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EnderD_503 · 05-28-2011, 10:33 AM

Tourist season in Toronto is opening up, but it'll get much worse. Usually I have no issues with tourists. Most of the time I don't really notice them that much unless they're taking frantic pictures in front of insignificant buildings. I can understand that, though. When you're visiting a city/country and something the locals see as silly is so amazing or interesting to you, lol. I dunno, it's just funny to me.

One of the problems I have is the American tourists who see fit to criticise every fucking thing about the culture of the nation they are visiting. It was the same thing in Germany when I did a guided tour of Munich with some visiting Canadians. There were Americans on the same tour who had to put their own spin on everything the guide would tell them. When the guide would talk about how American pilots used the towers of the Frauenkirche as targets to bomb the city, they would have to interject with something about how the US "saved" everybody or "won the war" (according to American history texts perhaps?). That or they would try to justify what happened at Dresden, or contradict the history of a certain location as if they knew better. Or if something the guide said contradicted something they'd learned in the US they would have to try to "correct" the tour guide who has fucking lived there all his life and is paid to do this.

Either that or you hear them sitting near you in restaurants talking about how "backward" everything is. Or the younger Americans who come in groups, get ridiculously more drunk than everybody else and can't seem to control themselves, sleep with everything that moves, rant on about stupid shit or destroy property just because mommy and daddy aren't there to supervise them. I even remember one time sitting in the biergarten in the Englischer Garten in Munich hearing some morons talk about how the Czechs must have stolen Budweiser from the Americans...of course everything is always stolen from the Americans, even Athens, Greece apparently

I'm sorry to sound like I'm ragging on American tourists, but I've heard some really stupid shit and makes me wonder if they believe half of what they say...

To me, if you are going to visit a country you should at least respect the culture and the people. I may not be the fondest person of the American government or popular culture, but if I were visiting the US I would be visiting because I want to see the country. I wouldn't spend my time trash talking everything. If you go to a country it's for a reason, and you should respect the people in it and try to learn a bit of the history and culture. I wish all tourists would do this, and that's the biggest issue I have with many tourists.

Many French tourists visiting Québec and many English tourists visiting Canada are the same damned way. Yet for some reason when we visit France they are often very nice and we get along fine. For some reason they get their rocks off being condescending to the locals in Canada and I don't understand why they seem to lose their brains when they go on vacation.

I can't fucking stand French tourists who criticize the French Canadian dialect, despite that it's older than Parisian French to begin with. Many of them can understand what you're saying but pretend like they don't just to be assholes. Same with the English who always have to trash talk Canadians. It seems to be a pattern with a lot of English tourists for some reason. Even in Germany many act like such asses.

Also: people well over 40 who stay in youth hostels that are meant for backpackers/travelers in their teens, twenties or early thirties. It's called a youth hostel for a reason! It's frustrating when you're traveling and the hostel is full of families well over 40 who just want to travel cheaply instead of needing to travel cheaply. I don't know how many times I have not been able to find a place to sleep, while fitting the age demographic of youth hostels, because of this, and instead have to sleep on the floor in the train station waiting room because all the youth hostels are full of older vacationers. Youth hostels by definition cater to a younger crowd which is why they are so cheap (sometimes only 16-17 Euros a night), so I don't know why they let those tourists in.

[/tourist rant]

But yeah, in general tourists aren't so bad unless they start to make stupid comments or destroy things. Or if they are a part of a huge festival that clogs up the subway/traffic so that regular Canadians can't get to work. Like the whole World Youth Day thing a few years back where it would take me nearly 2 hours to get to work in the morning that summer because of the amount of tourists trying to get downtown at the same time.

These are of course the worst of the worst, and probably the average tourist just flies under the radar because they are too busy enjoying where they are instead of trash talking or destroying things and generally being miserable

So nothing wrong with the average tourists.

05-28-2011, 10:33 AM	#6
EnderD_503 Member How Do You Identify?: Queer, trans guy, butch Preferred Pronoun?: Male pronouns Relationship Status: Relationship Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 1,329 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 4,090 Thanked 3,878 Times in 1,022 Posts Rep Power: 21474853	Tourist season in Toronto is opening up, but it'll get much worse. Usually I have no issues with tourists. Most of the time I don't really notice them that much unless they're taking frantic pictures in front of insignificant buildings. I can understand that, though. When you're visiting a city/country and something the locals see as silly is so amazing or interesting to you, lol. I dunno, it's just funny to me. One of the problems I have is the American tourists who see fit to criticise every fucking thing about the culture of the nation they are visiting. It was the same thing in Germany when I did a guided tour of Munich with some visiting Canadians. There were Americans on the same tour who had to put their own spin on everything the guide would tell them. When the guide would talk about how American pilots used the towers of the Frauenkirche as targets to bomb the city, they would have to interject with something about how the US "saved" everybody or "won the war" (according to American history texts perhaps?). That or they would try to justify what happened at Dresden, or contradict the history of a certain location as if they knew better. Or if something the guide said contradicted something they'd learned in the US they would have to try to "correct" the tour guide who has fucking lived there all his life and is paid to do this. Either that or you hear them sitting near you in restaurants talking about how "backward" everything is. Or the younger Americans who come in groups, get ridiculously more drunk than everybody else and can't seem to control themselves, sleep with everything that moves, rant on about stupid shit or destroy property just because mommy and daddy aren't there to supervise them. I even remember one time sitting in the biergarten in the Englischer Garten in Munich hearing some morons talk about how the Czechs must have stolen Budweiser from the Americans...of course everything is always stolen from the Americans, even Athens, Greece apparently I'm sorry to sound like I'm ragging on American tourists, but I've heard some really stupid shit and makes me wonder if they believe half of what they say... To me, if you are going to visit a country you should at least respect the culture and the people. I may not be the fondest person of the American government or popular culture, but if I were visiting the US I would be visiting because I want to see the country. I wouldn't spend my time trash talking everything. If you go to a country it's for a reason, and you should respect the people in it and try to learn a bit of the history and culture. I wish all tourists would do this, and that's the biggest issue I have with many tourists. Many French tourists visiting Québec and many English tourists visiting Canada are the same damned way. Yet for some reason when we visit France they are often very nice and we get along fine. For some reason they get their rocks off being condescending to the locals in Canada and I don't understand why they seem to lose their brains when they go on vacation. I can't fucking stand French tourists who criticize the French Canadian dialect, despite that it's older than Parisian French to begin with. Many of them can understand what you're saying but pretend like they don't just to be assholes. Same with the English who always have to trash talk Canadians. It seems to be a pattern with a lot of English tourists for some reason. Even in Germany many act like such asses. Also: people well over 40 who stay in youth hostels that are meant for backpackers/travelers in their teens, twenties or early thirties. It's called a youth hostel for a reason! It's frustrating when you're traveling and the hostel is full of families well over 40 who just want to travel cheaply instead of needing to travel cheaply. I don't know how many times I have not been able to find a place to sleep, while fitting the age demographic of youth hostels, because of this, and instead have to sleep on the floor in the train station waiting room because all the youth hostels are full of older vacationers. Youth hostels by definition cater to a younger crowd which is why they are so cheap (sometimes only 16-17 Euros a night), so I don't know why they let those tourists in. [/tourist rant] But yeah, in general tourists aren't so bad unless they start to make stupid comments or destroy things. Or if they are a part of a huge festival that clogs up the subway/traffic so that regular Canadians can't get to work. Like the whole World Youth Day thing a few years back where it would take me nearly 2 hours to get to work in the morning that summer because of the amount of tourists trying to get downtown at the same time. These are of course the worst of the worst, and probably the average tourist just flies under the radar because they are too busy enjoying where they are instead of trash talking or destroying things and generally being miserable So nothing wrong with the average tourists.