As an American who lives in a big city that draws many tourists, foreign and domestic, the one thing I tend to forget is that most foreign visitors WALK a whole lot more than Americans. City-dwellers in the US walk plenty, but most of the domestic visitors to cities are used to driving or being driven everywhere.
So, how is that “weird?” Let me give you this example: a polite French couple, probably around 55-ish, asked me for directions to a restaurant they wanted to try. It was a good choice of restaurant, but it was about a mile away from where they asked me for directions. I started to tell them they could catch the bus just across the street or do some complicated subway travel when they asked me how far it would be to walk. I did the math in my head and said “probably around 1.5 KM right up this street…it’s a little bit of a hill, so maybe the bus…” “1.5 KM slightly uphill? We will be fine to walk. Thank you.” Duh, people actually walk elsewhere in the world.
I’ve been told off by American tourists for suggesting that they walk as little as 3 blocks (.3 miles, under half a KM) to get the most convenient public transport to their destination, and that informs how I think of tourists, even if they’re not American. I would think nothing of suggesting to a city-dweller friend that it would be faster to walk to our destination, but I default to telling tourists NOT to walk far!
Read other answers by Joey Dalan on Quora:
- What should I absolutely not do when visiting the USA?
- Why do most Americans measure the distance by hours of driving?
- Does Obama need a passport when he travels?
from Quora http://ift.tt/29wPMol
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