Hey nytraveler have you seen the latest New Yorker cover art--fabulous!!

I had to look it up:
http://www.cartoonbank.com/2011/new-...1/invt/137379/

I love it - that's exactly what they should do.

On Thursday after work - left at 6 pm for once and the sidewalk was blockedby a family of tourists hauling their luggage behind them. People were coming from all directions rushing to get into the subway entrance and these seven (7) people were spreadout all over the sidewalk, bumbling, fumbling barely managing their enormous luggge and tripping everyone else up. Could they walk two abreast? No - that would have been too sensible.

The first five were staggered across the whole pavement - followed by two tween kids who couldn;t keep up because the bags were so big. Then the adults would stop and wait for them - making a giant crowd right in front of the subway entrance. Totally unconscious of the rest of the world. Then it started to drizzle and they just stood there looking up. Ever seen rain before???

Just clueless!

Maybe they were "unconscious" after a long, long flight on a cramped plane.

OK - I get the same reaction lots of times -- but -- remember these 45 million (plus) tourists pay for a lot of the amenities and necessities in the city - so just hang in there.

I don't object to the tourists being here. they are more than welcome. but they need to make at least a tiny concession to the fact that they are in a metro area with 25 million people - not a small town or suburban mall.

Not a new idea

http://improveverywhere.com/2010/06/...-tourist-lane/

Oh, I'm sure it's not a new idea--I just knew that it was nyt's dream come true.

As usual, nobody who lives IN NYC seems able to make any sort of concessions, right?

Dukey1, I'm happy to report that not all of us New Yorkers are as outraged. Some of us have more important issues to confront!
On a personal note, I hope I haven't upset, blocked or otherwise inconvenienced any people out west when I just stood still and stared in awe at those big mountains out there.

I'm with nytraveler
- the same people who as described take up the width of an entire sidewalk and block subway entrances, are the same ones who stop dead in their tracks at the top or bottom of an escalator which is really, really dangerous.

... looking up at a mountain in the midst of the wilderness is not quite the same!

sandi, I've got news for you.....New Yorkers also stop dead in their tracks at the top and bottom of escalators.
I'm so tired of all these stereotypical generalizations about tourists. Not all tourists block sidewalks and not all New Yorkers never block sidewalks.

The cartoons in the New Yorker still have people dressed from the Eisenhower Administration carrying ACME Co. brief cases that you can no longer find at junk shops.

At least compromise and make to the 1970's.
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On the other hand it is effing joke no matter how stale and innocuous. It is like being offended or amused by a Myron Cohen joke.

As someone who works and lives in another highly visited town, I can assure you that impatience with some tourist behavior is not limited to NYC. Please note I wrote behavior, not tourists. Most visitors to San Francisco, where I live, will report that the locals are very kind and helpful. We don't take our frustrations out on tourists, and neither do New Yorkers. But it is frustrating to encounter behavior by people who seem to think they are in a theme park, when you are trying to get to or from work or to an appointment.

nytraveler, be grateful NYC does not allow Segways on the streets--driving behind a group of 10-15 people on a guided Segway tour is so much fun!!!!

Well -

When I travel I never assume that everything is the same as at home. I do my best to find out the local customs and follow them - and not get in people's way. This seems to me to be part of an aware and polite visitor - rather than an ugly american - or an ugly whatever.

And you should have heard the nasty remarks when the (visiting) customer found out the deli served regular iced tea only - and one had to add whatever sugar one wanted.

nytraveler-

Where the visiting customer comes from, "regular ice tea" has the sugar (and plenty of it!) already in it.

I thought the main body of the cartoon was funny. When I started reading the signs, though, I thought it was a tad mean-spirited.

>>And you should have heard the nasty remarks when the (visiting) customer found out the deli served regular iced tea only - and one had to add whatever sugar one wanted.

That's the point. There are differences and one can't assume that everything is the same.

This would be like me going to the south and complainiang that the iced tea is nauseatingly sweet and that it shuld be served without sugar. I learned before I went to ask for it with no sugar - or to order water instead. But I didn't complain and get nasty to the servers.

Isn't this what the seating area is for on Broadway in Times Square?

I love the signs in this cover: "Shoddy goods" "Crappy Eats"; now That's authentic!