Hundreds of people shared advice on how the American could be a considerate traveller in New Zealand. Photo / 123rf
Hundreds of people shared advice on how the American could be a considerate traveller in New Zealand. Photo / 123rf
On Monday, a traveller living in Orlando, Florida, posed an innocent question to social media: how could they be a considerate tourist in New Zealand?
Within two days, the post received more than 500 comments from locals and visitors eager to tell the traveller (and, potentially, Americans ingeneral) how they should behave when holidaying in Aotearoa.
Posted to the social media platform Reddit, on a page dedicated to New Zealand, the traveller (under the username @madmartigan00) explained they had seen their “fair share” of tourists while living in Orlando.
“While many are wonderful, some can be downright unpleasant and/or rude,” they said. As a result, they wanted to do their best to be thoughtful when visiting in January for their honeymoon.
“Other than learning the rules of the road, what can we do to respect NZ, its people, and their customs?”
The top-voted comment covered an irritation many locals have concerning tourists; slow driving.
“If you are on a highway and can’t safely maintain the speed limit due to the mountainous roads, pull to the left when it’s safe and let people behind you pass,” wrote an American who had visited New Zealand in April.
While they had experience driving difficult roads, even they were frustrated but tourists unwilling to pull over.
“We were behind people going 80 in a 100 even on the straightaways with 10 cars lined up behind them and that was murder,” they wrote.
Alongside plently of sheep and beautiful beaches, New Zealand also has a reputation for windy roads. Photo / Warren Buckland
A Brit living in New Zealand said the slow lane would keep the traveller out of trouble. “Tailgating and driving dangerously close behind someone seems to be a thing here. The best way to avoid this is to let people pass on single-lane roads, and stay in the slower lane on multi-lane roads,” they advised.
Driving wasn’t the only thing people felt strongly about; the future visitor was warned against boasting about America, tipping, being demanding or too loud.
“Don’t say ‘Well, in America it’s this way!’ (We don’t care) if something is different,” one person wrote, while another advised: “Don’t compare our country to yours unless it’s in our favour”.
Tipping is second nature to Americans but they should keep spare change to themselves in Aotearoa, according to the comments.
Several people actively discouraged tipping, writing Kiwis “don’t want that nonsense here” and were “trying to mitigate the spread of the tipping culture”.
As a result, people warned the American against getting too picky when making demands at a restaurant.
“During my time in hospitality, one of the things I noticed is that Americans are used to food being customisable,” one person wrote, adding that some places will accommodate but many will refuse.
Several comments advised visitors to New Zealand never to assume a restaurant or cafe will make substitutions or alterations to a menu.
“Don’t make demands or get really fussy with food orders etc, it will come off as entitled and rude,” another wrote. “You can of course ask for little things, but don’t be changing the menu because it doesn’t suit you.”
Several other comments suggested they do their best not to be too loud and remember that, like the roads, people walk on the other side of the walkway.
Others suggested asking the question indicated they would likely be a thoughtful tourist.
“It seems like if you’re considerate enough to be asking for advice, you’ll be a considerate tourist,” one person wrote.
After reading through the comments, the traveller updated their post thanking people for their tips.
“So far some of my key takeaways are: Pull over, shut up, don’t put my ass where it doesn’t belong, always blow on the pie, and if I’m more than 300m from the ocean I’m wearing undies, not togs,” they wrote.
