30 Of The Most Annoying Tourist Moments Shared By People Who Live In Holiday Destinations
Interview
Have you dreamed of moving to the Big Apple your entire life? Starting each morning with a bagel in your hand and the sound of angry New Yorkers shouting at taxis and slow-walkers as you make your commute to work. Or perhaps Paris is more your speed? A buttery croissant and the scent of urine on the streets might be your preferred way of waking up. As much as we enjoy taking vacations to these popular tourist destinations, the experience of being a local is quite different than what we might imagine.
So to help visitors understand what the locals are begging them to stop doing, we’ve consulted this Reddit thread where the residents of popular getaways dished about what drives them crazy, and even reached out to the person who sparked this conversation in the first place, Winterbeers on Reddit. Below, you'll also find interviews with travel expert and creator of the blog The Invisible Tourist, Alyse, and a representative from the sustainability organization, The World Counts. So if you’re planning your summer holiday right now to a tropical beach or a sprawling city, keep these tips in mind to avoid being angrily chased out by locals. And then if you’re looking for even more insight from residents of popular vacation spots, check out this Bored Panda piece next.
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Caribbean island ... people who complain that they can't get a Heineken or a Bud Light here. People who complain that they can't get fast food or chain food here. People who basically are angry that a tiny sland in the Caribbean isn't just like the Houston suburbs.
If you want everything you have in the US, stay the f**k in the US.
Also infuriating during the pandemic: "Your island requires masks and negative tests!? Well if you keep that up we will NOT be visiting and will take our money elsewhere!"
Fine. Go elsewhere. We don't want you on our island, where the entirety of our healthcare is a small clinic with five beds. Don't threaten people with money, f*****g entitled assholes.
I feel this to my core. Just have a Red Stripe or a Carib with some Royal Castle and mellow on a beach somewhere. Always with the complaining. Not to mention being surprised when we all have regular 8-5 jobs. Like yes, we work too.
We all know what it’s like to be a tourist. You’ve been looking forward to this vacation for months, possibly even years, and you finally have the chance to visit the Colosseum or swim in Thailand’s most beautiful beaches. The excitement of traveling can lead some of us to forget that there are plenty of people in that city or town who are not on vacation. They are just minding their own business, going to school and work and the grocery store, with a massive amount of tourists around.
Tourists have to try to put themselves in the shoes of the locals of wherever they are visiting and remember that they probably would not be too happy to find litter in their backyard or in their favorite park. They likely would not be thrilled to find drunk tourists wandering through their neighborhood loudly at 3am either. And there is no way they would want to find a visitor sitting on their property. It is a wonderful thing to live in a beautiful city that can make a lot of money from tourism, but it is crucial that tourists don’t leave a mess for someone else to clean up after they’ve gone home.
Leave. The. Wildlife. Alone.
And this doesn't just extend to tourists but to people that live here too. 45+ coyote attacks last year in no small part because of people giving them food leading to a cull, bears getting habituated to people because they're being given food leading to them getting killed, otters and sea lions getting fed. They're not cute cuddly things. They're wild animals and will kill you and then, because they're doing what they do, they'll get killed because they're "dangerous to humans". When in reality they're only dangerous to ignorant rubes with no respect for nature.
We reached out to Winterbeers on Reddit to hear what inspired them to start this conversation in the first place. We asked if they had ever lived in a tourist destination or had recently been traveling, but they told us they're just a nosy person. We also wanted to know why they think locals often find tourists obnoxious, and they said, "If you have to ask, you don't live in a vacation spot." I might not currently, but I have lived in Los Angeles, so all I can say is, fair enough.
Lastly, we wanted to know if they learned anything from this thread that they will remember the next time they plan a trip. "Yes, actually people posted some really good information I think," they told us. "Not just what not to do (which mostly seems like common sense) but some even offered information on destinations. You have to really sort through the comments but next time I travel I’ll probably look into some of the things various people have mentioned."
I live in Alaska. My home is a rustic log cabin build and sits about 1/2 a mile off a major hiking trail. Despite the NUMEROUS no trespassing signs and a gate, I still get tourists coming on my property and even getting so bold as to sit in my rocking chairs on my porch. My house overlooks the chugach mountains and has a great view….but that’s my view… that I pay a mortgage on.
What is it about traveling that makes some people lose all sense of judgment? Perhaps it’s the excitement of finally being away on holiday and trying to make the most of their week off from work. Or maybe visitors feel entitled to do whatever they want if they've paid a large sum of money for their trip. Traveling internationally might also lead to tourists acting particularly ignorant when they don’t understand the language or culture of wherever they are.
But these are not valid excuses. The internet is an amazing tool that can provide travelers with plenty of information about their destination and how to get around seamlessly. Countless blogs can teach tourists the best spots to see that won’t charge them an arm and a leg, and a quick Google search can usually help visitors learn enough about the culture of any location to avoid being offensive. Just because tourists benefit the economy of wherever they travel to does not mean that their actions have no consequences. The least they can do to enhance their experience, and to prevent disrupting locals, is do a bit of research before traveling. I promise, it’s not very hard. In fact, you will likely find it exciting!
Clean up your f*****g trash.
I used to live in a spring break destination which was a small surf town. After spring break, people would be cleaning up pounds upon pounds of beer cans, broken bottles, needles, used condoms...f*****g revolting.
Edit for you nitpickers: I meant "stop throwing your garbage on the ground." There, now get off my cheeks.
We got in touch with travel expert and creator of the blog The Invisible Tourist, Alyse, to hear her thoughts on this topic. When asked why locals tend to dislike tourists, Alyse told us, “Tourists can sometimes forget people need to live and work at their vacation destination. They can be loud, get in the way and do disrespectful things in public they likely wouldn't at home. A lack of understanding of their culture means tourists can also unintentionally offend locals.”
Alyse also explained how her idea of being an “invisible tourist” can prevent upsetting locals. “Traveling in this way helps to preserve the local cultural heritage. Making a conscious effort to ‘blend in’ helps to minimize any negative social, cultural and economical impacts of tourism,” she says. “Learning local customs, etiquette and basic language before our trips will lead to more positive encounters with locals once we're there. What may seem like small things can actually make a big difference!”
There are a lot of really good points and suggestions, but people forgot to mention the most important thing.
Don’t expect everything and everyone to be or behave the same as where you came from. I see so many tourists complain they can’t have this or that, how shocked and insulted they are by someone’s behavior… You came to a different country with a different culture and no you can’t have a free refill just because that’s how you do it in USA Karen.
We also asked Alyse what she thinks tourists need to keep in mind when visiting extremely popular destinations. “Consider staying longer in busy places to experience more. While it sounds counter intuitive, staying longer means we can visit popular places before day trippers arrive and after they leave for a less crowded experience,” Alyse explained. “Staying in locally-owned accommodation and spending at small businesses means giving back to locals, rather than contributing to economic leakage (where tourism money is sent abroad from the big global chains, not trickling back down to local communities).”
Lastly, Alyse added that, “We can experience more from our trips by being prepared: Pre-purchase any popular tickets days (if not weeks or even months) beforehand to avoid disappointment; Research in advance how to get around at the destination to avoid winging it and wasting precious time when we're there; participate in cultural experiences to learn new ways of thinking and enrich our trips. And most importantly, travel with an open mind - it can change our lives!”
If you’re interested in hearing about Alyse’s personal travels or getting more tips from her, be sure to check out her blog The Invisible Tourist right here and her book How to Not Look Like A Tourist: Unlocking Your Hidden Power for Overtourism Solutions right here.
Don't fricking carve your name on stuff!!!
The amount of people who need to carve their names onto historical buildings and statues are just crazy. Don't be an a*s. You are ruining the place.
And respect peoples properties. Yeah, it's a cute street with cute houses and charming gardens. But that does NOT give you the right to enter peoples private properties to peep in their windows, walk in their gardens and try to open their doors. A colleague is selling his house because he's tired of people peeping in their windows and trying to open their door to have a look inside. He got yelled at for beeing inappropriate while he was sunbathing in his own garden by a tourist who let themself in the gate and walked around the house to have a look at his garden.
People let themselves in?! My god, what is wrong with people?? It's so sad that that person is selling his house because of these utter fools. That's made me incredibly angry. People can be such c*nts!
We also reached out to The World Counts to hear about some of the ways tourism can be harmful to the environment. They told us, "Tourism can put enormous pressure on local use of land and natural resources, and can lead to soil erosion, increased pollution, natural habitat loss, and increase the pressure on endangered species. These effects can gradually destroy the very basis on which tourism itself depends. On the global scale tourism is also a major contributor to CO2-emissions."
They went on to explain that, "The harmful impact of tourism is partly explained by the massive growth of the industry in the past decades." They also provided us with some harrowing statistics about the tourism industry. For example, "There are 1.4 billion tourists arriving at their destination every year. That’s 45 arrivals every single second."
I live in Berlin and this goes for German and international tourists: please don’t run, take selfies, play hide and seek or sit on the holocaust memorial ffs.
The architect that had built it would probably disagree, as he told in an interview in the "Spiegel" in 2005: "People will picnic in the field. Children will play catch in the field. There will be mannequins posing here, and movies will be shot here. I can well imagine how a shootout between spies will end in the field. It is not a sacred place."
"The number of tourists arriving at a destination somewhere in the world has grown by a factor of 56 between 1950 and 2018 - from 25 million to 1.4 billion. The level of tourism worldwide has seen a drop in recent years due to COVID 19, but numbers are expected to catch up again," The World Counts explained.
"Transport-related emissions from tourism are expected to account for 5.3% of all man-made CO2 emissions by 2030, up from 5% in 2016. This means that by 2030, transport-related CO2-emissions from tourism will reach 1,998 million tons. The level of tourism is very likely to keep growing together with the growing number of consumers globally. By 2030, we will be 5.6 billion consumers (compared to 3.5 billion in 2017)."
For your sake, STOP TRYING TO PET THE BUFFALO! Or don't, some of us are entertained by the videos of you flying through the air.
Deciding they like it so much here that they are going to purchase our homes for over market value so they can turn them into AirBNBs. And in turn, pricing the locals out of ever owning homes in their own town.
Or evicting long term tenants in favour of doing short stay Airbnb. That's been a massive issue close to where I live, and it's also making it so hard to find anywhere else for people to rent. Those who do live there find these short term tenants noisy and that they don't respect the surrounding communities as they are just there for a short holiday.
We asked if The World Counts would advise that people stop traveling altogether. They told us, "No, but we do recommend that people think about ways to travel in more sustainable ways, including: take the train instead of flying, look for 'eco-tourism' options at the destination that offer greener practices/alternatives compared to traditional traveling, make an effort to buy local products and support local businesses that are environmentally conscious, travel locally instead of going across the globe, observe earth-friendly habits also when travelling, i.e. paying respect to nature, stop littering, no excessive use/consumption."
"It is also worth mentioning that while tourism certainly can have negative impacts on the environment, eco-tourism can promote sustainable awareness and solutions in travel destinations, which in turn can help to both conserve natural resources and contribute to local economies," they told Bored Panda. "And not to forget, embracing eco-tourism can also help us adopt better and more earth-friendly habits at home as well."
Stop trying to hike up a mountain in flip-flops!
Also, don't try to use an air mattress as a mode of transport between islands.
Several of these every year...
Deface world heritage sites for souvenirs or internet clout.
For example: **The Colosseum** in Rome has graffiti carved into it's walls by arsehole tourists and **Stone Henge** is closed off to the public because arseholes were chipping pieces off for souvenirs.
Amsterdam. Walking around like they're at Legoland, blindly stepping into traffic, oblivious to the fact that people actually live here. We use the bike to get to work, to get groceries, we're not just aimlessly cycling around for the fun of it.
Lastly, we asked The World Counts what they think travelers should keep in mind before making their next trip. They told us, "That our choices of products and services have global consequences that are very real. This is true at home, but certainly also (and maybe more so) when it comes to travelling. Put an effort into making your next trip contribute to your own understanding of sustainability and habits, and how it contributes to our planet’s health."
"To illustrate the pressure, consumers in western countries put on the planet: If everyone lived like the average American consumer, we would need 5.2 planets to support us."
If you'd like to learn more about how to protect our planet and live a more sustainable life, be sure to check out The World Counts right here.
[Bangkok - Thailand] dating and f#cking girls half or less your age.
Yes, there are many, many old pervert men here.
Please visit local businesses. COVID hit them hard. I know they aren't as big and well known as Disney and Kennedy Space Center but they have a lot of charm, too.
We consulted Ecotourism World to find out their best recommendations for traveling more sustainably, and you might be pleasantly surprised to hear how easy some of their tips are. The first one is to be mindful of where you’re going. Traveling to a lesser known destination is a great way to reduce the strain on resources in more popular sites. And if you are really determined to see that famous landmark or national park, consider going during the off season. With less tourists around, it is easier for the environment and the locals to handle visitors then. Plus you're likely to encounter much smaller queues and crowds, and might even get to pay less for accommodation and tickets.
Stop buying all the houses and pushing out locals.
Add to that, stop supporting Air BnBs and companies like it. It’s no longer what it was when it started and it’s make life everywhere miserable.
Stop feeding the damn seagulls…
Stop disrespecting the spot you're visiting. Every time I go to places after tourists have visited all I see is rubbish, names carved into monuments, gum stuck to the path and I especially hate it when they're loud
All the way to the top of Mt Everest. We left junk on the Moon and Mars too.
After choosing your destination, you’ll need to find accommodation. Nowadays, there are plenty of eco-friendly options from hostels to B&Bs to hotels. Opt for locally owned establishments over chain hotels, as your money will be doing more for the community in the hands of the locals. Do your research about how where you’re staying handles waste and how they manage to cut down on water and electricity usage. An added bonus of staying in smaller, locally owned accommodation means you are more likely to have an authentic experience. Being around locals gives you the opportunity to learn about their culture and cuisine and avoid the masses of tourists that would be staying at a larger hotel.
Edinburgh Scotland- I do not want to hear your best attempt at imitating my accent to my face, American Tourists.
The castle is on a hill in the middle of the city, if you can’t see it, turn in a circle. It’s that big thing on the hill. Walk towards it. I’m late for work, please, just read the bus timetable and don’t stop and quiz the driver of EVERY BUS “do you go to the castle?!”
It is not cute or funny to ask locals about their kilts and what they wear under them, either.
I used to live and work in one of the UK'S university towns. Most of my research work was in one of the college libraries which was built in about 1580. In the summer especially we would have endless streams of tourists trooping through, shouting at the top of their voices. The library was in a private/no access zone and marked clearly with "Private - No Admittance" signs.
The tourists could be quite abusive when asked to leave because they had 'paid' for their tour; which meant they were entitled to go anywhere they wanted, take pictures of all the students and shout to each other about how 'old and cute' everything looked.
People live and work here you morons! Can't you understand that?
And the littering and smoking. In a library full of rare books.
Me too! And they MEAN it when they say to keep off the grass. I don't care if you think it's classist or "just want a quick picture," you KEEP OFF THE GRASS. My favorite is when someone would ask "Can you tell me how to get to the University?" as if it's one building, and not, you know, 39 colleges over the entire city with the exception of some of the businesses.
Haggle on every single item you buy.
I've seen tourists wearing Rolex's try haggle down a price for a painting from a street artist. Wanted to pay 2 dollars for a piece he had likely spent an hour working on.
It's f*****g embarrassing and insulting for everyone involved.
Culturally dependent. If there are no prices posted and I see the locals haggling, I haggle. If it's just tourists, there are prices posted, or I hear the same price twice, I pay whatever the merchant says.
Another way to be an eco-tourist is to seek out eco-tours operated by locals. “Not only will this return some profits back into the local community, but it’s even more beneficial for you because the locals always know the most ideal locations to offer you the best possible experience,” Ecotourism World notes. The best way to learn about any place is to hear from the locals, and you are likely to be more welcomed when they know you care as much about their environment as they do. Do a little research online for the best eco-tours wherever you are traveling to, and you will be sure to find a unique and meaningful experience.
Iceland here. Stop s******g absolutely everywhere.
Nobody likes your f*****g drone.
Learn to drive and do not stop in the middle of the road after a blind hill and turn off your lights to watch the northern lights in the dark.
Do not park your camper vans in residential parking.
Respect the landscape and for f***s sake listen to the warnings about sneaker waves in Reynisfjara. People risk their lives to save you when you can't listen and respect nature
Stopping their cars in the middle of the road to take in a view. WTF?
Came over the crest of a hill in the winter to find a vehicle in the middle of the road, both doors open and people standing around taking in the scenery. Made it past without hitting anyone but I am sure I added some good descriptive terms on questionable ancestry to their vocabulary.
With all of this being said, tourism is not inherently bad. I love traveling as much as the next person, possibly even more, and I do not intend to demonize it. Tourism can have wonderful benefits for economies, as it is one of the top 5 exports of 83% of countries in the world and employs 7% of the world’s workers. It is also a great way for us to understand our planet better. What better way is there to learn about another culture than to experience it? We just have to be mindful when visiting other places. Let’s keep the golden rule in mind when traveling, treat your travel destination the same way you would want your home to be treated.
Generally being loud. A big party or multiple families just don’t care when in your favorite restaurant, park or attraction. Live in a tiny town with a resident-only beach on a lake that is very quiet. Second home owners come in and just are loud and don’t control their hoards of kids. You can just tell who is local who is not.
Also airbnbs are ruining the area. People living for 30+ years in very wooded/private lots but have to hear constant partiers every summer night now. Literally is ruining peoples lives…
Driving drunk. I live in Sonoma County, California. Make sure you’ve got a sober driver ffs. The roads around here are never more dangerous than winery tasting room closing time on a sunny weekend.
Edit: So many fellow locals in this thread! Hello neighbors!
Be safe out there, no matter where you are.
Using Airbnb. I live in a tourist city which has basically been taken over by Airbnb. Rental occupancy rate is something like 0.3%. It's a mess.
I live in a tourist area that managed to pass a law that will not allow temporary rentals line Air BnB. There are still temp rentals, but I think they have to be registered through some local organization or something. We have a lot of hotels, resorts, and condos that will more than support any size party. No need to rent a house 2+ miles away from where you want to be.
We hope you’re enjoying this list of insight from locals and that you’ve learned something useful for your next trip. No matter where your travels take you, remember to make as small of an impact as possible and to support the natives as much as you can. Even if you would never want to live in a tourist destination, it's important to be empathetic to people who do. They love their homes, and they shouldn't have to work overtime trying to preserve them. Be sure to upvote the responses you found most informative, and then let us know in the comments if you have ever lived in a tourist destination. We would love to hear about your experiences.
Stop walking out into the middle of an active downtown street to take group pictures of yourselves in cheerleading outfits on the spot where Kennedy was shot.
Stop laying down next to the stars on the Hollywood walk of fame! Hollywood is filthy. Oh you laid down next to your favorite star? Congratulations. You’re now covered in homeless person p**s and jizz. You should burn those clothes.
Forgetting that people live in the community. We had to move out of a sorta-touristy area because visitors were out of control. Endless partying at short term rentals in the neighborhood. Feeling unwelcome at our regular spots because we have (very polite) kids—the staff was always cool but out of town people always acted like how dare we bring a kid out for pancakes on a Saturday morning.
We took our family out for a family dinner at a family restaurant and they were very busy. Our little guy was hungry and got fussy. I had a man come up and ask me to take him outside because he was ruining his dining experience. It was 2 couples seated 2 tables over. Now, the restaurant was full and noisy and no one could hold a regular conversation. I told him that no, this was a family restaurant and if he did not like to eat around families he should go to a restaurant that was not family friendly.
I was in Belize with a few classmates last year and I asked them how they thought the locals felt about tourists being there. My classmates said they’re probably happy because we bring money with us.
Five minutes later we passed a man talking with his friend, complaining that tourists only spend money at trendy places owned by people living in the US instead of spending locally. We spent the rest of the trip eating local as often as possible.
Stop being a belligerent a*****e just because you’re in “N’AWLINS.” It’s still not an excuse to get blackout drunk, litter, and make hell for food service workers.
And please stop telling the locals that it's properly pronounced N'awlins. No. It's not. It is pronounced New Orleans. (Like New Orlins, no long ē sound either)! If you pronounce it N'awlins, you might as well wear a clown suit with a tourist sandwich board, ringing a bell!
Stop being stupid about hiking in the desert and getting seriously injured or dying. It doesn't matter if it's 75 or 115, you need to take WATER with you on ANY hike in the desert. And, no, drinking a diet Pepsi before the hike isn't going to cut it! People severely overestimate their abilities and tolerances.
Particularly in Australia - you can dehydrate very quickly anywhere so always carry water with you. I remember a story about a Japanese student cycling around north Western Australia. He had run low on water and came on a cattle trough with artesian water. He was hot so he bathed his feet in the water then died of dehydration because he refused to drink the water he had washed his feet in.
“I paid a lot to be here”
“Change (blank) or I’ll leave a horrible review”
Driving like a d**k head, leaving garbage anywhere but a rubbish bin, stopping in the middle of the road to let out your family of 12 instead of pulling into the parking lot.
I have a lot of stories. I live in Hawaii and work only with tourists. Best yet, My company was asked to contact the cruise ship company to have them move the ship because it disrupted the sunset.
I live in Phuket. We see everything here. But for sweet jesus titty f*****g christs f***s sake: Wear at least a singlet when you go to a sit down restaurant or cafe that's not in a direct tourism area. You have bare chested bros swagger into a cafe where Thai office workers are, guns out, pecs out, sweating, and then order their twatacinos and proceed to sit there in ball sweat talking about loud bro things.
Oh, and also stop driving drunk you c***s. Yeah, that moreso.
Specifically regarding "Movie/TV Houses". Unless the house is a museum or has tours, it's almost certainly someone's home. Stay off their porch, don't walk through the yard, and STOP THROWING PIZZAS ON THE ROOF! The poor people who owned Walter White's house had to put up a giant fence, because the dozens of signs about it were being ignored.
When i was in San Francisco a week ago i went to see the house from full house and it’s kinda sad how may no trespassing signs are on the house. Like don’t people know it was filmed in a studio and not in that actual house.
Las Vegas- whether it’s your first time here, or 13th time here. A convention, a weekend getaway, a bachelor party- whatever.
Remember to be a decent f*****g human being. Sin City does not mean ‘lawless city’.
I go to Vegas all th time cause it’s th closest airport and when people show up for the first time whenever we fly in their always so excited and I’m like yeah the shows are cool and th hotels are awesome but it’s not like you’re in Disneyland you know you’re in a n actual city right
Allowing their kids to do whatever they want.
I grew up in a small tourist town that does Civil War re-enactments ( Ulysses S. Grant lived there when he won the presidency). Once a year they have a weekend where the Boy Scouts take over the town camping down by the river, taking tours of the historic buildings etc. every year most of the downtown shops will close for this weekend because of how much the Boy Scouts will steal or vandalize while there. Everyone that lives there dreads that weekend because the troop leaders just let the scouts do whatever they want.
In my hometown, it somehow became a thing that tourists would rent mopeds.
So when you are trying to get to work, you often get stuck behind a flock of tourists on mopeds, riding at 20MPH in formation so you cannot pass them.
We are infested with gawking tourists moped gangs. If they want to rent mopeds, at least go the speed limit, and ride in a manner that allows others to pass you.
After seeing the intricate chaos on Top Gear in Vietnam, I know I will just annoy everyone if I drive a moped.
I'm not from there but it would p**s me off if I was but.
In Cornwall so much property is purchased by rich Londoners etc. for Holiday homes
These places stay empty nearly the whole year, but I've heard it makes life hell for those genuinely looking to buy / sell down there, because the prices have been thrown sky high.
It's a serious issue which forces many cornish people to move away from friend and family and out of country.
Having spent several years as a student at an extremely touristy, photogenic university, for the love of Dog Almighty:
1. Stop taking up all the sidewalk. You're not f*****g plasma, you don't need to expand to fill all available space.
2. Sounds carries, enclosed spaces reverberate, very old buildings don't have AC, and the *raison d'etre* of a library is *to be a place where people f*****g study*. That means when your toddler starts crying while you're in the courtyard of the main library gawking at architecture, *you're disturbing everyone inside that building who's trying to work.* Please GTFO and give your kid a snack or a nap or whatever, rather than letting them wail for a half hour while the amplified noise comes in through the only source of cooling there is. The old dude snoring three seats down is bad enough!
Please stop walking in the bike lane, like seriously. There is multiple signs, its a different color, and even a picture of a bicycle painted on the ground and yet you still stand/walk in the bike lane.
Oh my god stop just randomly stepping into the street, or just crossing the street without looking.
I don't know what corner of the world you are from where you can just walk out into the middle of a street and not look and just hope that people don't completely run you over but in the middle of the city you're going to get clobbered by a bus or a car and I'm gonna have to pick your brain bits off the ground.
No don't stand one foot into the street while you are waiting to cross. No don't just cross because someone else did. No don't walk along the side of the street. Don't sit on the curb and have your feet in the road. These roads were laid out in 1682 they aren't that wide the bus WILL KILL YOU with little to no remorse.
I know that your tiny town of 17 people in the middle of Iowa that bus driver is your sister's boyfriend's cousin's priest or something and you've known him for like 87 years and will look for you and stop his route to talk about Little Suzi and Colton but that's not how that works here. Stay on the sidewalks. They are large and plentiful in the tourist areas.
This drives me crazy. Where I live, pedestrians have the right of way at crosswalks* when they have the ok to cross sign*, So many people just start walking across without even looking,whether it's at a crosswalk or not. And don't step out from behind something to cross. I drive an 18,000 lb truck that does NOT stop on a dime and doesn't care if you have the right of way. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I can't change physics. Please look before you cross.
When driving to Big Sur many people stare at the view while driving. They also camp illegally and have campfires. NO CAMPFIRES IN CALIFORNIA!
How effing stupid can people be??? Do they not have access to info on the devastating fires this state has endured?
Stating in windows. I live in a UNESCO world heritage town and people seem to think the whole town is a museum. I've had people press their faces against our windows to look inside, or just open the gate and walk right in to my back yard.
In New York, if you visit, please walk on the right side of the side walk not the left. Also, if you need to stop and look at your phone or have a conversation with your fellow travelers, step aside. People are walking and if you abruptly stop it usually results in someone bumping into you. Also, do not walk like 5 people side by side and walking slowly. People can't get around you. It is infuriating. But, please keep visiting NYC!
Spain. We get a shitfuckton of tourists. Very well behaved for the most part where I am. So, thanks for doing it right, tourists.
The worst is littering on the beach, which is thankfully pretty rare. I occasionally see someone put a cigarette butt in the sand. A lot are taken away when they leave, but the sand has away of hiding stuff, so a lot remain.
I'll give you tourists one tip. Night swimming. If you put your keys, glasses, etc. down in the sand, they're gone. Between the sand and the dark, you'll never see them again.
Stop acting like you’re discovering something for the first time, it’s literally a tourist destination. I overhear these “influencers” talking to their phone/audience about finding a “lil obscure restaurant” honey it’s literally owned by Thomas Keller?
I’m from one of those super bougie, Michelin star restaurants everywhere, resort areas a lot of celebrities like to visit. Super popular wedding area, famed for the weather and scenery, compared to Europe a lot etc.
Of all the tourists, the influencer tourist influx in my area is so annoying. They just stand in the sidewalks downtown and cause traffic. And it’s a location where you can drink a lot of one specific thing so they get day drunk and messy.
Acting entitled and like they own the place. Treating me and my dog like part of the attraction. Being yelled at because he’s going to the bathroom (in an appropriate spot) and it’s ruining their trip.
And the other part is general littering and pissing everywhere.
Committing suicide. I lived in Vegas and tourists loved to come to town to have one last desperate betting session before taking their own lives. Had a friend who worked security at one of the larger resorts. He said that it is rare that a week would go by without housekeeping finding a corpse, usually messy from their suicide. Do that at home people. Hotel workers deserve some consideration.
The problem with suicide is, that you will always affect ~someone~, if you believe it or not. Your neighbour, family, friends, work colleagues...The poor soul who finds you, ambulance/police/firemen... There's ALWAYS someone who cares, even if it may not seem like it in the darkest moments. Please get help
Smoky mountains in Tennessee, everytime tourists f**k with the bears and get their own dumb selves hurt, they gotta put the bear down.
Respect the locals
Yeah, don't mess with the bears, especially the babies.They might look all cute and cuddly, but mama isn't, and she is not very far away.
Going on the black rocks and being swept out to the Atlantic Ocean, risking the lives of first responders and locals many of whom are already traumatized from Swiss Air
You're talking about this? https://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/swissair-memorial-site-peggys-cove/1636
Not really something that effects me, but I wish I could tell all the people visiting Los Angeles to avoid spending the day at the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd. It’s been built up by media, but in reality it’s a grimy dump surrounded by hellaciously overpriced novelty museums and restaurants designed to gouge your wallet. Plus it costs like $25 dollars just to park in the huge lot for the day.
There’s so many better things to do in LA that don’t destroy your bank account and are actually interesting and cool.
Toronto:
Stop driving. Leave your car at the hotel if you drove here and just take one of the multiple transit options. You’ll probably get where you want to go much quicker if you’re doing stuff downtown.
If I see one more SUV with New York plate getting stuck in the Spadina streetcar right-of-way, I’m going to lose my mind.
The plate doesn't always indicate that's where the person is from, and that they drove there. Rentals come from all over, and just last week, I was in Toronto, and my rental had MI plates.
Getting shitfaced/ coked up and getting up in people's business or pick fights with the doorman or bar staff.
Or talk about weed and getting stoned the entire time. Or ask me where the Red Light District is while standing in the Red Light district. Or renting a bike when the last time you rode one was in preschool.
I remember watching someone rent a bike and immediately tumble face first over the handlebars. ... I don't ride a bike, but I can judge and laugh my a*s off because I'm not stupid enough to rent a bike when I can't ride one. (a pedal bike, anyway. for some reason I can drive a motorcycle. xP)
New Orleans here, stop pissing and s******g on the sidewalks. Not everywhere is a trailer trash party like Bourbon St.
Just respect the land! Clean up after yourself. Be _very_ careful about making and extinguishing your fires (because forest fires!). Don't dump garbage, fuel, gray/black water in ditches.
A big one in BC is for tourists to learn how to drive in mountainous areas. Most tourists drive way too slow (leading to road rage), and too many don't know how to stay right on highways except to pass. Or pull over to let people pass you if you don't know how to drive on twisty roads.
I live in a fire-prone area. If you're going camping, ALWAYS find out the current fire restrictions and RESPECT THEM. If the restrictions say you can't have a campfire and you should smoke in your car ONLY, then for God's sake, DON'T HAVE A CAMPFIRE AND SMOKE IN YOUR GODD*MN CAR!!
I love tourists here, and it’s great to live in a city that people pay to visit (plus they basically pay my wages) but god almighty, being in a rush and trying to walk through streets of tourists is frustrating.
So leave your money and get out. Lol! Listening to your misdirected complaint is frustrating.
From Nashville TN.
Stop walking out onto the road while drunk you will get hit and you WILL die. It’s happened so much it doesn’t even make the news anymore. Also, please stop renting airbnbs in neighborhoods, or if you do please realize you are in someone’s neighborhood. Getting loud and drunk at 2am is very annoying for the neighbors who have to get up and be at work at 8am.
Please don't puke all over the streets and public transport. If you s**t and p**s yourself less, that would be nice aswell.
Greetings from munich.
edit: In case you have been here and got blackout drunk on the oktoberfest, chances are, you find pictures of yourself sitting/lying in your vomit, pee or s**t somewhere around the city. Sometimes even with your genitals dangling around.
Go and have a browse on http://www.muenchenkotzt.de/index2017.html, you can browse backwards through the years on the button that says "Jahre" or "Archiv".
Look at me like if I am living in a third world country. I live in south Spain and the Brits look at locals like if we are 200 years behind.
Another thing tourists could is stop coming here :D (joking of course)
As a brit, I do not look at any country like they are behind. Unfortunately I know that some of my *sighs* fellow countrymen/women, are complete bellends who make a mockery of themselves. ugh.
Moving in and trying to change things.
I dunno if I 100% agree with this one. Places like Oak Lawn in Dallas and Wilton Manors in Ft. Lauderdale are now much nicer and much safer after a certain group moved in and cleaned them up.
Acting like they „own“ your country…. acting like know-it-all‘s just because they’ve read a one-pager on their way over….
Probably won’t be something that ever stops, but: everyone coming and going at the same time. Turns traffic into a nightmare.
My 20 minute commute turns into an hour on Fridays when tourists are clogging up the roads for their weekend getaways.
Also, if you’re going to crowd our lanes with giant campers, *please* know how to drive them.
I grew up on Cape Cod, and we rarely left the house Friday thru Sunday, and NEVER to grocery shop or go out to eat.
If you are thinking about coming to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, Stop. All the local flavor has been drained out of the event and it is irritating to have road closures and a million drunk tourists in town for a long weekend.
If you want to come to Louisville to do bourbon tourism, come on down, but Derby is nothing but a money grab that creates a hassle for the locals.
Reminds of what a friend once told me when I said the only US race I want to go to was Indy. He said, "don't go, stay home and watch it on TV. You can't see the cars go by in front of you, too fast. On the opposite side of the track they're too far away and almost everything happens coming out of the turns and you can't see that either."
Stop meandering on the streets like it's a pedestrian zone. I get it. We're a small quiet town. We still have cars. They still go on the road. Get your a*s on the sidewalk or to the pretty big pedestrian zone we have. On a similar note - stop f*****g driving in the pedestrian zone. I can hear your American a*s giving a clutch the BDSM gimp treatment in the pedestrian zone from 3 streets over.
Asphalt = Road = keep your pedestrian a*s off it. Cobblestones = Pedestrian zone = keep your motorized a*s off it.
Used to live in a popular tourist destiation in Cornwall and tourists were shockingly bad for just walking into the road, not checking for cars, especially families where they're pushing a push hair infront of the group. The worst of it being the abuse when your forced to slam you breaks and honk to get their attention. I will admit to one particular incident where a couple were walking on the road because the pavement was in shade and I genuinly accidentally clipped this guys arm with my passinger side wing mirror. I jumped out of the car and ran round to the other side, the man was rubbing his elbow and saying he was ok, I politely told him I was more worried about damage to my vehicle, got back in my car and carried on driving to work. The worst thing being the guy was also British (as are most tourists in Cornwall)!
Clean up your trash cans. Throw away fishing line and chum boxes instead of throwing in ocean. Also jet skis stop burning my fishing flats.
The others said the most obvious answers, but have spatial awareness and be considerate for the love of God. Don't block an entire walkway so you can take your mediocre pictures. Don't drive a half a mile an hour with your head out of the sunroof blocking traffic so you can look at a famous sign.
Driving like idiots
Flatlanders and other distant suburbanites drive into San Francisco having no idea how to handle hills topped with STOP signs, streetcars (and their wet rails), pedestrian streams, one-way streets, or parking meters. Sad.
Most Minnesotans cannot stand the Mall of America. It’s because tourists I swear have to link arms, walk slowly, and seemingly stop and point and talk about every gd window they pass. Have you people never been to a mall before? Get over yourself
Also, not just MOA, but all malls, do we really need multiple Dairy Queen’s? God forbid we walk another 30ft for our ice cream cone
Whilst I live in a touristy town in Derbyshire and we in Buxton welcome visitors with open arms (jees it keeps our town alive ffs) we are getting heartily sick of people heading out to the local hills, lighting a crappy disposable barbecue and then leaving it to burn unattended, we have lost acres of valuable peat and scrubland that is the home to millions of animals and bugs thanks to fires across the Peak District. Add in the inevitable mess they leave behind and I wonder if their money going into the local economy is worth it? Stop wrecking the planet with your inconsiderate actions eh?
I do think that local supermarkets and petrol stations in these areas should stop selling disposable bbqs. Though to be honest, even where I used to live in Hackney, the local park got ruined by these things so maybe they should just ban them outright.
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Don’t trash the environment. I live at the beach and every single holiday people come out from everywhere. Leave their trash. Drive over peoples yards. And yell at locals who have our dogs off leash on the beach. Our dogs are fine, we’ve trained them to be fine. Your dogs are not fine because they are not trained. The springs near us have been destroyed as well. I went to Ginny Springs last month and it was HORRIFYING. Beer bottles, signs that said “shots for tits”, cigarettes everywhere, trash everywhere. You can’t even hike the mts in the south East bc they’re completely trashed. Why is it so hard for humans to be respectful of nature? It so disgusting and I just cannot understand how anyone can be okay with themselves when they s**t on the world around them.
So much of this is just common sense and valid everywhere: don't litter. Respect people, nature and property. Don't be loud and obnoxious. Don't be a d**k. Anywhere.
It’s abhorring how many people just don’t do this though.
Load More Replies... Whilst I live in a touristy town in Derbyshire and we in Buxton welcome visitors with open arms (jees it keeps our town alive ffs) we are getting heartily sick of people heading out to the local hills, lighting a crappy disposable barbecue and then leaving it to burn unattended, we have lost acres of valuable peat and scrubland that is the home to millions of animals and bugs thanks to fires across the Peak District. Add in the inevitable mess they leave behind and I wonder if their money going into the local economy is worth it? Stop wrecking the planet with your inconsiderate actions eh?
I do think that local supermarkets and petrol stations in these areas should stop selling disposable bbqs. Though to be honest, even where I used to live in Hackney, the local park got ruined by these things so maybe they should just ban them outright.
Load More Replies... Don’t trash the environment. I live at the beach and every single holiday people come out from everywhere. Leave their trash. Drive over peoples yards. And yell at locals who have our dogs off leash on the beach. Our dogs are fine, we’ve trained them to be fine. Your dogs are not fine because they are not trained. The springs near us have been destroyed as well. I went to Ginny Springs last month and it was HORRIFYING. Beer bottles, signs that said “shots for tits”, cigarettes everywhere, trash everywhere. You can’t even hike the mts in the south East bc they’re completely trashed. Why is it so hard for humans to be respectful of nature? It so disgusting and I just cannot understand how anyone can be okay with themselves when they s**t on the world around them.
So much of this is just common sense and valid everywhere: don't litter. Respect people, nature and property. Don't be loud and obnoxious. Don't be a d**k. Anywhere.
It’s abhorring how many people just don’t do this though.
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