5 Ways to Avoid Sticking Out as a Tourist
Many people who travel want to blend in to experience local culture as authentically as possible.
Try these five tips on your next trip:
5) Do not wear your backpack on your chest. It’s called a backpack for a reason. Of all the ridiculous advice given to travelers, the “backpack in the front” maxim is perhaps the worst because nothing spells T-O-U-R-I-S-T more than someone whose backpack isn’t where it’s supposed to be.
This tip is equally applicable to every other type of gear that’s been marketed to protect your money, your passport, and other valuables. The more you’re fumbling around in that money belt hidden inside your pants or struggling to remember which pocket is the real one and which is the false one, the more you draw unwanted attention to yourself.
Instead, try using the same strategy you use at home: common sense.
4) Take cues from the locals. Do women hold their purses tight to their sides? Do people wear shorts, flip flops, or sneakers in the street?
Spend a few minutes doing close observation of local culture and adjust your own behavior accordingly.
3) Do not read a map in the street. Everyone needs to stop to get his or her bearings once in awhile and there’s nothing wrong with that. But do not map-read in the street. Instead, step into a cafe, sit down and sip a coffee, and take a few minutes to gather your thoughts and reorient yourself.
For some great tips about getting reoriented, check out Jacob Bielanski’s article, “How to Find Your Way When You’re Lost.”
2) Carry yourself with confidence… and humility. We travel to get out of our own environment and element, yet this same quality that we seek in our travels also provokes some of our deepest anxieties. Fear and discomfort cause us to act in ways that might not be normal, either for us or the culture we’re visiting.
We may, for instance, become boisterous or loud in an effort to help ourselves feel in greater control of our situation. If this is the case, stop and do a check-in with yourself. Acknowledge your anxieties, get them under control, and carry yourself just as you would at home. Being yourself is a good rule of thumb no matter where you are in the world.
1) Realize that if you’re a tourist, you’re a tourist. I know, I know. You’re saying, “But you’re giving me advice how NOT to look like a tourist!” True, but no matter what lengths you go to in an effort to blend in, there are many occasions when you will stick out for what you are: a tourist.
That’s ok. Use this fact to your advantage. If people ask where you’re from, tell them. Use their curiosity–and yours–to strike up a conversation. Ask questions. Use the curiosity of the traveler to inform your interactions with others. Remember why you’re on the journey.
What are your travel tips? Share your ideas in the comments.
Tourists are coming photo: Le Fromagier Extraordinaire (creative commons)
Tourists photo: ale2000 (creative commons)
Map photo: liefdoen (creative commons)
Child skipping photo: Lola Akinmade (creative commons) *For more of Lola’s amazing photos, please visit her website, www.lolaakinmade.com.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
When I was in NYC last weekend, I saw some people with the backpack on the front and I thought “tourists.” Nothing says easy target like that. I know they are worried about people stealing their stuff but if you don’t want to be an easy target, don’t paint a bullseye around!
….and fannypacks…..might as well just give the scam artists your money and save time.
June 29th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Fannypacks are the worst travel gear ever invented!
June 30th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Americans:
These items of clothing are absolutely forbidden to you while traveling:
1. Flower-print shirt
2. Faded jean shorts
3. BIG UGLY white sneakers
4. HUGE camera around neck
5. T-shirts with obnoxious graphics (i.e., I went to Prague and all I got was drunk and this T-Shirt).
6. Fanny-packs (don’t use EVER under ANY circumstances).
7. Cowboy hats
8. sweatpants
9. light colored jeans
10. athletic jerseys other than (international) football jerseys.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Oh yes, you’re so right. Thanks for this great list!
July 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
11. stopping in the middle of an intersection lookings around holding up the flow of traffic.. ITS OKAY TO ASK directions! That is how you learn and loose your lost-tourist identity
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 am
In the UK, Australia and New Zealand (I don’t know about elsewhere), a vagina is called a fanny. It is a source of endless amusement for the Poms and their Antipodean cousins to hear Americans walking around refering to their “Vagina Packs” lol!
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:15 am
Terra-
Hilarious! I had no idea! Thanks for sharing this bit of local lingo… surprised your message made it through the spam filter!
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:13 am
I think a lot of this depends on where you travel. I often had to consult my subway guide or my map when I used to live in Montreal.
Also, sticking out as a tourist when you are the only person of a different race in a tiny village somewhere in Asia? It’s pretty hard to avoid, and can actually work to your advantage with new and wonderful experiences brought right to you….
And, for those of you who actually live in a tourist destination — take the time to visit a few of the places that other people spend money and time to get to…. you might be pleasantly surprised!
We are all tourists… you may as well enjoy the ride.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:14 am
p.s. If you don’t want your passport stolen while in Indonesia, you’re better off swallowing your “fashion pride” and wearing a fanny pack *under* your waistband. Thieves will cut your purse strap off your back.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:29 am
V-
Glad to see that someone did take up a defense of the fanny pack!
If you read the post carefully, you’ll see that I’m not criticizing the use of a map– not at all! I just advise not whipping it out in the middle of the street. Step off the street into a place where you can lay the map flat, where you can sip a coffee or a mango lassi, and get your bearings.
Also, regarding sticking out when you’re a different race– that’s what point #1 addresses. In some places, as I wrote, it’s absolutely unavoidable to stick out like a sore thumb. That’s cool– and can be the best way to strike up a conversation or exchange with locals.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Great tips Julie, the other thing i would say is always ask a local how much the taxi ride to your destination should cost before you start bargaining with the driver
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 am
I’ve taken to calling it a “waist pack” because fanny pack is just too funny.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 am
Kristy- Great tip! In cities, I also recommend making sure that there’s a meter in the taxi.
Kaytee- Waist pack definitely sounds better, but it doesn’t make the fanny pack look better!
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
“Take cues from the locals. Do women hold their purses tight to their sides? Do people wear shorts, flip flops, or sneakers in the street?”
Not sure how useful this is. I live in London and on an average day you’ll see locals wearing all of the above, and see people carrying bags closely, loosely, any which way.
I’d also question the looking at maps in the street thing. Sometimes you have to, I mean, again using London as an example, if you’re trying to find a street, you’ll need to be looking both at the map and the street signs around you. It’s certainly not uncommon to see Londoners thumbing a copy of the A-Z, it’s a big place, and few people know where everything is.
Backpacks on the front though, you might as well have TOURIST tattooed on your forehead.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Bransby-
Thanks for your comment. You’re right about London… and the fact that in most big cities, including mine (NYC), you’ll see locals wearing and doing thousands of different things. What that says to me is that as a tourist, you don’t need to be clinging to your bag; the place is safe enough for people to feel they can express themselves in thousands of different ways.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I love it how every time I see people here in Florida walking around the town surrounding the beach with nothing but a bathing suit and sandals on I automatically know they are tourists
July 4th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Jesse-
That’s precisely the example I had in mind when I wrote the article! I used to live in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and I was amazed that tourists felt they could simply walk around the city in bikini tops or swim trunks… no one who lives in San Juan does that!
July 5th, 2008 at 4:39 am
nice useful list.