People Who Live In Holiday Destinations Share Their “Damn Tourists” Stories

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“The visitors had to be told that, no, this isn’t a tourist attraction. It’s a real home, and real people live here, so please leave.”

There are definitely benefits to living in a tourist destination, but there are definitely some cons — namely, dealing with tourists on a regular basis.


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So u/bungeeman asked people who live in holiday destinations, “What’s your most ridiculous ‘damn tourists’ moment?” And, let me tell you, people did not hold back:

1.

“My older brother lives in Celebration, Florida. Back when it was first designed and built, people didn’t seem to understand exactly what it was. Was it a tourist attraction? A park? A town? Once, my brother’s friends were sitting down for dinner and — having forgotten to lock their front door — were greeted by some tourists who decided to just walk around inside their apartment.”


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“The visitors had to be told that, no, this isn’t a tourist attraction. It’s a real home, and real people live here, so please leave.” —u/interface2x

2.

“I am an ex-pat who lives in Amsterdam. In my area, getting stopped for directions is pretty common. The best was the American-accented lady who stopped me for directions VERY LOUDLY AND CLEARLY. Directions were given, as well as thanks from the lady, who proceeded to say, ‘By the way, your English is great!’ with the tone one reserves for small children. ‘Thanks!’ I responded, ‘I’m American.'”


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3.

“I once saw a woman wandering around Penn Station, shouting angrily into her cellphone, ‘I don’t understand why the fuck the fucking guidebook told me to come here to Grand Central! This place is goddamn hideous!'”


TOP: Bruce Bi / Getty Images, BOTTOM: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

4.

“I currently live in Sri Lanka. Foreign white people walk around barefoot everywhere. Like, Christ, I get you’re on your big ‘Indian adventure,’ but put on some shoes. Have you seen how much shit is on the ground?!”


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5.

“Philadelphia is not small! All those landmarks you want to see — the Museum of Art, the Liberty Bell, the LOVE statue, Market Street, South Street, the Macy’s that used to be Wanamaker, Independence Hall, Pat’s or Geno’s cheesesteaks — they have miles in between each other. You will not be able to walk that shit in a day. Also, Rocky wasn’t real! That was a 20-mile montage that Sylvester Stallone ‘ran.'”


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6.

“I worked at a ski area in western North Carolina. A lady from Florida ask me what we did with all the snow in the summertime. I told her we trucked it all into a refrigerated cave.”


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7.

“When I was a teenager, I worked at an airboat rental dock and alligator park near the Everglades. Every couple of days during snowbird season, we’d get a tour bus full of foreigners and Yankees coming in from Miami. I had one guy ask, ‘Are we allowed to swim in the water?’ while he was standing in front of a 14-foot stuffed gator, flanked by four six-foot-long water moccasin skins. However, my favorite was, ‘Can you turn down the fan? My children don’t like the noise.’ Then don’t sign up to take a ride on a boat that’s propelled by a giant fucking propeller. God, I hate tourists.”


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“We’d also get people who’d complain about the heat and the bugs. Holy fucking shit, you just came to the largest wetland in the country, what exactly were you expecting?” —u/ScramblesTD

8.

“I lived in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland for a while. On my bus-commute home, I overheard an American woman trying to figure out if this was the correct bus to get to the village where I lived. She didn’t know Italian and was holding up the line. So, to be nice, I offered to translate for her. She didn’t say thank you and sat down for the ride. When we arrived, we started walking up the hill from the bus station next to each other, and I asked, ‘So, where are you from, and why are you visiting my tiny village?’ She responded, ‘I don’t talk to strangers,’ and sped up.”


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“I just laughed at her and replied, ‘What, are you a seven-year-old little girl? I just helped you on the bus back there, and now you’re being rude to me?’ No response.” —u/bouffanthairdo

9.

“I’m always amused by Europeans who can’t comprehend how big Canada is. I’ll be in Toronto or Niagara, and they’ll ask for directions to Whistler. I’ll tell them, ‘You’re going to want to go west for a long time.'”


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‘Like an hour? Two hours?’ 

‘Try a week.'” —u/Mr_Nexxus

10.

“Coastal Maine checking in. People lose their shit over lobsters and shell out tons of money for anything with a lobster on it. Cheap shot glass? Eh. Cheap shot glass with a lobster stuck on it? I’ll give you $7.75 for it! Lollipop? Whatever. Lollipop shaped like a lobster?! It’s definitely worth $5 — better get one for each kid back home. Normal pullover hoodie? Boring. Hoodie with a motherfucking LOBSTER embroidered on it at $50 apiece?! Oh my god, just take my money!”


Sean Gallup / Getty Images

11.

“In Australia, for some unknown reason, tourists won’t swim in-between the safety flags. It’s like they think it’s the bunny hill of the beach. It’s not. The locals swim between the flags because we don’t want to die.”


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“Also, if I offer you sunblock and a hat, take it. This isn’t Europe. I’ve gotten sunburnt in 15 minutes. You will bake regardless of your skin color and nationality.

It’s always so strange to me that Australia gets a bad rap for all these things that are ‘trying to kill you.’ I think sometimes tourists are just trying to get killed. So many examples of this!” —u/starcaster

12.

“I live in a ski town adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. People have asked, ‘At what elevation do the deer turn into elk?’ and ‘Where do the moguls go in the summer?’ My favorite was when I worked at a lodge right in front of the Tetons during wildfire season: ‘Can’t you guys turn off the smoke? It’s ruining my view, and we paid way too much for this vacation. I can’t even see the mountains.'”


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“Yes, lady, it’s all one big TV screen in front of our hotel.” —u/shradicalwyo

13.

“I live in Taos, New Mexico. As well as being a ski destination, there is a really old (still-inhabited!) pueblo. There are lots of Native American people here. In the summer, we get lots of Texans. My (Native) friend is a river rafting guide, and once, she was on a raft with a family — mom, dad, teenage son, and daughter. My friend pointed out a bighorn sheep up ahead, everyone freaked out, then the mom asked, ‘Since there’s game, do you ever see the Indians hunting out here?'”


Robert Alexander / Getty Images

“My friend asked, ‘Excuse me?’ but the mom continued, ‘Like, the Indians. They still live out here, right?’ The daughter realized my friend was Native and yelled at her mom, and my friend answered, ‘Actually, most of us just go to the grocery store.’

Texan mom: ‘Wow, you’re an Indian? Your English is, like, almost perfect!'” —u/VenomousJackalope

14.

“New Orleans checking in. During Mardi Gras, the garage management hangs up ‘Please don’t pee in the lobby’ signs. Sigh.”


Joel Carillet / Getty Images/iStockphoto

“Also, I suppose it’s not the worst thing ever, but the elevator in the parking garage I use for work had clearly been peed in since yesterday.” —u/endolphining

15.

“When I was 14, I worked for the Parks Commission in Niagara Falls. I’ve been asked a lot of dumb tourist questions during my time there, but there are two that really take the cake. One grown man asked, ‘Does the Maid of the Mist ride up the falls?’ I could understand a five-year-old child with no understanding of physics asking, but seriously? No adult should ever ask that question. Another time, a large Texan man asked, ‘Which falls belong to what country?’ I told him that the Horseshoe Falls are in Canada, and the American and Bridal Veil falls are in the US. ‘NO!’ he shouted back, ‘The larger one belongs to the US because everything in the US is bigger!'”


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“‘Um, okay,’ I squeaked out. He must have been looking for a fight.” —u/Jebus905

16.

“I lived in DC. One incident does still stick in my craw: 8:30 a.m., Dupont Circle station — I need to put 20 cents on my fare card. An entire troupe of boy scouts is trying to figure the machines out like it’s some sort of complicated puzzle. They were spread out throughout the entire room, so there wasn’t a single open machine. I almost killed children that day.”


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“I now live in downtown Miami, so I’ve gotten used to tourists and don’t really mind them. If you go to DC, are going to ride the metro, and don’t want to piss off locals, here’s some advice: 

If you have a big group, don’t go during rush hour. If you can’t figure out the machines, just use one. Stand on the goddamn right on the escalator. Let people off before you get on. Don’t talk to me.” —u/voice_of_craisin

17.

“In Seattle, we have the ‘Ride the Duck’ tours that go on the road and in the water. The things have a PA system, so everyone within a block can hear them. They constantly make remarks about people on the street. If I’m dressed a little weird, it’s pretty damn awkward to have a group of tourists with duck whistles taking your picture from a boat on wheels. Meanwhile, the announcer talks about the colorful Seattle culture in reference to me.”


Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

18.

“I grew up in San Francisco, which is a tourist destination. I got dinner at a touristy place once, and I overheard tourists complaining about all the hills. One of them said they hoped that the next earthquake would level the city so it would be easier to get around.”


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19.

“Former Floridian who worked at Margaritaville in Key West. There would be people who would get off the cruise ships (always Carnival) and ask what country they were in. They refused to believe that Key West was in the US.”


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“There were always new and crazy varieties of drunken nonsense: Public sex, lighting off fireworks in the middle of Duval Street on an average day, and — more often than you’d think — robbing a bank and then going and sitting down at the bar for a beer.

It was an absolute cesspool of idiocy.” —u/MsSHRR

20.

“I live in a very rural, historic-colonial area of New England. Every fall, we get hoards of leaf peepers — that’s slang for people from the city (New York, Boston, etc.) who come up north to look at all the pretty colors as the trees change. My town has one of the longest, oldest covered bridges in the country. It’s still in use for road traffic and is one of the only bridges over Connecticut for a few miles. The majority of leaf-peepers assume because the bridge is old, it’s a historical landmark and is open for exploration. So many times, I’ll try to cross that bridge, only to stop before a group of five to six people freaking out because they just assumed it’s for foot traffic. These same types of people, when they try to then cross that bridge with their cars after learning that’s what it’s for, will still almost cause accidents.”


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“It’s an ancient wooden structure with minimal lighting and very narrow lanes. Tourists get nervous driving so close to the walls, so they drive down the middle and get stuck when confronted with oncoming traffic.

TL:DR; Historical structures that are still in common use bewilder and terrify people not familiar with this concept. Also, tourists will assume anything with a historical placard that isn’t fenced off is fair game to climb all over.” —u/desquire

21.

“Boston here. While I appreciate the fact that some visitors understand that if they’re planning on staying downtown and only intending to visit downtown, no car is necessary, I wish more visitors would take the time to familiarize themselves with how public transportation actually works. Please don’t ask the vehicle operators for directions, board the bus or train while people are getting off, and ‘surf’ by standing and not holding onto a rail. Please do remove your gigantic backpack that doubles the amount of space you’re taking up on a seriously crowded bus or train. And for the love of all that is good, please either walk up the escalator or keep to the right so others can pass you.”


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“People say Bostonians are unfriendly, which is so not true. We just want to get where we are going with minimal interruption. We understand that you aren’t super experienced with public transportation. Just understand that when you fly home, another person who is also inexperienced is coming to take your place.” —u/admiralfilgbo

So what do you think? Would you live in a holiday or tourist destination? Let us know — especially if you already do — in the comments below!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/victoriavouloumanos/people-who-live-in-holiday-destinations-share-tourist