Love Your Neighbor Whether You’re A Tourist Or A Native

You know how Parisians have a reputation for being nasty, especially to tourists?

Maybe it’s partly because tourists are nasty.

I hate to admit, I can really, really identify with American-disdaining Parisians. I, myself, struggle with being an American-disdaining Greenporter.

by Claudio’s dock, Greenport, Long Island, New York

My town has, in the last decade or so, become a destination for vacationers and day-trippers. There’s a bus that runs between here and New York City, and something like 30% of the homes in this town are 2nd homes–vacation homes. I joke that our town is like Main Street, USA, in Disney World, except it’s real.

It’s cute, my town–there’s a downtown with actual shops and restaurants that are not Big Boxes or chains. There are cafes that are not Starbucks. There’s an adorable carousel, waterfront parks, docks, and more.

Antique Carousel, Mitchell Park, Greenport, Long Island, New York

As much as I’m thankful that the steady flow of tourists makes for a steady flow of $$$ into the community, I have to admit that it’s a struggle for me to love the tourists as myself, because while the majority of tourists are inoffensive, even pleasant, those who are clearly identifiable as tourists are often quite annoying. I will call the tourists that annoy me “clearly identifiable tourists,” or “CI tourists.”

Here’s my petulant little list of grievances:

CI tourists often ignore crosswalks and step into the street without looking
CI tourists are often loudly drunk at very late hours
CI tourists litter on and pee in the hedges
CI tourists walk the sidewalks at a snail’s pace and don’t make room for strollers or people–they don’t seem to look around.
CI tourists are loud and demanding in the grocery store. Once I heard one of them complain that ‘local people’ should get their shopping done during the week. More than once I have watched them torment the cashiers with utter nonsense.
CI tourists peer over the hedges and remark loudly about what is going on, as if I and my family are part of the entertainment.

Basically, my grievances can be summed up thusly:

Tourists don’t see themselves as neighbors for the time that they’re here.

I love to be asked directions. I love to give recommendations about where to go, where to eat, and what to do in my town. I’m happy to help a tourist find a public bathroom. I try to treat the tourists the way I like to be treated when I’m a tourist.

Stirling Harbor, Greenport, Long Island, New York

And so I kind of resent it when tourists treat me and my community members consumptively–as if everything and everyone is there for their pleasure, full stop.

As we make our way into vacation season, consider what it means to be a good neighbor wherever you are–being a good neighbor doesn’t depend on being in your neighborhood, and it’s easy to forget, when we’re on vacation, that everyone we meet is not a cruise director or a Disney ‘cast member,’ but an ordinary person just trying to go about her day.