So, if you know me (Lisa) at all, you’d know that I’m a bit of a worry wort with an over-active imagination. Some of you may have read that here. Well, this morning I woke up grinding my teeth after having a pretty vivid dream about Corey & I traveling with a huge group of people for our entire Round the World (RTW). It left me feeling a bit tense.
Many people do travel like this, with a big group, but that’s not our plan. I freaked out thinking about following an itinerary that’s not for us & sticking out like a sore thumb. Don’t get me wrong, we will stick out, there’s no way to blend in with our travel gear, Corey’s skin color/height and the fact that neither one of us can speak a second langauge (we will learn the everyday phrases, but won’t be experts). However, we would like to try out best to stand out as little as possible!
I’ve only done one trip overseas, which happened to be with a group & I ended up having a great time. We did, however, have one obnoxious American in our group, who more often than not, embarrassed all of us. By obnoxious American, I mean, loud, arrogant, ignorant of her surroundings, pompous and a bit rude when things didn’t go her way.
From what I’ve heard from other travellers, every country has some horrible stereotypes that we will eventual run in to. Apparently, Canadians are also rude and obnoxious, Australians are arrogant, Indians are pushy, Italians are poor drivers and the list goes on. My point is that just because some people fall into these stereotypes doesn’t mean that everyone from a certain country falls into their stereotype. The few Canadians I’ve met/corresponded with have been nothing but nice and helpful towards me. Why go anywhere if people are already what we assume they are? If someone went to insert hectic American city here (New York, LA, Chicago, D.C.) and had a horrible experience, they might assume that all of America is like that, which it not the case.
There will be times while travelling that we might be so stressed that our unpleasant sides may peak their nasty heads. Let’s face it, nobody is happy all the time and every now and again people need to vent. We’ll be trying our best not to let the stress of travel bring out the negative stereotype in us!
For you seasoned travellers, what people have you run into that have proved the stereotype wrong?
Wallagrams 