How to spot a tourist

Segway tourists in Washington, D.C.  Photo: runneralan2004 / Flickr Creative Commons

Segway tourists in Washington, D.C. Photo: runneralan2004 / Flickr Creative Commons

The goal of many vagabonders is to blend in with the locals so well that they become invisible. Although the color of our skin sometimes makes that impossible, it’s still fun to try.

The Life magazine website had a great slideshow called How New Yorkers Can Spot a Tourist. Some of the points are particular to New York, like mastering the Metrocard swipe for the subway.

Other points could apply to a variety of places, like having your map out in public or walking too slowly on the sidewalk. Being too slow in Shanghai or Hong Kong could get you trampled as well.

Taking pictures of everything, wearing a sun visor, and having a pack around your waist are also classic giveaways of a tourist. My favorite is when someone is looking through a guidebook. Everyone within sight knows that person is not a native. In general, tourists just seem to carry more stuff compared to local people.

Speaking of carrying too much stuff, here’s a skit about that, by prolific YouTube video blogger Natalie Tran: Dorky Tourist.

Can you name any more traits of tourists? Know any ways to disguise yourself as a local? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments.

Posted by | Comments (10)  | September 3, 2010
Category: Images from the road, Notes from the collective travel mind, Vagabonding Advice


10 Responses to “How to spot a tourist”

  1. Cameron Says:

    Visiting Monterrey Mexico for a couple of months posed an important challenge on how to go under the gringo radar. Standing over 6 feet and fair skinned, I always garnered unwanted attention, still I was able to reduce my foreigner imprint by only wearing the clothes of my compadres and a baseball cap of the local softball team deep over the face.
    Despite it’s reputation I had an experience I never thought possible and wrote a few takeaways from Central America (mexico) on how to rapidly integrate in a non english speaking country.
    https://growing.grassrootnetworks.com/index.php/mexico-travel-safety-local-tips/

  2. David Says:

    What’s so bad about being a tourist? Not authentic enough for you “long term travelers like Nomadic Matt”. Good to see travel snobbism still alive and well on the TBEX circut.

  3. Hugh Says:

    I can see both sides of this argument. Granted, the people on the segways in the pic look ridiculous and I would never do THAT. However, not all of us are fortunate enough to be long term travelers and immerse ourselves in a destination (city, state, country, region) for weeks at a time. Therefore, if we want to check out the cool sites and attractions, sometimes we have to be “touristy”. The trick is to not get caught up in doing a bus tour of a city and say that you have “experienced” that particular city or have “done” that city and are able to speak about it with any authority.

  4. brian Says:

    I agree with David, as New York City would be completely broke without the tourists. If anything, bring your friends! As for the Life article, it is so true it’s painful to read. Nevertheless, don’t let the tone of the article convince people to stay away from the Big Apple. We’re actually friendly, and we love to talk about our ‘burgh. Just ask, and we’ll help you get around.

  5. Tom Says:

    I agree with you Brian – I’ve never had so many random people stop and ask if I needed help with the subway, etc. (and not steal my wallet) as in NYC. There’s two versions of that town – the movie version and the real version…

  6. Natalia Says:

    Another one a bit put off by the ‘who would want to be a tourist?’ tone of this. Most people I have ever met on my travels (including managing a backpacker hostel) who thought they were ‘fitting in with the locals’ was just kidding themselves. Sure, try not to obviously attract the bag-snatchers (but that can happen to locals too), but getting hung up on ‘trying to fit in’ can get in the way as much as not taking your nose out of a guide book.

    And hey, don’t knock bus tours 🙂 https://letsdosomethingdifferent.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/even-we-cool-kids-take-the-bus-sometimes/

  7. Nina | Castles in the Air Says:

    I live in Chicago and one way I can spot a tourist is they tend to always be looking up! As if they’ve never seen tall buildings before all in one spot (maybe they haven’t, maybe they have). It’s kind of funny but so long as they don’t walk into anyone, anything, or into the street while they’re gazing upwards, they should be fine. 😛

  8. Marcus Says:

    Hey guys, I apologize if the post came off as snobby. That was not my intention. I thought the subject was funny, more than anything else.

  9. David Says:

    Hello Marcus,

    The article seemed a bit snobby to me only because of a previous article on this site not too long ago on “why we travel?”. I personally am a long term expat (over 12 years) and I’ve understood some of the points and gripes from the “Long Term Traveler” crowd.

    However, the longer I live abroad and travel, the more value I see in tours and being a tourist, even an obvious one. At the same time I have seen and read over the past year or so from some of these so called Traveler blogs like Nomadic Matt’s just slam people who decide to live a more conventional life. Actually, I’ve stopped reading Nomadic Matt’s site as well as a few others. I mean the guy has been condenscending to some his own readers who ask questions, some seemingly naive questions, but still. I’ve read about some of the snobbiness that goes on at TBEX conferences, I’ve met the “Authentic Traveler Types” at hostels, many with the same attitude. Trying to fit in with the locals only goes so far. No matter what you do, you will never be or truly fit in with the locals. I’m not saying to be culturally insensitive, but more often than not your foreigness is usually more of a positive than a negative, so why fight it. In fact many locals like taking tourists around their cities and regions because it gives them an excuse to visit places in their own backyards that they would normally never go to (how many of us have interesting sites in our own backyards we never see, except when a visitor comes).

    I think tourists are getting a bad rap nowadays. I think people who are trying to live a conventional life, have a stable job, live in one place and get married are having a hard enough time as it is without jokers from TBEX and the 4 hour workweek so called lifestyle designers and nimrods like Nomadic Matt calling them cubicle slaves or when they do get their 2 weak vacations and are able and willing to explore something dfifferent being made fun of on articles with them riding sedgeways, kinda reminds me of high school. The travel community needs to embrace these “tourists”, make them more and more comfortable with the idea of travelling. Because not only are they a very lucrative market for the travel industry, but it will be them and not people like Nomadic Matt who will bring about change and start demanding a more humane working enviroment especially one with longer holiday times.