“Taking Cheerful Selfies In Inappropriate Places”: 30 Major Travel Mistakes Tourists Still Make

Having been in prison, which I fully deserved, makes this worse. Prison was very difficult for me, but for the most part, our physical and human needs were met. We were provided enough food. It wasn't necessarily good food, but it kept us alive. Those of us who were healthy were expected to have a job, which paid peanuts, but it was nothing to the labor demanded by these innocent victims, and shifts ended at eight hours. We were mostly allowed free movement throughout the day, and were able to hang with friends, recreate. Rather than murdering our relatives, the powers that be allowed them to call, visit, and write. Most of us were given most basic health care, and not some evil man injecting us with whatever he wanted. Many of us were given operations or other essential medical care to keep us alive. There were many staff members who treated us unfairly, but they were allowed to shoot us. We were allowed books, basic education, d**g rehab.... There were many mistakes, and some of the things that I saw there was evil, but most of us had the opportunity to build at least some kind of positive life there. Most of us who didn't receive life went home again. Many times when I was having difficulty, I would think of the Holocaust victims, and what they suffered for no reason whatsoever. It always made my situation so much more bearable. If I were to see someone disrespecting the victims' suffering as these idiots do, well, I might just end up in prison again.

People should have some self-awareness. You don't need to visit in places like this if you are not able to show respect for the place, history or fellow people.

This is infuriating.

Having visited Auschwitz-Birkenau myself it's quite a sobering experience. The guide who led the tour was excellent. Walking through that infamous gate at the start of the tour and walking through the remaining gas chamber is.... yeah. At Birkenau (aka Aucshwitz II) when you see the rails that brought over a million people to the place where they were murdered then walk through some of the barracks where they stacked the prisoners like cord wood.... Having Polish ancestry on one side of the family I always said my great grandparents were lucky and emigrated to the US right before WW I sparing my family from the horrors of the Holocaust. However while in Krakow something hit me like a ton of bricks. Did my great grandparents have siblings who remained in Poland and met their end in one of the camps? While my family isn't Jewish we know the the Germans hated the Poles only slightly less than the Jews. If i saw someone taking a selfie like that it wouldn't have ended well.

this reminds me of when I was stationed in Hawaii at the Pearl Harbor memorial. People thinking it was a joke. Not as big as auschwitz but similar idea.

I agree!

I didn't know that reef safe sunscreen existed ... I learned something today

For someone with thalassophobia I won't even go anywhere near them

Not "if possible" GET. REEF SAFE. SUNSCREEN. there is no excuse to not do so

Look but don’t touch is something a three year old can understand. Sadly, it seems lost on a lot of adults

I have no problem photobombimg these people.

One of my favorite tour guides was in Montenegro. She said, "This is not America. There are no fences to keep you safe. The edges of the cliff are crumbling. If you get too close, you will fall and die. We will be sad, but we will not be responsible. Be careful."

I always make sure to find a way to ruin it

I wonder if part of the problem is that Western people presume that if it looks "pagan," (i.e., not Abrahamic or not modern) then it's an extinct religion (like Aztec, or ancient Egyptian or ancient Greek), and also if people aren't currently practicing the religion (like presuming that because Japanese don't believe the emperor is a god, that they don't really care about Shinto), then they don't care about the solemnity of a place.

This may sound controversial but Some local cultures deserve no respect. Some cultures are good some are evil. If I just as step in a middle eastern country or one that ends with stan... I literally might get jailed deported or outright killed... Just for the way I think. Yeh...that Is also why the lgbt+ don't go to certain places.

Yeah, everyone talking about temples and religion, because it certainly happens, but let's not forget the way some tourists (always from the same 3 or 4 countries) treat some holiday destinations as their particular Bullingdon club.

I have really been into taking less and less pictures and being more in the moment. It feels amazing!

Have some respect for religion. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s yours or someone else’s. If you wouldn’t do it at home, don’t do it abroad

i mention this in the topic above about auschwitz. I was in the Navy stationed in Hawaii. I lived on Ford Island (where the Arizona was docked). Saw it every day.

I experienced exactly this when I went about 15 years ago. The docents--who were veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack--were gritting their teeth.

This one sounds really odd. That is incredibly out of character for a Japanese family to do that.

If they were talking in Japanese, there is no way of knowing what they were joking about - unless you speak the language. Perhaps they were just having too much fun taking family pictures. But yes, generally speaking, tourists tend to behave irreverently in places that commemorate a tragedy that is not theirs, be it out of ignorance, indifference or immaturity. I do wonder why they visit those sights in the first place, though.

And NOW can you understand why a scantily clad white girl offends some temple officials?

This!

One of the fun parts of travelling for me (before the ye old days of Covid and the economy) was always getting to look at different coins from different countries. There was something novel about it for me.

Simple: do your research. A friend thought all countries accept US bills because "Mexico does". Oh Vey!!

This ranks right up there with Americans who get upset with people in foreign countries not speaking English. Like you travelled to another country, for the purpose of not being in America and you're upset that they don't speak English?!! I literally heard a person in Mexico get upset and say "why don't they learn English?" Lady, *YOU'RE* in Mexico why don't you speak Spanish?!

I can't believe some people are actually that narcissistic. 🤦🏾‍♀️

Try Okinawa, Japan. It is so common for businesses there to accept American money that ones that don't accept it put a sign in their window to notify customers.

Selfies shoukd be forbidden in these kind of places, and selfie sticks even more.

If nat a cheerful selfie, how about a selfie fraught with self-loathing?

Not being loud in public is a tricky one, because different cultures have very different ideas of what "loud" is. I'm German and people here are rather quiet in public transport. Often, tourists or immigrants from different cultures don't realize that they're a lot louder than what people are used to. And then I visited Japan and when I was takling to my husband in a metro, I realized that we were drawing attention, because we were a lot louder than what is normal there, while I was sure that I used my "inside voice". Lesson learned!

No matter what language you are speaking you should always assume that somebody nearby will be able to hear and understand you. Don't talk shït if you don't wanna get hit.