What's wrong with being a tourist?

Funny you bring this up. I was at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial this morning with my two kids (we are trying to take in more of the fantastic things this city has to offer), and I was thinking whether we looked like tourists or locals when the realization hit me that we were tourists even though we live about 15-minutes away. In that instance, unless you were jogging by (as many do) then you are a tourist.
Out and about on the streets, you can definitely tell who lives/works locally and who is visiting. What's interesting is that I can tell the American tourist from the European/South American by the mode of dress and mannerism (before hearing the foreign language as they walk by). I really have not issues with one being considered a tourist as long as universal human decency is observed. My only complaint is when people stand on the left side of the Metro escalator!

Another tourist here. What else can I be, as I'm certainly not a local overseas. While we are low key and respectful, etc., and even though I speak German quite well, more times than not, when I speak German to someone, I get responded to in English. There has been instances where we walk into a restaurant and I ask for a table for two for dinner in German and we're immediately asked if we'd like English menu's.

"What's wrong with being a tourist?" Nothing at all. I'd rather be a tourist somewhere than sitting in front of the TV at home.

Now, those people who insist they're a "traveler not a tourist", that's a different story.

Christi,

I don't think there's anything wrong with being a tourist, and I'm sure the locals appreciate the business in the hotels, restaurants and historic sites as it provides a lot of work for them. Of course, the "ugly tourists" are another matter. Like you, I also try to be a respectful visitor in the countries I travel to, follow local customs, try to learn a few of the polite words, etc.

As far as trying to blend in and not look like a tourist, I absolutely don't care about that. I wear my usual travel wardrobe and besides, the locals know I'm a tourist as soon as I start speaking so there's no point in trying to disguise that.

I love being a tourist! Nothing wrong with it! I think there are two areas where people make the term tourist seem like a bad thing. One is the "Be a traveler, not a tourist" thing. To me, there is no difference. Then there are people who want to blend in for whatever reason, but often out of fear of being a target of something bad happening if they are recognized as a tourist. As others have said, you will likely be recognized as a tourist even if you try to dress to blend in. If you take normal precautions, there really is no reason to be fearful of being recognized as a tourist. As for touristy places, there is usually a reason why a touristy place is touristy. I would hate to miss many great places because too many other tourists are there looking at them.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a tourist. There is also absolutely nothing wrong with trying to blend in. Both can lead to enjoyable times and interesting experiences and that's what it's all about, right?

The British use the phrase, "chuffed" which really describes exactly how I feel when someone in Scotland mistakes me for a local. It's a real hoot. I am sure it happens because I really look like I know where I am going, and usually somewhere after the first 3-5 days my accent sponge kicks in and I start talking a bit like my grandmother. If you think you're blending it to get the definitive experience of being a local, well, you're likely deluding yourself. But, if you want to blend in so that you'll meet some people orsee things from a slightly different perspective, blend away. But, for goodness sakes don't miss something just because you think that there will be too many tourists!

I've now lived in NYC for three years. I can spot the tourists here with ease. NYC is also packed with business visitors which adds to the mix. They, thank goodness, usually don't come to a dead stop in the middle of the sidewalk to take a picture of the Chrysler Building. :) Tip: If you want to blend in here--walk fast, never stop at the top of the subway escalators, or at then subway entrance, or walk three abreast down the sidewalk! Oh, and do jay walk.

Pam

Hi,

In some countries in Europe I see myself to be sure as a tourist. Seen by the locals in those places, I probably have tourist written all over me. No doubt they'll spot me out, just as I spot them out immediately in SF. In other countries in Europe I see myself and feel much more as a traveler. Nothing wrong about being a tourist. My travel goals are based on what I consider as top priority in a given place, ie, all depends on the place, not necessarily popular tourist sights by definition.

The menu incident as pointed out above reminds me of a similar incident in Vienna a few years ago. At lunch I went into the restaurant sitting area like a backyard, was given a menu which had the Union Jack symbol on it. So, I thought it was in German as well as in English but to my surprise it didn't turn out to be a bilingual menu. The next time the waiter came by, I asked him if he had a German menu. He apologised. Soon afterwards tourist after tourist of various nationalities, incl. USA, came in. All were asked if they preferred an English menu to a German one. Although the restaurant, a good Schnitzel place, isn't located in a tourist area per se, the patrons at lunch were ca. 80% foreign tourists.

Having come from a tourist destination I have to add to the "there's nothing wrong with being a tourist" camp. In fact from an economic perspective we preferred "tourist" to the travel savvy "travelers". We loved and were educated to love those tourist who brought economic prosperity and tp tolerated the travelers who figured out hot to live cheap like the locals.

I like being a tourist. Sometimes tourists can get away with things that locals can't. If I say or do something stupid (inadvertently of course) as a tourist, the locals usually react good naturedly; on the other hand if a local does the same stupid thing, other locals would probably just get peaved at them. Even here in the States if you have a different State license plate on your car you are allowed more leeway if you do something dumb.

Tourists sometimes get a bad reputation, and often deservedly so. But on the whole, tourism is one of the greatest things about life in the modern era.

I think many people don't want to look silly when it comes right down to it. What should I wear? How should I act? What should I eat? These are all things that people want to know to avoid faux pas and being rude or insensitive. To me, that is a good thing.

When I was growing up in Washington DC I was often annoyed by the hordes of tourists who clogged the hallways and buses. They got in the way of my going to school or summer job or whatever. Now I volunteer at our little Washington State visitor center and I'm delighted to meet people from all over -- Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, even Texas! ;)

As for blending in, am I entitled to be "chuffed" when Frenchmen in the Dordogne mistake me for a Brit? Is it because I'm wearing khaki trousers and a tattersall shirt? And left my baseball cap in the car?

I was once given an English-language menu by the maitre d' in a restaurant in Paris without being asked, similarly in a restaurant that didn't seem overtly tourist-aimed. What turned out to be embarrassing was that when the waiter came to take my order, he spoke no English at all and I had to translate the English names of the dishes into French for him! Fortunately my French was up to it.

I've also been mistaken for a Flemish-speaking Belgian in a museum in Brussels, presumably because something about my accent in French sounded more Dutch than stereotypically English.

It does either amuse or annoy me when some people here get het up about being indistinguishable from a local, depending on how self-righteous they are about it.

Knowing and saying a few phrases well in a foreign language can backfire. Quite often I will ask a question or for a table in a restaurant in the language of the current country and the person I ask will start talking a blue streak to me! I have to use my "lentamente por favor" or "lentement s'il vous plaît" or "langsam bitte" - still working on the last one!

I agree that a lot of folks rarely tour in their own backyard nor appreciate their local treasures. One of our guests at our B&B was telling that he'd traveled to London to on vacation and to visit a cousin who lived there. They met on the steps of St. Paul's and he said to her "I can't believe you live around this everyday!" Her reply "What?"

I too have noticed the joggers on the National Mall seemingly oblivious to the monuments around them & the New Yorker's just trying to get from point A to point B and not appreciating the lovely skyline and architecture of Manhattan. Many New Yorker's will tell you they've never been to the top of the Empire State Building nor the Statue of Liberty.

I love being a tourist anywhere!

"...have the mannerisms of your native country." True, there are some things I can do/work on which might betray my origins less obviously, but that presupposes that the locals or that particular one would be able to recognise those on my part that are a dead give-way.

Speaking the language certainly helps to the extent if you can make/work on making your accent more native, speed up your presumably grammatically correct speech, work on the pitch, intonation, diction. Better to do all that than not.

Hopefully a lot of other popular cities will take the Big Apple's lead when it comes to tourists blocking the sidewalks:

http://youtu.be/RKx0aek1T0w

Michael, that is outstanding! I want it near our office. People come to a dead stop to take pix of the Chrysler Building! Completely understand the need for the pix, but yikes,step to the side! And then there are the Germans who come to a screeching stop when they spot the Hofbrau Haus on the second floor and Third and 45th!

Pam

As anybody else I don´t need and like to be labeled, whatever written on it. As long as I have a good time with the people I meet and understand the local etiquette enough why should I bother.

There is a standing joke that you can spot tourists in Londonm because they are the ones who are looking at a tube map (Underground map) to see which way to go.
This is true in most big cities, the strangers are the ones with their noses in a map.

Anytime I leave my home city, I am a tourist. If some people feel superior because they think they do things the "traveler" way and not the "tourist" way, it's no skin off my back.

If you will excuse me, I have to go pick out a new fanny pack to go with my white sneakers.

Don't forget your baseball cap Kristen!

I don't think its a feeling of superiority. Justified or not, "tourist" has acquired negative connotation in many circumstances. It is human nature to want to distance yourself from negative stereotypes. Some people just go too far.

Rookie "Tourist" Mistake: Calling it a "fanny" pack as it will send those from the UK and Ireland into fits of giggles.

I have no problem admitting to being a tourist or having someone else call me a tourist. I will not, however, talk about "finding my own back door". The connotation just makes me giggle. I prefer to use "off the beaten path".

When you look up the definition of "tourist" in the Oxford online dictionary, you get this:

"A person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure"

What's so bad about that? Isn't that we're all doing when we venture away from home for fun? Sure, there are good tourists and bad but I've never been ashamed to be on an adventure for the sheer enjoyment of doing so, or to be a stranger in a strange land.

Regardless of how I dress, I fail to blend in the minute I open my mouth, and people have mostly been patient and kind because they KNOW I'm not a local, and may need extra attention. In return, we learn how to say "hello", "please", "thank you" etc. in the language of whatever country we're a guest in. A few little words can go an awfully long way!

But your question seems only to address Americans who are visitors abroad? I find it interesting that in the years I've been active on travel forums, I almost never hear the same concerns about "blending" from visitors to the U.S. from other countries. Questions about dress seem to be largely related to weather and not style.

Reminds me of hearing an American kid in Gimmelwald talking about his climb up to the Schilthorn- he scoffed at the "tourists" who had taken the gondola. He also said that after reaching the summit he "felt like a god." Arrrggghhh...

Well, I remember when my teenage siblings, cousin and I climbed Mount Washington and how we scoffed at the tourists who took the road, so I 'm not sure that this would be a Europe Specific comment. :)

Oh, and people do worry about fitting in outside of Europe. People ask similar questions on the NYC forum for Tripadvisor. Lots of people don't want to look odd or are concerned about being disrespectful. If you don't care, that's fine, but there is no need to mock or denigrate those that do. We have a tendency to do that now and then here on the helpline now forum.

Pam

To be clear, when I wrote my comment, I wasn't trying to make fun off people who want to blend in. Or people who wear fanny packs- I was trying to demonstrate by tourist solidarity.

FYI: Fanny packs (or hip packs or waist packs) are making a huge comeback. Has anyone noticed? I went to Lollapalooza and I would say a least 50% of people under 21 were wearing them. And some of them were quite snazzy. So maybe in another year, we will be posting about favorite brand of fanny pack to travel with. You never know.

Kristen - I loved your comment - I happen to love sarcasm myself. They really need a font called "sarcasm" - sometimes the humor is lost on folks without the benefit facial expressions & voice tones.