Tourists in your hometown

[Ravens_cry]

It's even worse when they press the button and cross before the crossing light even turns green. So the traffic gets stopped, and there's no one crossing. Either that or ghosts don't like getting hit by cars.
So infuriating, and I don't even drive.

I don't drive either, and, yes, it's pretty exasperating.

[grimbold]

well i live in paris #1 tourist city in the world


and quite honestly, i'm not that bothered...

paris is interesting because the residential and touristy areas are very much seperate to the point that i live 10 minutes walk from the eiffel tower yet in 2 years here have yet to see a tourist on my street

this way the normal people can have normal lives...

i think it's good to follow the paris system and keep all the shinies in one place, it makes tourism more convenient and natives less bothered

[Elemental]

There are too many things to see in Paris.
If I went there, I'd be too busy looking at the architecture of all the famous landmarks to have time for a ten minute walk into a residential area.
And if I did, I'd probably get lost. I can't even remember how to find my way around Brisbane, let alone a city on the other side of the world!

[Soylent Dave]

do people not understand how large the US really is?

The best example of scale I know is that the UK is about the same distance from the East Coast of the US as the West Coast is.

This is why, in a few months time, my life will become Hell.

I live just outside London, north of the river. My job is in an office in South London, south of the river. To get there I will be going past at least one of the major Olympic sites.

The Commonwealth Games in Manchester (a few years back now) weren't too horrific - the construction work was in many ways more disruptive than the actual event - so that might cheer you up a bit (and it was neatly scheduled so that most of our students had buggered off, which cleared a bit of space).

On the other hand, the Olympics is an order of magnitude larger than the Commonwealth games, and Manchester didn't have the 'already-running-beyond-capacity' London Underground to deal with.

So good luck with that.

[DropsonExistanc]

My various suburbs of Vancouver, Canada seem to be far more troubled by locals than tourists. We do regularly get quite a few people from over the US border in my shop, but I've only ever had one that was an issue in at least 3 years.

Don't get me started on driving. You can tell the foreigners because they're the only ones following the rules of the road with any competence.*

I get gas just across the line nowadays, and it's so relaxing. Cell phone off because I can't afford the roaming, early morning to beat the border lineups, competent traffic (except for occasionally a fellow BCer who doesn't understand stop signs) and everyone is just so polite. At first I felt like a tourist, but the routine is getting more familiar now.

Even the Olympics wasn't so bad, though I stayed out of downtown Vancouver myself. And we're not quite bankrupt yet!

*

Spoiler

Show

I'm not talking about speeding and such, more like consistent blocking of the passing lanes by very slow people, cutting people off with compulsive lane switching, and an inability to use turn signals while doing so.

[dehro]

What rather gets my goat is when people jaywalk across the street, even highways, when there is a crosswalk literally less than 50 feet down the street.
In the direction they are headed.

that's pretty much the norm in Italy..everywhere.


ooh, Paris. I remember spending the week around newyears eve there, several years back.. 5 of us, guests of a friend who had a home pretty much in front of the Ile St. Louis... so I'd go get pain au chocolat every morning, fresh from the bakers.. and shake my head disparagingly at the crowd of italian tourists clogging the roads everywhere... when I realised I was doing that I felt really silly.

[Kalmageddon]

that's pretty much the norm in Southern Italy..everywhere.

Fixed it for you.

[dehro]

Fixed it for you.

ha.. it happens in Milano too

[Manga Shoggoth]

The Commonwealth Games in Manchester (a few years back now) weren't too horrific - the construction work was in many ways more disruptive than the actual event - so that might cheer you up a bit (and it was neatly scheduled so that most of our students had buggered off, which cleared a bit of space).

On the other hand, the Olympics is an order of magnitude larger than the Commonwealth games, and Manchester didn't have the 'already-running-beyond-capacity' London Underground to deal with.

So good luck with that.

We (Londoners) will have to take it is it comes, I guess...

I'm clinging on to the faint hope that I will be up earlier than most of the Olympic traffic, so only have to worry about the evening jam (when I don't care as much).

[Soylent Dave]

We (Londoners) will have to take it is it comes, I guess...

I'm clinging on to the faint hope that I will be up earlier than most of the Olympic traffic, so only have to worry about the evening jam (when I don't care as much).

Lord Coe's advice to Londoners of "if you can avoid going into London during the Olympics by working from home or taking a holiday, please do so" wouldn't massively fill me with confidence.

But then Lord Coe doesn't massively fill with me confidence anyway.

[DropsonExistanc]

Lord Coe's advice to Londoners of "if you can avoid going into London during the Olympics by working from home or taking a holiday, please do so" wouldn't massively fill me with confidence.

That's roughly what they told us Vancouverites, or perhaps we deduced it ourselves (however unlikely that is). Tons of people still went down for the beer gardens and whatnot though. Because waiting 4 hours to get into a beer garden is hella fun!

We did build an entire new elevated skytrain line for the ordeal. At the expense of building infrastructure for places that people actually live, naturally (as in, not the direct path from the airport to downtown)

[dehro]

That's roughly what they told us Vancouverites, or perhaps we deduced it ourselves (however unlikely that is). Tons of people still went down for the beer gardens and whatnot though. Because waiting 4 hours to get into a beer garden is hella fun!

you people grow beer on trees?

[Gravitron5000]

you people grow beer on trees?

Don't be silly. That would be a beer orchard.

[Elemental]

The term beer garden is basically a garden area for the serving of beer. Kind of like an outdoor bar.
At least that's what I've always understood the term to mean.
Being a non-drinker, I can't go and check for you.

[ForzaFiori]

that's pretty much the norm in Italy..everywhere.

Italy has some of the weirdest pedestrians I've ever seen. I admit that where I live, people act like the whole street is full of crosswalks, but I don't see how anyone knows when to cross, or even when to go forward, in Italy. I traveled through Milan, Venice, Florence, Ravenna, Cinque Terre, and Como, and I think I saw maybe 1 traffic light! In every place we stayed, pedestrians just walked down the middle of the road. In Florence, there were times I didn't even realize there was a legit road beneath me because of the people, until a car started coming down it. It was really strange.

[Elemental]

Italy has some of the weirdest pedestrians I've ever seen. I admit that where I live, people act like the whole street is full of crosswalks, but I don't see how anyone knows when to cross, or even when to go forward, in Italy. I traveled through Milan, Venice, Florence, Ravenna, Cinque Terre, and Como, and I think I saw maybe 1 traffic light! In every place we stayed, pedestrians just walked down the middle of the road. In Florence, there were times I didn't even realize there was a legit road beneath me because of the people, until a car started coming down it. It was really strange.

Well, one has to remember that most of the cities, towns and villages in Italy are incredibly old, so they naturally didn't take cars into account when they laid out the streets (if they decided to lay out the streets at all, I can't remember my medieval Italian town-planning). And then remember that most of these towns required fortification in order to prevent attacks from people, so space was at a premium within the walls due to the expense of fortifications. Also remember that walking down the centre of a street is a very, very, very old tradition in Europe for obvious reasons.
Of course, I've probably gotten all my facts wrong. Thus, I await correction.

[Kalmageddon]

Italy has some of the weirdest pedestrians I've ever seen. I admit that where I live, people act like the whole street is full of crosswalks, but I don't see how anyone knows when to cross, or even when to go forward, in Italy. I traveled through Milan, Venice, Florence, Ravenna, Cinque Terre, and Como, and I think I saw maybe 1 traffic light! In every place we stayed, pedestrians just walked down the middle of the road. In Florence, there were times I didn't even realize there was a legit road beneath me because of the people, until a car started coming down it. It was really strange.

I honestly have no idea what you're talking about.
Venice doesn't even have cars anywhere except for one small square that is used as a terminal for bus and taxi leaving or entering the city from the bridge in Piazzale Roma.
I've been to most of the cities you mentioned, and except for Milan (which is a very stressed out city where traffic is really heavy) pedestrians respect crosswalks and there are plenty of traffic lights wherever they are needed.
The one exception I've seen is Rome, where, yes, people lose all common sense when getting behind the wheel or when they have to cross the road. I've seen instances of people crossing the road diagonally in the middle of a crossroad.

What you may be talking about are the oldest quarters, the so-called "historic center" of some cities, where, yes, there are no real streets for cars. Most of those areas are pedestrian only, but some of them make exceptions for public service vehicles or residents of the area.

[dehro]

I've seen instances of people crossing the road diagonally in the middle of a crossroad.

I had my reasons, is all I'm gonna say.

@forzafiori@most cities of which the planning goes back to middle ages or even further back tend to have a circular plant, for obvious fortification related reasons. most of the historical landmarks tend to be within the old walls, or what remains of those..or where they once stood.
the newer parts of most of those cities have better planning but still lack bycicle paths or green areas, in the vast majority of the case. the footpaths can and probably will be broader than where most tourists are (the old part of towns).
we do however have traffic lights pretty much in every place where we don't have a roundabout.

[Elemental]

Brisbane CBD is mostly aligned along a grid. However, because of hills, the area north of the train line is quite unusual.

When I go to my course, I have to cross at a five way intersection. Which is just your typical four way intersection, but there's another street which comes in at one of the corners, neatly cutting what would otherwise be a rectangular city block in half along the diagonal.
And some of the blocks are triangular, and others are just cut out of other blocks, and there are streets that go off in weird angles...
It's making my obsessive compulsiveness act up...
Oh well... that's what happens when you have a hill in the way and an unfounded need to provide the city with clearly marked boundaries that it then quickly outgrew.



A six way intersection!?!?!?!?

[Sgt. Cookie]

Considering I live in the arse end of nowhere (Stockport area) tourists are almost non-existent.

[grimbold]

Lord Coe's advice to Londoners of "if you can avoid going into London during the Olympics by working from home or taking a holiday, please do so" wouldn't massively fill me with confidence.

But then Lord Coe doesn't massively fill with me confidence anyway.

that's... disturbing...

[Manga Shoggoth]

Lord Coe's advice to Londoners of "if you can avoid going into London during the Olympics by working from home or taking a holiday, please do so" wouldn't massively fill me with confidence.

But then Lord Coe doesn't massively fill with me confidence anyway.

Oh indeed. Whilst I have every respect for his athletic qualifications, I have no faith whatsoever in his ability to understand people's everyday jobs and situations.

[KenderWizard]

For the day that's in it, I decided to come visit this thread.

It's St Patrick's Day. Dublin is filled with drunk tourists wearing ridiculous outfits with a theme of Garish Leprechaun. Irish people are either (a) barricaded at home, possibly after nipping out to see the parade before people got drunk (lunchtime) or (b) also drunk, but generally wearing more sensible clothes. And generally not lightweights.

I quite like tourists. Tourists really like Ireland and Irish people, so they're generally friendly and happy to be here.

That said, there is a lot of:
1) "Do you speak Gaelic?!" That's not a language, that's a type of language. You're just looking for the word "Irish". You were probably thrown off by its obviousness.

2) "I can't believe you have, like, a city! I thought Ireland was all fields and stuff!" Seriously?

3) "Today we're in Dublin, tomorrow we're taking a day trip to Donegal, and then we're going to visit the Giant's Causeway on the north coast and go to Galway!" For some reason, Americans (in particular) have the same problem coming here as other people have said happens to Europeans in America. Yes, the country is tiny. Yes, Galway is physically closer to Dublin than most Americans are to a Starbucks. No, you cannot get there in twenty minutes. A side effect of all that scenery you came to see is that we have cute winding roads, not multilane highways. We have some motorways, but nothing like what's in the States or Germany or anywhere.

4) "My great-great grandmother came from here so I'm Irish!" We're glad you like us so much you're willing to drop the culture you grew up in, the country that's sustained you, and the heritage of all your ancestors except that one just to be in our club. But it's a bit weird. Anyway, just saying it doesn't really make it so. By all means, do your genealogy stuff and be proud of your Irish connection, and be "Irish-Whatever". But can we keep our word, please? If it means "anyone who has even a tenuous connection to Ireland", there's no word for us!

[Alarra]

Tourists don't much bother me. Where I live now, I'm far enough from DC and go there so infrequently that I am pretty much a tourist myself. I certainly don't get bothered by the tourists there.

I'm from South Dakota though, and the only part of SD that people visit, the Black Hills. Tourists didn't bother me much there either, because most of the tourist attractions are rather out of the main city area. The one time it does get rather annoying is during the Sturgis Rally, which is 10 days in August. I didn't actually live in Sturgis (that would have driven me nuts), but about 30 miles away. Anyway, for this 10 days, 400-600k motorcyclists converge on the area. In an area with little to no traffic usually, it's now taking me an hour to drive to work (as opposed to 10 minutes). It's crazy because during non-rally times, the entire population of my city and the surrounding areas is maaaaybe 200k at the most. The vast majority of my relatives actually rent out their homes and take their family vacations then. Which is a great idea and makes them a ton of extra money. We'd probably do the same except that my parents own a restaurant, which obviously requires them to be around during tourist times.

[DropsonExistanc]

Brisbane CBD is mostly aligned along a grid. However, because of hills, the area north of the train line is quite unusual.

When I go to my course, I have to cross at a five way intersection. Which is just your typical four way intersection, but there's another street which comes in at one of the corners, neatly cutting what would otherwise be a rectangular city block in half along the diagonal.
And some of the blocks are triangular, and others are just cut out of other blocks, and there are streets that go off in weird angles...
It's making my obsessive compulsiveness act up...
Oh well... that's what happens when you have a hill in the way and an unfounded need to provide the city with clearly marked boundaries that it then quickly outgrew.


A six way intersection!?!?!?!?

I know one area in a suburb here, grid layout, but along one street the blocks are staggered by about 15-20 feet. So to keep going straight up one of the avenues you have to do a zig-zag. I suspect some city planner made a measuring boo-boo way back when.

[Elemental]

I know one area in a suburb here, grid layout, but along one street the blocks are staggered by about 15-20 feet. So to keep going straight up one of the avenues you have to do a zig-zag. I suspect some city planner made a measuring boo-boo way back when.

Maybe there was a building they didn't want to demolish, and now the streets are just funny because of it?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Having ranted about Tourists in London, this may be a little ironic, but...

Alarra's post reminds me of an annual event in my childhood. There used to be a biker meet round the back of our town in spring/early summer. For the weekend the town would be choked with bikers posing riding through the town center and most of the off-licences were doing a roaring trade.

Wonderful guys. I don't recall any trouble that wasn't started by the local bravos (and not much even then), and apart from the traffic and bikes all over the place they were really well behaved.

[dehro]

I know one area in a suburb here, grid layout, but along one street the blocks are staggered by about 15-20 feet. So to keep going straight up one of the avenues you have to do a zig-zag. I suspect some city planner made a measuring boo-boo way back when.

or it was done to slow down traffic

[twinkletoes]

I like the winter better than summer. In the winter my hometown is a pretty good place.
In the summer, the cruise ships come. The shop prices triple, we have a market pretty much every day, and the buskers emerge from hibernation. We're one of those quaint little tourist towns with ice creams and fish & chips. One day I was eating my lunch with my friends and a tourist comes up to the school fence. Not bothering to speak English, she mimes taking a picture.
We nod.
She then mimes eating a sandwich, and when we're all posing, holding our food up to our mouth, she takes her picture.
When she walks away, we see her taking pictures of the boys practising rugby.
I just can't understand why tourists WANT to do this.

[Elemental]

I'm just going to put it all down to tourists being unusual, in comparison to the place they're visiting.

However, I can understand why the Japanese would take pictures of themselves with the lion statues that flank the main entrance to Brisbane City Hall on King George Square. Lion statues are pretty cool after all.