Monday, December 11, 2006

Welcome. Now go home.

Why are tourists such idiots? Even worse, when they are travelling en -masse. I mean with all those heads together can none of them come up with a concrete decision or the right directions? Did any of them research this trip they are on? Buy a "Fodors" or a "Let's Go"? Jeez. The Internet even has guides and directions and subway tips.
Do I sound too elitist? Do I sound like a stuck up New Yorker? I don't mean to be.
It seems that NYC has become a year round tourist destination. It use to be that the summers were do-able, and we would have February through April sans the ever increasing size (in number and girth) of these visitors.
It's not really the amounts of people that bothers me, it's the clear headiness in which they do things. Walking at a turtles pace four abreast on the sidewalks and up the subway stairs. During rush hour no less. Stopping mid sidewalk to pull out a map or gaze up at a building. Holding up lines in deli's or shops because Martha, who is in the bathroom, has the traveller's cheques. Traveller's Cheques!
I guess this would make most New Yorkers the savviest of traveller's themselves. I don't know.

Maybe it's all of us. The euphoria of a new city, the people watching and the shops. But, all I ask is, get a clue. Make a decision. If you are standing on the same subway platform with me for ten minutes with all the ladies from your red hat club, and the train pulls in, is this the time to feel hesitant if you are on the right side or if this is the right train to go to 'Ground Zero'? I know security is better in numbers but is it better in bunches blocking the revolving doors or at the top of the escalator? Must you all gather round the Metro-Card machine for one card?
I would like to make a video that will play on every Hotel channel in Manhattan. Just my little way of giving back.

1 comment:

Tesa said...

It's not just NYC. I live in a tiny resort town whose 3,800 permanent residents have to put up with more than 10 million visitors between March and November each year. That's like inviting everyone in NYC plus 2 million more to visit a town that's 2 miles long.

And the combined IQ of those visitors can't be more than a toaster's. :P

Humans have to be the only species whose intellect evaporates every time they travel.