But i'm (insert nationality here)

[KhirasHY]

Marasbaras I couldn't agree with you more. I've never been out of the country but damn sure if I ever do (I'd like to see Germany or maybe Japan some day) I intend to at least be a good guest unlike so many of my fellow countrymen that give the rest of us a bad name.

For what its worth I'm sorry for the idiots that ruin things for those of us that have manners.

The trick to international travel (and even domestic travel) is to pay attention to two important lessons:

1) Be polite, be understanding, and most of all, be knowledgeable. Especially in places like London, Paris, Rome, and/or Tokyo, you are around people who are barraged by tourists year-round. They are besieged by questions nonstop about things they barely pay attention to any more after living around them so long, so know a bit about where you're going. Believe me, a tourist who knows what they are doing is a rarity, but is appreciated more often than not.

2) It's hard, but try to learn some phrases in the language of the place where you're visiting. At the very least, carry around a pocket dictionary or something. Some people may speak English where you're going, but expecting them to do so is plain rude. At the very least, being able to ask "Excuse me, I'm sorry, but do you speak any English? My (language) is not very good yet" can go a long way. Especially if you're part of a tour group, you're going to most likely be surrounded by people who won't do even this, and you might actually get a genuine smile for doing so.

New Zealand is a beautiful country, attracting many tourists and working holidayers from all over the world. In my experiences, Americans come in two flavours.

1 - Typical brash, camera-weilding, rather obnoxious souls who are stunned things aren't exactly the same as home and complain bitterly about it (if you liked home so much why are you here?). The ones that give the rest of you the bad name.

2 - Salt of the earth, friendly, cope-with-anything, willing to DO anything, outgoing and fun people. These Yanks are friendly to EVERYONE and have an awesome time doing absolutely anything.

I'd like to hope that I'm a #2 (wait...that doesn't sound right ), but then again, I don't consider myself a tourist...I'm a traveller.

/I loved New Zealand, btw...
//Nearly fell over laughing when I asked someone what the lookout tower in Auckland was called.
///"The Penis of Auckland", btw, was the fantastic answer. He also made sure I knew it was bigger than Sydney's "wang", and was the example of why Aucklanders were more impressive. I loved that guy...

Edit: Wow...that post came off a bit high and mighty, I think...but I'm too lazy to change it, so meh

[lineswine]

the United States of America is very nearly 3x the size of the entire continent of Europe.

Wanna bet on that, sport? Try measuring from say, the most northern point of Finland to, say Gibraltar, or the Algarve to eastern Romania.

We learn about other countries in school, but a good chunk of it falls out our ears the next day because it's just not relevant to our daily lives.

Neither is it relevant to the daily lives of Canadians, but they seem to retain information about other countries well enough

Yes, that was a damn stupid question, but cultural isolation is a fact of life when you're dealing with a country where you can drive for 1000 miles (1600km) and barely make it 1/3rd of the way across.

I believe Canada to be pretty big too. Cultural isolation is more a function of cultural indolence/arrogance, more than anything

You could actually fit the entire British Isles into New Mexico. And another sixty square kilometers of somewhere else, too. Wait, that's what you get when you depend on Wiki for your info. If you believe the area listed in metric, New Mexico is bigger. If you believe that the area listed in non-metric is accurate, then the isles are bigger. Either way, it's pretty close.

Yes, but there is one major point about New Mexico...there's sod-all there.
The place is a vast, empty desert.
Hell, just one city in Scotland - Glasgow - has a greater population than the whole of N.M.
It ain't about the square miles, it's about what's in them

[Mark Healey]

New Zealand is a beautiful country, attracting many tourists and working holidayers from all over the world. In my experiences, Americans come in two flavours.

1 - Typical brash, camera-weilding, rather obnoxious souls who are stunned things aren't exactly the same as home and complain bitterly about it (if you liked home so much why are you here?). The ones that give the rest of you the bad name.

2 - Salt of the earth, friendly, cope-with-anything, willing to DO anything, outgoing and fun people. These Yanks are friendly to EVERYONE and have an awesome time doing absolutely anything.

I don't know why you only seem to come in these two flavours. I guess there are more moderate ones, they just don't stand out. But yeah, Americans do seem to be either the 'typical tourist' type or just really great people, nothing in between.

It is my firm hope that the second type outnumber the first. Surveys have not been done. I remain firm in the conviction that it must be true, because if it's not ... I weep.

Have you made note of the ages in the two groups. I'd be willing to be that the first group skews older than the second. And I think it's unavoidable. When we get older we get set in our ways. And since most old people are on welfare they get an entitlement attitude.

[Damien]

New Zealand is a beautiful country, attracting many tourists and working holidayers from all over the world. In my experiences, Americans come in two flavours.

1 - Typical brash, camera-weilding, rather obnoxious souls who are stunned things aren't exactly the same as home and complain bitterly about it (if you liked home so much why are you here?). The ones that give the rest of you the bad name.

2 - Salt of the earth, friendly, cope-with-anything, willing to DO anything, outgoing and fun people. These Yanks are friendly to EVERYONE and have an awesome time doing absolutely anything.

I don't know why you only seem to come in these two flavours. I guess there are more moderate ones, they just don't stand out. But yeah, Americans do seem to be either the 'typical tourist' type or just really great people, nothing in between.

It is my firm hope that the second type outnumber the first. Surveys have not been done. I remain firm in the conviction that it must be true, because if it's not ... I weep.

i have found this to be true here in Japan - thankfully i have seen mostly no. 2 - and geez they are fun to be around!

[Gurndigarn]

Our tour guide in the UK was just flabbergasted when she found out that the whole of Scotland could fit in New Mexico and have room left over!

You could actually fit the entire British Isles into New Mexico. And another sixty square kilometers of somewhere else, too. Wait, that's what you get when you depend on Wiki for your info. If you believe the area listed in metric, New Mexico is bigger. If you believe that the area listed in non-metric is accurate, then the isles are bigger. Either way, it's pretty close.

[Chanlin]

I can't count the number of times I've wanted to be able to just pop, shock, or otherwise do something incredibly mean spirited to the person at the other end of my phone for flat out idiotic ignorance or mean spiritedness on their part just for someone being different.

I've spoken with people I consider to be the worst kinds of prejudiced bastards. On the flip side of the coin I've talked to some of the best people in the world who have been very selfless and kind and go that extra mile to make their transaction go smoothly.

This may be a bit off topic, but I think as a call center employee we tend to get to see the worst of society more often than the best because people by nature are more apt to complain about things than they are to praise them.

[Pagan]

I mean don't get me wrong here. I realize not everyone in the country will celebrate the holiday, but yeesh.

One year, close to the 4th, I had some sassenach just being an absolute asshole. After a while, I finally asked him, "So, what are you doing for the 4th!". I just couldn't help it.

On a somewhat related note, if any of you American fellows want to drop by this side of the pond, keep in mind that our Blowing Stuff Up and Barbecue Day is ten days after yours.

Ah, yes, 14 juillet 1789. When the citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille and released all seven of the prisoners! (Yes, yes, I know they were actually looking to get their hands on the cache of arms there, but the other way is just funnier!)

As for the American thing... I used to see a lot of Americans. I lived right on the border, so we'd get a lot in at Tim Hortons. And I always found them to be the most rude people.

As Primer said, that's in Canada. Different laws apply in the US.

I kid you not. I was once explaining to an American that we have milk in plastic bags (as well as plastic jugs and cartons) and even showed her pictures of it. She then proceeded to ask, "Do you keep it in the fridge?"

I had a nice reply, "No, I keep it outside in the snow bank, next to my igloo.

And you don't see that as antagonistic? That was a legit question. We don't have milk like that in US and she was curious about it. Since when is asking a question out of genuine curiosity being sucky? Was there something about the way she asked?

I seem to be doing this a lot lately, but, Hemily, remember that the United States of America is very nearly 3x the size of the entire continent of Europe.

Our tour guide in the UK was just flabbergasted when she found out that the whole of Scotland could fit in New Mexico and have room left over! She just had no concept of how big the states in the western US are.

Try being asked, seriously asked, by a Bostonian if you have indoor plumbing down there in Appalachia.

There's some people that still think that there are teepees lined up along the (unpaved) roads out here. Of course, there's never been teepees here, this is pueblo country.

are shut down for Yom Kippur, and Rash Hashana.

It actually Rosh Hashanah, but your typo made me giggle. (Heh, I'm not Jewish, but I was born on Rosh Hashanah!)

[redmountaingoldfish]

Try being asked, seriously asked, by a Bostonian if you have indoor plumbing down there in Appalachia.

I can top that - I was once asked, in rapid succession by two different people, if my state had electricity or cars.

For the record we do have electricity and cars. We in fact have nuclear power plants and car factories here.

[Spiffy McMoron]

Maybe I am oversensitive but all the American bashing here is really offensive.

Let's not turn this thread into an attack on one country. I think that it hasn't been that bad so far, but let's not get it to that point yet.

That being said, there are tourists that will always be jerks. My sister used to work at a souviner store in Banff that sold (hideously over-priced) Native trinkets and knick-knacks. I distinctly remember her phoning home and complaining about a group of tourists that spoke very little English, were very rude, and tried to pay for everything in American $100 bills. NOT her best day at work, I'd say.

[Dorath]

Maybe I am oversensitive but all the American bashing here is really offensive. How did we go from the OP and someone NOT from America not getting that it is a national holiday for the United States to Americans are just rude, stupid, lazy, have no respect for others holidays and cultures, etc. We have our fair share of idiots here but so does everyone else.

There's no shortage of Americans that find Americans loud, obnoxious brutes. For a country as large and technologically advanced, we're rather behind on too many issues.

[donruss]

Maybe I am oversensitive but all the American bashing here is really offensive. How did we go from the OP and someone NOT from America not getting that it is a national holiday for the United States to Americans are just rude, stupid, lazy, have no respect for others holidays and cultures, etc. We have our fair share of idiots here but so does everyone else.

[draftermatt]

Ah good, another thread about culture that turns into American bashing. Ahh.

Anyway, working in the construction industry I get all kinds of nationalities to work around. A lot of Contractors/Developers we work with are Jewish, so they are shut down for Yom Kippur, and Rash Hashana. Consequently, the company I work for is shut down for Christmas week.

Recently I had a job that we showed up to work at and there was no one there. Why? Well 1 guy was on vacation in Florida, the other observing a Greek holiday.

Not to mention the Asian guys. Now some of them get put off when we take some holidays off.

The only guys I feel bad for are our laborers. Most of them are Guatemalan, and they don't get to take off any of their holidays without using a vacation day. But most don't seem to mind it, since they do live (legally) in the US.

And dumb tourists? We get them too here in the states. Ever try watching someone eat a steamed crab that never has before? Yeah. My aunt watched people use the mallet to crack the shell then pull out what they could. They were eating lung, etc. All the stuff you're not supposed to be eating.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Depending on the part of Appalachia, that's a reasonable question...

Not this part of Appalachia. Should you be in need of a four-star hotel or hanker to visit a palace or castle, this particular part of Appalachia is here for you.

I believe you. Deliverance was a documentary!

Asheville is not Deliverance weird. It's more... "Laurell K. Hamilton" weird.

[marasbaras]

Try being asked, seriously asked, by a Bostonian if you have indoor plumbing down there in Appalachia.

Depending on the part of Appalachia, that's a reasonable question.

It was also fun for my mother, who speaks with a very noticeable Southern accent, to be treated like some kind of freak

Yes, there are rude people everywhere you go.

This, despite the fact that I and many thousands of other Southerners actually believe this politician, who shall remain nameless, to be functionally retarded.

See! This proves their point. You give him too much credit.

They also don't believe me if I ever talk about how weird it can be around here

I believe you. Deliverance was a documentary!

[Antisocial_Worker]

hehe, i doubt you'd ask about internet existing in europe though
i mean, even if ya don't know the capitals of each country in europe, you'd be able to figure out that the world wide web, actually is world wide

You'd be surprised at the level of isolation between, and the ignorance of, even the different regions of the US.

I live in the South, which has an extremely bad reputation among the other parts of the nation. Did you think it was stupid for an American to have asked you if the internet was available in Norway? Try being asked, seriously asked, by a Bostonian if you have indoor plumbing down there in Appalachia. It was also fun for my mother, who speaks with a very noticeable Southern accent, to be treated like some kind of freak show exhibit when she visited California. Hearing her speak to my brother and her friend who came along with her, perfect strangers would butt in and try to get her to say something, anything, to them just so they could hear her accent.

Chatting online with people from the major cities of Canada, California, and the Northeast, I've had them dismiss me because as a Southerner, obviously I'm a huge supporter of a certain politician and his policies. This, despite the fact that I and many thousands of other Southerners actually believe this politician, who shall remain nameless, to be functionally retarded. One charming gentleman from Vancouver became indignant when I said that I loved where I lived and did not want to move there to Vancouver, and said that I was obviously too stupid for him to waste his time on me. They also don't believe me if I ever talk about how weird it can be around here, because obviously witches never dance around magnolia trees in front of City Hall in cities in the South. Maybe in San Francisco, but never in Dixie.

Anyway, point is, people in general are a race of insular idiots the world over who don't see or care about much of anything outside the circles they personally travel in. They don't know much about their own country, much less any other. But... it's the same in Norway, same in the US, same everywhere.