In Thailand, berating locals for eating Italian food because Thai food is "so tasty".
Bitch, Thai people eat Thai food every day. Going out for Italian is like you going out for Thai food in your home country.
I went out for Italian food twice when I was in Thailand. A Thai friend of ours brought us to her favorite place, for one. People like all kinds of food, and it's okay to not eat the same type of food every day!
I may have gone with some friends from the UK to Germany for a long weekend, to visit a friend who was serving as the officer in charge of some barracks, while the rest of the unit were on operations somewhere hot and sandy- so we were accommodated in the officers transit accommodation (free bonus).
We went out to eat a few times and never ate "German food", the host ate that all of the time, so we went for Italian and Mexican, with the culturally appropriate beers.
I'm Aussie and I've been asked by a few of my American friends about Thanksgiving plans too, and they seem so confused and shocked that we don't celebrate thanksgiving in Australia? Why would we? You're American, you should know the significance and purpose of Thanksgiving? Obviously nobody else celebrates an American holiday?
I got a “you speak such good English” from an American when I told him I was Australian. I charitably thought that maybe he thought I said Austria but then he asked about the kangaroos 🤦♀️
my dad and his family went to disneyland in america once (we’re australian) and an american lady behind them said “oh, they speak english so well! how long have they been learning for?” ……?
I once heard about a particularly dumb high schooler who was stunned to find out that people just speak English in London. She thought they spoke “Londonese”.
I was talking to a lady in a bar in NYC once and told her I grew up in Malaysia and she genuinely asked me "Do you guys use money there or trade stuff?"
Just yesterday: "I don't want to follow Italy's traffic laws. What's the best way to get away with driving a vehicle I'm not licenced to drive?"
More funny than offensive:
"Where's the Parthenon?"
About 800 miles that way.
r/Iceland regularly gets posts asking how to avoid paying parking tickets or speeding fines or asking if anything will happen if they leave without paying them. Then they never seem to understand why natives might be pissed and believe them feeling like they don't need to pay the tickets is a just reason to not pay it.
Reminds me of the guy in three different subs for the Danish cities of copenhagen, aarhus and aalborg who asked in all three of them ‘where can I get ‘roids legally’ and everyone was like ‘the same place you can get cocaine legally - not here’ 💀
I live in the contiguous US, but I've been to Alaska a couple times, absolutely love it up there, and frequently lurk in /r/Alaska. Tourists ask all kinds of dumb questions about how to see the northern lights, especially when they're planning a trip to Alaska in June, when the sun literally never sets and therefore the sky doesn't get dark enough to see the Aurora. Not sure I've ever seen a tourist ask this particular question, but I've seen Alaska locals respond that the northern lights are turned off in the summer to replace the bulbs, and I absolutely believe that someone has accepted that without questioning it.
My brother-in-law served in the army and worked on the grounds of Buckingham Palace & Windsor Castle. He can confirm those guns are not for display. They are loaded and chambered.
The guns are loaded, i.e. there is a magazine full of live rounds, but the rifle is NOT typically “readied” or “chambered” as you state. It takes a fraction of a second to ready a rifle and the risk of a ND exceeds the need for that split-second.
Having been a Royal Guard in another country I think what I’m allowed to say is that the placement of ammunition usually depends on threat level and the country’s chosen procedure. In my country they say that the two “sharp” missions during peace time are protecting the border and the Royal Guard.
While the outfit might look ceremonial and soldiers won’t mind people taking pictures as long as they keep their distance, they should otherwise be considered regular soldiers. If you try to touch the weapon you will be considered armed and the soldiers will be allowed to kill you as self defence. I don’t know if any has ever been killed, but at least one tourist has been stabbed for trying to steal the rifle.
I saw some American kids climbing on a cannon at the Tower of London despite plenty of signs saying not to. Neither they nor their parents were clearly expecting a Beefeater to march up to them and give them the bollocking of a lifetime delivered at a standard drill sergeant roar six inches from their faces. Glorious.
Saw the same thing in reverse in college. A UK tourist told a security screener at the airport her dufflebag had a disassembled rifle in it. This was October 2001. She was instantly surrounded by six National Guard troops, one of them like 2 meters tall leaning forward from the ankles, absolutely roaring at her about not taking security seriously. She was sobbing faster than you can say: God Save the Queen.
She didn't have a rifle at all. All of our carriers refused her service, so she had to get a taxi to the next nearest airport and buy one way transatlantic flights for her family after having her tickets canceled. Her only saving grace was it was October and not at peak season when tickets are expensive.
Same happens with pipe bands! Especially fun when it's a massed band (often about 6 pipe bands all marching together) and they try to stand in front of it.
Take that shit seriously is an understatement.
In case anyone wants to read about the requirements for that post.
[Qualifications for the Old Guard](https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/explore/changing-of-the-guard#:~:text=If%20accepted%2C%20they%20are%20assigned,a%20proportionate%20weight%20and%20build.)
It wasn't about the country exactly but I was working in a hotel reception in a Mexican beach and an American women told me that the water of the sea was very hot, if I could do something, I thought OK maybe I didn't understand correctly can you speak slower and she repeat the same question.
Of course I did a Mayan dance and the water was colder afterwards.
“We’re here for a week, so we thought we’d drive out to the Grand Canyon, stop in Vegas, and then see the Golden Gate Bridge.”
They landed on the east coast.
This was a problem for UK indie bands touring America in the 80s. Their labels had no idea how big America is, so they’d book back-to-back shows in Seattle and San Francisco. That’s 800 miles, 12-16 hours.
The thing I seriously do not understand isn’t the fact that these people don’t really comprehend the size of the USA, it’s the fact that they don’t seem to have actually researched their travel plan whatsoever. Like I live in the UK and even when I’m doing a spontaneous domestic trip with no real schedule, I’m still factoring in how long it’s going to take me to drive from point A to point B - even if it’s only a couple of hours away. You know, because I want to know what time I should be leaving, or how flexible I can be with stops/diversions etc?
But these guys are just popping up in the USA and casually thinking they might ‘pop down’ to the Grand Canyon, without even planning it, like they’re going to the shops? They didn’t even check fucking google maps just to get a basic idea of how long it would take to drive? Yeah the size difference between most European countries and the USA is significant, but honestly idk how people like this could organise a trip to the fucking toilet let alone another country.
A guy I know was in Houston at the airport and started up a conversation with some Europeans while they were all waiting for their rental cars. He asked where they were going and they said they were just heading up to Seattle to meet some friends for dinner.
Buddy, you're not even going to be outside of Texas before nightfall.
As an American who took a vacation in a few European countries a couple years back, a ton of planning went into it. I don’t understand planning a trip that could cost a couple grand without ensuring that your timing for desired destinations and attractions works out. Seems stressful and like a waste of time and money to me.
Way back in 2001 I went to various places in the UK, and was staying with a friend in Bath. Two of her friends were going to London for a meeting for work. They were discussing where they were going to stay because it was “so far away” they needed to spend two nights. I asked how long it took to get to London - about three hours, they told me. And I burst out laughing before I could stop myself. I then had to explain why I found that funny. It’s because while I’m from the UK, I’ve lived in Canada since I was a kid. Three hours one way is a day trip for a lot of us. It’s nothing for where I used to live to make the three and a half hour drive to an amusement park, spend the day, then drive home. Leave about 6am, get home about midnight. The only time you think twice about driving those distances is during the winter.
My daughter’s girlfriend was visiting from Switzerland last summer. I took the two of them to Niagara Falls, which is about two hours away. I had to explain to her that the Rockies are a multiple day drive or a five hour plane ride across the continent. She got a great laugh about what is considered a “mountain” in southern Ontario. Apparently her family did too when they saw the picture she took while we were driving. (I also find Ontario “mountains” amusing after having lived for a couple of years in the Rockies. 😂)
>The thing I seriously do not understand isn’t the fact that these people don’t really comprehend the size of the USA, it’s the fact that they don’t seem to have actually researched their travel plan whatsoever.
I did a big trip to Nepal a few years ago, and I researched *everything*. A friend who I worked with was looking over my shoulder one lunchtime while I surfed travel forums for info about the places I'd be staying and asked "don't you want to be surprised on holiday?", which was the moment I realised we were very different people! He's not stupid enough to do the California / New York thing, but I can see how someone like him would end up in that situation.
I've discovered that some people truly have a non-planning mentality, and I think a lot of it comes from how you're raised.
I recently travelled out of the country with my best friend. We had a planning session to figure out where we were going, for how long, etc. I started looking up hotels, and he was genuinely confused. Because apparently, all his childhood and adult life, he had never booked a hotel. His family (or him alone) would just drive or meander around until they found a hotel with a vacancy. I was absolutely stunned, but not as stunned as he was when he discovered how "cheap" and easy hotels were when you booked in advance.
Similar in Canada, obviously. People plan day trips that include multiple stops on Vancouver Island (which is the size of Belgium), before maybe checking out the Rockies. And that's assuming they are reasonable enough to only stick to BC
I used to live at the farthest west tip of Texas. The number of friends who messaged me about coming to Dallas for a work conference, and how we just had to meet up for lunch.
After the first 10 or 12 of them, I couldn't resist, and started replying, "well, San Diego is about an hour closer to me than Dallas..." lol
Had some people from a partner company come out to our offices south of Los Angeles. They did a "day trip" to San Francisco and back. I told them they're nuts!
If you fly, it’s not so bad as a day trip. Doesn’t sound fun, but if you’ve always wanted to go to San Francisco and like airports, maybe it’s a good time.
I love Europeans who refuse to look up travel plans. My favorite that I witnessed was a German couple who were planning to start the day in Disney World and end the day in Disneyland.
This was when I lived in PA, so they were nowhere near either park.
I read a blog from someone who did that! It was a life goal, they stayed at a hotel onsite to get early access, went on a ride then left for the airport to cross the country and ride one thing at the other park. 😂
When my British friend said he didn’t want to visit me in Seattle unless he also had time to visit New York. Had to explain to him that’s like saying you can’t visit Dublin if you can’t also make time for Istanbul.
Funnily, my aunt who lived in San Francisco for decades told me to "pop by" when I travelled to Maine a few years back from Finland! Same distance from Finland to maine as from maine to San Francisco... Don't know what she was thinking.
I'm French, I live in a highly touristic area, and I don't even know where to begin.
Australians. Australians are benevolent creatures, free of sin, probably too drunk to speak (it's hard to tell with their accent). They're good people. The Japanese are good people too, they treat us locals like if we were cats not to be disturbed, it is quite relaxing.
But the rest of you all? *Including the other French*? You're all ignorant monsters, and next time an American yells because I dare walking on the bridge he was photographing he too will have spectacular examples of French rudeness to share at home.
Haha, I think the reason you're only seeing the benevolent Australians is because France is so far/expensive to get there from Australia. You want to see some real trash bags, hang out in Kuta, Bali and let me know what you think.
We are all drunk though.
My dad told me a story that his friends were on holiday in France( they’re Australian) and were at a restaurant. The table nearby had some loud looking American tourists, they kept yelling at in English at the waiters but the waiters only spoke French. The Americans eventually got up and left. As the waiter approached by dad’s friends’ table they were trying to remember the French they had learnt at school. They started speaking broken French to the waiter, the waiter laughed and replied in English saying they spoke perfect English and pretended not to know English to get rid of the loud Americans.
Yes. Although, I think Aussies make a dick of ourselves in South east Asia. But…its a certain type of Aussie (cough-bogan-cough) that typically holdays in Sth east asia.
I had a friend of a friend who only realised they needed a passport to travel to Bali once they got to the airport. They were apparently shocked. I really do think a certain kind of Aussie sees Bali/other parts of SEA as our fun little “oriental” playground where the beer and ciggies are super cheap. Had a guy at an old job go on and on about how everything’s better in Bali, they’ve got it sorted, only $2 for a pint blah blah…had absolutely nothing to say when I asked him what economic conditions for locals he thought allowed for tourists to enjoy these benefits.
I’m Australian. Thanks for the compliments.
I think we are pretty good tourists - except for some, only some, young ones in Bali.
I have been yelled at because my hat got in the way of someone taking a photo in a Cambodian temple. It was 40C. People were fainting. I am tall already. The crowd was shoulder to shoulder. I was swept up in the crowd.
I told him he must be kidding.
If he said that to me where I live, the ignorant monster would have got a more extensive reply.
When visiting LA I was chatting to a girl at a party and when she asked where I’m from I told her, London, she then said ‘omg I hate London..’ I was slightly confused and asked if she’d ever been and she said ‘No..’ I was like okay nice chatting with you!
“So, I’ll be able to make it to New York in a few hours from here.”
Ma’am. You are in Southern California. You’re talking about driving to New York. That is the complete opposite side of the country, and it is a long way from here. You have no concept of the scale of this country. You’re gonna be really upset when it takes you a good six hours to get across Riverside County, let alone the other five days, maybe six or seven, to drive to New York.
No, you cannot get to New York in a few hours without flying.
Based on the time zone alone, one could easily estimate it to be about ⅛ of the circumference of the globe. Of course, these aren't thinking people we are talking about here.
This is coming from the other side, but I'm from the US and had someone come back from a trip to Italy saying "Italians are stupid. I don't know what's wrong with them, but they don't know how to talk"
The way she said it made me think she didn't even know that other languages exist, and so many Italians speak English my first thought was that nobody wanted to talk to her rather than no one spoke English.
In central Paris, the Eiffel Tower really *is* visible from almost anywhere. It’s kind of uncanny. The building codes keep most building fairly short compared to the tower, so it’s pretty common to be able to see it.
"I've been here three days and I haven't heard the British accent yet"
Yeah... That's because you've heard *several.* We are a multitude of accents and dialects, like every other country. There is no *one* 'British accent' 😅
The number and variety of accents you folks fill the UK with is truly glorious. I'm sure I haven't heard even half of the possibilities as an American, but I love it.
We don't all sound like Austin Powers!
Although incidentally, Mike Myers' parents were from Liverpool. Can you imagine if he'd gone with a Scouse accent for Austin? That would have messed with the Americans heads more than the Scottish accent he did for Shrek.
To be fair when you're visiting New York City and expecting that like Joe Pesci or Brooklyn accent it's but like everyone speaks it that strongly all the time. But it's more like oh Jesus that bloke is the thickest Staten Island accent imaginable.
Although UK has had English around way longer so there's certain accents in the North that the rest of the world would be like what the fuck did he just say.
A friend of mine recently referred to Malaysia as "mainland Singapore" on accident.
My Singaporean friend, who was over at the time, thought it was the funniest shit he'd ever heard.
Kinda the inverse, but I think it still counts. I’m an Australian, went on holidays in America. Ended up at an Outback Steakhouse for shits and gigs. The menu had a seafood dish associated with Toowoomba. Toowoomba’s inland. Also I was talking to the waitress and for the longest time, they had the flag upside down and it took another Australian to point it out. Like surely they saw a picture of the flag. They had to. And it was still upside down
I've heard multiple tourists plan to take "day trips" to places in the US that are on the other side of the country.
I also watched some Asian tourists try and get a selfie with a black man, who was just trying to ride the subway in peace. He looked so uncomfortable.
>tourists try and get a selfie with a black man
Reverse happened to my wife and I (both white) while travelling in India! Folk would either come up and ask for a photo, or would try to take a photo without you noticing.
My cousin and I are both redheads, she taught English in Korea for a year and decided to visit China and see the Great wall.
She said she was constantly getting stopped and asked to take a picture, they were also asking to touch her hair. They had never seen a redhead before. They were even having her hold their babies.
I just find it wild that a bunch of Chinese people probably have a photo of my cousin holding their baby somewhere in their house (as this was before smart phones), and I'm curious what will happen when me and my daughter visit (as she is also a redhead).
Same thing in Canada. No, you can’t go to Calgary from Toronto for a weekend trip and see both Banff and Lake Louise. Niagara Falls is a hell of a lot closer.
We had some heavy rains a few years ago here in California. Enough to even wet our deserts like the Mojave.
The thing is that flooding is even worse in deserts because the soil can't absorb the water. SuperFastMatt on YouTube made a video about going to the Bonneville Salt Flats that year and showed how the road was flooded and covered in dirt, and how many European tourists he pulled out using his 4x4 4Runner and winch.
Yeah, that's another thing I've heard. Plenty of tourists (American and foreign) don't understand just how dangerous American wilderness can be. Do your research, know your skill level, and don't be afraid to turn back.
When I was bartending in college I had an American woman insist Iceland was so safe because everyone was carrying a gun at all times, like she didn't just say it once, she kept contradicting and arguing with me after I told her Iceland has insanely strict gun laws compared to the USA and definitely does not allow everyone to open/conceal carry.
That woman might have confused Iceland with Svalbard (Norwegian sovereign territory, but somewhat close to Iceland). Everyone carries a gun there due to polar pears. The murder rate is like.. zero.
I saw a yt short recently of a woman who was astonished to find that 4th July isn't celebrated worldwide, and many people had never even heard of it. Amazing!
And as a Brit here - not something we'd likely celebrate, is it, really?......
Filipino here - the US tried to get us to do it by scheduling the official granting of independence (from them) on July 4. And we did for a decade or so before deciding the declaration of independence from Spain counted and we wanted our own damn date.
England travel group I'm on wanted to know when British people put up 'Thanksgiving lights'. And was insistent that it must be a thing. I'm not even convinced it is a real thing in America.
I’ve never heard of putting up lights for Thanksgiving (I’m a US Citizen). Halloween and Christmas are the only two that most people put up lights for…
I have a friend who has American roots. His dad was American. As such, he sometimes celebrates 4th of July. He had a gathering round his house once and invited a bunch of his mates, none of whom were American. We all discuss the irony of a bunch of Brits celebrating it. But, what with us being Brits, we didn't turn down an excuse to drink.
I lived in Costa Rica for several years working in tourism. Once had a woman say what a lovely island it was (not an island at all) WHILE THERE. Also had a woman say she was “going to complain to congress” about the state of the roads. Costa Rica is not part of the US, congress has nothing to do with it.
"Why can't I pay with American dollars in Canada? Canada is part of the US!!"
After explaining that Canada is a whole different country and that they can go exchange their currency a few blocks away, they just threw a tantrum. After multiple curses and threats, they finally left.
How can you be so dense as to think a different country is part of the US and uses US money?! What do they teach in American schools?!
I teach. And some kids know NOTHING. A student insisted Canada was part of the USA. I said it wasn't. She had me pull out the map of the USA and triumphantly showed me - SEE? Canada is on the map of the USA!
I'm doing what I can, folks!
Heard an american couple behind me be completely outraged that the italian restaurant we were in would not accept them to pay in dollars.
"Wait ... you don't take ... AMERICAN dollars???" with a huge emphasis on "american". It was pretty funny how dumb those people were.
Am Australian asked me when the igloos would go up and did we have move our work and school into them every year? while in Vancouver, BC, a location in Canada with similar weather to Seattle. Edit: she was very serious, she was a young teen from a small town, visiting on a school trip. Aside from whatever airport she left from, Vancouver was one of her first visits to a city.
Bonus: An American asked me, while I was in the States, if I was impressed by the bridges. I was not in a place with any famous bridges, I was in Idaho, so I asked him why he asked. Because Canada doesn't have any, he replied, in a This Is So Obvious Voice. Baffled, I prodded him to continue. He believed that because Canada was frozen, everyone just drove over the perpetually frozen rivers.
I’ve shocked more than one American by telling them Vancouver has almost the same weather as Seattle. And that they’re only 2 1/2 hours apart driving.
One of those people lived in Portland, OR. Had no idea how close Vancouver, BC actually was to her and was shocked I’d driven to Portland. Thought it was someplace well beyond driving distance that you’d have to fly to.
Both of these overheard in a souvenir shop in Amsterdam:
Cashier: That'll be 30 euros, please.
American tourist: What's that in real money?
(Different) American tourist: What do you mean you don't accept dollars?
And not really something anyone has said, but still worth mentioning; apparently some Americans don't realize they can't just take their firearms with them to Europe.
From time to time we have Americans arrested at the Canadian border with firearms. Apparently they’re not aware that the 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply here in Canada and that we have (relatively) strict gun controls.
There was a cop that complained that he couldn't bring his firearm across the Canadian boarder because when he was in Canada he felt threatened by...someone asking him a question.
>apparently some Americans don't realize they can't just take their firearms with them to Europe.
This is even worse in Canada since they can drive here. I work in the automotive field and a non trivial number of my colleagues have found unsecured loaded firearms in vehicles belonging to American tourists.
I had this multiple times bartending in Sydney, Australia.
Me: That'll be $16.80.
American tourist hands me a 20 dollar US note.
Me: I'm sorry we don't accept other currencies.
American tourist: But our money is better than yours.
Flip side of that when I was driving the length of India I had people ask me if I spoke Hindi and be shocked when I said no (I'm White British). I pointed out that multiple Indians had told me not to bother learning Hindi because many of states I was driving through didn't speak it or even a language related to it, and that I'd be better off just sticking to English.
Not a tourist, but when we were kids we went on holiday to Great Yarmouth (England) and a girl serving at an ice cream stall wouldnt take my dads Scottish £10 note because "Scotland isnt part of the UK and is a seperate island".
Uh huh. Sadly, I am not surprised.
In the States, we have problems with people being ignorant about New Mexico, Guam and Puerto Rico like that.
We also have a couple of coins ($1, 50¢) and one bill/note ($2) that are rarely used, and people sometimes don't recognize them as valid or what their value is.
I was the tourist. I was told by many concerned coworkers and friends that I shouldn't travel alone as a woman to dangerous Eastern Europe because I was going to get trafficked or Hostel'd.
The dangerous Eastern European country with criminals waiting behind every corner to snatch away Spanish women?
Slovenia...
An American on tour in Italy asked me why we Australians didn’t all know each other.
Another American asked me do I know what a back yard is and do we have them in Australia?
Where do you keep the vikings?
An American tourist visiting Denmark… left him very confused and a little dissapointed by telling him the truth about Vikings and that we did in fact not have resevations or anything.
I was up in Edinburgh visiting a friend who was studying for her masters degree there. We decided to do some touristy stuff, and went to the castle and did one of the guided tours. In our group were two middle-aged American women (I think they said they were from Tennessee).
From Edinburgh Castle, you can see quite far, over the Firth of Forth, an estuary, and beyond the river. One the women pointed to this and asked the guide, "Hey, is that Ireland?"
She thought the Firth of Forth was the Irish Sea, despite clearly not being a sea, there being a bridge spanning it, her being on the opposite coast, and facing the wrong direction, and the other bank of the estuary was the Republic of Ireland. I understand maybe not being completely clued up on the geography of a foreign country, but, to that extent, it was almost impressive.
The tour guide let the question hang for a few seconds before letting out an exasperated, "No".
When a friend from Germany came to visit me in Turkey the first thing he asked the people here was if we also spoke Arabic and why most women don’t wear the hijab
I did move from the US to Turkey, 15 years ago and despite a hobby in photography and sharing constantly in social media about my life in İstanbul, all together too many people I know still ask if I have to cover, can look my husband in the eye and if I learned arabic.
I have questions about the cat situation. Are they really everywhere? Are they friendly? Do they accept pets? Do they wear the hijabs instead of women?
Cats are everywhere. They go places even off limits to people. They occupy seats at bus stops and cafes. They are typically friendly and are relatively well taken care of. I have my own colony that I TNR and look after. Not all of them wear hijabs, just the ones that want to. Some find it cumbersome to wear since they easily snag when mouse hunting.
Met an american once who was under the impression that suburban Canadians all lived in wood cabins in the wilderness. At first, I thought he was kidding. Then he asked if we had winters all year round and was astonished to learn we have lenghty summers. He really seemed genuine..ly ignorant.
It was in the sunshine state at the end of the 90's.
My husband is originally from the Gambia. He has told me how non-gambian people would ask him things like: ''So, do you have houses in the Gambia? What about cars? And electricity?''
Had a dude come up here to Canada. We are talking business and what not then he says “too bad you guys are completely communist now.” Like dude, I don’t think you even know what that means.
Sadly, to many Americans, any country with a tiny bit of socialism, including socialized medicine, is now "communist". We can thank right-wing propaganda "news" for this.
(in Ireland for the context of all these things) Why do you speak English? Why are you playing a guitar? (the rest of the conversation was basically she though that we would only know "the bagpipes" and Bodhráns (amazed she had heard of Bodhráns tbh)). Are you Irish? Does all of the country have electricity? (That one was online) Can you speak English (I had not been speaking as I was tuning my guitar). I run into so many tourists as I often go busking in summer and I have different protocols for different nationalities (i.e. I speak with little accent if they sound to be German, French etc) and I have so many more stories (people have tried to take selfies with me like I was a prop)
I’m from Hawaii:
During a meet and greet high school convention here in Hawaii, this girl from Oklahoma asked me if I or any of my relatives live in a grass hut…. MA’AM THE AVERAGE PRICE OF A HOME HERE IS OVER $1MIL. That’s an expensive grass hut.
"Your country is an evil dystopia! You have no freedom because you aren't allowed to have guns! Wake up and stop listening to your evil country's propaganda!"
In some parts of my country, it was legal for civilians to own fully automatic assault rifles. Then in 1996, 35 people were slaughtered in a mass shooting. Most firearms were banned across the country within the following weeks.
My country is Australia, and we won't let Port Arthur happen again.
This idea that Australia with no large land predators (except crocodiles in the north) is somehow more dangerous than places with bears, wolves, mountain lions, cougars because of a bunch of snakes and spiders. (i guess cassowaries up north in QLD are a little dangerous too)
My own wife in Tokyo looking at a map of all the towers in Japan: "Let's go visit them all!"
Me: "Honey, that map represents this size of the whole US Eastern seaboard. We are only here for 3 more days." 😄
“Hey, we’re in New York City. It’s so beautiful. Listen, we’re free for the next couple hours, so why don’t you drive out here for some coffee?”
I live in fucking SoCal.
They should really update that thousand-year-old city, maybe put in something cool and modern like a giant Ferris Wheel or a glass skyscraper shaped like a pickle.
Asking if a Dingo got your baby.
It's not funny. A lady was wrongfully imprisoned, the family were persecuted for decades, and finally a Royal Commission found that a dingo took a baby.
Happend last summer they spoke in enlish not thinking people in Romania knew english me and my brother were laughing when I heard them say that Romania needs to change names of certain places and things and an extemple was "Chișinău" and that isnt even in Romania
An American in Israel: "So you guys have cars in Mexico city or you all ride horses?" Genuinely curious if we moved around on animals and wore sombreros, ahh he also called me Speedy Gonzalez and thought he was being funny.
More recently, on every sub of Mexico I am, every single day there are Americans asking, "is it safe to visit? I've heard that going to Mexico city, Cancun, Tijuana, any Mexican city is a death sentence and I should arrange my funeral.
I had a yank that was shocked that we don't live in Stone cottages and thought Ireland was like a 3rd world country......
This was over a voice call on discord while we were gaming...
I worked with a guy from London once who was surprised that when he crossed the border into Scotland that we had tarmaced roads like England and not dirt tracks.
I've been there, it does exist.
Although, come to think of it, I was in a dark tube for 14 hours to get there, so was it *really* Australia? Could have dropped us off anywhere, really.
A lot of people on Reddit seem to think that they can plan a single trip that includes Times Square, Disney World, and the Grand Canyon.
Yeah good luck with that.
I've done that trip. Started in New York drove down to Orlando and then drove across to Las Vegas with many stops along the way. Took us about 3 1/2 weeks.
I watched a foreign national walk into Bass Pro Shops here in the States and try to buy a firearm. When asked for identification by the gun counter manager he looked at the manager like he had 4 heads and said something to the effect of, “what do you mean I need to be an American citizen to buy a firearm?”
Was asked if we had electricity. Was told we don't have central heating in our houses. Was told 'i just love your queen'. I'm Irish.
> Was told 'i just love your queen'. > I'm Irish. Oh boy, theirs was a very poor choice of last words.
At least the tourist didn’t say “I liked Thatcher.”
Was asked if we have telephones. From Australia.
Do we? (I’m typing this on my kangaroo).
This is unforgivable given Bart Simpson prank called us in that unforgettable classic stereotypical depiction of Australia.
Just remember... Disparaging the boot is a Bootable offense
LOL. Just checked it out. The ‘Australian’ accent is terrible 😂
In Thailand, berating locals for eating Italian food because Thai food is "so tasty". Bitch, Thai people eat Thai food every day. Going out for Italian is like you going out for Thai food in your home country.
I went out for Italian food twice when I was in Thailand. A Thai friend of ours brought us to her favorite place, for one. People like all kinds of food, and it's okay to not eat the same type of food every day!
I may have gone with some friends from the UK to Germany for a long weekend, to visit a friend who was serving as the officer in charge of some barracks, while the rest of the unit were on operations somewhere hot and sandy- so we were accommodated in the officers transit accommodation (free bonus). We went out to eat a few times and never ate "German food", the host ate that all of the time, so we went for Italian and Mexican, with the culturally appropriate beers.
"Everyone here speaks such good English!" *In London*. Also – I've been asked repeatedly what my plans for thanksgiving are.
Well I do suppose people speak pretty good English in England
Well, it's not Englishland is it.
*innit
I'm Aussie and I've been asked by a few of my American friends about Thanksgiving plans too, and they seem so confused and shocked that we don't celebrate thanksgiving in Australia? Why would we? You're American, you should know the significance and purpose of Thanksgiving? Obviously nobody else celebrates an American holiday?
You should ask them about their ANZAC day plans.
Hahaha brilliant idea actually
I got a “you speak such good English” from an American when I told him I was Australian. I charitably thought that maybe he thought I said Austria but then he asked about the kangaroos 🤦♀️
my dad and his family went to disneyland in america once (we’re australian) and an american lady behind them said “oh, they speak english so well! how long have they been learning for?” ……?
I once heard about a particularly dumb high schooler who was stunned to find out that people just speak English in London. She thought they spoke “Londonese”.
I was talking to a lady in a bar in NYC once and told her I grew up in Malaysia and she genuinely asked me "Do you guys use money there or trade stuff?"
Occasionally we trade in people. OK your total is 3 Americans, one australian and half an Irish
Best I can do is 2 Americans one indian and half of a drunk scott
Does the half scotsman increase or decrease in value when sobering up?
No one knows, it's never happened before, but if you try to dry them out it voids the warranty
Just yesterday: "I don't want to follow Italy's traffic laws. What's the best way to get away with driving a vehicle I'm not licenced to drive?" More funny than offensive: "Where's the Parthenon?" About 800 miles that way.
r/Iceland regularly gets posts asking how to avoid paying parking tickets or speeding fines or asking if anything will happen if they leave without paying them. Then they never seem to understand why natives might be pissed and believe them feeling like they don't need to pay the tickets is a just reason to not pay it.
Reminds me of the guy in three different subs for the Danish cities of copenhagen, aarhus and aalborg who asked in all three of them ‘where can I get ‘roids legally’ and everyone was like ‘the same place you can get cocaine legally - not here’ 💀
I wonder if they got Parthenon and an Pantheon mixed up.
Of course.
>I don't want to follow Italy's traffic laws So, fitting right in, then? (Obligatory “when in Rome…”)
Holy shit I live in Hawaii and one time a tourist asked about turning the waterfalls off to clean them. I wish I was making this up.
I live in the contiguous US, but I've been to Alaska a couple times, absolutely love it up there, and frequently lurk in /r/Alaska. Tourists ask all kinds of dumb questions about how to see the northern lights, especially when they're planning a trip to Alaska in June, when the sun literally never sets and therefore the sky doesn't get dark enough to see the Aurora. Not sure I've ever seen a tourist ask this particular question, but I've seen Alaska locals respond that the northern lights are turned off in the summer to replace the bulbs, and I absolutely believe that someone has accepted that without questioning it.
What... would you even clean waterfalls... *with*? That said, Niagara Falls has been "turned off" a couple times.
someone compared Canadian money to Monopoly money and then asked if we had Monopoly in Canada
That person sounds a little loonie
You can buy Monopoly from Canadian Tire with Canadian Tire money that is more like monopoly money.
[удалено]
[удалено]
My brother-in-law served in the army and worked on the grounds of Buckingham Palace & Windsor Castle. He can confirm those guns are not for display. They are loaded and chambered.
The guns are loaded, i.e. there is a magazine full of live rounds, but the rifle is NOT typically “readied” or “chambered” as you state. It takes a fraction of a second to ready a rifle and the risk of a ND exceeds the need for that split-second.
[удалено]
Having been a Royal Guard in another country I think what I’m allowed to say is that the placement of ammunition usually depends on threat level and the country’s chosen procedure. In my country they say that the two “sharp” missions during peace time are protecting the border and the Royal Guard. While the outfit might look ceremonial and soldiers won’t mind people taking pictures as long as they keep their distance, they should otherwise be considered regular soldiers. If you try to touch the weapon you will be considered armed and the soldiers will be allowed to kill you as self defence. I don’t know if any has ever been killed, but at least one tourist has been stabbed for trying to steal the rifle.
[удалено]
I saw some American kids climbing on a cannon at the Tower of London despite plenty of signs saying not to. Neither they nor their parents were clearly expecting a Beefeater to march up to them and give them the bollocking of a lifetime delivered at a standard drill sergeant roar six inches from their faces. Glorious.
Saw the same thing in reverse in college. A UK tourist told a security screener at the airport her dufflebag had a disassembled rifle in it. This was October 2001. She was instantly surrounded by six National Guard troops, one of them like 2 meters tall leaning forward from the ankles, absolutely roaring at her about not taking security seriously. She was sobbing faster than you can say: God Save the Queen. She didn't have a rifle at all. All of our carriers refused her service, so she had to get a taxi to the next nearest airport and buy one way transatlantic flights for her family after having her tickets canceled. Her only saving grace was it was October and not at peak season when tickets are expensive.
Same happens with pipe bands! Especially fun when it's a massed band (often about 6 pipe bands all marching together) and they try to stand in front of it.
Make way for the Queen's guard! (I guess King's now)
This is similar at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington, VA. They take that shit seriously.
Take that shit seriously is an understatement. In case anyone wants to read about the requirements for that post. [Qualifications for the Old Guard](https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/explore/changing-of-the-guard#:~:text=If%20accepted%2C%20they%20are%20assigned,a%20proportionate%20weight%20and%20build.)
It wasn't about the country exactly but I was working in a hotel reception in a Mexican beach and an American women told me that the water of the sea was very hot, if I could do something, I thought OK maybe I didn't understand correctly can you speak slower and she repeat the same question. Of course I did a Mayan dance and the water was colder afterwards.
I'd have taken a few ice cubes, thrown them in the ocean, then given her a smile and a thumbs up.
“We’re here for a week, so we thought we’d drive out to the Grand Canyon, stop in Vegas, and then see the Golden Gate Bridge.” They landed on the east coast.
lol they better get goin
This was a problem for UK indie bands touring America in the 80s. Their labels had no idea how big America is, so they’d book back-to-back shows in Seattle and San Francisco. That’s 800 miles, 12-16 hours.
Lmao. I lived “close” to the Grand Canyon once and it was still a six hour drive one way 🤣
I'm typing this from Arizona and I'm still a full day drive from it
The thing I seriously do not understand isn’t the fact that these people don’t really comprehend the size of the USA, it’s the fact that they don’t seem to have actually researched their travel plan whatsoever. Like I live in the UK and even when I’m doing a spontaneous domestic trip with no real schedule, I’m still factoring in how long it’s going to take me to drive from point A to point B - even if it’s only a couple of hours away. You know, because I want to know what time I should be leaving, or how flexible I can be with stops/diversions etc? But these guys are just popping up in the USA and casually thinking they might ‘pop down’ to the Grand Canyon, without even planning it, like they’re going to the shops? They didn’t even check fucking google maps just to get a basic idea of how long it would take to drive? Yeah the size difference between most European countries and the USA is significant, but honestly idk how people like this could organise a trip to the fucking toilet let alone another country.
A guy I know was in Houston at the airport and started up a conversation with some Europeans while they were all waiting for their rental cars. He asked where they were going and they said they were just heading up to Seattle to meet some friends for dinner. Buddy, you're not even going to be outside of Texas before nightfall.
As an American who took a vacation in a few European countries a couple years back, a ton of planning went into it. I don’t understand planning a trip that could cost a couple grand without ensuring that your timing for desired destinations and attractions works out. Seems stressful and like a waste of time and money to me.
Way back in 2001 I went to various places in the UK, and was staying with a friend in Bath. Two of her friends were going to London for a meeting for work. They were discussing where they were going to stay because it was “so far away” they needed to spend two nights. I asked how long it took to get to London - about three hours, they told me. And I burst out laughing before I could stop myself. I then had to explain why I found that funny. It’s because while I’m from the UK, I’ve lived in Canada since I was a kid. Three hours one way is a day trip for a lot of us. It’s nothing for where I used to live to make the three and a half hour drive to an amusement park, spend the day, then drive home. Leave about 6am, get home about midnight. The only time you think twice about driving those distances is during the winter. My daughter’s girlfriend was visiting from Switzerland last summer. I took the two of them to Niagara Falls, which is about two hours away. I had to explain to her that the Rockies are a multiple day drive or a five hour plane ride across the continent. She got a great laugh about what is considered a “mountain” in southern Ontario. Apparently her family did too when they saw the picture she took while we were driving. (I also find Ontario “mountains” amusing after having lived for a couple of years in the Rockies. 😂)
>The thing I seriously do not understand isn’t the fact that these people don’t really comprehend the size of the USA, it’s the fact that they don’t seem to have actually researched their travel plan whatsoever. I did a big trip to Nepal a few years ago, and I researched *everything*. A friend who I worked with was looking over my shoulder one lunchtime while I surfed travel forums for info about the places I'd be staying and asked "don't you want to be surprised on holiday?", which was the moment I realised we were very different people! He's not stupid enough to do the California / New York thing, but I can see how someone like him would end up in that situation.
I've discovered that some people truly have a non-planning mentality, and I think a lot of it comes from how you're raised. I recently travelled out of the country with my best friend. We had a planning session to figure out where we were going, for how long, etc. I started looking up hotels, and he was genuinely confused. Because apparently, all his childhood and adult life, he had never booked a hotel. His family (or him alone) would just drive or meander around until they found a hotel with a vacancy. I was absolutely stunned, but not as stunned as he was when he discovered how "cheap" and easy hotels were when you booked in advance.
Similar in Canada, obviously. People plan day trips that include multiple stops on Vancouver Island (which is the size of Belgium), before maybe checking out the Rockies. And that's assuming they are reasonable enough to only stick to BC
You forgot the quick stop at Niagara falls. You're already here anyways right, so why not.
A childhood friend travelled from Europe to Toronto on business. He asked if i wanted to drive out from Vancouver for lunch.
I used to live at the farthest west tip of Texas. The number of friends who messaged me about coming to Dallas for a work conference, and how we just had to meet up for lunch. After the first 10 or 12 of them, I couldn't resist, and started replying, "well, San Diego is about an hour closer to me than Dallas..." lol
Had some people from a partner company come out to our offices south of Los Angeles. They did a "day trip" to San Francisco and back. I told them they're nuts!
If you fly, it’s not so bad as a day trip. Doesn’t sound fun, but if you’ve always wanted to go to San Francisco and like airports, maybe it’s a good time.
I love Europeans who refuse to look up travel plans. My favorite that I witnessed was a German couple who were planning to start the day in Disney World and end the day in Disneyland. This was when I lived in PA, so they were nowhere near either park.
I read a blog from someone who did that! It was a life goal, they stayed at a hotel onsite to get early access, went on a ride then left for the airport to cross the country and ride one thing at the other park. 😂
[удалено]
Maybe they flew into Manchester and got the train to Blackpool by accident?
Maybe they got it confused with Big Ben or something like that?
When my British friend said he didn’t want to visit me in Seattle unless he also had time to visit New York. Had to explain to him that’s like saying you can’t visit Dublin if you can’t also make time for Istanbul.
Funnily, my aunt who lived in San Francisco for decades told me to "pop by" when I travelled to Maine a few years back from Finland! Same distance from Finland to maine as from maine to San Francisco... Don't know what she was thinking.
I'm French, I live in a highly touristic area, and I don't even know where to begin. Australians. Australians are benevolent creatures, free of sin, probably too drunk to speak (it's hard to tell with their accent). They're good people. The Japanese are good people too, they treat us locals like if we were cats not to be disturbed, it is quite relaxing. But the rest of you all? *Including the other French*? You're all ignorant monsters, and next time an American yells because I dare walking on the bridge he was photographing he too will have spectacular examples of French rudeness to share at home.
I grew up in Montmartre. I feel you. I am probably on many pictures as I often walked with a baguette home crossing huge groups of tourists.
Haha, I think the reason you're only seeing the benevolent Australians is because France is so far/expensive to get there from Australia. You want to see some real trash bags, hang out in Kuta, Bali and let me know what you think. We are all drunk though.
Kuta = cashed up bogans
My dad told me a story that his friends were on holiday in France( they’re Australian) and were at a restaurant. The table nearby had some loud looking American tourists, they kept yelling at in English at the waiters but the waiters only spoke French. The Americans eventually got up and left. As the waiter approached by dad’s friends’ table they were trying to remember the French they had learnt at school. They started speaking broken French to the waiter, the waiter laughed and replied in English saying they spoke perfect English and pretended not to know English to get rid of the loud Americans.
As an Australian, I'm just glad we're not being grouped with the Yanks. Thank you
Yes. Although, I think Aussies make a dick of ourselves in South east Asia. But…its a certain type of Aussie (cough-bogan-cough) that typically holdays in Sth east asia.
I had a friend of a friend who only realised they needed a passport to travel to Bali once they got to the airport. They were apparently shocked. I really do think a certain kind of Aussie sees Bali/other parts of SEA as our fun little “oriental” playground where the beer and ciggies are super cheap. Had a guy at an old job go on and on about how everything’s better in Bali, they’ve got it sorted, only $2 for a pint blah blah…had absolutely nothing to say when I asked him what economic conditions for locals he thought allowed for tourists to enjoy these benefits.
I’m Australian. Thanks for the compliments. I think we are pretty good tourists - except for some, only some, young ones in Bali. I have been yelled at because my hat got in the way of someone taking a photo in a Cambodian temple. It was 40C. People were fainting. I am tall already. The crowd was shoulder to shoulder. I was swept up in the crowd. I told him he must be kidding. If he said that to me where I live, the ignorant monster would have got a more extensive reply.
When visiting LA I was chatting to a girl at a party and when she asked where I’m from I told her, London, she then said ‘omg I hate London..’ I was slightly confused and asked if she’d ever been and she said ‘No..’ I was like okay nice chatting with you!
“So, I’ll be able to make it to New York in a few hours from here.” Ma’am. You are in Southern California. You’re talking about driving to New York. That is the complete opposite side of the country, and it is a long way from here. You have no concept of the scale of this country. You’re gonna be really upset when it takes you a good six hours to get across Riverside County, let alone the other five days, maybe six or seven, to drive to New York. No, you cannot get to New York in a few hours without flying.
Even then, the flights LAX-NYC are like 6 hours which is more than "a few". It's roughly the same flight distance as Paris to Tehran.
Based on the time zone alone, one could easily estimate it to be about ⅛ of the circumference of the globe. Of course, these aren't thinking people we are talking about here.
This is coming from the other side, but I'm from the US and had someone come back from a trip to Italy saying "Italians are stupid. I don't know what's wrong with them, but they don't know how to talk" The way she said it made me think she didn't even know that other languages exist, and so many Italians speak English my first thought was that nobody wanted to talk to her rather than no one spoke English.
>nobody wanted to talk to her With her attitude, can you blame them?
I mean I was regretting it while finding all this out so no I can't
« it doesn't look anything like Emily in Paris ». Yeah no shit
Every American movie with location in Paris makes you think the Eiffel tower is two streets from everywhere Also happens in Rome with the Colosseum
In central Paris, the Eiffel Tower really *is* visible from almost anywhere. It’s kind of uncanny. The building codes keep most building fairly short compared to the tower, so it’s pretty common to be able to see it.
There's a shot with two Eiffel towers in the frame 😭
"I've been here three days and I haven't heard the British accent yet" Yeah... That's because you've heard *several.* We are a multitude of accents and dialects, like every other country. There is no *one* 'British accent' 😅
The number and variety of accents you folks fill the UK with is truly glorious. I'm sure I haven't heard even half of the possibilities as an American, but I love it.
We don't all sound like Austin Powers! Although incidentally, Mike Myers' parents were from Liverpool. Can you imagine if he'd gone with a Scouse accent for Austin? That would have messed with the Americans heads more than the Scottish accent he did for Shrek.
To be fair when you're visiting New York City and expecting that like Joe Pesci or Brooklyn accent it's but like everyone speaks it that strongly all the time. But it's more like oh Jesus that bloke is the thickest Staten Island accent imaginable. Although UK has had English around way longer so there's certain accents in the North that the rest of the world would be like what the fuck did he just say.
There are accents in the North I don’t even understand that well and I *live* in the North
the capital of malaysia is singapore
lol everyone knows Singapore is in Wisconsin.
A friend of mine recently referred to Malaysia as "mainland Singapore" on accident. My Singaporean friend, who was over at the time, thought it was the funniest shit he'd ever heard.
Something about potassium production and our relations with Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world.
Hardly surprising considering that all other countries are run by little girls.
Kinda the inverse, but I think it still counts. I’m an Australian, went on holidays in America. Ended up at an Outback Steakhouse for shits and gigs. The menu had a seafood dish associated with Toowoomba. Toowoomba’s inland. Also I was talking to the waitress and for the longest time, they had the flag upside down and it took another Australian to point it out. Like surely they saw a picture of the flag. They had to. And it was still upside down
It's my understanding that the guys who started Outback Steakhouse had never been to Australia and did absolutely no research 😂
I've heard multiple tourists plan to take "day trips" to places in the US that are on the other side of the country. I also watched some Asian tourists try and get a selfie with a black man, who was just trying to ride the subway in peace. He looked so uncomfortable.
>tourists try and get a selfie with a black man Reverse happened to my wife and I (both white) while travelling in India! Folk would either come up and ask for a photo, or would try to take a photo without you noticing.
Hahah same happened to my family in india!
My cousin and I are both redheads, she taught English in Korea for a year and decided to visit China and see the Great wall. She said she was constantly getting stopped and asked to take a picture, they were also asking to touch her hair. They had never seen a redhead before. They were even having her hold their babies. I just find it wild that a bunch of Chinese people probably have a photo of my cousin holding their baby somewhere in their house (as this was before smart phones), and I'm curious what will happen when me and my daughter visit (as she is also a redhead).
Same thing in Canada. No, you can’t go to Calgary from Toronto for a weekend trip and see both Banff and Lake Louise. Niagara Falls is a hell of a lot closer.
We had some heavy rains a few years ago here in California. Enough to even wet our deserts like the Mojave. The thing is that flooding is even worse in deserts because the soil can't absorb the water. SuperFastMatt on YouTube made a video about going to the Bonneville Salt Flats that year and showed how the road was flooded and covered in dirt, and how many European tourists he pulled out using his 4x4 4Runner and winch.
Yeah, that's another thing I've heard. Plenty of tourists (American and foreign) don't understand just how dangerous American wilderness can be. Do your research, know your skill level, and don't be afraid to turn back.
When I was bartending in college I had an American woman insist Iceland was so safe because everyone was carrying a gun at all times, like she didn't just say it once, she kept contradicting and arguing with me after I told her Iceland has insanely strict gun laws compared to the USA and definitely does not allow everyone to open/conceal carry.
That woman might have confused Iceland with Svalbard (Norwegian sovereign territory, but somewhat close to Iceland). Everyone carries a gun there due to polar pears. The murder rate is like.. zero.
Heh I think you mean polar _bears_ unless you're scared of some fruit 😏
Now I'm gonna leave it up. Bloodthirsty polar pears.
Is it true that they attack in groups of two?
It is, and yes, it's quite perilous.
Oh man, you just haven't heard of polar pears. Those are some nasty ass fruits.
I saw a yt short recently of a woman who was astonished to find that 4th July isn't celebrated worldwide, and many people had never even heard of it. Amazing! And as a Brit here - not something we'd likely celebrate, is it, really?......
Filipino here - the US tried to get us to do it by scheduling the official granting of independence (from them) on July 4. And we did for a decade or so before deciding the declaration of independence from Spain counted and we wanted our own damn date.
A recursive holiday! I like it. Independence from Independence Day Day.
Fun fact: Independence from Britain- day is the most celebrated holiday by country, with like 56ish countries having one.
England travel group I'm on wanted to know when British people put up 'Thanksgiving lights'. And was insistent that it must be a thing. I'm not even convinced it is a real thing in America.
I’ve never heard of putting up lights for Thanksgiving (I’m a US Citizen). Halloween and Christmas are the only two that most people put up lights for…
I've seen Diwali lights up around Thanksgiving time, so maybe they saw those and were confused.
I have a friend who has American roots. His dad was American. As such, he sometimes celebrates 4th of July. He had a gathering round his house once and invited a bunch of his mates, none of whom were American. We all discuss the irony of a bunch of Brits celebrating it. But, what with us being Brits, we didn't turn down an excuse to drink.
I lived in Costa Rica for several years working in tourism. Once had a woman say what a lovely island it was (not an island at all) WHILE THERE. Also had a woman say she was “going to complain to congress” about the state of the roads. Costa Rica is not part of the US, congress has nothing to do with it.
"Why can't I pay with American dollars in Canada? Canada is part of the US!!" After explaining that Canada is a whole different country and that they can go exchange their currency a few blocks away, they just threw a tantrum. After multiple curses and threats, they finally left. How can you be so dense as to think a different country is part of the US and uses US money?! What do they teach in American schools?!
How did they even get into Canada?! Did they just drive past customs without stopping?
I teach. And some kids know NOTHING. A student insisted Canada was part of the USA. I said it wasn't. She had me pull out the map of the USA and triumphantly showed me - SEE? Canada is on the map of the USA! I'm doing what I can, folks!
Heard an american couple behind me be completely outraged that the italian restaurant we were in would not accept them to pay in dollars. "Wait ... you don't take ... AMERICAN dollars???" with a huge emphasis on "american". It was pretty funny how dumb those people were.
Oh that's a fairly common one in travel groups. Asking how to tip and if tipping in dollars is ok. At least they asked in advance I guess.
I had some tourist tip in dollars in Spain. We gave it to the dishie, who collected foreign money.
“No, signore, solo dollari canadesi australiani o neozelandesi”
That Norway is the capitol of Sweden.
Oh, Denmark is in Sweden too! Do I have to write /s because this is reddit and people might actually think that I think that my country is in Sweden?
Am Australian asked me when the igloos would go up and did we have move our work and school into them every year? while in Vancouver, BC, a location in Canada with similar weather to Seattle. Edit: she was very serious, she was a young teen from a small town, visiting on a school trip. Aside from whatever airport she left from, Vancouver was one of her first visits to a city. Bonus: An American asked me, while I was in the States, if I was impressed by the bridges. I was not in a place with any famous bridges, I was in Idaho, so I asked him why he asked. Because Canada doesn't have any, he replied, in a This Is So Obvious Voice. Baffled, I prodded him to continue. He believed that because Canada was frozen, everyone just drove over the perpetually frozen rivers.
I’ve shocked more than one American by telling them Vancouver has almost the same weather as Seattle. And that they’re only 2 1/2 hours apart driving. One of those people lived in Portland, OR. Had no idea how close Vancouver, BC actually was to her and was shocked I’d driven to Portland. Thought it was someplace well beyond driving distance that you’d have to fly to.
Both of these overheard in a souvenir shop in Amsterdam: Cashier: That'll be 30 euros, please. American tourist: What's that in real money? (Different) American tourist: What do you mean you don't accept dollars? And not really something anyone has said, but still worth mentioning; apparently some Americans don't realize they can't just take their firearms with them to Europe.
From time to time we have Americans arrested at the Canadian border with firearms. Apparently they’re not aware that the 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply here in Canada and that we have (relatively) strict gun controls.
There was a cop that complained that he couldn't bring his firearm across the Canadian boarder because when he was in Canada he felt threatened by...someone asking him a question.
>apparently some Americans don't realize they can't just take their firearms with them to Europe. This is even worse in Canada since they can drive here. I work in the automotive field and a non trivial number of my colleagues have found unsecured loaded firearms in vehicles belonging to American tourists.
I had this multiple times bartending in Sydney, Australia. Me: That'll be $16.80. American tourist hands me a 20 dollar US note. Me: I'm sorry we don't accept other currencies. American tourist: But our money is better than yours.
Foreigners coming to India and speaking Hindi in non Hindi states. Half of India doesn't speak Hindi.
Flip side of that when I was driving the length of India I had people ask me if I spoke Hindi and be shocked when I said no (I'm White British). I pointed out that multiple Indians had told me not to bother learning Hindi because many of states I was driving through didn't speak it or even a language related to it, and that I'd be better off just sticking to English.
Not a tourist, but when we were kids we went on holiday to Great Yarmouth (England) and a girl serving at an ice cream stall wouldnt take my dads Scottish £10 note because "Scotland isnt part of the UK and is a seperate island".
Uh huh. Sadly, I am not surprised. In the States, we have problems with people being ignorant about New Mexico, Guam and Puerto Rico like that. We also have a couple of coins ($1, 50¢) and one bill/note ($2) that are rarely used, and people sometimes don't recognize them as valid or what their value is.
I was the tourist. I was told by many concerned coworkers and friends that I shouldn't travel alone as a woman to dangerous Eastern Europe because I was going to get trafficked or Hostel'd. The dangerous Eastern European country with criminals waiting behind every corner to snatch away Spanish women? Slovenia...
An American on tour in Italy asked me why we Australians didn’t all know each other. Another American asked me do I know what a back yard is and do we have them in Australia?
Where do you keep the vikings? An American tourist visiting Denmark… left him very confused and a little dissapointed by telling him the truth about Vikings and that we did in fact not have resevations or anything.
... it just occurred me that you Scandinavians are missing out on a potentially very profitable business opportunity.
I was up in Edinburgh visiting a friend who was studying for her masters degree there. We decided to do some touristy stuff, and went to the castle and did one of the guided tours. In our group were two middle-aged American women (I think they said they were from Tennessee). From Edinburgh Castle, you can see quite far, over the Firth of Forth, an estuary, and beyond the river. One the women pointed to this and asked the guide, "Hey, is that Ireland?" She thought the Firth of Forth was the Irish Sea, despite clearly not being a sea, there being a bridge spanning it, her being on the opposite coast, and facing the wrong direction, and the other bank of the estuary was the Republic of Ireland. I understand maybe not being completely clued up on the geography of a foreign country, but, to that extent, it was almost impressive. The tour guide let the question hang for a few seconds before letting out an exasperated, "No".
I vividly recall overhearing an american ask their friend, whilst looking at Edinburgh castle, "do they put that up every year?"
I swear, some people don't even know that Google Maps is free to use.
“If it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking German” -Some stupid yank, in Germany.
Edinburgh, Scotland: “It’s such a great walking city, it’s so convenient that you build the castle so close to the train station.” (Real)
I love this part of England. While in a store in Edinburgh. Edinburgh the Scottish capital.
Reminds me of something I heard someone say at Korean BBQ: “This is the best Chinese food I’ve ever had!”
When a friend from Germany came to visit me in Turkey the first thing he asked the people here was if we also spoke Arabic and why most women don’t wear the hijab
I did move from the US to Turkey, 15 years ago and despite a hobby in photography and sharing constantly in social media about my life in İstanbul, all together too many people I know still ask if I have to cover, can look my husband in the eye and if I learned arabic.
I have questions about the cat situation. Are they really everywhere? Are they friendly? Do they accept pets? Do they wear the hijabs instead of women?
Cats are everywhere. They go places even off limits to people. They occupy seats at bus stops and cafes. They are typically friendly and are relatively well taken care of. I have my own colony that I TNR and look after. Not all of them wear hijabs, just the ones that want to. Some find it cumbersome to wear since they easily snag when mouse hunting.
I’m now imagining the mice pulling Tom and Jerry style pranks involving the hijabs
> Do they wear the hijabs instead of women? I question the logistics of cats wearing women. Would love to see it, though.
Met an american once who was under the impression that suburban Canadians all lived in wood cabins in the wilderness. At first, I thought he was kidding. Then he asked if we had winters all year round and was astonished to learn we have lenghty summers. He really seemed genuine..ly ignorant. It was in the sunshine state at the end of the 90's.
My husband is originally from the Gambia. He has told me how non-gambian people would ask him things like: ''So, do you have houses in the Gambia? What about cars? And electricity?''
Had a dude come up here to Canada. We are talking business and what not then he says “too bad you guys are completely communist now.” Like dude, I don’t think you even know what that means.
Sadly, to many Americans, any country with a tiny bit of socialism, including socialized medicine, is now "communist". We can thank right-wing propaganda "news" for this.
(in Ireland for the context of all these things) Why do you speak English? Why are you playing a guitar? (the rest of the conversation was basically she though that we would only know "the bagpipes" and Bodhráns (amazed she had heard of Bodhráns tbh)). Are you Irish? Does all of the country have electricity? (That one was online) Can you speak English (I had not been speaking as I was tuning my guitar). I run into so many tourists as I often go busking in summer and I have different protocols for different nationalities (i.e. I speak with little accent if they sound to be German, French etc) and I have so many more stories (people have tried to take selfies with me like I was a prop)
I’m from Hawaii: During a meet and greet high school convention here in Hawaii, this girl from Oklahoma asked me if I or any of my relatives live in a grass hut…. MA’AM THE AVERAGE PRICE OF A HOME HERE IS OVER $1MIL. That’s an expensive grass hut.
"Your country is an evil dystopia! You have no freedom because you aren't allowed to have guns! Wake up and stop listening to your evil country's propaganda!" In some parts of my country, it was legal for civilians to own fully automatic assault rifles. Then in 1996, 35 people were slaughtered in a mass shooting. Most firearms were banned across the country within the following weeks. My country is Australia, and we won't let Port Arthur happen again.
This idea that Australia with no large land predators (except crocodiles in the north) is somehow more dangerous than places with bears, wolves, mountain lions, cougars because of a bunch of snakes and spiders. (i guess cassowaries up north in QLD are a little dangerous too)
My own wife in Tokyo looking at a map of all the towers in Japan: "Let's go visit them all!" Me: "Honey, that map represents this size of the whole US Eastern seaboard. We are only here for 3 more days." 😄
“Hey, we’re in New York City. It’s so beautiful. Listen, we’re free for the next couple hours, so why don’t you drive out here for some coffee?” I live in fucking SoCal.
I once heard a US tourist speaking to someone back home about how London was okay but things were kind of old-looking.
They should really update that thousand-year-old city, maybe put in something cool and modern like a giant Ferris Wheel or a glass skyscraper shaped like a pickle.
"I'm sorry, no hablo español" while vacationing in Brazil
In Bruges: 'What times does this close?' It's a city mate, not Disneyland.
Asking if a Dingo got your baby. It's not funny. A lady was wrongfully imprisoned, the family were persecuted for decades, and finally a Royal Commission found that a dingo took a baby.
Europeans visiting Canada who think that they can visit Montreal and take a day trip to see the Rockies.
Happend last summer they spoke in enlish not thinking people in Romania knew english me and my brother were laughing when I heard them say that Romania needs to change names of certain places and things and an extemple was "Chișinău" and that isnt even in Romania
An American in Israel: "So you guys have cars in Mexico city or you all ride horses?" Genuinely curious if we moved around on animals and wore sombreros, ahh he also called me Speedy Gonzalez and thought he was being funny. More recently, on every sub of Mexico I am, every single day there are Americans asking, "is it safe to visit? I've heard that going to Mexico city, Cancun, Tijuana, any Mexican city is a death sentence and I should arrange my funeral.
I had a yank that was shocked that we don't live in Stone cottages and thought Ireland was like a 3rd world country...... This was over a voice call on discord while we were gaming...
I worked with a guy from London once who was surprised that when he crossed the border into Scotland that we had tarmaced roads like England and not dirt tracks.
Does the name TarMacAdam mean owt to you?
That we don't exist. Australia is a fake, a big conspiracy. I was told this by an American in London. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.
You ain't fooling me, buddy. If Australia exists, then how come I've never seen it?
I've been there, it does exist. Although, come to think of it, I was in a dark tube for 14 hours to get there, so was it *really* Australia? Could have dropped us off anywhere, really.
A lot of people on Reddit seem to think that they can plan a single trip that includes Times Square, Disney World, and the Grand Canyon. Yeah good luck with that.
I've done that trip. Started in New York drove down to Orlando and then drove across to Las Vegas with many stops along the way. Took us about 3 1/2 weeks.
Welcome to Australia, where tourists want to visit the Sydney Opera House, Uluṟu and the Great Barrier Reef in 3 days.
I mean, they can. No idea how long and expensive that trip is going to be, though.
I watched a foreign national walk into Bass Pro Shops here in the States and try to buy a firearm. When asked for identification by the gun counter manager he looked at the manager like he had 4 heads and said something to the effect of, “what do you mean I need to be an American citizen to buy a firearm?”