RaleighGirl

On Fodor's United States Forum is a thread entitled "Manhattan Street Etiquette" where a poster (Flatfeet) lists some common mistakes/irritating actions that tourists make while visiting Manhattan. These tips would have been helpful to me when I visited New York a couple of years ago.

In May, I will be a first time tourist to London/Paris. Are there any suggestions you could provide to an American who is ignorant of European customs to minimize making the locals angry? My biggest concern is the train, tube, taxi, and bus system, since I am unfamiliar with public transportation.

alanRow

Don't stand in the middle of the street trying to work out what to do next.

Go to the side of the pavement so that people can get past

NeoPatrick

not so much an irritant as a danger to you:
looking right before you step off a sidewalk onto a street instead of looking left as you would often do at home.

I think in London people are much better at standing off to the side of opening subway (tube) doors to let people off before getting on yourself.

And on the tube or a bus always remove a backpack or large shoulder bag rather than banging into everyone with it.

alanRow

Re backpacks - I'd remove them anywhere that is busy.

Better still don't wear them as even the smallest pack seems to create "bull in a china shop" syndrome

Carrybean

Stand on the right on escalators so those in a hurry can pass you easily.

Luisah

Good suggestions so far. I really like the one about the backpack. I can't count the number of times I've been hit when the wearer backs up or turns suddenly.

Courtesy counts and is expected and appreciated, at least in Paris. And probably in London.

If you need to ask directions don't approach someone and say "How do I get to ...?" Always say, "Good morning/Bonjour madam, monsieur before your question. Use lots of "thank you's, merci's pardon's, etc.

Greet the salespeople when you enter a shop in Paris and say "au revoir, merci" when you leave.

Ask for things in stores and shops, the French do not like people disarranging their displays.

The fact that you've asked this question speaks well -- you'll be fine and have a wonderful time.

hopscotch

You are already aware of your limitations so you are ten steps ahead of most first-timers to Europe. I suggest a Fodor's guide book for each city for starters.

Also read some of the "what should I wear in Paris" threads on this forum. We have jeans fanatics and anti-fanatics. Your choice. I would dress up instead of taking the low road.

Public transportation is the only way to go in major European cities. A car is bizarre. The public transports in London and Paris are intuitive and not much different from each other, except in language. Even in Paris, the signs are almost self instructive, e.g. <i>direction</i>, <i>sortie</i>, and <i>correspondence</i>. Nevertheless get a couple of guide books and good city maps.

Your only real threat is from pickpockets, especially in Paris. The Metro stations and Metro cars are infamous. If you are bumped, stalled on entering or leaving a car, or distracted be on alert. Do not trust any helpful strangers. They are trying to help themselves to your stuff.

Have fun.

crefloors

Courtesy is important everywhere, gee, even at home. If I want to pick something up in one of the shops, I will ask the shopkeepers permission. It usually works, they say OK. I always try to put something back as I found it. The most important points have already been addressed for you so I'll just say, have a wonderful time, you are going to two fabulous cities, and two very different cities.

NeoPatrick

Speaking of saying bon jour when entering a shop, I think it's just as important to thank them when you leave, not just walk out.

RonZ

Paris: if stopping at a cafe for only something to drink, do not choose a table with a place setting.

W9London

If you're taking a taxi, tell the driver where you're going to BEFORE you get on (that's why the cabbies roll down the window). When you get there, you pay OUTSIDE of the taxi.

Also, please do not U-turn (as a pedestrian) all at sudden when you're on a busy street (eg Oxford St on weekends).

kerouac

If unsure of your next move in a busy metro station (which exit? which direction?), move out of the way of the crowd. It will disappear in just a few seconds and then you can turn around and check out your options with no problems.

Anna1013

Ronz,

Will most cafes have some tables that are lined with place setting and some that aren't?

thereyet

Kerouac, this is good advice that regularly goes unheeded. I see this all the time and it is as if these people think they are the only ones on the planet. No thought whatsoever of the masses around them and the inconvenience they create. thereyet

flanneruk

London and Paris are very different cities, and there's no such thing as a &quot;European&quot; custom in anything. However there are three ways you can seriously piss both us and the Frogs off:

- by asking questions about &quot;Europe&quot; London and Paris are capitals of nation states, and had been so for not far short of a thousand years before we burned down that johnny-come-lately capital on the Potomac to teach your forbears the consequences of unprovoked aggression against British territory (one of the few lessons of history America has taken on board). There IS a Paris etiquette: there IS a London etiquette: &quot;European&quot; etiquette exists only in the fantasy world of the sponging thieves in that Belgian johnny-come-even-latelier pseudo-capital we exile our unemployable bureaucrats to

- saying or doing anything that equates the two cities.

- getting in our way. This is a far bigger issue here in London than in Paris, as most visitors intuitively understand (because, unlike in Paris, the overwhelming majority of our visitors come here to work, and our residents have more work than they can cope with).

Move down INSIDE the carriage or bus, don't hang around the entrance to the platform, keep a clear left hand lane on the Tube escalator for those of us who've got things to do, don't block the entrance to pedestrian road crossings just because in your nanny state citizens aren't allowed to jaywalk (we assume you've got the sense to judge when it's safe and we don't take kindly to the nannified stopping us from exerting that judgement), and above all walk at a sensible speed. When you're 95 and need two walking sticks, you'll have all the time you could want to walk at 0.1 miles per hour. But even then, we'd apreciate it is you reserved such antisocial behaviour to the privacy of your care home: don't do it where people have trains to catch and meetings to get to.

One key difference between London and Paris, BTW, is that here we're happy to help visitors but really don't want to become their new best friend, Save all this &quot;good morning, madam&quot; stuff for the time-on-their-hands, job-deprived French. Just ask for the bar of chocolate in a shop (not forgetting &quot;please&quot; beforehand and &quot;thank you&quot; both when getting it and when getting the change), and preface a question to a stranger with no more than &quot;Excuse me: could you...&quot; Again not forgetting at least &quot;thank you's&quot; afterwards. Anything more (ANYTHING: even a remark on the weather)is garrulity, overfamiliarity and an unpardonable intrusion on others' private space

MissPrism

If you perform a bit of grump extraction, Flanner has it just right.

The bit about moving down the compartment or bus and not blocking tube station exits is spot on.
When asking for directions, please say, &quot;Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to.....?&quot;
I once had somebody barking &quot;RESTROOMS?&quot; at me and I bristled all day.
Usually, Londoners are very helpful to strangers, but as Flanner says, they are busy folk and seem to be in a permanent hurry.

nona1

Never make eye contact with anyone on the tube!

Carrybean

Aw, Flanner's just grumpy because we won the Revolution so the poor Brits have to pay even more taxes but they're getting their revenge with the ridiculous tax they make us pay to get out of the UK.

travel_buzzing

London-
yes please stick to the right on the tube, escalators etc. they don't get that in new york.
also, black cabs aside, if you hail an illegal cab you should ask how much (and have a general idea how much you should pay)before you get in.
To try not to get treated like a tourist, maybe try not to wear those hiking-boot trainers

Toupary

Please, don't walk four or five abreast on the sidewalks. Not everyone is on vacation.