Do your countrymen embarass you?
 

I used to travel abroad alone a lot for work and stay in hotels often in tourist areas and I never failed to be mortifyingly embarrassed by the British abroad. The behaviour of the drunken British tourist doesn't really help either.

I assumed it was just the British that were this uncouth, illeducated, rude and shamefully embarrassing, until I met my wife who's first language is Russian (she is Belarusian) and she feels just the same way about Russians Abroad.

Do people from other nationalities feel the same way, do your countryfolk embarrass you?

.

[QUOTE]I assumed it was just the British that were this uncouth, illeducated, rude and shamefully embarrassing, until I met my wife[/QUOTE
:oops2:

don't quote out of context!doh

No, the British do, unfortunately, have a well deserved notoriety for being spectacularly badly behaved when on holiday.

It is shameful & embarrassing to be associated with them, sometimes.

Very sad.

Why do some british people behave badly when abroad?
I have often had comments along the lines of "so nice to meet you and you are so well behaved. I/we thought the british were louts".
Very sad.

I think the 'Brit's abroad' is true in Western Europe only.. Especially in the Spanish and French resorts and the Stag/Hen weekend destinations.

Where the budget flights can't reach, we usually have a very good reputation of being polite, friendly and well mannered. At all ages.

So I like to believe anyway jeiger

I work in A&E, they aren't just badly behaved abroad!!

You deserve a medal..


:helpsmilie:

would have to say the Poles do a pretty good show as well, send us a lot of business.

Had trouble chucking out a drunk Pole a while back. Spoke no English and my polish aint so good! A Polish Paramedic intervened and explained to the gentleman concerned it was time to leave. There followed a lengthy conversation in Polish, after which the man left, looking a bit sheepish. I suggested to the paramedic it was a lot of words for 'leave'. Apparently he had been telling him what a disgrace he was to his country and a whole lot of other stuff. He is equally ashamed of his countrymen.

The Ugly American ? (North American)
 

In 1958 Burdick and Lederer wrote a best seller "The Ugly American" that was made into a movie in 1963 that starred Marlon Brando. It was fiction, but told both sides of the story, the "loud and ostentatious" type and those who lived with the locals and are not afraid to 'get their hands dirty'
by pitching in and contributing in meaningful ways to their host countries.

As a U S Peace Corps volunteer, I met the best and the brightest
of my country and each one dedicated his or her life - at least 27 months of their lives to try and help others survive.

As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, I have observed the following....

Let us not forget that behind the scenes, backstage, if you will there are thousands of volunteers living and working with the peoples of almost all 200 countries - not only US Peace Corps volunteers, but representatives of every nation - who, do not aspire to get drunk , and/or have meaningless sex, and offend the locals, but aspire to contribute time and energy to increase the survival potential of people, irregardless of the country, be it their own or a country they are visiting. Well, perhaps, once in a while they do get drunk and have meaningless sex, but they generally do not offend people in the process.

I have personally observed and "taken out"( with swift punches and kicks) that resulted in broken bones and worst, a handful of the "ugly" drunken , insulting Americans, but have admired the vast majority of my fellow countrymen for their good works and sensitivity.

I control my area,and you should control your area too.....

xfiltrate

xfiltrate

Hi, my first post since joining so I'll try not to make it sound too moany...

I like to travel further afield to not so touristy destinations so don't see a great deal of Brits and to be fair MOST nations have their share of embarrassing numbnuts, we just seem to excel at the 'fly and flop' destinations, though that could just be because of the number ratio.

I myself have also been seen cuddling lamp-posts after under-estimating the local hooch in certain far flung destinations. jeiger

That's the truth.

Go to Kuta-Legian in southern Bali. It’s a big hangout for Australians who want to [eh-hem] let off a little steam. You’ve never see anything like it. Makes the Club 18-30 Brits around Ibiza and Magaluf look like a Saga gardeners outing in the Cotswolds!

Strewth mate! Aussies know how to knock back the grog jeiger.. and PARTY!!
.

jeigerI think we inherited our drinking and party habits from the Brits, but some of us, have perfected them, sometimes to an embarrassing degree.
Ben

I think the Brits exported the worst (best?) of the drinkers and blaggards to Oz a couple of centuries ago, encouraged the pilgrims to the USA and kept the sheep.....

Kinda reflected in the success of the relevant countries.....seem to have exported all the pioneering spirit and drive. The residual quality people seem to export themselves at some point, often overland by motorbike....

Idiots (the UK government).

My countryfolk do often embarrass me: they're loud, obnoxious and oblivious. Of course, by local standards so am I, on occasion. I do my best.

More embarrassing is the fact that my countryfolk have started, fomented, funded and equipped wars in almost every country I visit. Sometimes they were little brushfire wars with CIA or renegade State Department involvement (c.f., all of Latin America, most of Africa, and most of Asia); sometimes full-blown conflagrations which enveloped and destroyed whole countries, as in Southeast Asia and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan.

For balance, I'd have to add that British, Australian, South African and other Commonwealth travelers have usually been the worst behaved--far worse than Americans or any of the other oft-complained-about nationalities. My first experience of this was a drinking contest--more accurately, a puking contest--in Malawi, but local variants throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia have supported my initial prejudices. I once shared a train through the Ukraine with some British football fans who strained even my jaded credulity while totally appalling the local people--no saints themselves.

I've never known what to make of this, but then neither have I known what to make of my own country's warmongering. I like to imagine that travel cures, or at least lessens, such tendencies, but that might be my own innocence speaking.

Mark

No country has a monopoly on bad tourists. Chinese government has published a rulebook for its traveling citizens:

New Chinese tourism rules promise politer visitors, but will they work? | South China Morning Post

Some of the rules are funny: "use shower curtains in hotels", others are useful: "don't touch people with your left hand in India".

War is not the solution, war is the problem!
 

Super Markharf's implied question " what to make of my own country's warmongering" is common ground for many "travelers." Who cannot help but be in shock and awe themselves simply by witnessing firsthand or the aftermath of man's inhumanity to man- WAR.

Two books take on the why of war and, in my opinion, answer the question. Most notably the why of covert and and overt wars planned, financed and implemented by my country for resources needed by US corporations.

Please read John Perkin's "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" and the followup "Hoodwinked"

Or, just watch these short video presentations: at least watch Part 1, although Part 2 covers South America and is very interesting....... might as well watch Part 3 too.

John Perkins | Phil’s Stock World

Or, do your own research: One simple example.....Tantalum from coltan is used to manufacture tantalum capacitors, used in electronic products.
Cell phones and Computers.....
Coltan mining has been cited as helping to finance serious conflict, for example the Ituri conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Want to know why, a few years back, there was a shortage of PLAY STATIONS - answer lack of Tantalum.... Want to know who really finances the terror in the Congo? Answer: You and I - who buy cell phones, computers that require tantalum - found only in several countries -especially the Congo.

Don't buy the cover stories.... do you own research.

thanks for your time

xfiltrate

Yep the British, Australian, South African and other Commonwealth members may have been in your opinion the worst behaved.....But.....as you so rightly pointed out, the US have been the worst behaved, starting and sustaining wars throughout the world, i wonder what's worst, bad behaviour bought about by alcohol or attempted genocide for profit :thumbdown:

A chinese friend of mine that lives in Singapore, has a very low opinion of his countermen whilst over seas, and his favourite quote when someone non-chinese has a dig at the SG chinese is,

"remember that you are someone else's dick-head"

I am not proud of how Spaniards just don't pay public transport. Whenever you don't have to show your ticket to the bus driver, nor to use it to enter subway, they just don't pay. So, they are always targeted by keepers when they hear them, sure they won't have paid, so you can see big groups of Spaniards fined in Berlin subway and places like that.

This is a more unusual behavoir, I'd say. The typical way is not respecting the rules in poorer countries, as Swiss drivers speeding in Spain or many travellers feeling proud about briving or being arrested for stupidities in developing countries, things they would never attempt in their own countries or neighbouring countries.

Regarding Brits' behaviour, years ago the British honorary consul in Ibiza resigned arguing he felt embarrassed about his countrymen behaviour. We Spaniards all thought that yes, it could be embarrassing, but he was obviously in the wrong place if looking for peace and tranquility. Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the most successful writer in Spain, wrote an article which did not actually criticize the British tourists -not praised them either-, but our general approach to these matters, saying that "there is nowhere like Spain to vomit in the streets". Not only British/French/German tourists used to do it, WE ALL have done it, we all have pissed in the streets while drunk. We Spaniards are just like that. Our own attitude fostered this behaviour from tourists, so we should not blame them for doing it massively.

If Spaniards don't mind puking in the streets then it's nothing to me. On the other hand Latvians seemed to mind greatly, as did Malawians. The issue in a lot of places is not that tourists learned from locals. IMHO.

I think it's not so much 'countrymen', but humanity in general. Individually, humans can be wonderful, but as a collective we are sadly lacking at times. When I travel, I see some folks travelling in a way that is respectful of other culture and people, and yet other folks behave like morons.

I don't think you can or should generalize by nationality.

Individuals can be pretty idiotic as a single entity too. No national prejudices on that - I've met dickheads from all corners of the world. However, fortunately they are far, far outnumbered by the huge number of great people I've met, again with no generalization regarding origin or class. Although on second thoughts, the British "upper class" types tend to be over represented in the dickhead category.....

It is a cultural difference though, surely?
In France, is it still the right, and legal, for a male to piss in public?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir



You really should not talk about the large majority of our Members of Parliament in that tone of voice!
:innocent::innocent:

Nooooo, we all get fined, Spaniards and foreigners if got pissing by the Police, I know many people who experienced that. BUT, through the (in)famous botellon (ice cubes bag, bottle of spirits, bottle of soft drink and plastic glasses) and our good weather, young people got used to drink a lot in the streets and piss anywhere available when drunk. It's been such a big movement that authorities tried to concentrate people in areas, when ban it was not effective. Not something to be proud of, but all younger generations have gone through that. More than cultural is an ethilic experience.

Obviously we did not teach tourists to vomit in the streets. Nor we do not care at all if they do. But if Brits/French/Germans come to Spain because we got that niche of tourism that others refused (party place) since we relied on cash from tourism, are they really to blame more than us? In addition, we all have done it at some point, so even if they do it massively, it’s harder/a contradicition for us to complain. Well, if we don’t like it, then we should ban it, but not complain and get their money.

If Latvians were heavy drinkers and you could see drunken Latvians in the streets, other drunken foreigners shouldn’t be perceived as more offensive than locals… as sometimes happens, otherwise it’d be pretty susceptible. I know the line is pretty thin and the issue tricky, but that was my/our point.

I agree, if you prevail from the fact of coming from a rich country, being a X passport holder so that you don’t respect the local rules, then I complain. Furthermore, IMO you should give example, if locals throw papers on the streets, you don’t do it. Same as feeling proud of having bribed someone or having been arrested for a stupidity; you wouldn’t do at home, don't do it elsewhere.

Quote:

I agree, if you prevail from the fact of coming from a rich country, being a X passport holder so that you don’t respect the local rules, then I complain. Furthermore, IMO you should give example, if locals throw papers on the streets, you don’t do it. Same as feeling proud of having bribed someone or having been arrested for a stupidity; you wouldn’t do at home, don't do it elsewhere.

or, as is pertinent to those of us on here, driving too fast and inconsiderately in other peoples countries. I get very annoyed by people thinking they are Colin McCrae (insert your own choice here) just because they are off road.

I was dismayed to read a report in Ride magazine where the journo went on an organised trip to Morocco. It was with a group of Italian bikers who seemed to get great enjoyment from pulling wheelies everywhere and crossing the terrain as fast as possible, like they were on some kind of endure rally. The (English) Journo seemed to think that was quite ok, and rather fun, although it is behaviour that would earn you a driving ban in this country. They also satisfied their own subconscious guilt by handing out sweets to the local kids. This is the kind of behaviour that gives travellers a bad name and will lead to increased restrictions on where and how we travel.

Although it doesn't make it any less embarrassing to me, as estebangc says above I do feel the Spanish resorts rather bought the problem on themselves by encouraging those types of people to come to them for their holidays, as did Prague with Stag parties. They are now trying to get away from that as they have decided they don't like it, but really, what did they expect by selling themselves as a stag destination with cheap booze and a cheap and available sex industry?

I think people maybe notice the embarrassing behaviour of their own countrymen more when abroad because they 'zone in' on the familiar language.

Believe away Ted, but in Oz I can tell you we loath the pommy bastards who come down under. It's just as well you like to spend up, otherwise we would probably send you back where you came from!!! hehehehehe :clap:

I truly believe that we were lucky you poms sent us boat loads of Irish (and later Greeks, Italians, Croatians, Turks, then later still Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Malaysians, and more recently, Sudanese, Nigerians, and I must not forget the South Africans), it helped even things out quite a bit...

All Tonge-in-cheek of course!!
:Beach:


But on a serious note, I often feel ashamed to see how boisterous fellow Australians are and I do tend to avoid them when traveling (it's a bit hard at home ;-))

Of course I'm embarassed by my fellow countrymen - I'm Dutch, that's why...
It's been said before, idiots are not bound by borders. There'll always be a bigger idiot than yourself (I hope).

Just to spread the misery:
have you ever seen an american at a buffet, overfilling his plate, half eating it before going for seconds?
or a russian on vacation, loudmouthed, belligerent and perpetually drunk?
an italian family anywhere abroad, refusing any social etiquette?
an englishman (and his family) all sporting body art, pasty white and overweight, holding a first beer at 09:00?

and of course the sandal wearing loudmouth dutchman, carrying 20 kgs of cheese and 50 kgs potatoes, slowly puttering along on the péage in his overloaded caravan

and the list goes on...

We've got some more convicts to send to your poisonous, baked desolate land if that's okbier

I tend to avoid places where potential countrymen would embarass me. So no, I am not offended by my fellow Germans. As others have pointed out, every country seems to have it´s share of abnoxiuos people and hey, someplace they have to play. This summer DW and I went camping in Austria, all the people of several nations on the campground were good.

What drives me howling mad are the wealthy holier-than-thou types regardless of their nationality.

Like markharf, it embarasses me to belong to a nation which has brought death and destruction over such a large area of the world, in this case in WWII. I look at the map and ask myself where would these countries be - and where would my own country be - if the atrocities of the Nazi-era would not have happened. But then history cannot be reversed, it just can be learned from.

Such people don't usually want to deal with me, I am glad to say! :innocent:

One thing that does strike me about the subject of this thread is that there are good and bad people everywhere, irrespective of nationality etc etc etc.
Some are embarrassing and some are not.
Some you don't want anything to do with, some are just OK and there are others who are Ace!

Perhaps it is just in France then?

I do recall the first time I went to use a toilet in a pub in Belgium wherein there was just the one facility for male and female; it was designed so that any female entering the facility would walk directly past the "pissoir stalls" for the males; vive la difference (cultural)!
There was no embarrassment on the part of anyone present at the time.

I get tired of fat, whiney Americans griping about this, that, and the other! For whatever reason, they can never do that quietly.

My wife and I were sat outside a café in Zagora, Morocco enjoying our mint tea and just watching the world go by. We were horrified to see an English extended family walk by wearing their union flag shorts, bikini tops and short skirts showing no respect for where they were. They were loud with it too and a total embarrassment. They would have been right at home in Benidorm. This was April 2012.

The world seems to hate americans. I presume because of our insistance that ours is the proper lifestyle, and that we insist that EVERYONE be like us. If we'd just mind our own business....

I really wonder why the world doesn't love the Yanks,but not every body hates them.Military supremacy may be gone one day,is there a plan B

A bit more tolerance,knowledge and understanding may help.

Cheers

MR

nordics !
 

Swedes and Norwegians do a pretty good job of disgracing themselves on holiday too ! .....the Finns can put the booze away for a quiet bunch ! jeigerbeer

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. A universal charter.

I would like to see more Americans travelling. :yes:
.

Frequently embarrassed by fellow Yanks. Usually loud women demanding they be treated like princesses by hotel/restaurant staff.

But also frequently made proud.

It is sad, and the sharp end of the stick (wide end of the wedge?) extends from football hooligans to British soliders attacking NYC police!

Stay away from Prague and Magaloof, and you don't have to worry about the British abroad so much.

But although some of us can be awful...


I don't think there is need for others to be quite so patronising!

I've been mortified and appalled on three different occassions when fellow americans (not in my party) have tried ordering buweiser in a German restaurant and were embarrasingly surprised that the haus did not carry such a fine brew.

I've also seen fellow Soldiers wear the t-shirts loudly proclaiming that they support single mothers with the picture of a stripper swinging from a pole. Nice.

The very worst was the US Soldier in Doha, Qatar wearing a t-shirt announcing, "He was here to kill Arabs". That is not a joke. Fortunately, some of my UK friends saw him, physically removed his shirt and then handed him off to me. Lots of fun.

Havings said that, I've seen Americans all over the world acting responsibly and according themselves as ambassadors of our country in a good light. I count myself amongst them.

We Canadians have no shortage of faults....but I am rarely embarrassed by my fellow countrymen when travelling.

I'd just like to apologise to all my fellow countrymen for any instances where I have embarrassed them :)

cringe worthy moments
 

Had my fair share of embarrassed moments. Fellow Scottish people in Dover one night. I had to apologise to the entire bar staff after a Glaswegian slapper had mouthed off in front of everyone about this and that and "you Unglish" jeez.

Then in Malaga .. red blotchy faces usually with frown, Man U / Newcastle /Celtic tops on, and I mean the whole family, stomping up the street as if the world owes them and why can't they have normal british beer/food/TV ?... and they usually get it too. Why do they have to be so loud and let everyone know they're british? Easyjet has a lot to answer for!

Then again, I've been to Bali a few times and there is the equivalent Aussie with Bintang shirt, hairy sweaty arm pits and bogan tendencies ... "maaaaate"! drinkin piss and shaggin sheila's.

Best to avoid touristy places methinks :)

yes, maybe it's more a particular type of tourist than a particular nationality:thumbup1:

A lot of the problems that now arise in Morocco , Turkey, Egypt etc are the fault of Easyjet- 'The council estate with wings' making more places affordable to the chavs:innocent:

That's pretty much it. I think we're culturally zoned in to the nuances of the culture we come from and, as a Brit, can see that a beer gut, football shirt and shouts of "Ingerlaaaand" in the bar at 8.00am represents a particular segment of the English experience for example. Whether it's one you want to associate with is up to you but I wonder if other cultures can make the same distinction.

Like most Brits I can make a fair stab at guessing what part (in all senses) of our sceptered isle people come from by the sound of their voice but despite living part of the year in France and speaking the language to a reasonable degree I have no ability to do the same there. Everyone just sounds French. In Germany, unless they've put their towel on my seat in a bar, they all just look like hard working auto assembly staff - I have no idea at all.

A couple of times I've fallen foul of cultural differences. Somewhere in an old album is a picture of my ex wife getting arrested in southern Morocco for riding pillion in a bikini and being forced to cover up. We'd not intended to cause offence but that's so often the case. I wonder what the locals thought of the Brits at that point.

You have summarized my embarrassment right there.

The laughable bit is when they come home and wear that same Bintang singlet and think it makes them look like a world traveler.

I heard recently the JetStar staff refer to the Sunday afternoon flight from Bali to Melbourne as "The Bogan Bus". :rofl:

Yep.. the only problem I had with men in a sexual way on my travels were in Turkey and India.

I got the impression that some Turkish men see the behaviour of the British, German, and Swedish girls (and boys) in the southern resorts, cavorting around in bikinis, getting shit faced and think this is how western women behave.. I was asked why I wore non-revealing clothes, I had my drink spiked with Alcohol, I had my window forced in whilst sleeping, and driven off into the countryside by a mechanic offering a lift to a hotel i'd booked.

I met some tourist women in Iran who were not covered up and wondering why they were getting inappropriate looks/treatment. These women were embarrassing to me...

I don't think it's any particular country-person that embarrasses me, its those who are inconsiderate, stupid or naive of their surroundings..

that said, quite a few of the British ex pats here in NZ are so racist, and gloomy! No wonder they are called whinging poms!

My Missus would agree with you on that score . She often travel s alone and she has been hit on more times then she can remember in Turkey , but they always took no for an answer . she preferred the venezulian version , where they liked her short shorts and called her senorita ( she s in her 50 s ) :thumbup1:As for India im afraid once they have a drink inside them , they can get pretty stupid and start touching where they shoudnt . that said other locals normally batter the shxt out of them !!!!! She still loves all three countries immensly and it wouldnt stop her going .
I only ever get hit on by drunk middle aged Polish women :funmeteryes:

britishers abroad
 

I spiked it and you were good fun! You did ask! jeez women !

However, It was the naked limbo dancing that was , I have to say now, a bit embarrassing Fern :)

Ah, the Polish direct approach, what fantastic memories. "We drink now", three hours and goodness knows how much Vodka and wine later and they come up with the amazing plan "Now we talk to women". The information that talking to women in my semi-conscious condition was going to be not only close to impossible but ultimately pointless did indeed seem to embarrass the Poles. :blushing:

Andy