I had to bite my tongue - often!

[p38arover]

As some are aware, we've been away on hols in Europe. We heard some great comments by some of the Americans who were on the same bus tour.


When my wife mentioned we couldn't get a good coffee anywhere, one American said "There's a McDonalds down the street, they do good coffee"
One wondered why there were so many Red Cross flags in Switzerland.
Swiss flag:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/09/1063.jpg
Red Cross:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/09/1064.jpg
The same woman complained there wasn't much snow in Switzerland so my wife told her it was summer.
Another woman couldn't understand why Switzerland used CH for their country code even after I told her it stood for Confederation Helvetica (actually the Latin of that). After all, the USA just uses "USA".
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/09/1065.jpg
The same woman told me she was impressed with the Swiss engineers who designed the cog railway in such a way that her ears didn't pop when we went up to the top of Mt Pilatus (height just over 2,000 metres).
http://pilatus.webtuning-cdn.ch/webautor-data/82/05-zahnradbahn_0_0.jpg
Another told us of the photograph in her yoga teacher's classroom. She said the teacher's father had hiked to the top of the mountain to take the pic. It was a pic of the Matterhorn with the mountain reflected in a lake. I did tell her one does not hike to the top of the Matterhorn. (This pic I took of the Matterhorn was with a phone)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/09/1066.jpg

[101RRS]

Hmm whats wrong with Macafe coffee??

[p38arover]

Hmm whats wrong with Macafe coffee??

Dunno about Macafe coffee, but McCafe coffee isn't any good.

[101RRS]

Dunno about Macafe coffee, but McCafe coffee isn't any good.

Same stuff - having bitten your tongue so much I guess your taste buds are now in your ......... ;)

[p38arover]

I should have taken you to a good coffee shop when you were here, Garry. :p

[korg20000bc]

Hmm whats wrong with Macafe coffee??
Same bloke who does antivirus software?
:)

[bob10]

In all fairness, I should say , in my experience, yes, there are Americans who are exactly like that, but there are more who are switched on. It was always our mission, when overseas, as Australian servicemen, to learn from the switched on , and educate the others. Bob:angel:

[Pedro_The_Swift]

One day Ron,, I'll lob on your door step and ask for a good coffee;)


You may have to drive if movement is required---:angel:

[loanrangie]

In all fairness, I should say , in my experience, yes, there are Americans who are exactly like that, but there are more who are switched on. It was always our mission, when overseas, as Australian servicemen, to learn from the switched on , and educate the others. Bob:angel:

They are few and far between, i was in Israel just after the first Gulf War and the yank i was with yelled out at the top of his voice "i'm loud, i'm proud and i'm American " - i prayed for a scud missile to come out of no where :(.

[p38arover]

I was working in Saudi Arabia just before the first Gulf War and there were many T-shirts available printed with, in Arabic, "I am not an American" upon them.


In all fairness, I should say , in my experience, yes, there are Americans who are exactly like that, but there are more who are switched on. It was always our mission, when overseas, as Australian servicemen, to learn from the switched on , and educate the others. Bob:angel:

No weird comments were forthcoming from the Kiwis, Aussies, nor Canadians on the tour - and there were a lot more of them than Americans.

[frantic]

My wife and I stayed in the round hotel on top of Mt pilatus , amazing sunrise pictures up a staircase next to the hotel.
We took the 2 cable cars up , wife and every other female in the car screamed at the last support before the hotel, and the cog railway down the next day.
Across from the round hotel is another peak and at night you would see the radar dish pop open do a few spins then close.
Enjoy yourself.

[p38arover]

The radar dish was running all the time we were there. The cable car is closed for maintenance so we had to go up and down on the railway.

[bob10]

I was working in Saudi Arabia just before the first Gulf War and there were many T-shirts available printed with, in Arabic, "I am not an American" upon them.



No weird comments were forthcoming from the Kiwis, Aussies, nor Canadians on the tour - and there were a lot more of them than Americans.


So, you were on a tour. Organised? By whom? And you take a few " weird " comments by a handful of Americans on your organised tour to stamp all Americans with the same brush? You should go overseas more often. Bob

[Bigbjorn]

Plenty of ignorant rednecks in Australia too. Not all are in outback WA and Qld. either.

[Benz]

We did Mt. Jungfrau quite a few years ago on a contiki tour.
Loved how the train went up through the mountain.
We all took packets of chips up just to see them blow up with the change in air pressure.
It was the first time we had both ever seen snow. It was kinda icey as it was summer be we still loved it. It even snowed a tiny bit! Our eyes got hammered when the sun came out though! talk about glare!

You have to wonder about some people and why they even bother traveling.
I mean if you go to a country not even knowing what it's national flag looks like...
What are they hoping to get out of such a trip?

While we were on our contiki tour everyone was obsessed with trying McDonalds in different counties... it really annoyed me.

the contiki tour that made us decide to never do a tour like it again.
It wasn't that the tour was bad, it was actually really good! we had an absolute blast!
It was more so the fact that it was hard to immerse ourselves in a country while surrounded by a heap of Aussies with a few Yanks and Brits thrown in.


Plenty of ignorant rednecks in Australia too. Not all are in outback WA and Qld. either.
Yeah you can find them on holiday in bali...

[p38arover]

So, you were on a tour. Organised? By whom? And you take a few " weird " comments by a handful of Americans on your organised tour to stamp all Americans with the same brush? You should go overseas more often.

Yep.

I've also travelled overseas many times for both holidays and work. I've also worked overseas with Americans.

And if you re-read my first post, you'll see I didn't brand all Americans as unaware - just a couple were. I've had a couple of one month holidays touring the Pacific North West with an American friend (from the RangeRovers.net forum).

[olbod]

Where are you going for your next holiday Ron ?

[p38arover]

Where are you going for your next holiday Ron ?

River Island.

[olbod]

River Island.


Oh.
I'll have to google it.

[olbod]

Oh.
I'll have to google it.

We used to go to Woodlands.
Lovely views in every direction night and day.

[DiscoMick]

Plenty of ignorant rednecks in Australia too. Not all are in outback WA and Qld. either.

I used to cringe at the behaviour of some Aussies in Asia.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

[p38arover]

I used to cringe at the behaviour of some Aussies in Asia.

Oh, absolutely. On the bus tour we were doing, a few of us were discussing exactly that and especially in relation to the programme on Ch 7 about Aussies in Bali. The programme is cringeworthy. They aren't good ambassadors for Oz.