There are a few pros to being a tourist — like igniting all your senses at once, tastebuds tickled by new foods, ears pricked by different accents and eyes awakened by seeing world-renowned landmarks in the flesh.
But the cons? Aside from getting lost and falling for tourist traps, it's unknowingly doing something that really pisses off the locals. Redditor u/chrisxx1023 put this best when they asked Aussies, "What are some things tourists do that bother you?"
1. "Feeding the animals or birds. Let the wildlife be wild — they're not cuddly animals!"
2. "As a specifically American-focused tip — indoor voices are good. It's a stereotype, but it's irritatingly common."
—u/bsquiggle1
"But if I don't yell then how else can I prove that I'm an alpha?"
—u/chrisxx1023
3. "Putting towels on pool chairs at 4am to reserve them and not showing up until 10am to use them. Hotels should outlaw that!"
4. "Asking for coffee creamers. We don't do coffees that taste like ashtray water over here. It’s either a short black, long black, cappuccino, flat white or a latte."
5. "An awful lot of tourists decide to go for a small walk and get lost in the bush for two weeks. It’s not a small walk to the next town no matter what the map says. I don’t want to scrape the remains of another drop bear victim off the street."
6. "We drive on the left. This also means we walk on the left."
—u/misskarne
7. "Whatever you think your inside voice is, lower it by half again at least."
8. "Tipping. You don’t need to tip here and doing so ruins our non-tipping culture. We also ride in the front seat of a taxi/ Uber."
9. "Failing to plan anything or do any research. I'm not quite sure why people would go through the hassle of booking flights, getting visas and then turning up and finding that no, you can't take a train from Sydney to Uluru and back in one day."
10. "I saw a tourist pouring beer into a glass of ice once. That's a bootable offense."
—u/[deleted]
11. "If you must hire a car and drive — don’t drive like a moron. Brush up on the basic road rules. If you have to drive 30km below the speed limit, you shouldn’t be driving in a foreign country."
12. "Walk extremely slow in a group taking up a five-person wide footpath in Brisbane City. RAGE."
—u/DragonDrew
13. "Stop at the top of an escalator."
14. "Expecting that Australia should be exactly like your own country."
—u/browncode
15. And lastly, "Drink Foster's."
Do you have any tips for tourists visiting Australia? Leave them in the comments!
Note: Responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.