Strange Thoughts of a Strange Man

Whenver I visit somewhere, I always take the time to have a look around, to see whatever local sights there are and to get a feel for the place. Even when I go to a convention, I go out and have a look around. I take the view that, if I have taken the time and trouble to travel somewhere, it seems wrong to spend all day and night in the one building. I might just as well have stayed at home.

In a way, I feel I am doing the place I am visiting a disservice or even insulting it by not seeing at least some of it. Here is a fabulous new city to see, filled with buildings, beautiful or otherwise, rivers, art and people. It deserves better than to be ignored.

I know that not everyone shares this view. I often get the bus from Trafalgar Square up to Tottenham Court Road. At Leicester Square, a large group of Chinese tourists board the bus and get off at the same stop as me. Every single one then crosses the road and goes straight into the casino.

I have a horrible feeling that they spend all day there before going back to their hotel and coming back the following day. They are here in London for a gambling holiday.

I've been in a casino. It wasn't that exciting and certainly wasn't worth getting there for nine o'clock in the morning. It also wasn't worth ignoring a culturally rich city that I'd travelled halfway across the world to get to.

Labels: Tourists

Yes, I know. If I were in another city I would be a tourist. And I also know that each and every one of the little darlings brings in much needed cash to the UK. But …

… do they have to wander round Oxford Street in packs of 15?

… do they all have to get on the same tube train at once?

… do they need to look straight at me walking towards them and then stop, in my path, while they look at another map?

… do they have to shout at each other at the tops of their voices?

… do they have to stand around, getting their bearings in the busiest places, like where the pavement narrows because of some roadworks or because another batch of tourists is blocking the path?

I have visited foreign cities. I have been lost. I have travelled with tour groups. I have also realised that being on holiday does not mean I can leave consideration for others at home.

Labels: Tourist, Tourists

This happened last year but I was still surprised, not to mention completely dismayed, to see that we had a large group of teenaged Japanese tourists on the train this morning AND on the train home.

I was unfortunate enough to be in the same carriage on the way home.

Who in their right mind thought it would be an enormously good idea to stuff an extra 20 people in an already packed commuter train in the heat of summer?

Not only were there 20 extra people on the train but they were very very loud. I was trying to listen to an audio book but they made it impossible.

Surely they could have gone into London and back out again at other times?

Labels: Commuting, Stupidity, Tourists