Over the years I have queried personal tour guides as to the worst nationalities they have squired around. Three tour guides (Roman, Thai, and Czech) said that Israelis were the ABSOLUTE WORST nationalities for a tour guide to deal with.

My Thai guide told me that he refused to guide Israeli groups because they won't take "no" for an answer. If you tell them that they can't climb up on top of the Reclining Buddha, for example, they want to know why. They will climb up on top anyway, even when threaten with police action.

A tour guide in Buenos Aires told me that she hated Cariocas the most because they refuse to be quiet even when going into a sacred place. She said that many Cariocas would think nothing of having a picnic lunch on one of the graves in Recoleta Cemetery.

This is all just anecdotal evidence, but it is interesting to get the perspective of tour guides.

Thingorjus

I think that there is probably more variation within nationalities than among nationalities. There are certainly jerks of all stripes. A few things I have noticed in my travels, however:

1) Most of the Japanese travelers I have come across are exceedingly polite and exceptionally quiet. However, they do tend to travel in large groups. There isn't anything wrong with this, per se, but it can really put a strain on infrastructure. And the tour guides, surely numbed by having done the same tour countless times, can be quite insensitive about pushing you out of the way in museums and the like.

2) Americans, I think, can tend toward too much informality. I often see us asking questions that, while well-meaning, just seem a little too intrusive to me. We are also, I think, sometimes too keenly aware of differences, and tend to make too much out of the little things. This is both on the good and the bad. We may tend to grumble when things like service aren't up to our norms, but we also make way too big of a deal out of the things we view as positive differences, gushing like idiots over little things. This might be even more annoying than when we whine.

The American tendency to try and speak the local language, mentioned in the article, seems to go along with this. It may be quaint, but I suspect that most people we deal with on a daily basis just want to get business done, and trying to speak the local language can get in the way of that.

3) I think that some Europeans could use a lesson in cultural sensitivity. While I think some Americans tend toward the "dress up" mode when they travel to places like Asia or the Arab countries, I see more Europeans in just downright inappropriate clothing. Going topless in Thailand or Mexico, for example. Or short shorts in Arab countries. Simple rules, easily followed.

"She said that many Cariocas would think nothing of having a picnic lunch on one of the graves in Recoleta Cemetery"

And what's wrong with that? A few minutes in Thessalonica's wonderful Museum of Byzantine Culture shows how picnicking at graves was the cultural norm among early Christians: a token of family solidarity and a living symbol of the Christian doctrine of the Community of Saints.

Perhaps the people of Rio have a better understanding of Argentina's national religion than Buenos Aires' whining tour guides. And a greater respect for the sacred.

I don't think leaving a greasy sarnie wrapper and some empty Heineken cans on the grave of the Ocampo Family is what is meant by a "token of family solidarity."

Thin,
who has been to Thessaloniki and doesn't need a lecture from Flannel Pajamas.

To travelgourmet's point, The Parisians I met did think Americans were hilarious in our need to validate and please. Everything for us is "Wonderful!" and "Excellent!"

I can see why this would grow quickly annoying in a personal relationship (i.e. seems disingenuous), but to my British friend's point, "I know Americans can't possibly be that nice, but I don't care. I like being smiled at and told I'm wonderful."

As for our desire to speak the local language, is that really a problem for people? I feel like we've been so criticized for always speaking English... it seems funny to think that the pendulum has swung in the other direction.

On my first ever trip to Venice I was sitting in the very front of the vapporetto with a German kid behind me, maybe 11 years old. This obnoxious child, who was with his parents I might add,repetitively made wet spitting raspeberries near my ear, actually wetting my ear and shoulder, despite my best "evil eye" and even telling him "knock it off!" a couple times. The mother and father just sat there and did nothing. When our stop came around and I turned to get up I had a stroke of good fortune, my gigantic backpack accidentally smashed the kid in the face and he almost fell over. Strangely when my husband got up his large and equally cumbersome backpack smashed the father in the shoulder. Oops.

>>Don't expect to find much food left at a buffet breakfast after the Germans and Italians have descended. They fill shopping bags of breakfast food items so they don't have to buy lunch.<<

I have never seen Italians fill their shopping bags with breakfast food from a buffet. The Italian breakfast is humorous at best, coffee and a crusty roll or cornetto. If they went to the biggest breakfast buffet on the planet they'd still have a cup of coffee and a roll or pastry. My parents and siblings are from Italy and we've traveled a lot in Italy and have never seen this behavior, at least in Italy we have not seen it. Maybe Italians act differently in countries other than their own, but I think that sounds really out of character. I can't speak for every Italian, however they're a culture with a lot of pride and no Italian I know would be caught dead pilfering food from a buffet no matter what country it was in!

<i>As for our desire to speak the local language, is that really a problem for people?</i>

I'm probably just jaded from living in Scandinavia. In a country (Denmark) where, literally, everyone over the age of 12 speaks English well, knowing how to say hi and thank you, just doesn't count for much. They do seem less than amused when I muddle their language and usually ask that we switch to English.

I read that stupid article. It means nothing to me because as what others before have commented on the nationalities the survey named as being polite were not polite in my opinion in my travels and vice versa. I mean, for example, I found some Brits pretty rude and that was not only in the UK but also abroad (Rome for example). The Japanese I’ve encountered were quite pushy-another example. As another poster said jerks come in all nationalities.

When I saw the headlines on that article I thought to myself - at last someone else recognizes what I have found in many situations. That is just that the Japanese shove in front of you in every line, reach in front of you at a buffet as you are taking food so that you have to step aside. And in an airport they are like a thundering herd.

It was a shock to find out that they are the most polite, quiet and tidy. Who wrote that article - the Japanese?

If you ask the Dutch they will always say The Germans who they still cannot stand, and invariable ask them when they are going to bring their bike back,

No. The survey was done by Expedia France.

” The survey was carried out among employees in 4,000 hotels in Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Canada and the U.S. for the French travel website Expedia.fr.”

What types of questions were asked in this survey I wonder.

Regarding questions that were asked, the article stated:

&quot;The study asked respondents to rank clients by nationality on criteria of general attitude, politeness, tendency to complain, willingness to speak local languages, interest in sampling local cuisine, readiness to spend money, generosity, cleanliness, discretion and elegance. Many replies simply conformed to long-established reputations: Italians, for example, were described as the best-dressed tourists, with the French not far behind. &quot;

One interesting thing to keep in mind - that the survey's responders are all hotel workers. It did not include asking other tourists/travellers.

We were dining by the fountain in saignon, Provence and a beautiful German couple and their two children sat near us. Their little boy would not stay seated and he kept hitting the back of some lady's
chair, then climbing the water fountain stabbing into it with a stick. His parents ignored that he was being obnoxious. He next went across the square to the ancient lavoir and climbed on the rim, walking around it. Lo and behold, he fell in, started screeching. The mothr dashed over pulled him out, got a change of clothe as we watched the little brat embarrassed at being naked. Everyone was laughing. The mom stopped at our table and said you are enjoying this. i said yes. It was inevitable.
Another time we were in Alsace and our first night at the hotel, after midnight party of Germans had a party below our window where the outdoor dining area was. It went on loudly til after 3:am. We checked out the next morning, telling them why we would not be staying the full three days. They were bnice about it but saying they wwere friends of the kitchen staff.
Now after saying all that, one of the nicest, politest man I ever dated was the vice concelate(sp?) here.
He was transferrd to india.

&quot;Japanese tourists
I have not found them to be &quot;most polite&quot;. They are pushy and totally inconsiderate of those around them.&quot;

This has also been our observation in more than one country. Just recently in Greece, a desk clerk was talking me to a room upstairs, he opened an elevator for the two of us and a group of Japanese shoved their way around me to get in. He had to tell them to make room for me and only two of them could stay as the elevator only held four.

Definetely a stupid article.
Also that anecdotal &quot;evidence&quot; that almost anyone has met someone from somewhere who acted like an idiot.
Big deal.

All this, from those rude folks that can't say &quot;Good Morning&quot; :D

<i>All this, from those rude folks that can't say &quot;Good Morning&quot;</i>

Go home. The reason nobody says hello to you is that nobody likes you. It has nothing to do with nationality. It has nothing to do with Americans. It has nothing to do with Germans. It has everything to do with you being insufferable.

I was trying to be nice and claiming that plenty of cultures don't say good morning. But no, it is simply that people don't want to say good morning to you. They can see you a mile away. They can smell your petty neediness. They can sense the fact that you have low self-esteem. The know, instinctively, that you are not saying good morning because you mean it, but because you are trying to make yourself feel better.

Of course, not trying to be unkind, just stating &quot;facts&quot;.

Always the same rude Americans...
You can't help them.