American Tourists

Ted

Active member
Since the summer started Amsterdam starts being filled up with tourists again and I have no problem with that. But somehow that American tourists become more and more noticeable. Nowadays it seems you can split them up in two groups:
1) You have your organized group, cycling around on rented yellow bikes, with name badges on theirs shirts. Besides being a hazard to themselves (in traffic) they are also a danger to many pedestrians. Riding a bike in the US is so much different than down town Amsterdam.

2) You have your solo tourist who thinks we are all on drugs and he or she would like to join in. You recognize them when they are completely wasted, their pupils big as basketballs, thinking they are the first and only one doing that.... And when they have the urge to talk to you, their first sentence starts with:"Hi, I am from the USA!"

What happened with the old type of American tourist? The ones who just went around doing their things. The ones you could have a conversation with about other things than: what you do for a living, how many cars you own or how successful you are in doing business... Please bring them back again.

Please don't see this as a flame on the whole US. I have lived in your country for three years and have many fond memories of the many people I have met there. But I am tired of being run over by cyclists and then having to pass wasted tourists pissing on the streets because they had to go....
 
Well; I think that cultural differences and experiences enrich a person's life. It is always advantageous to put aside dogmatic thoughts and become open-minded toward people from foreign cultures. One can never benefit and learn more about a different culture than through firsthand experience and contact with them.
 
Sadly I must admit that the single most obnoxious tourist I ever met in a career spanning the best part of 43 years was an Australian from Slack's Creek in Queensland.

I won't elaborate, as the memory still makes me shudder, to think what those people in the airport at Frankfurt on that evening must think of Australians.
 
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I am not sure it is dogmatic... These are the Americans I see, filling the streets in Amsterdam. I do not pretend that all Americans are like that everywhere. I targeted a specific group on their behavior when they are here.
Many of the English tourists that come to Amsterdam get absolutely splattered too. But they are less noisy and stick to their own.
 
2) You have your solo tourist who thinks we are all on drugs and he or she would like to join in. You recognize them when they are completely wasted, their pupils big as basketballs, thinking they are the first and only one doing that.... And when they have the urge to talk to you, their first sentence starts with:"Hi, I am from the USA!"

It's how Amsterdam is advertised in certain media. And, these days, it seems that's what Amsterdam is primarily known for -- at least from what I've seen.

I haven't been to Amsterdam, so I can only form a conclusion logically... and it seems simply that some people want in on "the pleasure". There's a lot of young people from America that are willing to "get wasted", and many of them have the impression that Amsterdam is the place for it.

I think this also is relevant to your other point about the normal tourists disappearing; essentially, they may be getting scared off. An average naive, happy-go-lucky tourist and/or his family would probably want to avoid running into numerous weedheads during their vacation. An that's simply referring to the general impression that may be adopted by some. I personally am not convinced Amsterdam is all about the weed, like a lot of my peers seem to believe.
 
What Wolf said. Amsterdam is marketed that way to our bong smoking segement of society, you are their Mecca and all that is right with the world. Enjoy, our hippies and thank you for watching them for a couple weeks.:mrgreen::mrgreen:
 
Enjoy, our hippies and thank you for watching them for a couple weeks.:mrgreen::mrgreen:

Lol.... it does make for some funny anecdotes every so often, and for sad ones. We had a Frenchman butchering his dog, in a hotel-room, with a pair of siccors after munching on a mushroom. Or some girl doing a nose dive of a ten story building cause she thought she could fly... Ah well, not everybody can take his drink or weed that well... I guess
 
Just offend them back, get into a fight and watch them get deported. :lol:

I wish... usually we let the offender go and the offended is left behind bedazzled. The only place in Holland where tourists don't fool around is Schiphol airport. But that is also the only place where our police carry mp 5's and put you in cuffs before you can say: just kidding... Perhaps we should give the tourist a badge they have to wear, so they are easily recognizable. Misbehave and your plane leaves within the hour :jump:! I wish....
 
Hmmm, I don't know... The tourists from the ol USA seems pretty friendly to me here in Singapore. Generally, most of the tourist from the West are pretty OK.

I do remember one funny situation when 1 guy (from the accent, I think he was German) asked if it was ok to smoke (cigarettes). We were at an open field! I had to assure him that it was... (smoking indoors in an air-condiotioned building is not allowed here).
 
They are kind because your laws are strict and you make sure everyone knows this.
A caning society is a kind society.
 
They are kind because your laws are strict and you make sure everyone knows this.
A caning society is a kind society.


so what exactly are you saying trece???? That we Americans are some what savages??? Unkind, and that's why the rest of the world hate us but yet love us??? lol....and you're gonna say "no sky you said that ;)" lol...anyway plz remember that there is worthless people in every culture and country ;)

The tourists from the ol USA seems pretty friendly to me here in Singapore. Generally, most of the tourist from the West are pretty OK.

Thnk ya darlin'..... ;)
 
My main contack with US tourists resulted from working one year as a photographer in Heidelberg Castle, Germany in 1979 (so take conclusions with a grain of salt): Our general folks came in either by "Rural Tours" and were from Iowa (and knew a lot about potatoes), or on the "Europe in 7 days" Tours (those - having already done 3 days or their sentence - generally were completley lost and did not even have a clue which nations they were visiting today).

All oif them were quite nice: You could explain them hundreds of times that the beautiful castle rennaisance wing had burnt down in the French wars, still they would ask forgiveness for the bomb raids on Germany (they kept believing *they* destroed it).

In general, peaceful, older aged folks, always good for an anecdote:

So, I meet this US guy in front of the castle (obviously "Europe in 7 days" material), and he asks me: "Where is the Hofbräuhaus, please?". I answer along the lines of "Sir, you should go to Munich to find it, it is there and not in Heidelberg", just to be met with the ever so graceful reply: "Oh, sorry, then this is not Frankfurt ???!!!?"

Rattler
 
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