Irritating Habits of Tourists in London/Paris
May 1st, 2007, 03:24 AM
#22
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alanRow.
The Londoners should also take your advice to turn the volume down.
I listened to more second hand iPod music sitting next to people on the tube. I hope the NHS is stockpiling hearing aids for futture needs.
The Londoners should also take your advice to turn the volume down.
I listened to more second hand iPod music sitting next to people on the tube. I hope the NHS is stockpiling hearing aids for futture needs.
May 1st, 2007, 03:26 AM
#23
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I find one useful tip for crowded streets is to walk as though you're driving - look ahead, think about lane discipline and adjust your speed if you're going to change lane, assume everybody else is likely to do something stupid, and don't just stop in the fast "lane".
May 1st, 2007, 03:31 AM
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Paris, probably London too - any major department store. Yes, I know that the store directories are generally posted at the top and bottom of every escalator here, but for God's sake! Don't just stop, blocking everyone behind you from getting off the escalator. Move aside and read it and then decide which floor you need.
May 1st, 2007, 03:38 AM
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RaleighGirl,
Please don't come away from this post believing that "tourists" are the only people who do these things.
Please don't piss off anyone in France by referring to them as a "frog"
Try not to "overhear" anyone else's cellphone conversation regardless of how loud they (the locals and tourists alike) are shouting.
Please don't spoil anyone in Europe by "overtipping" even when you feel the tip for exceptional service is warranted and even though you have been lectured about how all those people who wait on you in Europe are living like kings on their "generous" salaries and will think you are stupid because you showed your own generosity.
Stick to the "dress code" at all times..do NOT wear denim even though you'll see jillions of other people in these two cities wearing it.
Please don't come away from this post believing that "tourists" are the only people who do these things.
Please don't piss off anyone in France by referring to them as a "frog"
Try not to "overhear" anyone else's cellphone conversation regardless of how loud they (the locals and tourists alike) are shouting.
Please don't spoil anyone in Europe by "overtipping" even when you feel the tip for exceptional service is warranted and even though you have been lectured about how all those people who wait on you in Europe are living like kings on their "generous" salaries and will think you are stupid because you showed your own generosity.
Stick to the "dress code" at all times..do NOT wear denim even though you'll see jillions of other people in these two cities wearing it.
May 1st, 2007, 03:46 AM
#26
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In London don't just say "Gloucester" (pronounced Gloster) or "Leicester" (pronounced Lester) you need to put Road and Square at the end for us to think you're not talking about the towns.
We do not refer to blocks here - it's not the metro it's the tube. It's not transportation it's transport.
So in asking a question don't say "How many blocks to Lie-sester metro"
Londoners want to mainly live in their own anonymous world. Currently there is a comedy sketch about an American elderly couple from Iowa who introduce themselves to everyone on buses and give out their cards and say "If you're ever in Hoopersville come and stay". Charming but intimidating and superficial to us reserved Brits
We do not refer to blocks here - it's not the metro it's the tube. It's not transportation it's transport.
So in asking a question don't say "How many blocks to Lie-sester metro"
Londoners want to mainly live in their own anonymous world. Currently there is a comedy sketch about an American elderly couple from Iowa who introduce themselves to everyone on buses and give out their cards and say "If you're ever in Hoopersville come and stay". Charming but intimidating and superficial to us reserved Brits
May 1st, 2007, 04:08 AM
#27
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i take a different view from flanner...most of the 'rules' listed here are not even common european rules but just common sense about getting around a city, no matter where it is located.
as for the non-sense social rules, london is comprised of much more than just uptight brits who would much rather eat sawdust than have to exchange a pleasantry with a stranger. london is full of germans, italians, spanish, french, etc....all who have no such pathological fear of exchanging a pleasantry with a stranger. many of us have also lived elsewhere and have shed such weird hang-ups.
we are the people who will pay about £30k more for a house that has a garden that is 'not overlooked' by another house. is there a hang-up here? absolutely. there is a clear pattern of social hang-ups. the ironic thing is that just about all other european people will use their gardens in far more interesting ways. we also can go for hours avoiding interaction with other people...not uttering a peep. we then have a few drinks and we are some of the loudest people on earth....perverse and pathological...it's all a strange pattern.
it's perverse that such pathological fears are portrayed by flanner as the norm whilst being friendly is deamed strange and evil. but, as usual, the frame of reference here at fodor's is often skewed in strange ways.
so when you come to britain, you can be yourself or you can adopt all of our british hang-ups about talking to strangers. you can decide but i would argue that you will have a much better time if you just be yourself and not make efforts to adopt weird and perverse hang-ups.
as for the non-sense social rules, london is comprised of much more than just uptight brits who would much rather eat sawdust than have to exchange a pleasantry with a stranger. london is full of germans, italians, spanish, french, etc....all who have no such pathological fear of exchanging a pleasantry with a stranger. many of us have also lived elsewhere and have shed such weird hang-ups.
we are the people who will pay about £30k more for a house that has a garden that is 'not overlooked' by another house. is there a hang-up here? absolutely. there is a clear pattern of social hang-ups. the ironic thing is that just about all other european people will use their gardens in far more interesting ways. we also can go for hours avoiding interaction with other people...not uttering a peep. we then have a few drinks and we are some of the loudest people on earth....perverse and pathological...it's all a strange pattern.
it's perverse that such pathological fears are portrayed by flanner as the norm whilst being friendly is deamed strange and evil. but, as usual, the frame of reference here at fodor's is often skewed in strange ways.
so when you come to britain, you can be yourself or you can adopt all of our british hang-ups about talking to strangers. you can decide but i would argue that you will have a much better time if you just be yourself and not make efforts to adopt weird and perverse hang-ups.
May 1st, 2007, 04:29 AM
#29
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"Manhattan Street Etiquette" is an amusing thread, RG.
>In May, I will be a first time tourist to London/Paris.
Re London:
The people drive on the left and walk on the right. This upsets their interior balance.
Be prepared for locals to suddenly cut across the sidewalk from the street side to the building side to enter a shop.
When crossing streets look RIGHT first.
When on the tube - Mind the Gap.
Enjoy your visit.
>In May, I will be a first time tourist to London/Paris.
Re London:
The people drive on the left and walk on the right. This upsets their interior balance.
Be prepared for locals to suddenly cut across the sidewalk from the street side to the building side to enter a shop.
When crossing streets look RIGHT first.
When on the tube - Mind the Gap.
Enjoy your visit.
May 1st, 2007, 04:42 AM
#31
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Please don't stand on Tower Bridge in London and examine where the bridge divides - it really isn't that interesting and you get in the way. Taking a photo by the ramparts around the towers on the bridge is also not a good idea as you will most likely get a commuter's head in the middle of your photo album.
Wearing a giant jester's hat with a union jack on or a plastic policeman's hat especially when carrying a Harrod's bag is like wearing a sign saying "Pickpockets come here"
Carry a small dark umbrella - don't think that golfing umbrella you bought in St Andrews is going to be welcomed or one with union jacks on it.
Golf trousers especially in checks and pastel blues scream tourist
Wearing a giant jester's hat with a union jack on or a plastic policeman's hat especially when carrying a Harrod's bag is like wearing a sign saying "Pickpockets come here"
Carry a small dark umbrella - don't think that golfing umbrella you bought in St Andrews is going to be welcomed or one with union jacks on it.
Golf trousers especially in checks and pastel blues scream tourist
May 1st, 2007, 04:45 AM
#32
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In London:
Always stand in line. We like queuing and hate queue jumpers.
Before boarding a tube train, wait until everyone disembarking has gotten off. Trying to push onto the train before everyone has gotten off will almost certainly cause unpleasant comments from the locals.
When you walk through a ticket barrier on the tube, keep walking. Someone will be charging through the barrier immediately behind you and WILL collide with you if you stop.
On escalators, you will see notices asking people to stand on the right. This request is followed religiously by commuters. If you stand on the left, someone running down will shout at you.
Others have said you must move down to the centre of the tube carriage if you can't find a seat. They're right. If the train is crowded, you will almost certainly hear some disgruntled commuter asking people to move down.
Give up your seat to elderly or pregnant people. A dying custom, but a welcome one.
Always stand in line. We like queuing and hate queue jumpers.
Before boarding a tube train, wait until everyone disembarking has gotten off. Trying to push onto the train before everyone has gotten off will almost certainly cause unpleasant comments from the locals.
When you walk through a ticket barrier on the tube, keep walking. Someone will be charging through the barrier immediately behind you and WILL collide with you if you stop.
On escalators, you will see notices asking people to stand on the right. This request is followed religiously by commuters. If you stand on the left, someone running down will shout at you.
Others have said you must move down to the centre of the tube carriage if you can't find a seat. They're right. If the train is crowded, you will almost certainly hear some disgruntled commuter asking people to move down.
Give up your seat to elderly or pregnant people. A dying custom, but a welcome one.
May 1st, 2007, 04:52 AM
#33
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"On escalators, you will see notices asking people to stand on the right. This request is followed religiously by commuters. If you stand on the left, someone running down will shout at you.
Others have said you must move down to the centre of the tube carriage if you can't find a seat. They're right. If the train is crowded, you will almost certainly hear some disgruntled commuter asking people to move down.
Give up your seat to elderly or pregnant people. A dying custom, but a welcome one."
Kate, those things aren't exclusive to London...that's pretty much the rule in mass transit in U.S. cities as well. I think the problem is not so much with tourists from overseas but with anyone who's not used to taking mass transit.
Re the standing on the right so that people can pass on the left, why is that in the UK, cars overtake on the right, but people on the left?
Others have said you must move down to the centre of the tube carriage if you can't find a seat. They're right. If the train is crowded, you will almost certainly hear some disgruntled commuter asking people to move down.
Give up your seat to elderly or pregnant people. A dying custom, but a welcome one."
Kate, those things aren't exclusive to London...that's pretty much the rule in mass transit in U.S. cities as well. I think the problem is not so much with tourists from overseas but with anyone who's not used to taking mass transit.
Re the standing on the right so that people can pass on the left, why is that in the UK, cars overtake on the right, but people on the left?
May 1st, 2007, 04:58 AM
#34
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Move over to the side when you want to stop and read your map. Try to walk on the left with the flow of traffic when the sidewalk is busy. And try not to say too loudly, "this isn't the way we do things back in New York."
May 1st, 2007, 05:41 AM
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I once heard David Sedaris, an American writer who lives part-time in Paris, talk about hearing American tourists on the metro complaining loudly: "I can't believe they don't have Sonics here in France..." I thought that was funny
May 1st, 2007, 05:52 AM
#36
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The people drive on the left and walk on the right. This upsets their interior balance.
The opposite is true.
Circus horses go round the ring anti-clockwise.
The next day, they are ridden clockwise to restore their interior balance.
The driving left and walking right means that Britons are extremely balanced.
The opposite is true.
Circus horses go round the ring anti-clockwise.
The next day, they are ridden clockwise to restore their interior balance.
The driving left and walking right means that Britons are extremely balanced.
