dumbest things you've heard tourists say
 

okay we all know that not everyone is as especially clever as we all are, so I know that while hanging out at a hostel or out and about in your travels and meeting new people from wherever, you have heard something dumb and ridiculous come out of someone's mouth.

for example, I wanted to hide in a corner when I met this kid when we were in spain. he (we'll call him Jack) was from the Indiana, I think, and I introduced him to a few friends I'd met, one being from Delaware (we'll sall her Sarah) and a few from various parts of Europe. Anyway we were all hanging out and conversing the normal "get to know you questions"...

Jack (to Sarah): where are you from
Sarah: I'm from Delaware
Jack: Oh that's in Germany right? Oh no wait, I'm retarded, I was thinking of Denmark.

WOW.

I was in the Caribbean (St. Thomas) one time, on a little scenic ocean cruise. As you cruise around the island, there is a fairly good size mountain that you can see. The tour guide related how on one trip a passenger asked how the skiing was in the winter........:blink2:

(Maybe that's just a tall tale he tells...not sure but I have met people stupid enough to say something like that so i believe it is quite possible someone actually said that)

Oh please, I know some people who were asked in JULY where all the snow was in Toronto (yes it was by our friendly neighbours to the south who thought they'd do a little ski trip) :doh:

You should have told them that during the summer you have to use all of it for upkeep on your igloos! :lol:

This isn't really a travel story, but it concerns an idiot american. I had a roommate for 6 months that was not only a know it all, but generally 100% completely wrong about everything. My favorite example was when he insisted that passover was a Christian holiday, especially popular among Catholics. He was absolutely positive about this and wouldn't hear a word from me to the contrary. God I hated that guy. :torch:

Anyway, I can give my personal example...listing the UK and Wales in my list of places I've been. :mellow:

Haha Maracle. And you've been to the United States AND California!!! ;)

Thats why I put that there, as penance for my UK/wales gaffe! :D

I guess he had no idea about the Jewish folks then...LOL

I was in Pompeii on my trip and there was this married couple walking around. They had a young child in a carriage. The lady was trying her hardest to push this carriage across the ruined cobblestoned streets...This is what came out of her mouth...

Wife: "You know, they are not making this easy for people with baby carriages. All these streets should be paved over, this is ridiculous."

Husband: "You are an idiot."

(keyboard busted) I supose it's not specific... but I love wen peolple tink tat talkin slower and LOUDER will make people understand. I'm sure I"ll remember sometin specific soon.

^oh yeah I love that one! haha

oh and I almost forgot, this happened to me with people I was traveling with... so embarassing. in this guy's defnese it was his first time outside the country, or outside of the midwest really.

a group of us were in cancun a few years ago. we stayed in some sweet all inclusive resort so you know it was all spring-breakers. so we got to meet a lot of the people who were staying near us. the people directly across the hall was this group from switzerland. so we're drinking some beers together and chatting it up, my group and the swiss group. and my friend joey, bless his heart, said "I never met anyone who could speak Swiss before!"

I just slapped my forhead in exasperation and drank faster...

I've heard lots of dumb things, but the one dumb thing I saw people do on our last night in Egypt irritated me. We were at the Sound and Light show at the pyramids of Giza. As the light would change, or a pattern of laser light would play across the surface of the pyramids...oh, about a mile away, these physics majors would stand up and take a flash photograph of them.

1. Your flash won't reach that far.
2. Your illuminating what...light? With more light?
3. I hope you enjoyed the pics of peoples' heads in sharp relief in the rows in front of you...!

Okay, I'll even be generous and say someone doesn't think about it, and does it once. After looking at his viewfinder on his digicam, and seeing it didn't work, did they think to try it without the flash? Nope. They just kept up the steady barrage of flashes...augh! I honestly felt like standing up and shouting, "PEOPLE! Turn your damn flash off...show some consideration." The flashes were really annoying. Or can you tell by reading this...?
:lol:
worldwidemike

ahhhahahaa i love these!
It's not a tourist thing...but it's all I can think of...
I'm on the phone with a woman with a thick southern accent, trying to give her my contact information.

Woman: What city are you from?
Me: Kelowna
Woman: And what's your private?
Me: .... ummm?
Woman: Your private, mam, I need your private.
Me: Um, I'm not sure what you're asking me.
Woman: Just give me your private, mam.
Me: Is this like a number? Wha-
Woman: I can't do this without your private, mam.
Me: Ummmm BC?
Woman: BC?
Me: Like British Columbia?
Woman: ok

And we move on.
PROVINCE, anyone? I didn't mind that she didn't know, but she was so RUDE! Arg. That's my story :)

Next time I travel, I'm writin em all down!!

:lol:

I saw this brain surgeon from the Nigerian military doing this in a museum (trying to take a picture behind glass) and they did it with the flash.

1.) The museum is a monument to those who died in Hiroshima
b.) No photography is permitted
3rd YOU CAN'T TAKE A FLASH PHOTO OF SOMETHING BEHIND GLASS!

Adjust the exposure, shutter and the like...or better yet, have some respect don't photograph where they request that you don't. Flash photos almost never look good anyway.

--Joey

I had no idea province and private were interchangable!!

Wow, I'm going to have to check my thesaurus on this. I can have some REAL fun conversations now. :lol:

What kind of fun? Or is that something you are keeping provincial?

--Joey

LOL, well, in her defense, I assume the screen she was working on said Pr: ______
But you'd think, working in a call centre....heck maybe she was new, or nobody bothered to correct her. I was too afraid of her to tell her she was an idiot.
MEAN

Yeah that woman on the phone really needs to get a new job. When you are that pissed off trudging through work it's time for a new one. Find work you like right? I'm sure she could find something she likes that requires less umm....PR skills maybe?

The slower and louder talking gets me too. In Pamplona (for running of the bulls), with a huge hangover and very little sleep for almost three days, I was waiting on my friend to get his bag. I was relaxing by a statue and soaking up the sun when i hear a very loud american kid talking about how drunk he was last night. He comes up to me (I do look spanish with a tan) and in very broken spanish he is attempting to ask the time. Feeling like an asshole at that moment i stare at him blankly...Louder and louder he says "senor, senor que hora es?" I just stare at him. Slower and louder this time. "Senor, senor" over and over. I would have thought this kid would have given up when finally i said "I'm from f'ing Cleveland man." He blinked twice and everyone around started laughing. Stupid story but it really sticks out in my mind.

that's brilliant!

I gotta think about this one for a bit... I'm sure i'll think of a couple...