risab

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!

MissPrism

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.

kappa

> 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.

Neil_Oz

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

MiniVip

maybe it was Fanny pack? aka Bum bags?

traveller1959

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.)?

MiniVip

.. marsupio?

traveller1959

Marsupio?

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

http://tinyurl.com/622wfd

Robespierre

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.

Dukey

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.

suze

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?"

obxgirl

>>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.

chevre

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!

caroltis

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.

traveller1959

>>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.

LSky

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.

Robespierre

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

Not the ones having a modicum of sophistication.

chepar

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.

november_moon

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

SeaUrchin

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!