11.
We had a Japanese couple put their toddler on the back of a baby black bear that was mulling about on the side of the highway.
Natural selection was unfortunately not invoked in this instance.
12.
used to live in a very popular destination for exotic vacations. The one time that will always remember is the time I went to the local shopping mall and eavesdropped into a conversation with Asians showing safari pictures. They were showing pictures of them holding lion cubs. They were explaining how they saw baby lions without their mother and decided to get out of their car and pick them up for pictures. I cannot believe how stupid some people are.
13.
My older brother lives in Celebration, FL. Back when it was first designed and built, people didn’t seem to understand exactly what it was. Was it a tourist attraction? A park? A town?
Some of my brother’s friends related a time when they were sitting down for dinner and, having forgotten to lock their front door, were greeted by some tourists who decided to just walk around inside their apartment. The visitors had to be told that, no, this isn’t a tourist attraction. It’s a real home and real people live here, so please leave.
14.
Live in a ski town adjacent to Yellowstone National Park…
People have asked “At what elevation do the deer turn into elk” “Where do the moguls go in the summer?”
My favorite was when I worked at a lodge right in front of the Tetons during wildfire season…
“Can’t you guys turn off the smoke? It’s ruining my view and we paid way too much for this vacation and I can’t even see the mountains.” Yes, lady, it’s all one big tv screen in front of our hotel…
15.
Tourism in Iceland has been booming the past few years. There’s always something in the news (and I have only lived here for about six months)
Dude just drowned here in Iceland because he climbed onto the rocks and was swept away by a wave.
apparently, tourists jumped on icebergs floating around
last summer there was a huge outrage about people relieving themselves in the wild x
And everyone complains that stuff closes at 10 with a few exceptions (one being where I happened to work) It’s f**king Iceland people! 350,000 people on a f**king good day, for f**ks sake, there’s no need for anything to be open late.
it’s quite entertaining.
16.
I work at a beach, and people always complain about the seaweed that washes up, and they believe me when I say that there’s a seaweed filter in the jetty (which is a formation of huge rocks jetting out into the ocean to collect sand on one side) and that it was broken and it, instead of sucking the seaweed in, it’s shooting it out and the part that would fix it comes from Japan and it’s going to be fixed in 3 weeks. Tourists believe this every time.
17.
When my family was in Scotland we met a family planning to travel to the US for a week. We asked where they were visiting and they planned to start in New York and drive across the country to Los Angeles hitting all the major sites in between. Let me reiterate, they planned to be in the US for a week. We tried and failed to convince them this was not going to work.
18.
When I was 14, I worked for the Parks Commission in Niagara Falls. I’ve been asked a lot of dumb tourist questions during my time there, but there are two that really take the cake.
“Does the Maid of the Mist ride up the falls?” Asked by a grown man. I could understand a 5 yr old child with no understanding of physics, but seriously no adult should ever ask that question.
“Which falls belongs to what country?” Asked by a large Texan (I could tell by the accent and the huge belt buckle). I told him that the Horseshoe Falls were in Canada and the American and Bridal Veil falls were in the US. “NO!” he shouts back to me. “The larger one belongs to the US because everything in the US is bigger!”. “Umm ok” I squeaked out. He must have been looking for a fight.
19.
I grew up in San Francisco which is kind of a tourist destination. I remember getting dinner somewhere touristy once and overhearing tourists complaining about all the hills and one of them hoping that the next earthquake would level the city so it would be easier to get around…
20.
Okay here are a few for Australia:
Don’t jump off that into the water – yes locals are doing it, but they’ve been doing it since they were 10
Wear proper shoes – if you’re going for a bushwalk, wear the right footwear
You didn’t just become a 4WD expert, maybe don’t drive there
If you see a warning sign follow it – saw some people dip their kids into the water at a beach which is notorious for jellyfish, everyone else is wearing a stringer suit, except the 5year olds. Also, don’t freaking fish there! There’s a no fishing sign near my place, it’s not to be a buzz kill. It’s because the land near the water was used to produce Agent Orange. Those fish will kill you….slowly.
