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Tourist scams are not the prettiest side of traveling in Europe, but the more we know about them, the more prepared we can be. One such local from Brussels, Belgium, redditor Gregyoupie, shared a very useful tip in response to the thread saying: “In Brussels, avoid at all cost a neighborhood around a street named 'Rue Des Bouchers/ Beenhouwersstraat'. All tourists think it's a maze of cute pedestrian streets, but actually you will find the worst restaurants of the town there, with all typical red flags (photos on menus in 12 languages and waiters hailing you in a sort of Esperanto).”
According to Gregyoupie, money is the driving force of tourist scams. “Restaurants and tourist places in general are difficult businesses to manage, with high staff costs, a lot of unpredictability and a lot of competition. So making easy money with the least effort is tempting,” the local from Belgium shared his views with Bored Panda in an interview.
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Gregyoupie also believes that “the reason why Europe is full of tourist traps has to do with the fact that the continent is very diverse, with different languages, habits, cultures, etc. So when Europeans travel across Europe, they will be a bit out of their comfort zone, even if it's not that far on a map, and this is where I think people are most vulnerable: you are away from your home, in another culture, surrounded sometimes by a language you barely understand.”
He added that at that point, it is then a very human and normal thing to seek easy solutions: “and this is where scammers are very good at picking that up and scamming you: they try to speak your language, gain your trust and pretend they will help you. These people are very good at selecting their targets.”
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The Redditor who has also traveled out of Europe said that the amount of scams is not unique to Europe. “I guess there are two things to do; first, be prepared, read up on your destination, tourist guides will warn readers on the most common scams and second, always keep a critical eye,” Gregyoupie said and added that “if something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”
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Gregyoupie also shared an incident from a tourist trap cafe in his home town of Brussels that happened to him. “I was sitting in front of a foreign colleague, he wanted to try a strong Belgian beer and had chosen one sold in a large bottle, too large for one person. I said we could share it (no problem with that, that is common practice for such big bottles),” he recounted.
The Brussels local continued: “But in Belgian beer culture, just like for wine, you have different types of glasses for different kinds of beer (and yes, it does matter, the shape really gives a different flavor because of how the oxygen touches the surface, etc.). For major beer brands (like that one we were having), decent bars should serve it in a glass made for that brand, with the logo on it. It sounds silly, I know... but serving beer A in a glass with a logo of beer B is akin to a mortal sin…”
“Now, my colleague ordered that bottle, and the waiter brought it without the glasses. My colleague was closer to the waiter, so he asked him for two glasses... and the waiter answered we should drink it out of the small wine glasses that were set on the table. This is totally unacceptable... In Belgium, the country of beer?”
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At that point, Gregyoupie had really had enough. “This is where I stood up and talked to the guy in French. I exaggerated my local accent so he understood I am a true local. He made this pikachu face. I told him something like 'hey, sorry, but I won't buy that. I am sure you have glasses for this brand. Or at least something more suitable than those cheap wine glasses.'” The waiter made a loud sigh and turned around.
“Then I saw the glasses I was expecting were behind him! He just did not want to do the effort of making a 180 turn and extending an arm,” the Redditor said about his experience in a scam cafe in Brussels where locals normally don’t go.
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