Tourists' national naivete is cause for embarrassment

[jw]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

PS - Dublin to Killarney is over 200 miles.

It is of course. The last time I went to Kerry was to the Listowel races which is about 150 miles from me. Switching to kilometers has fecked up my milometer.

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

Maybe people (especially non-native speakers, which you probably deal mostly with when working at customs) don't realise the "HM" is "Her Majesty"?

Oh, no. He really thought that Her Majesty's customs were omnipotent. I think he may have been a throwback to when the empire was much bigger.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by SatansHobbit

My fave is my pommy cousin Nigel having to trawl the deep end of the prawning net on the way back in the Mandurah estuary one time..

Do Brits get to call other people 'pommies'? I thought that was an Aussie thing? You know, what with your being British and all...

Originally Posted by jw

It is of course. The last time I went to Kerry was to the Listowel races which is about 150 miles from me. Switching to kilometers has fecked up my milometer.

The last time I was in Kerry I took a cab from Cork Airport to Waterville. Beautiful day, stunning views en route and cheap too - took four hours though

[SatansHobbit]

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

Do Brits get to call other people 'pommies'?

Yes

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

I thought that was an Aussie thing?

It is, but Down Under, a lot of Poms are proud of being Poms. We call them targets.

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

You know, what with your being British and all...

That's not what my citizenship certificate nor my passport says.

[ULTRAGOTHA]

Originally Posted by jw

Also, regarding the OP, my BIL used to work as a taxi driver here, twenty years ago. Many visitors would arrive and ask him to take them on a tour around the island and bring them back before tea time. I suppose people who were used to motorways would figure that 120 miles from Dublin could be done in a few hours. However, even with some road improvements, a 120 mile trip to Kerry can still take over 6 or 7 hours, one way.

We went to Scotland in 2005 (and are going back this September) and I carefully calculated out how far we would drive in a day and made reservations in hostels accordingly.

My schedule allowed plenty of time to meander and stop and look at anything we wanted.

Alas, though my distances were accurate my times were not and we spent the whole time driving all day to get from one hostel to another and only had time for leisure on the days we were booked to stay in the same place multiple nights (ah the Orkneys!!).

In September we have considerably re-calculated driving times and have decided to stay in a few hostels for several days instead of several hostels for a few days. The roads just cannot be driven in the times I can drive them here.

But even I wouldn't expect to circumnavigate Ireland and be back in time for tea!


Though many Europeans have odd ideas of distances here, too. When we lived in Sacramento, California I was contacted by a British friend visiting near San Diego and she asked if we could meet for dinner. I told her if I could get a day off work, I'd certainly drive down. She said I didn't need to take the whole day for a dinner! Ha! It's at least an 8-hour drive, even on very good freeways, from Sacramento to San Diego. Even if Sacramento is in the middle of the state.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by SatansHobbit

That's not what my citizenship certificate nor my passport says.

You're only kidding yourself , but go on, say 'pommie' loads more, you'll fit in

[Dactyl]

Originally Posted by Floater

Punts? I thought they had switched over to euros a number of years ago.

They did, but this happened in 1999 when I was university.

[Moku]

Originally Posted by ULTRAGOTHA

In September we have considerably re-calculated driving times and have decided to stay in a few hostels for several days instead of several hostels for a few days. The roads just cannot be driven in the times I can drive them here.

I've found that the AA Route Planner is fairly realistic on driving times in the Highlands

http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/c...anner_main.jsp

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by ULTRAGOTHA

But even I wouldn't expect to circumnavigate Ireland and be back in time for tea!

It's doable, but not in a car. In a Eurofighter Typhoon it is.

[Roadie]

Originally Posted by ULTRAGOTHA

Though many Europeans have odd ideas of distances here, too. When we lived in Sacramento, California I was contacted by a British friend visiting near San Diego and she asked if we could meet for dinner. I told her if I could get a day off work, I'd certainly drive down. She said I didn't need to take the whole day for a dinner! Ha! It's at least an 8-hour drive, even on very good freeways, from Sacramento to San Diego. Even if Sacramento is in the middle of the state.

I'll admit it's not just Europeans on this one. Despite having lived all but 5 of my years in California, I decided that it would be "no big deal" to drive from a conference in Sacramento to meet my family in San Diego to start a little getaway. 8 hours is a 2 hour understatement! In my defense, I was raised in Orange County and dinner in SD is quite doable (or was then, before the traffic problem got really bad!), and I don't really recall having gone from OC to Sac often, so my scale of reference was well off.

[Ana Ng]

Originally Posted by Hyper Squirrel

Also confusing is that while all of these are part of what is called Long Island, only the two eastern counties, Nassau and Suffolk, are considered to be part of Long Island. Honestly, it makes perfect sense to me but only because I learned all of it in my first year of school. Otherwise I'd be as confused as everyone else

I remember really understanding that I lived on an island for the first time when I was in primary school and feeling all Gilligan's Island for a spell. And then leaving the first time to go to Pennsylvania was all like, whoa.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

Years ago, in Holland visiting a Dutch family who had once lived near us, the children showed us their photo albums. On photo was of a small hill, and we asked the significance of it. Their teenage daughter said it was the first mountain she had ever seen.

We don't have mountains in Ohio, but we have some fairly substantial hills in the Appalachian areas of the state.

[Joostik]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

Years ago, in Holland visiting a Dutch family who had once lived near us, the children showed us their photo albums. On photo was of a small hill, and we asked the significance of it. Their teenage daughter said it was the first mountain she had ever seen.

You mean Australia has mountains?

Contrary to common tourist misconception, not all of the Netherlands is completely flat (as flat as say, central Australia).

[Floater]

Originally Posted by Joostik

Contrary to common tourist misconception, not all of the Netherlands is completely flat (as flat as say, central Australia).

I wouldn't say that 322 metres is particularly high , but it bets Denmark with 149.

[Skeptic]

Originally Posted by Joostik

You mean Australia has mountains?

Contrary to common tourist misconception, not all of the Netherlands is completely flat (as flat as say, central Australia).

Yes, we've a long range of them, from the top of Queensland right down to Victoria.

But this happened in Europe, the joke was that it was only a small hill, but to a teenager brought up in Holland, it was huge.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

While dumb, people can be polite and not ask the question though.

I don't think it's ever safe to assume folks will refrain from asking rude questions. On a cruise snopes and I took, we were seated for dinner with a couple from Scotland and another from California. Once hearing that the other couple was from Scotland, the male half of the Californians proceeded to ask (and quite earnestly too; he wasn't making a joke) if Scotsmen wore underpants or if they went without. He seemed particularly interested in what they wore under kilts.

There was some other idiocy he later managed to come up with that I've mercifully managed to since forget, which will *sigh* likely now come back to me.

[Floater]

Originally Posted by Barbara

... if Scotsmen wore underpants or if they went without. He seemed particularly interested in what they wore under kilts.

I have once seen what a Scotsman had underneath his kilt (someone lifted it to have a look). It was not a pretty sight.

[rosa who else]

"They regularly addressed letters to HM customs." - posted by JW.

When I worked for the West Coast office of a U.S. company, we transferred a department's work to the East Coast, sending out a memo that said, "From now on, send all work to Virginia." For months we'd get interoffice mail addressed "Attention: Virginia."

But that's nothin' compared to the telephone sales clerk from Chadwick's of Boston (naughty, naughty Chadwick's of Boston!) who took my address in Seattle and promptly asked, "That's in Virginia, right?"

[SplishFish]

Originally Posted by snopes

"Is it safe here when it rains?

I don't see this question as particularly stupid. Having grown up in Wisconsin, my experience is that rain is often accompanied by lightning, hail, tornados (not to mention the wicked fast straight-line winds the Eau Claire/Chippewa Valley area is prone to), and flooding.

So, having been caught in the open in a hailstorm (ouchie!), almost being struck by lightning, and having half a 50 foot tree miss the house by inches has taught me that it may not be safe when it rains. I would probably ask if it was safe, too.

Splish "BZZZT!" Fish

Originally Posted by Roadie

I'm always surprised at how many people in the US don't know that Puerto Ricans are US Citizens.

Agreed. My husband is Puerto Rican. I've even had people ask me if he married me for citizenship (jokingly of course), even though he's in the military.

[Flagg]

While traveling to different parts of the U.S. I've had several variations on this exchange:

local: Hey, where're you from?
me: Delaware.
local: What state is that in?
me: It's its own state.
local: (looking confused) Oh. Really?
me: Yep. In fact, we were the first state.
local: Huh.