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What "screams tourist?"
On another thread, it was suggested that wearing a money belt "screams tourist." Well, I disagree emphatically, because if a money belt is worn correctly, it is invisible.
But what actually screams? Not clothing - at least in Europe. Poring over a map every 50 feet. Reading a travel guide and pointing. Looking at street signs and discussing. Spending too much time looking at the Métro signage. Walking down the street looking at your surroundings. Anybody got more? <i>p.s.</i> Notwithstanding anecdotal instances, there is no firm evidence that tourists get ripped off any more than residents. Or that there are any other disadvantages to being identified as a tourist. |
Reading a map while blocking normal local pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk.
Saying really dumb things to those in your traveling party, loudly & in English. |
camera around the neck and a big fanny-pack.
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Fluorescent white shoes, shorts, and a fanny pack.
Stu Dudley |
Speaking English slowly to a person that doesn't speak English, as if every foreign language = slow English.
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Re: speaking loud to your group -- especially with a critique of whatever you're looking at.
"A perfect example of High Gothic, don't you think?" "What was wrong with that artist, was he demented?" |
Opening your mouth. The tourist who can sound like a local was born a local. Or, just possibly, has a degree in the local language.
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Comparing things (for better or worse) to the way they are "at home".
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Complaining loudly about 'the service'. It may just be a different style of service than you're used to at home.
Assuming that everyone within earshot is interested in your conversation and not bothering to lower your voice when those around you are quiet. The assumption that places of worship are tourist sights only and not...well, places of worship. |
The money belt might be "invisible" (well, so they think), but, at one point or another, the tourist will have to reach for his/her money. And that's where the fun begins: the said tourist being by definition slightly paranoid about all these would be pickpockets (s)he's surrounded with, (s)he will have buried the said money belt near parts of his/her body that decency forbids to name (I am not kidding: there are earnest lengthy posts about this thorny issue, extremely funny if taken with the slightest perspective! ). The less accessible, the better, if I am to believe the money belt zealots. And, trust me, the contorsions to reach this treasure chest, are quite a show! If you think that doesn't scream tourist, just spend some time in Montmartre or "Saint-Germaine": better than Mr Bean!
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So using a money belt marks one as a tourist? Or accessing it stupidly where onlookers can see? Sorry - I can't make that connection.
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Asking for spaghetti and meatballs in a restaurant in Florence. (I heard it.)
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Art - I wear a money belt, round my waist, under my clothes. When I need to access it (rarely) I look for a rest room so I can do it in private. On the very rare occasions when I access it in public - inside a bank or hotel, times when it is in any case clear I'm a tourist, I fish it out before I open it. The activity you describe is doesn't say much for the intelligence of the tourists involved, but it is not an indictment of proper use of a money belt.
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Robes..do you honestly think someone "looking at their surroundings" while they are walking along makes them look more like a tourist than consulting a gadget to get from A to B?
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If only we could post photos! I have some doozies. One of my favorites is from Barcelona: little old Spanish men and women and little old American men and women. The little old Spanish women are not wearing Mom jeans and white athletic shoes.
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My guess is it boils down to what <i>others</i> do, and never what <i>we ourselves</i> do.
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From my perspective as someone who lives in London and stumbles (often literally) into gangs of tourists every day, the following are the obvious signs (and these apply to all nationalities of tourists, including English ones)
1. Casual clothing. Tourists dress casually. Everyone else is dressed for work. 2. Sensible outdoor clothing screams tourist - comfortable walking shoes or trainers, waterproof or ski jackets. Locals are dressed for dashing from office to restaurant to Tube, not tramping the streets for 8 hours on a wet Wednesday. 3. Carrying a large camera round your neck. Unless you're doing an outdoor photoshoot for Vogue, you're a tourist. 4. Any kind of fold up map. Locals would carry a pocket sized A-Z. 5. Riding the Tube in gangs any larger than 2 people. 6. Talking on the Tube, unless it's after 10pm. 7. Hanging around in Tafalgar or Leicester Square. Locals have no good reason to be there. 8. Watching the street performers in Covent Garden. 9. Wearing shorts in winter (a crime committed mostly by antipodeans who haven't adjusted to the seasons) 10. Drinking beer on the Tube before 6pm (see point 9 above) |
Kate - thanks for the exhaustive commentary. But how about consulting PDAs? I see Londoners, Parisites, and Colognees all referring to them constantly.
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Taking a cue from Kate, I can always recognize tourists in Toronto by their clothing. They're always very neat and well put-together and it's clear that those are the clothes chosen and packed especially for a vacation. Also, when I see middle-aged or older couples out together during a weekday, in (neat) casual clothing, it always tells me they're tourists. Most people that age would be either at work or rushing to get somewhere. Tourists always seem -- I don't know -- brighter? in their clothes.
I can also tell tourists from NYC when it comes to hailing a cab. Cabs are not that difficult to get in Toronto but NYC tourists bring a certain 'possessiveness'with them when it comes to cabs and are, let's say, a little assertive when it comes to hailing them. |
To expect a low-paid employee from the hotel, like a porter or busboy, to spend the employee's day off serving as an uncompensated guide -- now that "screams tourist"!
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