Early in October, Rolf wrote about “the worst tourists in the world” at his Yahoo! column, and was met with a barrage of scornful comments from “readers” who merely skimmed the article, extracting the seemingly negative bits (“[Canadians are] exactly like Americans, but more soft-spoken, more polite, less ignorant, and twenty times more boring”) and missed the entire point of the tongue-in-cheek essay: to talk less and listen more.

“The next time you find yourself in a heated argument over which nation produces the best or worst tourists, this is probably an indicator that you’ve been spending too much time yapping in hostel lounges and not enough time outside having engaged adventures.“

What follows the article is an insightful tip sheet (which many of the Yahoo! readers missed, no doubt) complete with cues on proper assimilation as a world traveler. If you missed the tip sheet the first time around, have another look.

In the same vein, Budget Travel Online recently published an article on the 10 most common faux pas among travelers, and poses the questions, “are you the ugly American?”

“Americans have a hard time adjusting to a pace of life that isn’t as fast as their own, says Jacqueline Whitmore, author of Business Class: Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work. As a result, they’re sometimes labeled as rude and pushy.”

However, Rolf reminds us in his essay that “rude, small-minded travelers can hail from any nation,” so whether you’re an American or not, the traveler faux pas listed in Budget Travel Online’s article can be quite enlightening. Perhaps most importantly noted is the need to “find the local rhythm,” as social norms differ from culture to culture, and without doing the proper research on the customs traditional to a region, your appearance as “the ugly tourist” can become an unfortunate reality.

The point of travel—for many of us—is to experience other cultures not our own. One of our goals, as travelers, is not only to immerse ourselves in the cultural experience, but to bridge the gap of uncertainty—to seek what is common among us as humans while celebrating our differences in a respectful manner. Don’t let your own ideas of nationality—or someone else’s—stand in your way.

“The Worst Tourists in the World” by Rolf Potts for Yahoo! Travel
“Are You the Ugly American?” by Erin Richards for Budget Travel Online