how to not scream AMERICAN in a foreign country

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I am lucky enough to be able to travel to a ex-Soviet country in the next month. I speak no russian so the second I open my mouth I'm made, but walking down the street I don't want to get made. How do I not stand out?

Also what are my options for self-defence I will be flying over :)(no du) so my options are very limited. (I will be taking a good flashlight but I don't expect or want to be out during the night)

My plan thus far is to show up at the airport well dressed (tie, button down shirt, shaved, etc...) this is to get through customs as easily as possible. When I land and leave the controlled area of the airport in the ex-Soviet country I am going to change clothes into some jeans, dirty/old shirt, and some old shoes. I will be traveling with people form the ex-Soviet country and will always be with them. Going back to the US I will do the above in reverse order.

What do you think, any advice?
 
Keep your head down and collar up, Don't make eye contact, smoke a LOT, always look cold and sad. Do not act happy or friendly. Keep your mouth shut. Be courteous but distant and have a plan to kill everyone you meet if you have to.

:evil:
 
As far as personal defense goes, the best advice over there is to keep your eyes open, mouth shut, and stay alert to your surroundings.

The best way to blend in, if you're visiting local friends there - have them take you shopping to buy whatever local clothes are "in style"! Doing this makes it a lot easier to look like you belong there and people won't pay as much attention to you.
 
The best way to blend in, if you're visiting local friends there - have them take you shopping to buy whatever local clothes are "in style"!
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BINGO!! that, right there is the easiest way to blend in local clothes, shoes , acessories , what have you. if you want to blend in adapt the local camoflage.
 
The best way, as said above, is to dress and act like the people around you. It is not so much the clothes themselves but the way you act wearing them.

One useful idea is to buy and carry a local newspaper whether you read the language or not.

If the country has become a tourist attraction, you will probably see other Americans, and cringe. Strutting in the streets, wearing orange and purple T-shirts over humongous bellies, green shorts and red sneakers, constant complaints about the food, the people, the streets, the markets, all in a voice that would drown out an air-raid siren. No, we are not universally loved, and it is not all G.W. Bush's fault.

Jim
 
local camouflage
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Just be careful! If you do this right, you'll have some "interesting" experiences where locals come up and start blabbing at you in Russian (or whatever language). Good luck!
 
Just be careful! If you do this right, you'll have some "interesting" experiences where locals come up and start blabbing at you in Russian (or whatever language). Good luck!
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If that happens I'll be happy because it means that I'm doing it right
 
During over a year in Italy, my wife kept telling me I could never look like anything but an American. Then one day in Siena, two (wow!) Italian girls asked me directions to the Duomo. I told them. I did not volunteer personal guide service mainly because my wife had an armlock on me, but at least she never again told me I could never be taken for anything but an American.

I have been asked directions in Paris by a Frenchman, in Malaga by a Spaniard, and in Brussels by a Belgian (I speak neither French nor Dutch, and he had no English, so we spoke in German).

In Spain and South America, I found a good outfit was a light blue short sleeve shirt and dark blue pants, virtually the uniform of a Spanish worker. I didn't look like an American, I looked like the guy on the backhoe.

Jim
 
Hahah, I've been dating a gorgeous russian girl for a while now, and I've just started learning russian.

It's a lot of fun, and not as hard as people say.


Like others said, don't say "sorry", don't burp, take off your shoes when you get to their place, and for the love of Pete, don't make "your mom" jokes.

:D
 
Black shoes, grey wool suit, white non-button down shirt, two days growth of beard, and a bottle of vodka sticking out of your coat pocket. Perfect.
I'm serious about the clothes.
 
Three Suggestions

1. As previously recommended, buy local clothes.

2. Keep your hands out of your pockets (unless you see the locals with their hands in their pockets).

3. Walk upright - Americans tend to slouch compared to most Europeans.
 
Like others said, don't say "sorry", don't burp, take off your shoes when you get to their place, and for the love of Pete, don't make "your mom" jokes.
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this got me thinking what are big No No's an example would be waving to a middle eastener with your Left had is like flipping someone off here
 
Maybe something a little more obvious, and I don't mean belittle anyones intelligence, but it should be said. Try not to wear anything with an American flag on it. Usually gives you away... Just my .02.
 
I have been asked directions in Paris by a Frenchman, in Malaga by a Spaniard, and in Brussels by a Belgian (I speak neither French nor Dutch, and he had no English, so we spoke in German).
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That's funny!

I've had a Russian taxi driver tell me to "have a nice vacation" as he dropped me at the airport for my flight back to the States; had another Russkie ask me for a cigarette lighter at the train station (came over with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth and said something in Russian; I took a guess that he wanted a lighter and handed one over - he never found out I didn't know what the hell he was saying).

Had one try to start up a conversation with me while we were smoking in the airport bathroom; I told him (in Russian) that I don't speak Russian; he asked (in Russian) if I was British, I said "da" and left it at that. Good times!

To the OP: Another trick is to practice a "street face". People are less inclined to hassle you if you look pi**ed off instead of having a "gee, wow, I'm a tourist!" face.
 
All tips previously mentioned for blending in work well. For being "armed", I really like an umbrella. The compact kind that's about 15-18" long with a wrist strap so you can keep a good hold on it. It's easy to get away with if the area you're going to sees alot of rain. If however, you're going to a place with little rain, a tightly rolled newspaper, perhaps with a rubberband slipped over it will suffice as an impromtu impact device.

If you blend in, you most likely won't be bothered, but you never know.

-Rob
 
Just wait until some guy from Lower Alabama walks up, and asks you directions
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No self respecting man from Lower Alabama would ever ask for directions...;)

I spent about a week in and around Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm fair skinned and 6'3" tall. No chance of blending in. People stared at me like I walked off a spaceship and asked to see their leader. But I also got a lot of attention from females too.

A funny story, I live in South Louisiana, and we drink really strong french roast type coffee here, and whenever I travel I have a hard time finding decent coffee. Since I didn't speak the language in Indonesia it took me a couple of days to figure out how to get good coffee at the hotel restaurant. The hotel I was at catered to foreigners, and they served the nastiest, blandest coffee you can imagine. There was a guy that worked the early shift I guess, and the second morning I came down early and ordered coffee, I took a sip and made a face as if to say it was nasty.... he smiled, took my coffee back, help up his hand to say "wait a minute" disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a cup of the best coffee I've had in a long time. He told me to always order "fresh" coffee, which I guess was the closest english word he knew to what it was. I tipped him $5.
 
You want to blend in?

Drop 50 pounds.

You want to stand out?

Look everyone in the eye and ask, "What the **** you lookin' at?" in your best NYC accent.
 
Check to see if your local library offers access to these as part of their online resources: http://www.culturegrams.com/ . You'll find them helpful in discovering some of the 'don't do' and must do' things about different countries before you get there.

The US Department of State offers a good bit of information about other countries as well. See http://www.state.gov/countries/ for some options. The Background Notes series mentioned there offers a quick intro, and is available online at State's website. The others sources are pretty self evident.

The Library of Congress offers country studies online at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/list.html .

And your local library may have travel guides to the country you plan on visiting. Failing that there are some useful ones available for purchase. I like the Lonely Planet series- http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ . And of course, if RYP has been there and survived, you know you can too- see http://comebackalive.com/site3.php .

hth,

lpl
 


I go the opposite direction when visiting foreign countries, be it Germany or NYS. I wear boots and a stetson and ya'll is both singular and plural to me.

​
 
Listen, you can travel with a local sports team in matching warm-ups. It's not going to matter. As soon as soon as hesitate to crush into a jam packed trolley or don't argue when someone overcharges you, you'll be pegged. More likely you'll get noticed before that. You'll smile too easily, look around too much, show surprise or disgust when you should have known what to expect. You'll take a taxi when you should ride a trolley or bus (or walk). You'll eat the wrong things at restaurants (nobody eats the national or ethinic foods at a restaurant, unless they're expats with no family whatsoever). Hell, in most of these places just going to a restaurant is the wrong thing to do. Even if your language is perfect, you'll talk when you shouldn't or be quiet when you should talk. You'll take too long with money and be too free with it.

No matter how good your disguise, you'll get so many nearly imperceptible things wrong that it will set off alarms in people. They'll take a harder look and see you for what you are.

David
 
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So if a person is trying to blend in but obviously can't, will they get pegged for a "spy"?:uhoh:
 
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