It’s really a lot nicer if you try and learn please/thankyou/hello/goodbye in the local language. It is always appreciated in my experience.

New Yorkers…but I suppose we aren’t known for being particularly friendly, either.

Having lived in the Greater Boston area for a few years after college, I’ve came across plenty of friends, co-workers, and random tourists who have all claimed that New Yorkers are far more friendly and helpful than Bostonians. In fact, the most common adjectives they’ve used to describe Bostonians were “cold” and “aloof”. Those claims took me aback as those accounts were far removed from my own experiences.

As for other New York comparisons, it seems Beijingers tend to have the same honest gruff no nonsense attitudes while the Shanghainese are similar in the area of emphasizing business-mindedness/materialistic excess…though they do it in a seemingly friendly, but affected manner.

If I handed over a Scottish note in England, they would either look at it like I had just handed them currency from Mars or something or flatout refuse to take it. My brother and I were at a club in Chelmsford this past summer and the guy at the door wouldn’t take my Scottish 10-pound note, citing rampant “counterfeiting.”

I guess I lucked out then.
It’s not like it’s monopoly money or anything. Maybe the English have some sort of superiority complex when it comes to the other UK countries.
I wonder how they react to the notes in Wales.

I’ve had issues in London and in England otherwise (Lancaster, Chelmsford and London area airports, specifically) with Scottish currency. I spent a semester in Scotland a few years ago, and had an orientation for three days with a big group, and they told us repeatedly not to even bother taking Scottish money to England (Some of the Scots were also a bit bitter that Scottish stores had to take English money, but it didn’t work the other way around).

If I handed over a Scottish note in England, they would either look at it like I had just handed them currency from Mars or something or flatout refuse to take it. My brother and I were at a club in Chelmsford this past summer and the guy at the door wouldn’t take my Scottish 10-pound note, citing rampant “counterfeiting.” So we had to walk back to the hotel and scrounge around for English money, and then hike back. We had *just* enough to get in the club, but no money left over for drinks! :)

But as someone who lives in New York and adores Paris, I’ll just say that if you find someone who doesn’t look like they’re in a hurry, be polite and apologetic, and ask them in French if they speak English, they’re usually really nice (the French, that is — you can speak English with New Yorkers).

One of the things I learned was how easy it is to do basic interactions without knowing the local language until something goes wrong.

The embarrassment came about because my Paris Metro ticket wasn’t working and I realized I was coasting on the Europeans not having the same multilingual paranoia the we have in the States.

I was expecting (not consciously) the guy at the Metro booth to speak fluent English when I would never expect an MTA/Metro-North employee to speak Spanish, German, etc. (not in a classist way)

In other words, Parisians are like native New Yorkers if an out-of-towner dares ask them a question.

Ha. Yeah, I think the comparison holds. But as someone who lives in New York and adores Paris, I’ll just say that if you find someone who doesn’t look like they’re in a hurry, be polite and apologetic, and ask them in French if they speak English, they’re usually really nice (the French, that is — you can speak English with New Yorkers). Also, one thing to keep in mind is that culturally, the French don’t do the smile-big thing like Americans and a lot of other people. Even when they’re greeting other French people, it’s a simple “Hello” without the niceties. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you, but it’s often misinterpreted by Americans (myself included) who are used to people smiling as a way of being polite and friendly. So it can be off-putting, but it’s not usually ill-intentioned.

New Yorkers aren’t quite as cold, but I suppose we aren’t known for being particularly friendly, either. I get asked for directions a lot, and usually the only time I’m tempted to be rude is when directions are practically demanded of me. I have, however, always wanted to do something like this. Because I’m secretly mean like that.

Where were you in the Netherlands? Everyone I met in Amsterdam and The Hague spoke perfect English, so maybe they thought they were helping you out.

The one thing that I felt embarrassed about was not having learned any French. I was lucky that everyone we met in the Netherlands and Belgium spoke English, but the Parisians were having none of it.

From what I’ve heard, welcome to Paris. They treat you like that even if you do attempt French. My friend tried to get directions to the Louvre, but the guy she asked spent all of his time correcting her pronunciation and she eventually walked away and asked someone else.

In other words, Parisians are like native New Yorkers if an out-of-towner dares ask them a question. ;-) Apparently it’s quite different in the French countryside and people are usually happy to help the stumbling foreigner.

I’ve found that, being a Midwesterner living on the East Coast is an odd experience, I don’t understand the not smiling at people when you are walking on the sidewalk, not saying please and thank you, etc.

On international travel – I had a horrible experience in the Netherlands when I was in h.s. and I had made an effort to learn some Dutch phrases and when I tried to use them, people were what I saw as rude and just spoke to me in English. My sister, however, who lives in the Netherlands, tells me that perhaps I overreacted. Well I didn’t really react, but my feelings were hurt.

Most of my traveling is in Latin America (the fact that all of my in-laws live in South America might account for some of it). My traveling style is such that I like to just be myself and learn as much as I can about the culture that I am in. Being fluent in Spanish helps me a lot with that. Though I’ll admit when I was waiting in Miami to get on my flight to Chile last night, I definitely saw some of those earnest backpackers. Good for them, but please don’t think less of me because I’m going to stay at my in-law’s house rather than experiencing *real* Chile. Though they’re nearly as bad as the Chilean businessmen who get on their cell phones as soon as we land in Santiago and tell everyone they call that, I’m on a plane, we just arrived from USA! while pretending to be discreet about it. Alas.

I’ve been asked the politics question, and had people hold forth on their view of American (oh problematic term) politics at great length. My response tends to be that if they want to talk about American politics, fine, but then don’t be surprised if I’ll know what’s going on and have opinions about Chilean politics.

My family and I definitely are conscious of class issues when we travel – I suppose it helps that we don’t look like the typical rich Americans, but nevertheless we’re always very careful about how we spend our money and how our hosts and friends respond to it. In my experience, being myself (because we’re pretty similar about money in the US, too) and being honest and open with people has been my best traveling strategy.

Though – the New York Times travel section nearly always makes me mad. Especially when they write about a place I know well – then it truly becomes clear just how privileged and out of it they are. If you’re interested in more “realistic” or at least more fun and less condescending travel info, I’m a big fan of Samantha Brown on the travel channel.