STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

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Ben
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STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Ben »

A bit of light fun...
Ask a stupid question: tourists' dumbest requests

January 22, 2010 - 2:11AM Comments 105



Teachers like to say there are no dumb questions.

Teachers need to work in tourism offices.

Travellers are expected to be curious. But some might be better off doing a tiny bit of research before they open their mouths.

We contacted several tourism offices and asked for the oddest questions they've received. Teachers, take note.

According to staff from Australia's Sunlover Holidays customer call centre, queries from both Aussie and international travellers are as varied as they are strange.

"I'm doing a crossword at the moment and need your help. What is the name of that really tall building in the Gold Coast?" one asked.

Another wanted to know why Australian stop signs were shaped like hexagons and why "they always plant bananas on slopes" here.

A smoker wanted to know how many cartons of cigarettes they could take on their driving holiday to Queensland and a swimmer asked call centre staff to predict how many people would be in their hotel pool on Good Friday.

Australian geography is often the weakest point for international visitors, one asking what type of car they would need to drive overnight from the Great Barrier Reef to Perth.

Another wondered what passport they would need to visit Melbourne from Queensland.

Yet another asked for staff to compile a list of toilets they could visit while driving from Cairns to Brisbane.

But it seems us Aussies have similar difficulties with geography.

According to Flight Centre staff, would-be Aussie holidaymakers have levelled their fair share of jaw-dropping questions.

"Can I catch a train from Fiji to New Zealand?" asked one visitor interested in booking a rail holiday.

One traveller was baffled by the concept of international time zones, asking: "I know it's a long flight but how is it that I take off at 10am in Sydney and land at 10am in Vancouver on the same day? How is that possible?"

Others wondered what the capitals of Africa and Europe were and asked whether Canada and America were different countries.

Another Aussie wondered what their duty free allowance was in Tasmania while another checked that shops in Perth would take the same currency as Brisbane.

"Can you get Australian money out of ATMs overseas?" asked another.

But travellers Down Under aren't the only ones cursed with blonde moments.

Would-be American visitors to Japan can be similarly geographically challenged.

Nori Akashi, of the Japan National Tourism Organization office in New York, says she has had requests for a map of Saipan, information on Guam, and the question: "How long does it take from Tokyo to Korea ... by the famous bullet train?"

According to Jennifer Haz, of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, one inquiring mind asked: "Can you tell me which beach is closest to the ocean?"

Paul Gauger, of the VisitBritain.com office in New York, responded to our inquiry with a list of questions that included: "Why did they build so many ruined castles and abbeys in England?"

And a visitor to Scotland wanted to know what time the Loch Ness monster was fed.

You wonder how these people find their way to the airport.

Cara Schneider, of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, says that one tourist was disappointed about the Kennett Square mushrooms (the fungi are a multimillion-dollar industry in that city). The visitor's complaint? No square mushrooms.

Another Philadelphia tourism staffer, Donna Schorr, reports: "I have been asked where in the city the Boston Tea Party took place."

Heather Bryant, of Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau, says one prospective holidayer asked about taking a ferry around downtown. Another wanted to know what time the whales swim by.

Going to The Netherlands? Be sure to visit the tulip factory. At least that's what one visitor wanted to do.

Rosina Shiliwala, of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, says her office was asked that, as well as whether Thanksgiving is celebrated in Holland.

Someone also wanted to know if they would end up in Holland if they drove through New York's Holland Tunnel.

Silly. That's what the bullet train is for.

MCT/AAP

-- http://www.theage.com.au/travel/ask-a-s ... -mnft.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I bet you've got your own stories!
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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Euclid
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Euclid »

I remember reading something similar that a teacher had stuck on her door. Apparently, tour guides of the Sistine Chapel often have to explain where the other fifteen are.
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Kare
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Kare »

And this sign is caused by some tourists's question:

Image
Mettāya,
Kåre
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dragonwarrior
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by dragonwarrior »

This happened a lot :quote:
Q: Do you know Indonesia?
A: No, what is that?
Q: Okay, so do you know Bali?
A: Of course!

Oh come on..
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poto
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by poto »

I suspect that at least some of those were IRL trolls.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis
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Perry
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Perry »

I do a Travel and Toursm course at college and have had a few shockers mentioned in the class, all were completely serious.

Is Fiji the capital city of Japan? (I'm guessing this one has some relation to Mount Fuji)
Where in France was Hitler from?
Why is Table Mountain called this, when it doesn't have any legs?
What is the difference between geography and history?
Do we need a passport to go to Liverpool?
Is the Amazon in China?

There's been more, and I may recall them later!
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Kare
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Kare »

Not to forget this wonderful classic:

Mettāya,
Kåre
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Fede
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Fede »

At least she's heard of Turkey.

Takes one to know one........ :rofl:
"Samsara: The human condition's heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!

Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself. ;)

I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?! :D


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Potato
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Re: STUPID TOURISTS!!!!!

Post by Potato »

This reminds me of a list of real questions asked of rangers in some of the USA's national parks:
Actual questions asked of National Park Rangers in the USA.


GRAND CANYON:

* Was this man made?
* Do you light it up at night?
* Is the mule train air conditioned?
* So where are the faces of the presidents?

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK:

* Are the alligators real?
* Are the baby alligators for sale?
* Where are all the rides?
* What time does the 2 o'clock bus leave?

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK:

* Did people build this, or did Indians?
* Why did they build the ruins so close to the road?
* Do you know of any undiscovered ruins?
* What did they worship in the kivas - their own made up religion?
* Why did the Indians decide to live in Colorado?

CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK:

* How much of the cave is underground?
* So what's in the unexplored part of the cave?
* So what is this - just a hole in the ground?

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK:

* Where are the cages for the animals?
* What time of year do they turn on Yosemite Falls?
* What happened to the other half of Half Dome?

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK:

* Does Old Faithful erupt at night?
* How do you turn it on?
* When does the guy who turns it on get to sleep?
* We had no trouble finding the park entrance but where are the exits?

DENALI NATIONAL PARK:

* What's so wonderful about Wonder Lake?
* How much does Mount McKinley weigh?
* What time do you feed the bears?
* How often do you mow the tundra?
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