Would Canadians like traveling to Europe with Americans? :)?

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Karen C

I suppose if you look you will find some Canadians who failed geography and will not know where they are but I think you would have to really look. And We are generally more world conscious than Americans - we do not think we are, WE ARE. And we are partly because we are such a diverse group and we like to get to know each other more than Americans seem to. (I know there are exceptions and this is written as a generalization.)

I cannot even imagine a Canadian saying "you Americans don't know crap" let me handle this!". We might think it but I think most of us get a bit of a charge watching Americans play around in quicksand. LOL You folks in real life are generally a better show than any sit com because you head for dangerous waters and quicksand truer and faster than a lemming heads for a cliff to jump from.

And most Americans just cannot go somewhere to enjoy it. You have to let everyone know you can buy it. I remember being on a tour in London years ago with an American. He loudly told everyone that The States was going to buy the very bridge we were on. Everyone just smiled and told him they didn't think so but he hollered on. I got as letter from him sometime later. And he was hot! Those bloody Brits reneged. Sent a plain old nothing special bridge and said it was the famous London Bridge. But folks, they did not renege. They did indeed sell the London Bridge to the U.S. This dude, like a lot of Americans, thought they had purchased the Tower Bridge which by comparison is a very ornate bridge. The plain, old and nonetheless famous London Bridge is now a part of a theme park in Arizona. I guess what I am saying is the "We can Buy" it routine is a tad boring and arrogant and just plain foolish.

I also doubt we would ever get lumped in with each other in the minds of Europeans. Most Europeans have a love for Canadians that I have to admit I do not totally understand but I do like it. We are generally welcomed like a conquering hero - something my parents generation did for us. It is highly unlikely that the branding we were given way back then would change to your 'all inclusive American" vision of a bunch of lost souls. Nah! Would never happen!.

It is probably best - unless you let us pick the Americans we want to travel with (there really are some super Americans but they are a part of the silent minority down there) - that we do not travel together. U.S.-Canadian bondship as you call it would be destroyed, not strengthened.

Now about France - Our French Canadians are good people. Parisiennes are ok but You can have them. Americans and Parisiennes have so much in common, notably arrogance. Nah! I think we will keep our Canadians, French speaking or otherwise.

Erik, my little Canadian wannabe, You still have a lot to learn about Canada and Canadians. :o)

j d

We were on a tour several years ago with some Americans who very unpleasant to the rest of the group. They thought they owned the world. They complained about everything from the quality of the hotel rooms to the food they were served. In Barcelona at a sidewalk cafÃ© on Las Ramblas, a woman told her husband that the food "didn't taste like home". They had ordered "bocadilla de jamÃ²n y queso" (ham and cheese sandwich) and evidently didn't like it.

On another trip to Paris, France, a man was trying to get a hotel room, but the front desk clerk didn't speak or understand English. This American man kept repeating the same thing again and again, getting louder each time and closer to the woman in an attempt to make her understand. I thought I'd help out, and she told me there was only one room available. The American man immediately told me to stop talking about him behind his back. At that comment, I said I'd take the room. When I told him that if he'd understood our conversation, he should have no trouble getting a room...somewhere else because I'd just taken the only one available at that hotel that night.

My cousins, most of whom are American, travel to Europe wearing Canadian flags and pins. They have no trouble till they present their passports or open their mouths. The European attitude toward them changes immediately, or so I'm told. In fact, one of them told me she might as well have "American" tatooed on her forehead! I, for one, would never, under any circumstance, agree to wear an American flag.

Again in France, I was waiting for a bus. An American woaman approached another and asked' "Do you speak American?" The second woman, who happened to be from Ireland answered, "No, but I do speak English." That was priceless to me, and the American woman, trying to hide her embarrassment (?), said, "Well, it's the same thing."

I am insulted that you say our QuÃ©bec French would not be understood. It is - and the French love it. They know where we're from, and they enjoy meeting their "cousins" from QuÃ©bec. They are extremely welcoming to us.

Canadians and Americans are not culturally the same. We share a language, but we use it, sometimes, very differently. We laugh at different things, we eat different foods. Canadians are, in general, more accepting of other cultures while Americans, in general, are not. To most Americans, the USA is the only country on earth worth living in, and visiting other countries is a strong reminder of that.

For all of these reasons, I would not want to travel with Americans. I'm on holiday to enjoy and learn and rest, not to compete in any way with some uncouth character. I can tolerate Americans one-to-one most of the time, but travelling with a group is unbearable, even in fictionalized context.

EDIT: I'm sure there are some Americans who are great travel companions. Sadly, most I've met are rude, loud and arrogant. Many ask questions, but don't listen to the answers. They don't seem open to what others have to say or how they live. They are even that way in their own country. I find that very sad.

Karen L

I'm afraid that, on the whole, as much as I like the individual Americans I have met, I wouldn't want Americans for travelling companions. Too many Americans abroad are patronizing and arrogant towards the country they're in. The general attitude is that these foreigners do it all wrong, and what's the matter with them that they don't do things the way they're done in the US, blithely ignoring the fact that the country they're in has likely been doing things that way for many centuries before the US even existed, and they seem to have stumbled through anyway.

My favourite American tourist comment, overheard at a scenic viewpoint in Germany, spoken in a strong Bronx accent: "Look, Harry, the moon. Just like at home"

Edit: Many years ago now, I went to Bermuda for a holiday. Before I went, and this was before we all had internet so such research was a little more difficult than it is now, I read up a little and discovered that people in Bermuda dress modestly and relatively formally when out in public, Bathing suits are for swimming in, not walking around town in, and shirtless for men is for the privacy of your own yard. And it was like that. I got used to seeing people nicely dressed. Then one morning I was in Hamilton when a cruise ship from New York docked and spewed out its passengers. There they were, women in shorts and bikini tops and men without shirts barging around downtown Hamilton. I felt offended, I can't think how the Bermudians felt. Cruise ships are usually pretty good about letting people know what's acceptable at various destinations so I don't know how these American yobs didn't know.

dont taze me bro

I think that would be a funny documentary. My cousins from Canada who back packed Europe seen many American tourists. Obviously not all Americans are bad tourists, but there is a known stereotype of them being loud and obnoxious. My cousins experienced this stereotype and told em funny things.. I think it be a funny documentary actually haha.

tuppenybitz

some americans sew canadian flags on their bags so when they travel people wont know they are american so i guess they would like to hide their identity by traveling with canadians as canadians are liked the world over

*ajidamoon* the Eh team

It depends.....will these Americans be wearing our flag, and pretending to be Canadians? Or will they be traveling as Americans?
I think we would tend to have much more in common with the people of Europe, then our neighbours to the South.........I also think you will find that few Canadians would ever dream of venturing to another country, without first learning their customs, laws, and way of life. Abd yes, the dialect in Quebec is different from that of France.....many differing slang terms and sayings, but they will have no problem understanding each other. Just as if you travel to the countries of South America....the majority of them speak Spanish, but different variations of it, with the same root words.

Wolfenstein

I dislike the film's portrayal of there being a thick division between the North Americans and the Europeans. I think that, although the film might actually be good, in the long term the implication is dangerous for the cultural unity of all European people. It is sad how so many Americans and Canadians have lost their sense of unity with the motherland in Europe, and see it just as a completely different world.

PS - Don't use the Maple Leaf flag. It is not the actual flag of Canada; Prime Minister Pearson changed the national flag from the Red Ensign to the Maple Leaf flag to repudiate Canada's British ties, in order to make the country more "Canadian". Since then, the country has been a mess. I hope that someday someone will bring back our real flag: the Red Ensign.

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