“What Should People Absolutely Not Do When Visiting Your Country?” (45 Answers)

London

Don't go to Madam Tussauds - it's c**p

Don't fall for the shell games near Waterloo. The person who has just won in front of you looks exactly like the guy who's running it and his sister has just picked your pocket.

Learn to read a map, I have no idea where your hotel is but I will confidently give you directions to Covent Garden as I think you'll like it there.

Don't complain when people step into your photo. Your attempt to capture big ben on an iphone is just a waste of everyone's time and data.

Walk faster you dawdling f*****t

Stand on the right, walk quickly on the left

If you must go to a local pub read up on how to behave in one. Queue, order beer, wine or a simple drink and mixer and leave the bar area.

Yes it's busy on the train at 17:00, that's why it's called rush hour. Complaining that I'm standing too close to you is not going to have any effect. I live this hell every weekday.

When visiting the US, do not have any Healthcare related issues. You'll lose every penny you have and then some.

Compare everything and anything to your home country and complain how it’s “so much better back home!”

Do not go for a hike or drive your hire car to ‘the outback’ as a person who has never done either of these things in Australia before. Ways you will die: 1. Fatigue - underestimating the distance between places and then running off the road or crashing into another vehicle due to exhaustion 2. Exposure and dehydration - people have a car break down and then leave their vehicle to find non-existent help. If you leave your vehicle the chances of being alive by the end of the day are almost zero. There’s no mobile reception. There may be 1-2 cars passing by your location per day if you are lucky. The nearest hospital could be literally 1000 km away. Temperatures can be 50 degrees Celsius in the day and/or -10 at night. If you break down in a place like this, you’ll will possibly die of heat exhaustion whilst waiting for help in your car. If you leave your car? Yeah you’ll definitely die. ——— Other dumb s**t to do in Australia that can and will k**l you: 1. Jumping or diving into water bodies without testing their depth. Most are shallow and many tourists have been harmed or k**led doing this. 2. While we are on the subject of water bodies - stay TF away from water bodies north of the Tropic of Capricorn unless you fancy a crocodile encounter. Most Australian wildlife risks are greatly exaggerated. Crocodile risks are not. 3. Swim in the Ocean between the f*****g flags for f***s sake or don’t even put your f*****g foot in the f*****g water. Every f*****g year, multiple tourists drown because they’re f*****g idiots who do not understand ocean swimming in Australia. Most people over thirty can recall at least one story here of an *Australian* person that they knew or was from their region who was lost at sea or drowned due to unexpected conditions, and these are *experienced* people. So don’t expect that you know what you’re doing, or that the flagged zones are all part of our socialist nanny state for you to ignore. Just f*****g don’t, mate. Our people have been traumatised too many times by your f*****g stupidity. 

Approach wildlife, especially when they’re with their offspring.

The amount of idiot tourists I’ve seen outside their cars within mauling distance of a bear or moose is mind boggling.

If you’re visiting Brazil, specially a big city, avoid using your smartphone while walking on the streets, as you become more prone to being robbed.

Try to pet/feed bears. For some reason tourists to Banff seem to think bears are mascots or something.

Don't ask where the animals are in South Africa, we do not have lions walking in the streets, you are more likely to run into wildlife in America.

 Ladies, do NOT lift a man’s kilt to find out if he’s commando. And if you insist in a grope, be aware you’ll only find sweaty and hairy 

Don't go for a nice walk in the hills without checking the weather, taking suitable clothing, and telling someone your intentions.

We lose a few tourists from this every year in New Zealand.

Due to our geography it's easy to get lost and the weather can change very quickly.

You don't want to drive out in the desert in the southwest. That dirt road might not have had a car in ten years and if you blow a tire where it's washed out you gonna be a pile of bones faster than you think.

Do not mess with the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.

India. Don't try to pay attention to people staring if you're white or black. People here just aren't used to different ethnicies. Most of us see only Indian/Asian/brown people most of our lives. Seeing tourists just peaks interest. People are not being rude. Don't wear those awful "Indian" clothes and jewellery. Idk who told tourists that it looks good, but there seems to be a costume of loose tunics and bead necklaces amongst tourists here. You stick out like a sore thumb and look like your fashion sucks. It also shows you're clearly a tourist so shopkeepers and vendors WILL try to scam you. You'll be better off in just basic tshirt and jeans. Haggle and bargain prices everywhere, unless it's a fixed price type store. Do not talk about Pakistan, or say how similar India is to Pakistan. Just don't say anything about it altogether. People will not be kind. The political situation is delicate rn, so tread carefully there also. Don't do the entire "seeing the poor people here made me so grateful for what I have" etc BS. You come off as snooty and entitled. Yes, we know the country is overpopulated, and with that comes the inevitable repercussions. The government is working on it. We don't need others to poverty p**n us. Don't compare to other countries. Don't mush the entire country into one. If you travel to North India, your experience will culturally be very different from South India, or East or West. It's almost like a different country. Food, language, clothing, weather... everything changes. India is like lots of different countries brought together in one. On the same note, plan your trip to one or two areas. You cannot cover entire India in a week. Learn about the culture. You'll be surprised to know how much of the west has adapted from different countries. Have the chai (if in the North) and the filter coffee (if in the south). Try the local cuisines of the places you're in. If you really do want to try out Indian clothing, ask some locals to help. The handcraft and fabric industry here is amazing. Buy natural fibres if you can. Cotton, silk, khadi, linen. It's amazingly cheap. You can find local goods here for a lot of similar stuff: try it all. It's a refreshing change of pace from store bought, packeted, mass manufactured stuff. Even food, footwear, clothing, etc have local goods. If you can find the good stores, you'll see that the quality is far superior than mass manufactured stuff. The embroidery is stunning and most of it is done by hand, which you can get at unbelievable prices. There's a reason Indian clothing is so rich and intricate: we have artisans who make these locally. My foreign relatives like to stock up on just good fabric when they come here. If you know where to go, you can even get custom leather goods made. My father has his shoes and jackets made custom by a local guy. They last him forever and he gets them repaired by the same guy. He says it's much comfier than store bought stuff. I can't say to this, i haven't gotten anything made. I am planning to have a leather bag made for myself in the design of a popular designer bag (LV neverfull). The food is mostly free of preservatives and the fresh spices and veggies are something else. Don't miss out on this. Despite the stereotypes, Indian lifestyle is much healthier and wholesome. Don't be surprised if your vegetables don't look "perfect". Most of the stuff here is locally sourced or produced. It won't look like supermarket stuff, but thankfully it won't taste like that either. Take advantage of how cheap and good things are. Once you get over your initial bias and the fact that stuff here isn't as shiny, you'll soon see WHY it's not shiny. Buy good fabric and get your clothes tailored. It'll be a steal for you. You can get entire outfits stitched for like 50 dollars. Also, getting clothes made to your size (in natural fibres!) is soooo much better than ones given by the fast fashion. Definitely buy khaadi. It's like linen, except that it's hand spun. It's cheap, lasts really long, isn't really available anywhere else, and is amazing for both summer and winter. Also looks very "old money". Buy fresh spices. Not the ones in packets, but ones at local stores. You can even buy raw stuff and grind it to make your own spices. The food made from these home grinded spices is out of the world, and a secret Indian mothers like to keep to themselves. Ditch the ginger garlic paste and make your own. Same for other industries. Like healthcare (sorry Americans, but I'm looking at you). If you have a skin or dental concern that needs to be looked at, GO NOW. And go to the biggest, fanciest place you can find. India has really good doctors which won't cost you a kidney. My relatives who live abroad like to get a full body checkup, dental work, eye checkup and new glasses, skin treatments etc done every time they come here. They also buy all sorts of medicines etc. My appendectomy cost me about 300-350 USD total, without any insurance plan or benefits. Even if you go by Indian standards, that's not a lot, as it's lesser than a lower middle class person's monthly salary. As an upper middle class person, it's about 2-3 days pay for me. (But I should still get insurance, don't be like me). You can also get specialists available very quickly. I get annoyed if I have to wait more than a day to see a specialist, so you can understand how spoilt we are. I think I'd throw a tantrum if I had to wait over two weeks to see a doctor, idk how y'all manage. I like to just barge into the doctor's office and then wait for them to see me. Labour in India is REALLY cheap. So cheap that most middle class families don't clean or do dishes or laundry themselves, but have hired help for it. You'll rarely find houses where people are doing the dishes or broom/mopping the house themselves. This is really common here. I personally have a maid who cooks, cleans, does laundry and dishes, washes bathrooms, and dusts the house. It's a huge privilege we enjoy. These maids get paid okayish as per the PPP. I like to overpay them to get good service. The same extends to carpenters, electricians, etc. You can find services here for ANYTHING. So if you're here for longer and staying in a rented place or an Airbnb, do not fret over getting stuff done. There will always be someone to do all these things. The upper middle class here enjoy a very leisurely life. And for god's sake, get used to using a "bum gun" or "jet spray" or whatever you call it. Indians do not use toilet paper, we wash ourselves. It's much cleaner, and I will not argue about this. You'll be hard pressed to find toilet paper in most local households. But once you start washing, you'll probably never be able to go back to using TP. I did not expect this answer to go on for this long. I guess I just had a lot to say about our lifestyle here! The experience of living like a true Indian is very different from the life in the western countries.

If you are in Central Europe around the alps in countries like Switzerland, Italy etc. don't underestimate the mountains. Don't think stupid things like "We are near civilization, it's no problem, we can't get lost and it's easy to go back anyway". This can end in a deadly disaster.

Weather can change quickly, even when the report says it should be stable. If you get caught in a snow storm in winter, you'll lose navigation and you won't see even your hand in front of your face. You can even miss a SAC building that would save you because you can't see it. If you don't have the equipment and experience, you can die there.

Also, keep in mind that not all glaciers are that stable: Some have deep holes in the surface of the ice, you can fall down there. Even when you survive the fall, you die quickly by hypothermia. If you are alone, you are done. But even with friends and with the rescue by chopper, it's a run against time. These holes can sometimes be covered with fresh snow, so don't walk there when signs are warning you, it's a minefield.

America: assume this country is as small as a European one. I constantly saw people saying they were going to visit California so they wanted to see San Francisco and LA... in the same day.

Check a map for scale!

decide to stay but refuse to learn the language

In the USA, don't haggle retail prices, especially at local one owner stores. You can ask for better prices at flea markets .

Stand in public spaces filming TikTok videos. Actually, that goes for even when they’re back in their own country.

Be aware of the drugs law of the country you are visiting. For example, someone from my country accidentally had a single pill in glove box of his car. This pill is legal in my country but not in the neighbouring one. So when he crossed the border, the customs discovered the pill and he ended spending 6 months in jail over there.

Not tip in America. Doesn’t matter how you personally feel about it, it’s what we do here and you’re a d**k if you don’t.