bellastarr

I am a traveller who is sometimes a tourist, and I love being one, since I think of having the means to travel as a real luxury!
I also work in an area of my city that is just packed with tourists everyday, and I live near a youth hostel, so I also see lots of young tourists in my neighborhood.
I like it when they ask me for help, and it usually leads to friendly, interesting conversations.
When I travel to other places though, I'll admit I do make considerable effort to seek out interaction with "locals", only because I enjoy it more and I like the advice I get from them as it offers a new point of view.
I do try to see main sites, but I try to go when at off times or seasons when it's not so crowded. This leads to alot of early morning- pre-sunset excursions.

I am remembering a trip in Mexico many years ago when we were driving a van and racing between the ruins at all hours of the day to keep ahead of the tour buses!
Not that the tourists in the buses weren't nice people, just that it was so much better to get a sense of the place without lots of people around.
The same thing happened to me recently when I went to Monreale in Sicily. I got there early and was lucky to have a few moments in the cathedral with very few people. The church was majestic and glorious. Then a tour bus full of French tourists arrived and came in, and after that, there was load conversation and lots of cameras flashing, in fact, I saw quite a few people just coming in and going around snapping photos as fast as possible, then hurryng out to catch up with the group, never having taken a moment to absorb the place itself. It changed the atmosphere entirely, but I don't think any of them felt they missed anything, because they had the snapshots to "prove" they had stopped there.
Good topic, starrsville!

El_Swainer

Why do they call it a fanny pack? Most people wear it in the front.

JJ5

Yesterday I was standing on a train platform in a South of Chicago suburb waiting for the train, and I really got the giggles. Looking up and down there must have been about 60 to 70 people and nary a child- and I bet the percentage was about 60% white sneakers. LOL!

AnnMarie_C

During one of the rare visits my step- father and mom made to San Antonio my step-father wore shorts and loafers with dark socks the day we took them downtown. Walking along the River Walk one of the boat operators sees him, stalls the boat, gets on the microphone and pointing announces, "Now ladies and gentleman, see that man with the dark socks and shoes? THAT is a tourist". Everyone laughed and my step-father, who was highly amused by the attention, proceeded to launch himself into various poses for the passengers.

CaliNurse

AnneMarie, LOL re your stepfather posing...hilarious!!! Your Mom's a lucky woman to live with someone who can enjoy ilfe, and laugh, along with others, at himself like that!
Re: fanny packs, no idea where they originated. Maybe I should have left the "American" off the "ultimate tourist symbol." As said above, I've never used one its pick because i need a bag large enough to carry my myriad tourist supplies.
Clap clap.

CaliNurse

oops, poor editing skills, hadn't finished.
I meant, i never used fanny pack despite its protection against pick pocketers. I once bought one of those that fit flat inside your clothes to protect passports, $$, etc, but that was uncomfortable.

jorr

El_Swainer, Its called a fanny pack beause it was originaly designed to have the pack over your fanny end which was where everyone was wearing it at first until most people decided it was more convinient and safe to wear the pouch in the front.

Neopolitan

AnneMarie, maybe I'm just turning into an old fuddy-duddy, and I'm glad your step-father was highly amused, but I find it rude and appalling that a guy whose total liveliehood depends on tourism would demean someone in that way. Many "tourists" would not be so amused at being made fun of in that way.

AnnMarie_C

Neo, you make a really good point that I, quite frankly, hadn't thought of. It's hard to "read" strangers so this boat operator got lucky not knowing that my step-dad has a good sense of humor. Now that I think about it, this persons actions were unprofessional. Although he didn't offend us he very well may have hurt someone else's feelings or just made them mad. Thanks for pointing this out!

CAPH52

I agree with you on that one, Neopolitan.

I envy AnneMarie's step-father his ease and sense of fun. But, unfortunately, not all of us have it. If something like that happened to me, I'd be mortified. That boat operator has no way of knowing how any one person will react. Maybe Neo's right about the old fuddy-duddy thing. But a tourist should be able to walk along the River Walk without being verbally accosted by someone in the tourist industry. I think it was extremely insensitive and tacky.

And, come to think of it, if it is an old fuddy-duddy thing, I must have been born one!

CAPH52

Looks like we were writing at the same time, AnneMarie!

AnnMarie_C

Hi CAPH!

AnnMarie_C

I wish this board had an edit feature! Re: the statement I made about my step-father having a sense of humor, it should read that he had a sense of humor about the situation. Otherwise, what I wrote reads as though I'm implying that people, who would not find that situation funny, do not have a sense humor which I know is not true.

LoveItaly

Hi AnneMarie, it sounds like your stepfather has a lot of selfconfidance also. Which no doubt the the boat operator lacked. People that have to make fun of and ridicule others, even when they are pretending "to be funny" are usually putting others down to pull themselves up. I would imagine the other tourist admired your stepfather as to how he handled the situation.

Scarlett

I am a tourist when I go on trips and I am actually a tourist at home still.
AnnMarie, I think they boat guy was amazingly rude.

Why do you ask that , bill_boy? Is Vacaville closed to people from Canada or Belgium? LoveItaly forgot to mention the Australian Fodorite that stopped by also~

CAPH52

Don't worry about it, AnneMarie. I seriously doubt that anyone took it that way.

LoveItaly

No Australians in my city that I know of but there were a couple in SF. A fun and grand day!! Wish you could have been there Scarlett, all three of us would have loved that.

bill_boy

Why do I ask, Scardlett?

I'd like to be a tourist, too, even in my own backyard - just want to find out if there's anything that we may missing out on in Vacaville.

Not to start any bad blood between you and those Vacavillians, but were you just being sarcastic about Vacaville being closed to Canadians and Belgians or do you really think it should be? And your reasons why?