How To Avoid Looking Like A Tourist Abroad

BY ELLA SABIN

With slow travel and long-term vacations becoming more popular, people are becoming more and more conscious of fitting into the culture that they are visiting. Here are some tips and tricks to be observant of your surroundings and cognisant of how you portray yourself on vacations!

1. Be aware of your surroundings

When traveling abroad and trying to fit in with those around you, the first step is to take note of how the people around you are acting. Some things to pay extra attention to are clothing trends, hairstyles, shoe choices and the way people interact with each other. Once you can tell how people are acting, it becomes easier to emulate that and blend into the environment.

2. Volume

Across different cultures, the volume at which people speak and interact varies greatly. This is a good thing to keep an eye out for, so you aren’t the loud tourist yelling at the market, or the timid visitor that no one can hear.

3. Clothing

Neutral clothes are easy to blend in with, meaning neutral colors and neutral fabrics. Another tip to keep in mind is that the United States is a very logo-centric country, but many other places are not. Knowing this, it might be best to leave your heavily branded clothing at home while on vacation.

4. Study abroad

Similarly to a workaway program, by studying abroad, you can move to a new place and have a built in support system within your classes and school community. It is also common to be housed in a place with other students, whether that be native students where you’re studying, or other students from around the world!

5. Do a workaway program

There are many websites and programs that offer opportunities for foreigners to work in a different country and be provided with housing. Oftentimes the housing is with other citizens of the country, so it is a great way to immerse oneself in the culture of an area and meet local people!

6. Fly the airline of the country you’re going to

Flying the airline of the country you’re going to end up in can make your experience once you arrive very seamless, and allow you to have the unfamiliar part of the travel happen in your home location. It is often easier to navigate your home airport to a foreign airline because you know the language and layout, and then once you arrive on the native airline of another country, the airport will already be set up to accommodate it.

ILLUSTRATION BY EMMA LEEPER