I have travelled to many countries over the years and my anecdotal experience is that tourists are en masse ruder than the typical folk back home. Obviously this is a generalization, but I have a theory that folk who travel tend to be better off and with that often comes a degree of arrogance and a heightened expectation of how they think they should be treated.

For those with a Monty Python bent, it brings to mind the Fawlty Towers skit wherein the American tourist hauls out a wad of notes and says to Basil Fawlty: "How much of this Mickey Mouse money do you need to keep the kitchen open?"

My personal style is to try "act like a local" when I travel by eating at the non-touristy places, going into supermarkets to shop, etc. It has given me some of the most memorable experiences - I still don't know what I ate in Tokyo when I ordered with sign language!

Kev.