Looking like an American while overseas

[morbihan]

Well I will jump in with both feet.

 

I live in both France and the UK.

 

You can, as you say, spot an American straight away. Usually by their loud voices but what is with their checked trousers? Golf in Central London? Hoodies? Give me strength. Teenagers wear hoodies. Likewise for jackets who advertise some sport or other. In the UK you may just get away with it. Not in France or Italy. These are casual clothes for lazing around in at home.

 

As for the UK liking Americans. No. Not true. We don't like any foreigners:D

 

As for compairing the climate to Alaska my head is in my hands. It is what, 6ºC this morning. The sun is blazing down and it is a beautiful l morning. Alaska indeed.

[lisiamc]

I come from a family that lived overseas. (Italy and Germany) And I also have traveled in Europe extensively. What you have been told by most here is flat out wrong. You husband should NEVER wear a Red Sox jacket in Europe and hoodies are absolutely unacceptable almost everywhere in Europe. They really are only worn for working out at the gym.

 

Tourists get pick pocketed or mugged overseas everyday (especially in Spain and Italy, but this can happen in the UK and any other European country as well) and wearing something like this Red Sox jacket or a T-shirt and hoodie will alert every pickpocket to the fact that your husband is an American tourist. From that they will deduce he likely has a bunch of cash on him and may attempt to pickpocket him. Even if that doesn't happen, people will attempt to pull your husband into various tourist traps when they see he is an American. The other thing to consider is possible terrorist activity and this jacket could make him a target unfortunately. There is also some anti-American sentiment in the UK and in Europe. Some people, if they saw this American wear, might even attempt to call you or your husband out and debate you on US politics or military action - even though your husband probably has no input or control over these things. Because of all of these issues, flaunting that you are an American by wearing clothes or shoes with obvious American labels is not a good idea anywhere in the UK or Europe. I truly hope that none of these things ever happens to you and your husband but there are steps you and your husband can take to blend in, make yourselves far less of a target and protect yourselves from thieves.

 

Your husband would be far better off with a dark sports coat or business casual type jacket. You husband and you also should not wear American brand athletic shoes as this will also peg you as a US citizen. Instead your husband (and you) should wear European walking shoes.

 

Here is a good brand of travel jackets and clothing that work very well and keep your valuables safe:

http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/subindex_mens.shtml

Of these, I would choose the sports coat or Revolution Jacket and not go any more informal.

 

These jackets are terrific and in a plain dark color or khaki are appropriate for Europe.

 

The other thing to consider is that Europeans dress better than most Americans for day to day activities such as shopping and eating out. How you are treated in shops and restaurants overseas will depend a great deal on what you are wearing because you will both be judged solely on appearance upon entering shops and restaurants for the first time. Think business casual - that is your best bet. Chinos or trousers a shirt with a collar and a jacket for him with black shoes. For you, a sundress that goes to just below the knee and sweater and walking shoes. Also, it is best to NEVER carry a purse anywhere in Europe as many thieves will snatch your purse and could injure you in doing that. Also, never wear jewelry that looks real. I even have an inexpensive plain wedding band I wear when walking around in Europe. And then I wear obvious costume jewelry earrings and a cheap watch. Since I don't appear to have anything of value on me, thieves give me a pass and go on to someone else who would be easier to rob. BTW, the reason I wear a sundress is because many European public toilets don't have toilet seats, so it is much easier to use them with a dress on than pants.

 

We live half the time in Italy, and half the time in the UK. The Europe you describe is not the one I live in. Yes, there are pickpockets, but they are masters of body language, and tourists aren't going to fool them. The OP and her husband will be noted as American, no matter what they wear. It's being noted as an easy target that we all want to avoid. At least muggers and armed robbers are few and far between.

 

Occasionally, unfortunately, there is terrorist activity, but I wouldn't have said that the bombs in London on 7 July 2005 were targeting Americans. The recent activities in Tunisia targeted Costa and MSC passengers. Neither line is known for its high proportion of American passengers.

 

The OP's husband might want to rethink the Red Sox jacket in favour of something more anonymous, but that's only my opinion.

[Velvetwater]

The beautiful thing about the UK is we are a mix of cultures,fashions and tastes..where whatever covers your modesty and makes you comfortable....ignore the idiots that moan. I would imagine he has a more formal jacket for dining out and whatnot anyway. The cruise will be visiting lots of cities by the sea where you will see all sorts of football strips, American sports wear and bright clothing worn by various members of the world. I was in shopping yesterday in my own city and always see lots of basketball vests at the moment as the weather is good.

 

A bright sports hoodie/top is more noticeable than plain ones but to be perfectly frank a pickpocket will target you based on your bags/pockets/body language/amount of jewellery you are wearing rather than if you look like an American so whoever was talking that nonsense was wrong....this is coming from someone who lives in Europe and has traveled all over it.

 

I do agree on the 'easy spot American thing' though. If the accent hasn't already been expressed things like posture, eye contact and facial expression can be too....not like its a bad thing.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise over here, we are quieter but humorous I promise!

Edited April 18, 2015 by Velvetwater
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[Pyrate13]

We have traveled quite a bit around England and Wales several times. Visiting areas with lots if tourists as well as locations with few, if any. We've been told by many Brits that we have seen more of those countries than folks that live there.:)

 

I have never brought anything to wear that I wouldn't normally wear here at home, never had a problem. I found most people to be very friendly and even go a bit overboard to make you feel welcome. No one seemed to care the least what I was wearing.

 

We worked for over twenty years at a very large, well known, vacation resort complex in FL with many visitors from the UK. Guess what, they wore plenty of sports related clothes, both from their favorite EU teams as well as US sports teams. For some reason the Chicago Bulls seemed very popular with them. ;)

 

Just based on my experiences, I for one would not worry.

[euro cruiser]

I come from a family that lived overseas. (Italy and Germany) And I also have traveled in Europe extensively. What you have been told by most here is flat out wrong. You husband should NEVER wear a Red Sox jacket in Europe and hoodies are absolutely unacceptable almost everywhere in Europe. They really are only worn for working out at the gym.

The most important thing to focus on in this post is the verb tense. "Lived", as in past tense and, I suspect, very past (remote) past tense. Believe it or not, things have changed in Europe! It's not a stage set that stays the same 10 or 20 or 30 years later.

 

Europeans do wear workout clothing on the streets. They don't all dress in Armani at all times.

 

Bottom line, no matter what you wear people will know that you are a foreigner and there's nothing wrong with that. Take reasonable precautions to protect your belongings and be aware of your surroundings and you'll be fine. You do not need to travel like a one-man Brinks truck.

[nmg85]

Wear what you want and be comfortable and practical for the weather. Shock horror I sometimes wear a hooded top out and about and guess what...I still function just fine. If you want to dine at expensive restaurants etc then of course it isn't suitable but just to enjoy your holiday and enjoy the sights I say go for it! Everyone has their own view and style and if we didn't life would be a boring place.

 

I would also say that the UK is a little different to the rest of Europe e.g, Italy and Spain but that is a cultural and weather thing

 

Enjoy your time in the UK.

[cruisemom42]

Some of the observations on this thread seem a little dated. :confused:

 

I travel in Europe several times a year and believe me, jeans are just about as common there as in the US, at least on anyone under the age of 50. They just aren't worn with big white gym shoes, lol.

 

I see hoodies too, mainly on younger people and often it will be a hoodie with a jeans jacket or leather jacket worn on top of it.

 

For the last two winters, the lightweight quilted down jackets seem to have been all the rage for everyone from child to older adult.

 

And sometimes when I travel alone I am not assumed to be an American, so I suspect it is not some universal identification. Often I am addressed first in German -- which I used to think was a good camouflage but now I am not sure it is a good thing, at least in Italy or Greece!

 

Rather than focusing on not looking American, I suggest it's better to focus on not looking like a clueless tourist. Pickpockets look for easy targets -- pay attention to your surroundings, don't keep your wallet in a back pocket or open purse. Avoid a fanny pack (sorry Brits :o) at all costs. And don't set your purse or camera down on the ground or on a table or chair. It is likely to do a disappearing act.

[dickinson]

I'm afraid to ask :eek: but I have a Nike backpack that has no pockets at all but just the opening at the top which is closed by pulling the strings tight that you wear to hold the backpack on your body. Is that safe to wear around the UK? (specifically London, Guernsey, Liverpool and Belfast)

[griffy116]

After only a few trips to Europe and being meticulous about asking about what is proper to wear, we found that tourists visit tourist sites. Unless you are planning to avoid all the places that you've dreamed about seeing, such as museums, art galleries, historic sites, they'll know you are a tourist and pickpockets here in the U.S. know the same thing, and target tourists too. We dressed conservatively and we were respectful of customs and culture everywhere we went. We were thrilled to be in these wonderful places and the smiles on our faces were, I'm sure, a dead give away that we were tourists. In addition to making us obvious tourists, we were greeted with smiles, cordial and kind people and had nothing but positive experiences. In Turkey a very old vendor who spoke no English kept trying to give me something and touching is hand to his heart and smiling. He called his son from in back to come out. His son spoke English and said his father recognized that we were Mother and Daughter with lots of love, like he and his son and wanted to give me something. He asked where we were from and when we said Atlanta GA, his father started repeating, "Atlanta, Atlanta Hawks." His son was laughing and explained that they watch American basketball and his father's favorite team was the Atlanta Hawks. We discovered that you have to be mindful of your surroundings, just as you would visiting a large city in the U.S., and that pickpockets and a few bad people exist everywhere, including the U.S. We also discovered you meet some of the best people when traveling, and everywhere you go you will get treated in the same way you treat others. Enjoy your trip and tell your husband to dress for comfort. Incidentally, we saw many of the local people wearing a hooded sweatshirt and they weren't all teenagers.

[Grandma Dazzles]

When visiting my parents and friends and family in the UK, I always felt we looked American, and truly are after many years here.

 

I think a few things help - my husband bought a pair of black walking shoes/sneakers - much less obvious than white he normally wore.

 

He wore a plain coat with zip out liner - helped a lot in various temperatures.

 

He is a huge soccer (football) fan, but did not wear team colors especially in certain parts of the country. Bought new shirts to bring home though!

 

I wore pants/jeans but also wore skirts a lot, something I wouldn't have done at home so much; even found lots of ladies in the grocery store wearing skirts and dresses, something I would have thought dressier than at home.

 

Also carried an umbrella - small folding one in my purse. On a few trips when I didn't have one, felt I stuck out! Also carried a tote/shopping bag, not just a purse.

[john watson]

I think when travelling generally it is a good idea to look reasonably smart but not affluent. The main problem you get with tourism is you tend to become more vulnerable by getting into places where you are unfamiliar with how to keep safe.

 

We had a guy come to our workplace on the topic of "Security and Aggression" mainly relevant with our dealing with violent and aggressive customers. He did however put us on to some useful travelling tactics as well where you might well be at increased risk.

 

Have a false wallet, old wallet stuffed with one dollar bills, old loyalty cards or expired credit cards. His reasoning that if you were threatened by someone with a knife (unlikely) you can hand over the low value wallet whilst keeping the bulk of you cash elsewhere. Thieves rarely check a thick wallet closely or look at expiry dates.

 

Do not wear a watch, unless it's really cheap and inexpensive looking. People that do you over in the street typically either, stop you or jostle you. So keep walking fast in high risk areas, if anyone asks; got a light? what's the time? Reply; don't smoke or watch is broke and keep walking.

 

Hire cars; re fuel in the day and lock them at the pumps. Ladies particularly false wallet system is good here with an empty purse (handbag). If you are forced to refuel at night in a big city. Choose nearest pump to the payment kiosk. Motorway service areas will allow you in the building at night but smaller places you pay through the night window. Obvious which is better security. The security guy also recommended that if your vehicle has remote central locking that you have a false key which you point at the vehicle while you have your other hand in your pocket on the actual remote key. If they try and hijack your vehicle chuck the false key at them and enter the building requesting they call the police.

 

I must say the guy knew a lot about urban extreme situations and I think these are very rare.

 

Regards John

Edited April 18, 2015 by john watson

[BlueRiband]

Personally, I would not travel to a country where I feared heckling or other verbal insults because I "looked American". Why give them my money if that's the way they feel? But that's just me.

[ducklite]

We try to blend in when traveling. Not that we really have much of it in our wardrobes anyhow, but no logo apparel, no sneakers, no baseball caps, none of that.

 

We recently returned from two weeks in London and for the first time ever brought jeans with us to Europe--that's what Londoners wear. We wore boots/shoes, never "trainers." We wore our wool coats--pea coat type styles. Had it been warmer we would have taken cardigans instead.

 

We have been mistaken for Brits in Rome, Canadians in Greece, and Germans in France. I am of Irish/English ancestry and my husband is of Polish/Russian ancestry.

 

I think Americans CAN blend in as long as they use some common sense and do as the locals do in both dress and behavior.

 

PS--We found plenty of Brits visiting many of the tourist destinations we visited. We also spent over half our time in decidedly non-tourist places. The grocery store, local pubs near the flat we rented, a yoga studio, walking through Kensington Gardens, in the small shops near our flat--a used bookstore, a fromagerie, a baker, a couple wine shops...

Edited April 18, 2015 by ducklite

[Rala]

Long after the fashion police have returned to Bond Street, you as an American tourist should be remembered for how you behaved, not for how you dressed.

 

Darcy

 

Ah! The voice of reason and truth!:)