Travelers Behaving Badly
“We’re not here to take photos of children, Bob!”
This I overheard while walking among ancient tribes while they were applying makeup and body art at a festival in Papua New Guinea.
The American woman continued…
“And why did you just leave me back there? I would never just walk away from you while you were taking a photo!”
I wondered if these people realized where they were.
For me? To be wandering amongst tribal people whose history goes back 50,000 years, I was in heaven. You couldn’t have ruined the moment for me if you tried. But these people? Obviously in hell.
I realize we take our baggage (in more ways than one) with us when we’re on the road. And sometimes travel conditions can be such that the worst of us leaks out. But despite this couple’s obvious domestic issues, I really think they forgot, even for a brief time, where they were and just how special this moment was.
(Note – I later saw this couple walking around the showgrounds with matching tribal face paint. I suppose it was their way of “making up.”)
I think we have a responsibility to be on our best behavior when we travel. Our actions affect not only those with whom we’re traveling (be it our significant other or those on a group tour) but also those whom we’re visiting. We are ambassadors of our respective countries and when we behave badly, the locals start to see patterns (whether they are true across the board or not) and create their own prejudices against us. Believe me, working in the tour industry, my local tour operators regularly tell me from which countries they don’t want to see tourists.
I don’t advocate shrinking in the corner and becoming a wall flower, but neither do I suggest you become one of those people in that group standing in the middle of an Indian street trying to determine which bar to hit next (you know who you are).
In another example from this recent trip, an Australian woman from a different tour group shoved, and I mean literally pushed hard, one of my tour members to get her out of the way while she was taking photos. While you could argue my gal was blocking the view of some people, for this Australian woman to have physically pushed her (twice, I was told), was an absolute stunner for me. I mean, the last time I saw a catfight was probably in high school. Really, all she needed to do was ask nicely OR move her seat – there was plenty of room at this small festival to take it all in.
Above is a photo I took at last year’s Mt. Hagen Singsing where a couple of photographers insisted on blocking the view. For some reason, this year was far worse, with more photographers pinned up against the fence for that million dollar shot of the dancing tribes and there was more obnoxious behavior (not from my group, of course!) than I may have seen on any trip I’ve taken.
This increase in aggressive behavior I observed in Papua New Guinea makes me wonder… were these just a few bad apples or is the bad economy making us more territorial when we travel? Do we think we’re more deserving because we can afford to be on the road?
I don’t have the answers to these questions. I just hope that these trends don’t continue – both the bad economy and the bad behavior.
Travel Well!
Beth
Related links:
Coming Home: The Bittersweet Truth
Return to Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea Tours
12 comments
I too dont have answers to these questions but I wholeheartedly agree that some travelers/tourists forget the reason they’re traveling in the first place and to leave some of the “baggage” they are trying to leave behind by going on a getaway in the first place!
We always try to first enjoy the moment, appreciate the place we’re visiting and really take time to look around, socialize, talk to people etc… before we start thinking about taking pictures and all. I hope that as tourists learn to become ‘travelers’, we’ll see less bad behaviors in the future?
After years on the road and especially determining in France that Americans are the rudest and loudest – my mantra but I’ve changed that opinion to all countries seem to have come to the realization that it’s good to get the native nasty ones on the road and out of town! In Barcelona some Asian woman tried to push me out of the line at the tourism booth, well I’m the same size as Beth but told this person that the next shove would get her a broken arm. Said in a loud voice, the crowd parted and none of us had a problem with “pushers” after that.
Rude people are always rude in their own country or someone elses.
Assess the situation and don’t be afraid to assert yourself, some things are understood in any language. But winning an argument and getting injured isn’t worth it either.
Being polite and respectful of other travelers/tourists and locals is one of the most important, and simplest things a traveler/tourist can do. People need to take a moment and think about how their actions reflect themselves and the place they’re from.
Love your thoughts here, Beth and couldn’t agree more. We’re here in Alaska (doing some tech “catch up”) and are similarly surprised by the way people behave. And… we don’t even have a cross-cultural component here. Can’t wait to share stories.
For now, we just try our hardest to model decent behavior that respects the place we are visiting and those around us.
Good starting point for a discussion, Beth. I think people sometimes needs a (gentle) reminder about, well, simply being nice.
I have definitely been surprised by some of the behavior I see from other travelers. When I see something like that, and when I read a post like this, it continues to reinforce the type of traveler I want to be: respectful and happy.
It’s appaling how some people totally seem to forget which country they are in. My example: tourists walking around half naked in town in the resorts of Turkey’s Aegean coast, drinking alcohol all day long and making derisory remarks about the dress of traditional Turkish women.
I’ve actually been long thinking of starting a social etiquette column on my non-travel blog, due to the types of people you spoke of above. Increasingly we are becoming a ‘me me’ society and I have to say it sickens me.
~ Emme
Nice write Beth. I’m sure you have not encountered the mainland Chinese tourist. I have had horrible experiences with them over the last few years!
Beth-this is a post that I have been wanting to write. We went to a couple of just incredible events in Africa recently. They were so amazing to witness in person. the challenge was, moments were ruined by folks trying to be over aggressive in their picture taking. So sad.
Well done.
It seems to be a growing problem for sure. It does seem like people are losing their manners in the world. I don’t understand what is happening to people, but everyone seems oblivious to being polite and careful of other people’s views and feelings. I think we all need to speak out more against it. I tell people they’re being rude. Sometimes they just need a little reminder that what they’re doing is unacceptable. Other times, they don’t even care that I said anything. Oh, well.