are too cheap or too broke to pay for a hotel room. The cheap ones, can stay one night, if they aren’t loathsome company. The broke ones are college student nephews or nieces and are usually welcomed.

The best Out of Town Visitor is the trustworthy person who wants to come stay in our home and take care of our pets while we go play tourists somewhere else.

Then there are the OTV's that, “we’d love to see but, gee, sorry, we’ve, umm, got the plague that week!”

Why should I bother if I am recognized as a tourist?

If you are touring you have 99% chances of being, at least at that moment, happy.

Why should I be bothered to let people know that I am happy?

I love having that stupid look in my face, eyes shining, neurons trying to register all I can see, nostrils open seeking por different smells, etc...

I love being a tourist, and don't give a damn if anybody or everybody else takes me for one.

PS: I think wearing socks with a soft sandal is soooo comfortable ;D