It depends on where you travel, though. In Amsterdam, the Brits are the most obnoxious. In Thailand, the Aussies. They are also the biggest tourist groups in those places, which probably explains the mob-like mentality.

A few years ago, I was visiting France with a friend. I don’t speak French, and I needed to see a doctor, so I found an English-speaking doctor. When I saw her, she said to me, “You’re visiting France and you don’t even speak French? Typical American!” I told her I spoke 4 languages and asked her where she traveled last. “Vietnam.” I asked her, “So I assume you speak Vietnamese, then?”

She didn’t answer and looked miffed.

BTW, I’m not saying all the French are like this – but I *will* stereotype Croatians, since the quoted blog post demonstrates a typical Croatian sentiment, and, as a half-Croat who has spent considerable time in the country and who speaks the language, I am pretty well-informed. *Croats have to be the most arrogant people on the planet*. I attribute it to the fact that they have always considered themselves as cultured as their Venetian and Austrian colonial masters, but have never managed to convince anyone else of this except maybe the Serbs. Now, they try to curry the favor of their Western neighbors again (maybe as a ploy to get EU membership), bashing Americans even though they don’t know any and the US was the only country to really help them during their bid for independence in the 90s. I love my family there, but can’t stand about 80% of the rest of the population.

(Forgive the off-topic rant)

Not only that. I lived and worked there for 6.5 years, and I was treated a hell of a lot better over there than in my own country.

With that said, I have an unconditional respect and admiration for the Japanese. I’m not saying that they are perfect, but they are a classy bunch overall. The West could certainly learn a lot from them.

Doing SAR in the deep Rockies can get pretty interesting at times. I went on one mission that involved Japanese tourist’s that had somehow gotten turned around in an area that should be called wilderness. We found them easy enough, and no one was injured or anything. Those people were so appreciative and polite that I almost felt embarrassed.
Two weeks later in roughly the same area. Some folks from Spain did nearly the same thing. We found them, cold, thirsty, and hungry. But generally in pretty good shape. That was a very different experience though. All they could do was complain about how long it took to find them. Stupid American maps. Stupid American mountains. (?) Stupid American emergency rations, and so on.
Attitude can be everything…