Then what you are saying is that all Aussies are mindless loudmouth fools like All of us YANKS and you ALL just followed us in to a war. How about your govt is just as evil as ours and made the same decision for your country as our govt did for ours. I understand what you are trying to say it just seems a bit self righteous and way over generalized to me. There are loud boisterous people from every culture. Yes, even Asian. Why not stop all the generalizing and labeling. You forget that there are almost 400,000,000 Americans and we are mostly a mixed bag. You know Asian, African, Mexican, Jewish, Hindu, catholic, muslim and yea even a few loud mouth white guys.

I obviously did not make my self clear.. My point was my government is just as bad as yours( i.e. we are both in a stupid war)! and yes Aussies are just as loud mouthed (maybe more:confused1!.. My point was exactly yours, that there are a$$hole is every county (I said as much).. but because of the Resentment towards the US government (justified or not (irrelevant to the point here)) when there is a loud mouth American, people that want an excuse to hate them ONLY REMEMBER THEM! not the nice guy! See example of volvos or nut on sports bike..

Mate I was defending you and yours!

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2000 Africa Twin
http://two-up-ona-twin.blogspot.com

I agree that Canadian people are pretty impressive, but Canadian ducks are much less so? Last time I was in Canadian waters, a gang of rowdy ducks partied in my dinghy. When I awoke in the morning, I found feathers, poop, grass, mud and Molson bottles everywhere. Took me an hour to clean up the mess. You guys really need to teach these waterfowl some manners, especially relating to how they treat the tourists.

C

While I've only traveled abroad a moderate amount,Canada,Mexico,Italy.Bahamas,and Costa Rica. I have never felt mistreated for being from the U.S. . I'm fairly modest and genuinely intrested in where I am ,or else why bother?
As a farmer I'm used to not having much money and to being and working with others in similar situations. My father taught us that we wer'nt too good for any job so just get on with it.
As to politics all I can say is the bastiges didn't ask me!
When I feel down the best thing for me is to remember the words to Louie's song " I think to myself , what a wonderful world"

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ride,smile,repeat as nessasary

My few cents worth...... there is good and bad in every bunch, every nationality, every family, every street, village, town or country.

treat everyone you meet how you would like to be treated, always be polite, it costs nowt, if things get heated, keep a cool head, an even temper and a closed mouth and you will be the better man.

Heck, i should take my own advice sometimes!!!!

For the record, I always say I'm from Texas. Often people follow my reponse and ask if I have a horse/gun or something like that. I hate saying "America" or blabbing out the whole united states of america thinig because when in Mexico, we're all Americans, or from the "United States" of America or Mexico. So I just say Texas. Anyway.. I digress.

3ish years ago I was at a bar in New Zealand (Nelson, I think)
and was having drinks with another Texan and Auklander and I go up to a group of locals who are smoking and ask to bum a light. I go through the usual routine of "texas.. no horses" then the guy proceeds to lay into how much he hates the US.

I was fine with this and just listening and chuckling because I always wanted (like the author of this thread) to know why people hate Americans. His points (though rather drunk) were mostly around the themes of cultural prevalence of movies and music. He really hated US films. Sheesh. I think he hated all movies because he couldn't come up with an example of anything he liked. Eventually, we find some common ground and all was merry...

That was the only time I really had someone go off on me how they hated us US'ers.

I look forward to meeting Americans when I'm traveling-- it is great to find others from my country who share the same cultural background and wanderlust. The only time I've cringed when hearing other Americans talk to eachother was in Paris. Just because YOU don't understand the language that everyone else is speaking doesn't mean everyone else doesn't understand yours.

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http://davegtravels.com - RTW on a DRZ
All the way south - Texas to Tierra del Fuego in '08-'09

Sadly, all those American kids with Canadian flags on their backpacks are doing it for a reason. They otherwise find that on occasion some bias creeps into the way they are treated in comparison to other travellers. It took me while to figure out, but on my last trip I noticed that sometimes people were initially a little cooler, more distant than in previous trips. Not all places, but after a while I figured out that it was because my current bike has US plates and that is enough to trigger a bias if someone happens to have one. It goes away soon enough, when they figure out that you are not American as in my case or when they separate the individual from government foreign policy as mentioned by previous posters. It serves as a reminder of the far reaching implications of foreign policy and that we serve as ambassadors of our countries when travelling overseas.

Yanks, I bloody love,em.As a bar owner in Ecuador all I can say is that they come in have a great time,spend loads of cash,drink like fish,eat like horses,pay their bill without complaint!!! leave a bloody great tip for the waitresses and say we,ll be back tomorrow and actually come back and do it all again.
God save the good ol USA and all who sail in her,I,ve seen a load of people from a lot of nations at their best and worst in the pub business and in general the Yanks are better behaved than most.Long may they continue to get pissed as rats and leaving big tips
Albert,The Turtles Head,Quito Ecuador.

It's not the Americians per sae but their Governments Foreign Policy.

If anyone asks, I'm an American. From the USA.....whatever. What difference does it make. I deliver, via ships, food cargoes for WFP(World Food Program), USAID, CARE, Feed The Children, Catholic Charities, World Vision, UNICEF, The Menonites,.... and so on. We never ask for thanks, and don't expect any. We work directly with the locals and rarely encounter any hostilities. We're just a bunch of average Joes doing our thing. Even in countries that supposedly target the US politically. It doesn't stop the flow of food. I can only say, like "Popeye the Sailor" would say in the old cartoons " I Yams what I Yams and dats all that I Yams".....unquote. I could never pretend to be another nationality for whatever reason. Whatever policies the US has is the burden US travelers bear (regardless of their policies). I've always found that when it comes down to it, most people I've talked to think their governments suck in one way or another. Be it corruption or ridiculous politicians or policies.....and such is life. Now and historically. If you're a good person, good people will seek you out. "Always keep your front wheel in front of you"... Good ridin... Smitty

Sadly, this thread turns into a political thread.

There are also some other Americans who deliver, via ships (or plane) guns, bullets, bombs, tears, sorrow, etc for some reasons..

Local people knows why you are there and what are you looking for. If you are on a motorbike with dirty clotes they know that you are there just to see the other side of the hill, and, they know that you are an adventurer who wants to know about the world.

I dont want to involve such a political discussion. This is a traveler website. Only who loves travel and seeing places are here.

No one wants to hear if you are proud or not about your nations. We have to be proud just because we are human, and, help for human.

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Ozhanu, you are right that this is not a political forum. But remember this-

..you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in YOU.

You cannot ignore it, even if you'd like to. Many countries, including mine and yours, have a nasty history. If you're not aware of politics/history, then you will say the wrong thing somewhere, and land in trouble. In your case, I suggest that you be politically aware when talking to Armenians or Kurds or Greeks. If you think you can travel yet be unaware of poilitics then you are heading for trouble...

Good roads

Caminando,

I did not say (or write) that I am not interested in politics. I have just said that i dont want to be involved such a political discussion, but, unfortunately i am in for last time.

If you live in Turkiye, if you are Turkish and if you have graduated from a university (and did PhD in the UK) you have to have an idea about the nations and their problems all over world, and you have to interested in politics, read history what the other nations done in Middle East, Central Asia, Far East, Australia, New Zeland, South Africa, why and how Greeks attacks to Turks at the end of first world war, where the guns and money come to Kurdish terrorist group PKK, etc..

Yes, I am interested in politics, but, only in the right time and right place! Not in a traveler forum. On my previous thread I have just pointed out that this is a traveler website and there is no need to go in politics deeply.

"Getting information about political situation "and "writing something patriotic - politic" are compelety different things. So, in your case, I suggests you to that not to mix the apples with pears.

ride safely.

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ozhan u.
website under construction

Xander

No worries. These threads can often get kind of sensitive. Thanks for the reply.

I can't remember if anything like mass murder happened there. And if its a problem with the name IE Africa Twin in relation to Americas slave history and Honda is so sensitive to that maybe they should change the name of the bike to something Cute Little twin.

No worries I wanted to make myself clear... Not sure what the second part (HTML part) is all about though????

As for AT not being sold in the US I know they didnt, and they didnt sell them in Aus either..so it cant be an anti-USA thing.. it is just stupid market research that for some reason decided that two places were you can spend a lot of time dual sporting (USA and Australia both have a lot more out back then Europe) they dont need to sell a dual sport bike and they wonder why world sales of that model were lower then road tourers??? I think they forgot to notice that the GS is BMW #1 seller in Aus (or at least was in 2005). I love my AT and cant understand that decision?????:confused1::confused1::confused1:

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2000 Africa Twin
http://two-up-ona-twin.blogspot.com