Monday, April 20, 2009

Thinks Thought While Sitting in a Foreign Cafe

Money belts are a terrible idea.  They make you look fat and scared.

Do the locals wear them?  Do you wear them at home?  Of course not.

To assume that all foreigners are thieves is inherently rude.

And that thing that you do?  Where you carry your backpack on your front with your arms crossed over it? 

Paint a bullseye on your back why don't you?  You are so obviously expecting trouble, it makes me want to run out and mug you, just so you can get it over with.

Getting lost in a new city is all part of foreign travel.  And maps are so difficult to unfold and read.  But you aren't really doing yourself any favours by standing in the middle of the sidewalk while you try to situate yourself.

And those guidebooks? 

Should stay in your suitcase.  They make great bedtime reading back at the hotel.  No one ever intended that they be read, out loud, while walking past the destinations they describe.

And reading them in a shouty voice to your companion who is  trying to situate herself on an upside down map while strangers bump into her (again - I'm so sorry about that) really doesn't help the situation at all.

Just fold it all up and let yourself be lost in a new city for awhile.  You'll get home eventually.

As to clothing, please remember, it's courtesy over comfort.

And if you don't like foreign food/foreign customs/foreign people,  why are you travelling?

4 comments:

kimmomofnine said...

bwa ha ha...perfect!

Barb McMahon and Alan Mailloux said...

You'll find out soon enough...

Kath said...

hear hear!!
and if you're leaving a building and aren't sure where you are going, or for that matter, if you are entering a building and don't know where you are going, don't stop in right in the doorway either turn left or right or go straight ahead but keep moving ...

whoa, good job! you dug my pet peeve out of me!

Barb McMahon and Alan Mailloux said...

Just a small service I provide...