flpab

I have people watched a lot while in Europe and if I don't talk I look the same as they do. I don't get it.

WeisserTee

"Traveling with an animal always smacks of various forms of pretense."

Oh so true. Whenever I see a blind person traveling with a guide dog, I can't help thinking, oh how pretentious of them.

And while I shouldn't feed the trolls, especially such an arrogant example as the OP, but what various forms of pretense do European travellers smack of when they go to dog-friendly places in Europe with their dogs?

And warning: you will see lots of people out and about with their dogs in Belgium on your spring trip. Be especially careful around the labs and goldens -- they might try to get a game of fetch going with that stick up your arse.

IMDonehere

Besides the service dogs, little dogs cuddled in one's arms always say that I am better with pets that I can control than humans.

It is always amusing that people with false names accuse someone else of being a false person.

And it is equally amusing that people take great umbrage at general statements.

StCirq

I've been fooling people all over France for years, apparently, even without a dog.

nytraveler

Agree that it is essentially impossible for a tourist to look like a local. There are a million things that give you away.

The key to being safe is to be aware of everything that's going on around you - and not being unsure/confused/unaware.

IMDonehere

Exactly NY.

mjdh1957

If you are desperate to avoid looking like a tourist (even though you are one) you could always wear a burqa.

MissPrism

flpab on Dec 26, 13 at 3:27pm
I have people watched a lot while in Europe and if I don't talk I look the same as they do. I don't get it.


Well, I'm English and so am European. I'm a little old lady and often go to Italy. I have been addressed in Italian and am sometimes assumed to be French. I suppose that one old lady looks very much like another. What is a tourist supposed to look like?
Nowadays most people don't carry huge cameras.

Dukey1

Who the hell wants to look like someone who lives IN New York????

Bedar

There are far worse ways of looking - like from FL or CA.

Holly_uncasdewar

"I've been fooling people all over France for years . . ."

Doubtful that you've been fooling anyone, anywhere.

IMDonehere

Who the hell wants to look like someone who lives IN New York????

The 50 million visitors a year?

flpab

I have worked at an International airport for years. I can spot a European male a mile away. We have a sports car race in my city once a year but many times they come for practice. They are either European or gay because they are put together for the most part. Women all look the same except for one Italian lady that we see a lot. She is perfect, about 65 and always looks so nice. She wears the most beautiful classic Italian clothes and shoes.

nytraveler

I have been in a modest restaurant in the center of Amsterdam and seen the hostess greeting each arriving group of diners in their own language (before they spoke to her). On the way out I asked how she could do it - and she said that shoes (and socks) and haircuts were the biggest giveaways. She sometimes couldn't tell on sight with Americans who had spent years in Holland and bought all of their clothes there - but said the walk was still usually different.

IMDonehere

NY

That was point of my original post. There are many hints to being a foriegner.

We went to an Italian restaurant in Florida and I told my mother the maitre d' was from Spain. He was from Spain, even though I guessed the wrong region.

Grindeldoo

"wear a locally purchased fanny pack. And a ball cap with the local team's name on it". Just don't ask for a fanny pack in the UK. You'll get some very strange looks! And given the prevalence of the Premier League on television around the world, plenty of tourists wear Man U, Man City (Manchester United and Manchester City for those who don't follow what we call football), Chelsea and Arsenal replica kit and caps. If you want to avoid being recognized as a tourist, you need to wear something from a team that isn't at the top of the League table, but considerably further down. Like Crystal Palace, Fulham, West Ham, or Sunderland!

IMDonehere

In the US, many people wear Hravard T-shirts and sweatshirts except they people who actually went to Harvard.

bvlenci

A lot of people think they can always tell an American, or an Italian, or a Brit. They often are right about the people they pick, but they have no idea how many they miss.

We were recently in London, and I often saw people who were obviously Italians, and, when I hear them talk, I knew I had guessed correctly. For women, it's definitely the hair style and the makeup, much more than the clothing. For men, it's the haircut, the scarf, and some indefinable manner. However, there were many more occasions when I saw Italians whose nationality was not obvious at all, until I heard them speak. I'm sure there were even more Italians I couldn't identify at all, because I never heard them talk.

The same is true of other nationalities. I see lots of people who are clearly Americans, again, mostly based on hair style, but there are many, many Americans I wouldn't have guessed to be such.