Mistakes American Tourists Make in France

hey there fellow Travelers Mark here with Walters world and today we're here in Strasbourg France and today we're going to talk about are some of the little mistakes that Travelers make when they do come here to France and I know we've got our don'ts of France and those are more serious don'ts these are more kind of fun little things that tourists don't notice that they kind of make mistakes out when they come here to beautiful wonderful amazing France and the first mistake I want to bring up is because I'm here in Stroudsburg and the mistake people make is they don't realize how close everything is in France when you're using the tgb trains I mean from Strasbourg to Paris it's like two hours and 15 minutes from Paris to Bordeaux it's like two hours on the train if it's a tgv stop realize that you can get there very quickly from Paris so you can get out and enjoy and experience way more culture way more cities way more regions of France to really get a better feel of the country and the culture because it's a great country and sometimes we kind of get stuck in Paris but the thing is don't make a mistake and think oh it's so far to go down to Bordeaux it's too far stroudsburg's over there by Germany I don't want to go to Germany yet look you can get anywhere and you can almost make almost any place almost like a day trip you start early enough if you do that okay but I do recommend staying longer but hey that's one mistake I do see a lot of people make another mistake I see a lot of tourists make is they buy all the tchotchke souvenirs look I know you want to get a remembrance a reminder of your time in Paris so you want to get your little Eiffel Tower or maybe you want to get all your friends a handful of Eiffel Tower you know key chains and stuff like that it's okay you want to get the cheap stuff or the little stuff like your little handbag that says Paris on it you can do that that's totally fine but I think it's a mistake because what I would say is a better thing to do is cool up all that money you were going to use to buy all those chotsky little tiny things and buy something that will truly give you a memory of your time in France so for example Jocelyn every time she comes here she goes and she gets a look she goes to a boutique right not like a fancy Boutique but we're an artist where a dressmaker works and she gets mouth it from them it's like oh this is when I was in Paris I went to the shop and I met this lady and we I got this outfit or when I was in Avion I was there and and you have a store that goes along with that cute little outfit you got that no one else has back home and that's not just for women that's for guys as well one of the things that I do I we always go and buy paintings wherever we are if you go on our painting wall at our house you'll see some fantastic local artists paintings of roon up here in Stroudsburg all kinds of places like that because look it just brought it brings back that memory it's more than just a little cheap thing that you throw away after six weeks or six months it's something you can enjoy and have a story to go along with so that's another mistake I see people make now the third mistake I see people make is they leave anything of value in an easily accessible spot look your phone you don't leave it on the table while you're sitting at an outdoor Cafe people walk by phew you don't even notice it's gone I'm gonna put my jacket pocket then hang my jacket up or put my jacket on the back of my coat don't do that oh I'm just gonna walk silly through the Metro don't do that look I'm not gonna lie to you France does have a pickpocket problem okay so do have a heads up for that all right so just don't leave anything easily accessible like on the outer pockets of your backpack don't do that have it so it's more safe okay now my next stop for you is talking loudly look France they're pretty mellow it's pretty chill here and you don't hear a lot of like loud crazy people here stuff like that like I feel bad doing this video outside when there's nobody around because it's a lot more chill the volume levels here in France are a little bit lower okay so just make sure you're not being super loud especially on the trains because on the trees people are very very chill so you know speed respectful keep the voice down remember your inside voice use that when you're here and I know sometimes it's hard because you get so excited like seeing the cathedral here on Strasbourg it's gorgeous in the astronomical clock inside oh my God you can see the different parts of the city you get really excited and your voice goes up so up and up you gotta work on keeping it down okay now another mistake I think people make is they think that the slow service is meant to piss them off look service is just in general little bit more laissez-faire a little bit more slow here in France than in other places like if you go to Germany or the UK or the US and I see a lot of tourists get really upset by that like why don't they give me the menu why won't they take my order where is my where's my food look now look at your drink shot too fast enough don't worry but don't think that they're targeting you as a tourist and that's one of the things I'll see tours like oh it's because we're American oh it's obviously and I'm like no it's not because you're German it's not because you're American it's just it's a little bit slower here so don't take it personally okay that's a big mistake I see tourists make and they get really upset by it and another mistake I see tourists make and this is when I see a lot of U.S tourists makes and Dutch tourists make is realize you're gonna make the mistake if you think they're going to split the bill for you when you go to a restaurant here in France most of the time they are not going to split the bill you know like I'll pay for my part and he's going to pay for this part she's going to pay for that part you might find some people do that but in general they're like nah we don't do that man you gotta pay one go so if you've got that cheap friend who never pays or does any of those things make sure you're like hey look let's keep track what everybody bought and then you can do it that way okay so just have a heads up because splitting the bill not a big thing here another important mistake that you need to know about is I see tours made this mistake all the time and that is thinking you can get a good baguette or croissant in the afternoon look you notice in the morning when you get up and maybe you go for a jog in the morning you want to see you know the town when the sun is coming up you'll see the lines outside the bakeries buying all the baguettes and buying the croissants and stuff like that because they're made super early in the morning so the ones you get in the afternoon are not the best of the best and a lot of times the bakeries are already closed so if you want to get that great baguette or you want to get that great croissant you need to go to the bakery in the morning okay you're welcome don't make that mistake okay now when you're out there in the morning cross the streets to get the bakery I think there's another mistake that tourists sometimes make when they're here and that is thinking French drivers who will respect your desire to live look when you're crossing the street here in France you need to be paying attention all the time I don't care if it's green you need to make sure you're still watching because of driving here I mean they're not bad drivers it's just like they like to give a little Bijou when they're parking a little tap here and there and that is something that tourists need to realize it's just because it's your turn to go doesn't mean it's your turn to go so make sure you're always watching both ways I know you should do that anyway but the thing is I'll see tourists that are going to go out in the middle of the chances to get a picture of of the champs-elysees or get a picture of the Arctic trip and they're standing in the middle I'm like what are you doing the driver's gonna go and go and go you can't do that stuff okay just just realize that wherever you are you need to be careful all right now my next mistake I see tourists make is they don't plan any buffer time in look you may want to see a lot of different parts of France but what you have to realize is you got to plan in some strike time or buffer time or signal malfunction time because a train might be delayed or some service might not be offered or something might happen when you're there and you need to give yourself that buffer time I see people that are like oh we're gonna take the morning train in get there just in time to grab an rer at the airport and Charles Segal in Paris and then we'll fly out I'm like yeah you might want to be careful with that because you never know I mean this morning I wanted to buy some stamps for the postcards I'm sending out well guess what today only the post office is close until 1 30. but only today every other day it opens at 8 30 but not today yesterday we had a direct train from Bordeaux to Stroudsburg great little five hour five and a half hour train ride was gonna be perfect oh signal malfunction it took seven and a half hours to get here now my next mistake I see people make when they come to France is they skip out on the folk and Regional museums here in Stroudsburg they have the Alsace you know Museum here The Alsatian Museum which goes for the history of Alsace the region here and it's an amazing history and you can learn about the culture you go down to Bordeaux they got a museum of aquite in that region there you can really learn a lot from the folk museums here and a lot of people think when they think of France it's only the Beau Ops the the beautiful art galleries that we should check out no there's a lot more go and learn about the people of friends France because they're very different throughout the country and learn about those regions now the next mistake I see tourists make is when they go shopping they don't treat the shopkeepers like equals because I know in some countries when you go into a store you expect the shopkeeper to treat you like a god right oh whatever you want sir whatever you want man here egalite isn't just a word it's part of the French culture so when you go into the stores make sure you're saying bonjour you know saying hi doing the greetings think of it more as they're your friends or acquaintance then they're your servant kind of thing okay because that's going to help you have a much better shopping experience when you are here now the next mistake I see tourists make when they come here have to deal with the trains and that is not pre-booking your tgv train tickets before you go look you can go online and book tickets heck we've bought all of our stuff on the app when we bought our tickets that way and so you have it there because if you're gonna be going on a Friday night or anytime on a Sunday a lot of times those trains will book out the holidays man if you're coming to France for like the Christmas holidays make sure you're pre-booking all your tickets as soon as possible because they book out and then if you don't have any seat reservation you can't get on okay so don't make that mistake now the thing is if you get it on the app you get your ticket on the app this next mistake isn't a problem but if you buy a ticket like at the ticket kiosk you buy a ticket at the the ticket office the next mistake I see tourists make especially on the short distance trains is they don't validate the ticket make sure you see that yellow box take your ticket chunk chunk they'll put a date on there to validate your ticket so you don't get a fine if they check on the train now another mistake I see happen a lot especially on the trains but pretty much anywhere is tourists over pack when they come to France look you can buy a lot of great clothes here so don't worry about not having enough clothes but what really becomes an issue is you have small hotel rooms small apartments if you're doing Airbnb but also very little space on the trains so don't over pack when you come to France you want to pack light I mean honestly two carry-on suitcases are going to be better than one big suitcase just because of spacing factors and your old Tetris and the trains kind of stuff another mistake I see tourists make if you're lucky enough to be able to get go visit a French family is not bringing a gift when you go to that family okay it could be just a little something you can pick something at the candy shop or The Patisserie or something like that but you want to take a gift when you go to somebody's house don't just show up and say may I see well it's always appreciated but make sure you do bring something to their house maybe bring some flowers or something just to make it more of a welcoming thank you when you do go to their home and the last mistake I want to talk about that I see tourists make when they come here to France is expecting people to speak English or websites to be in English and all these kind of things look when you come here you need to learn a little bit of French before you come because the thing is even though a lot of the people do speak English and they do understand you so when you mutter under your breath they understand you they appreciate when tourists will speak French even it's just that mercio which evenly said I would like this it goes a long way to really get the people to open up because honestly you know in our videos how much we love France how much we love the people here and we want you to enjoy it too so hopefully these things help you from making mistakes when you come to France chance because it's a fantastic place with fantastic people and it's just fantastic anyway I wish you all the best and have a great time here in France and bye from here in Strasbourg

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 48,218

Keywords: travel, europe, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, Walters World

Id: Cr9BM-_uthQ

Length: 11min 10sec (670 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023