Embrace The American, Leave the Ugly At Home

Interesting piece. I was expecting a typical denegration of Americans, but it wasn't that type of story. I disagreed somewhat with the writer's assessment of taking pictures. As someone who makes part of his living taking pictures, I tend to do that when traveling. But, I do understand his point about having picture after picture of buildings and none of me or my family.

It was an excellent piece but not too different from what many experienced travelers on this site frequently post. The next time someone asks if they can wear shorts, maybe we can refer them to this articles for a little more creditability.

I still think it's a conceit to worry about being identified as an American. I don't see British, German or Japanese tourists worried about such issues. I agree about watching one's manners. I disagree about obsessing about clothes (except in churches and fine restaurants). This topic gets far too much discussion here and I shouldn't have risen to the bait.

I really think the issue is just mainly about accepting the culture. When I was in Italy last summer I took the little idiosyncracies that come with Italian life (like the chaotic social scene) as a given and not as annoyances as many might do, and it was great! It allowed me to see Rome, for example, as a wonderfully chaotic city rather than merely a chaotic one.

Frank,
Thanks for the column. I found it interesting too. I have traveled to Europe for the last 5 years and have never encountered a ugly American. I am proud to be An American so why would I try to look like anything else? I am not a loud person and I am friendly and I tend to smile alot because I am so lucky to be able to travel and see the world.

It was a good article. I also somewhat disagreed about the photography. I do see the point, and I don't do it for a living, but... it's a hobby of mine. I take lots of pictures at home, too!

The article is not about trying to not look like an American. We can't hide that. Once we open our mouths, they'll know.

It's more about showing respect to the people and places we're visiting.

Look at Rick...I doubt anyone would mistake him for anything other than an American, and he admits it, but he doesn't wear shorts, loud t-shirts and sneakers. He dresses comfortably but can easily "fit in" to his surroundings. That is showing respect.

People are going to do what they want to do and wear what they want to wear. I find that no matter where I go, I'm treated better if I dress appropriate. That said, in my own neighborhood, I'm usually in jeans and a t-shirt.

If I were a betting man, I would put money on it that Rick dresses in Oregon like he dresses when traveling. I'm still totally confused about the entire shorts issue. America is one of the only places where culturally people wear a lot of shorts. Partially, this is because in parts of the country it is too hot to not wear shorts. If you travel to the Bahamas, you'll even see business suits made with shorts and short sleeve jackets. As my wife and I are in Scotland, I can tell you one reason they don't wear shorts is because it is in the 50s (F) in June, so why would they culturally begin to wear them? I for one, wear nice, khaki or plaid shorts that are made from the same material as my khaki pants. Unless I'm going to a nice restaurant, I have no intention of altering my wardrobe because others don't wear what I wear. I agree that this is discussed too much here. However, I also don't wear my Gator t-shirts everywhere and opt instead for polo shirts (which I wear most of the time at home as well). If you have ever been to Disney World, you will see that neither Europeans nor Asians tend to change their wardrobes when they come to America. There are some here who worry too much about this stuff.

I also felt the author of the article worries too much about it. People are people. If you are a nice one, you will make friends. If you are obnoxious, you will annoy a lot of people. Period. If I want to take a picture of something I will. I'm not worried about people thinking I'm a tourist. But I'm also not going to push people out of the way or go somewhere I'm not supposed to in order to get the "perfect shot". But I'm not going to refrain so that the docent doesn't think ill of me. Who else is in Cathedrals in the middle of a week-day besides tourists anyway? Again - too much worrying about what other people are thinking. Don't be rude, but don't be so sensitive either.

Interesting article. Just got back from 7 weeks in Europe. We were waiting for a train in Basel, a women came up to me and said, "You are an American, right?" I asked how she knew, she said - "You smiled at me!" I guess we can all leave the Ugly at Home if we smile.

Cary asked earlier today what Rick wears when he's not in Europe. I was at the RS/ETBD office in Edmond 30 minutes ago and I asked a member of Rick's staff if The Boss wears shorts when he's in the US. The staff member, who has known Rick for 25 years, said: Rick rarely wears shorts (he may have said never, I don't recall the exact quote). So it looks like Cary wins his "bet." So now that the ever popular "shorts question" has been resolved....

I rarely wear shorts anywhere (US or Europe)- neither does my dad. It's not really a fashion statement. We just suffer from fairskinnedlongchickenlegsdonttan disease. Wonder if Rick suffers similarly? ; ) Every once in awhile, like if I am in Arizona and hiking in August, I give in and wear them, but it's pretty rare.

I thought the article was well-written--giving suggestions for those who are receptive. My opinion regarding photos--my photos and memories are my most important souvenirs. However, there are those tourists who see their entire trip through the camera lens and end up with thousands of photos but miss experiencing much of their surroundings. An interesting exercise to try while travelling is to take the photos early and late in the day and during the middle part, put the camera away and see one's surroundings without the viewfinder. Can we do this for an hour? an afternoon? a day?

As to dress: here in N. America, people from big cities dress differently from those in the small towns, we in the west are more relaxed in our attire than those from the East ie Toronto. If New Yorkers visit a small country town dressed in their business suits, they are going to be noticed as are the sweatpants and loud t-shirt wearing people walking the streets of New York. When we travel to foreign lands, we can choose to be noticed by our attire, our mannerisms, whatever. Do we want to be noticed and if so how? I think the above poster who was noticed by smiling chose the best way!

OK, I'm back in...

And I agree about the smiling - that is a give away. In other cultures, they think we're goofy.

But I'll say this about dress in Europe. And then I hope never to engage in this discussion again. Envision being in Piazza San Marco or on the Spanish Steps. Maybe in front of Notre Dame or maybe the Leitzeplein. Do you know what people will look like? There will be young people from the world over with purple hair, ripped jeans and Bob Marley t-shirts. They will be wearing one giant backpack on their backs and carrying a smaller one in front. There will be tight clutches of yellow-sock wearing Japanese tourists. There will be Gypsies. There will be Germans in god-awful high-waisted trousers and form-fitting muscle shirts. Dozens, hundreds, of them.

There will be tour groups wearing transparent blue ponchos in case it rains. There will be more wandering with earphones connected to a distant guide. There will be local men wearing what can only be described as "Man Capris". There will be tattoos, nose rings and bad teeth. There will be a half dozen people painting themselves as King Tut, the Statue of Liberty or Mozart. There will be puppeteers and guys selling watches from blankets on the sidewalk.

And you think anyone cares if you wear shorts???

Both the MSNBC article and the discussion here have been extremely interesting! Some of the points mentioned in the article would apply to all visitors to Europe.

I have to agree with Tricia regarding the issue of photos. Although I'm not a professional Photographer, my photos are an important memory of my trips to some places that I may never return to. I try to balance taking pictures with visiting with the locals and other travellers, and learning something about the culture and people. If going out at night I often just take a small P&S in case any "photo ops" present themselves.

As far as the "dress code", I tend to use the same method as Rick when I'm travelling. I never wear shorts at home, except when I'm working around the house. Whether travellers wear shorts or not, the locals can always tell who the tourists are.

One of the biggest problems I've seen with "ugly tourists" (and I make no distinction on nationality here) are those that complain about everything in the countries they're visiting and moan about the fact that "it's not like this at home". That annoys me more than anything else! I'm always tempted to tell them "if you like things so well at home, you should have stayed there"!

One other trait that I notice with people from this side of the pond, is that they often prefer to rent a car rather than use local transit. I only use rentals if I need to get to a distant location that's not well served by public transit on a regular basis. The rail and subway systems are fantastic in Europe, and I find it's much less hassle (and usually cheaper) to just use public transit. For example, I rented a car in France for one day on my last trip there, as I wanted to get to Pegasus Bridge and Longues sur Mer on the same day. Aside from booking a guided tour, car rental was about my only option. I used rail between Paris and Bayeux, and had an interesting visit with some military personnel on the trip.

Cheers!

WAY TO GO DOUG!

There is one group of Germans you forgot to mention (this is not personal Andreas), the motorcycle riders...clad completely in black leather...top to bottom...usually in groups...we ran across one such group (about 20), not in St Marks square, but in Bellagio at lunchtime.

As to the times we've seen Rick sans long pants...in addition to those mentioned above, the visit to the baths in Bath England, the Turkish Baths in Istanbul, on the beach in Salema, any others? (sitting in the pool player chess with the Bulgarians doesn't count...you can't see his legs).

AMEN Doug! If only more people realized that how little time other people actually spend thinking about them, these discussions would be long gone from the message board. Oh well, if they were, what would we write about? :P

Kent, I do have the DVD where Rick is in Baden-Baden and indeed he does have a towell around his waist, (thank goodness) and his legs are exposed below the knees. Also, while he is getting a soap massage it shows his legs. I guess that may be the only time he was shown without long pants. Seems there was another epsisode somewhere in Germany I think where he and his family was taking a dip in a swimming pool.