17 Things You Should Never Do as a Tourist That the Locals Will Be Grateful For

Traveling to other places can be one of the most enriching experiences a person gets, from getting to know another culture to just enjoying another country’s weather and food. That said, there are some behaviors we have that might not be seen as innocent from a local’s point of view.

5-Minute Crafts found 17 things that locals don’t enjoy as much as their visitors.

• In New York, if you visit, please walk on the right side of the sidewalk, not the left. Also, if you need to stop and look at your phone or have a conversation with your fellow travelers, step aside. People are walking, and if you abruptly stop, it usually results in someone bumping into you. Also, don’t walk like 5 people side by side and walk slowly. People can’t get around you. It is infuriating. But please keep visiting NYC! NYCstraphanger / Reddit
• Amsterdam. Walking around like they’re at Legoland, blindly stepping into traffic, oblivious to the fact that people actually live here. We use the bike to get to work, to get groceries, we’re not just aimlessly cycling around for the fun of it. bidluf / Reddit
• During my river cruise trip in Europe, when we reached Amsterdam, our guide informed us of how nice and friendly the Dutch people were... until they get on a bicycle. Thankfully, I didn’t have any encounters with someone on their bicycle. junjoonie / Reddit
• L.A. has young fashion students and influencers walking out into busy streets to take “fashion photos.” There’s one particular palm-tree-lined street in Beverly Hills that always has traffic backed up due to all the college-aged people taking pictures in the middle of the street for the ’gram. 2greenlimes / Reddit

• Stop feeding the seagulls... AlwaysPhrasing / Reddit
• I live in Florida. Alligators are not your friend. Snakes are not your friend. Leave the birds alone. And stop feeding them! coreysnaps / Reddit
• I’m currently working in Yellowstone near old faithful for the summer. DO NOT MESS WITH THE BISON! People don’t understand how dangerous they are and they’re already more aggravated than usual because of all the weird weather we’ve been having. Please just listen to the rangers and the people working in the park. If we tell you to stop, please listen, we don’t want to have to call in the medivacs. Puzzleheaded_Call712 / Reddit

• Deface world heritage sites for souvenirs or Internet clout. For example, The Colosseum in Rome has graffiti carved into its walls by tourists, and Stone Henge is closed off to the public because people were chipping pieces off for souvenirs. Bedlamcitylimit / Reddit
• Don’t carve your name on stuff!!! The number of people who need to carve their names onto historical buildings and statues is just crazy. You are ruining the place. And respect people’s property. Yeah, it’s a cute street with cute houses and charming gardens. But that does NOT give you the right to enter people’s private property. Frequent_Artichoke / Reddit
• People carve their names in tree trunks and the leaves of living plants (like giant succulents). Was recently at Montjuic in Barcelona and all of the plants were completely defaced. Made me so sad. chupagatos4 / Reddit
• Where I’m from in Ireland isn’t exactly a tourist destination but it’s got some pretty cool historical buildings, but I wish tourists would stop telling us that they’re more Irish than an Irish person. I understand you’re proud of your ancestry/heritage and all that but it’s very frustrating hearing someone from somewhere else telling you that they’re more Irish than you are and ever will be. emmamckenna01 / Reddit
  

• Stop covering your bread with entire jars of Vegemite. The reason why it tastes so bad is because you put so much on it. It’s a fine balance between too much and too little. Nebby_DC / Reddit
• They bring barbeque food and burners in their cars but then leave them on the floor when they leave because the trash can is already full. They are too lazy to pick it up and put it in the trunk or the back of the SUV they drive home to their own trash bins. QuentinUK / Reddit
• I’ve never lived in Ghana but I’m there occasionally to visit family. Stop using little children as photo props, it’s weird. Can’t Imagine stopping kids in England to take pictures without their parents’ consent. Double-Apricot6179 / Reddit

• Driving carelessly! Many people come here in the summer because it’s a quick drive away and beautiful, but it’s not some magical place where everyday life stops. Many people live and work here year-round. By the way, saying “down the shore” is annoying and irks the locals. phillies_navidad / Reddit;
• From Switzerland... Mountain trails may seem safe, but experience is still needed. Or even better, a guide, as Swiss people know the meanings of different sign colors and their difficulty, while tourists often don’t. Don’t hike up the mountain bike roads. Don’t pick any flowers when on a mountain since most trails are nature reserves. Stay on the trail and don’t eat the blueberries if you don’t know the good ones from the poisonous ones, they look the same. RayRay__56 / Reddit;
• Forgetting that people live in the community. We had to move out of a sort of touristy area because visitors were out of control. Endless partying at short-term rentals in the neighborhood. Feeling unwelcome at our regular spots because we have kids, people always acted like how dare we bring a kid out for pancakes on a Saturday morning. Good_Parabola / Reddit