heh
Did your dad really see Hostel?
This “strategy” comes up as a topic from time to time—obviously it’s come up often enough to end up in a movie.
I suppose some Americans really actually use the Canadian patch.
I can’t imagine doing it, myself, for a variety of reasons. I’ve been to Europe a bunch of times. While I do not strut around loudly trumpeting my nationality, it does come up from time to time.
I am not about to lie about it.  Even if I did, I think I’d make a poor Canadain.
Regardless, no European has treated me badly.
Finally, I really don’t think Americans have a total monopoly on bad behavior overseas.

I would never wear the Canadian patch, but I also would not think of walking-around with USA stuff all over my body.

Based on my daily experience of the past 5 years, no, Americans are not targeted. And most people are aware of the Canadian patch trick.

I enjoy talking with Europeans who have to ask me my nationality. If there are stereotypes, personal interactions tend to dissolve them, especially when people are genuine and authentic.

Perhaps someone can give the names of even one or two American tourists in Europe who have been assaulted or kidnapped because of their nationality. 

I mean, there were 13 MILLION Americans who traveled to Europe last year.  Before I embarrass myself with a Canadian flag, I’d want to know of at least one of them getting a good solid whooping from some American-hater.

You more likely to get assualted by some treehugger eco-warriors for
what the Cannucks are doing to Alberta extracting tar sand oil.

There’s a lot of Muslims in Europe esp Germany and England and they
like to wear their bomb vests in public to show us secular europeans who’s
the daddy.

Sticking patches on your clothing or backpack is punishable by death!

Most tourists who visit Europe are Europeans (Britons visiting Spain and Greece, Germans visiting France and Italy, Italians visiting Switzerland, etc….)  People won’t necessarily know you are American unless you make it obvious.  There is a way many Americans dress (baggy clothes, plaid polos, shorts after sundown, baseball hat indoors, and so on), just make somewhat of an effort to blend in.

American tourists are perfectly safe in Europe.  The biggest hassle, if people learn you are American, is people asking you if you voted for Bush and why.  This happens very occasionally, but is perfectly innocent.  Obviously, Washington and its foreign policy are largely unpopular, but no one holds this against ordinary Americans.  As for someone “targetting you” …this has not yet happened to any American in Europe.  However, the State Department does advise you avoid walking around in clothes with the American flag plastered all over them….yes such clothes exists, I remember a tour group in Italy wearing t-shirts that had “remember 9/11” and “we won’t forget” with stars and stripes all over.  Those are great to wear at home, but not a good idea outside the US, for several reasons.  Dont be afraid to tell people you are American, if they ask….just don’t flaunt it.

I just got back from 2 months in Europe and I was not bothered or harassed a single time. Like everyone has said, don’t flaunt it, but don’t be afraid to admit it. And you WILL be asked what your opinion of Bush and the war in Iraq is. I was asked almost daily by people at the hostels I stayed at when I would tell them I am American. I never met a single person abroad who likes Bush, not one, but they will be very respectful if you are honest and respectful, no matter what your stance is. Just be curteous and they will extend you the same respect. Don’t bother wearing the Canadian patch.

 
I think you meant don’t flaunt it. []
 
 
 

Ha ha, you’re right. Thanks for the correction luv the beach!

I heard they kidnap a lot of american tourists and hold them for ransom, and if no one pays it they send you to Iran. 

I have not traveled nearly as much as others here but I never advertised that I am an American. I don’t have a flag on my purse at home so why would I while traveling abroad?  Sorry, I guess I just don’t get the need for any  type of patch on my backpack. Though it would have been kind of hard once anyone heard me speak to hide that I am in fact an American even if I wanted to and I didn’t make any attempts to.  I am not embarrassed that I am an American, not at all, it’s simply a part of who I am.  I found a few people that were interested in my views about Bush but as I hate him that was a fairly easy conversation, lol.  The people that I met along the way were intelligent enough to realize that being an American meant a zillion different things not just about this administration and war.  Their questions after the big ones of Bush and Iraq were asked about normal day to day life things.  I did find that when my son and I spoke in public that people looked at us a bit and listened in but I figure that was more just hearing the American accent that interested them then any negative thing, as they all had simply curious looks upon their faces. Seriously, it’s a non issue as long as you have basic manners and are respectful for others and their ways, as when traveling anywhere in my opinion, everyone should be!

No reason to need to “advertise” you are American – as you prob. wouldn’t at home, but if you did the Canadian thing, it would be mega awkward when you started chatting up a friend in a hostel – as you’d have to either admit you did it (and look like a goof) or come up with an elaborate life story that involves Canada.
 
Seriously – as long as you can talk intellegently on politics if you chose to bring it up – you’ll be just fine []

How about put a Ruerto Rican flag on and just claim to be a Puerto Rican? 
 
Benefits:
-it would justify the american passport, but not being a true american
-since PR is only a territory, you can’t claim any responsibility for US foreign policy
-if people think you are from PR they will likely assume you are poor and not want to rob you
 
You may also want to die your hair black and pick up a slight hispanic accent. 

[] dude, that is some funny shit – that might be the best idea I’ve heard yet. Or why not Guam? Or American Samoa!!

Would have never thought of it if I hadn’t traveled with a puerto rican last year.  []

When you have a trip , bring with your ipod , put some dvd and video onto it , it is an intertering travel . Maybe you need a software to help you to do that , just download one at [=”??, ms song”]http://www.oursdownload.com/convert-DVD-video-to-iPod-video.html[/]

If I were American I would certainly not worry about safety or anything like that based on nationality.  It would be pretty incredible if there were some political hooligans around the world just waiting to take on a random American traveler.  Plus I would feel pathetic backing out on my own country and pretending to be from another.  Youve got to have some national pride, at least without pushing it in peoples faces.
 
That said, from my personal experience, I have been treated FAR better and have found people much much more helpful when they find out Im Canadian rather than American.  Even to my own amazement people will, in an instant, stop giving you a sort of cold shoulder and become like your best friend based on that knowledge alone!
 
But overall, I think young travelers (young americans) are not viewed with the same sort of stereotypes as maybe more middle aged travelers.  And as another poster says, personal interactions go a long way to desolving those stereotypes.  The main international stereotypes of Americans as individuals is that they have a sense of superiority toward other cultures and the places they are visiting.  (I once saw a woman from Texas demand to speak to a hotel manager in London because they would not accept her American dollars but rather wanted to be paid in Pounds).  Nonetheless, the everyone posting here, and everyone even thinking of getting a Canadian flag are seemingly aware enough of the stereotypes to avoid perpetuating them further.

haha i sea No Safe Frm Boorlingtin but Amerikan ds Bush Matter?

trageted? What, as in kidnapped at the gun point of an AK and then get their heads sawn off with  a blunt knife on TV?
 
Come on, this is Europe, Old World, etc
 
American policies are not popular but even if someone starts going on about you being an american it will be more or less jokingly normally.
 
it s a civilized continent where the vast majority of people will understand that they will have to hear about you personally before judging you.
 
That said, americans here do get themselves in trouble but tusually they have noone else to blame but themselves. This week in Valencia, for example, i witnesses a group of americans who started shouting “USA!” on the dance floor and were consenquently driven out of the venue. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable no matter where those people come from, but unfortunately this kind of brazen public patriotism is more common to the americans.
 
As long as you dont intend to do anything like this you should have any problems

My mom told me not to drink their water [][][]

hah i’ll be that guy with the USA chants. can’t help it.

chanting USA chants in another country randomly, with no relevance (i.e. maybe the olympics or something) is ridiculous, to be honest. I know that some  american’s love playing up their ignorant idiotic stereotypes but give it a rest would ya?

keep in mind i said STEREOTYPES, not saying it’s true. yes this is your stereotype like it or not

many years ago when 2 of my friends and I traveled around Europe during the summer … one of my friends was using a borrowed backpack that had a HUGE Canadian flag sewn on it. Being Canadian we didn’t mind or think much of it. But man! We had comments every day about it – often asking if we were really Canadians. Even on some tours like Mikes Bikes, there were jokes about Canadian patches (on the bike trip it was actually borderline rude, the American tour guide obviously felt strongly about it). By the end of the trip there were times we wanted to tear the flag off because of all the razzing.

I didn’t think Americans still used the Canadian flag decoy but last summer we met up with an American in Granada, who we originally thought was Canadian because of a Canadian flag on his bag. He even told us he was from Toronto. As the conversation went on he came clean.

I usually can spot a Canadian not because of a flag but because of MEC gear! []

Sometimes, being in a foreign environment bring out the worst in people.  For someone visiting another country for the 1st time in his/her life (not counting Cancun) the shock and stresses that come from the combination of homesickeness, culture shock, and disillusionment (reality kicks in, and kills the visitor’s romantized pre-trip expectation of the host countrY)….this can erupt into ugly nationalism, like the kind that happened at that bar in Valencia.  While people from any country are likely to experience this, it’s exacerbated if and when it happens to Americans, because we Americans like to think that we are the best and above all others; thus when we are in a different environment, and we get frustrated, we start doing shit like that.

This is why it’s good to expose our children to foreign countries from a young age.  Before age 10.

Heh, it’s funny you mention the Canadian flag decoy… I met like 5 people in Europe who pretended to be Canadian till I started asking questions haha
 
This one guy, apparently he had been doing it for a few weeks and it worked with Europeans who didn’t know anybetter, but his Louisiana accent gave it away when I started talking to him I live like 10 miles from the border… Canadians don’t sound like deep south Americans hehe

wow, I had no idea that many people were still doing this.  If I saw a fellow Louisianian pretending to be Canadian I would slap him.  If it were anyone from north of Louisiana I wouldn’t mind so much because there’s really no difference [] 
 
It would be fun to put random patches on your pack just for fun though.  I bet a patch from Djibouti would throw people off! 

Haha yeah it was pretty crazy. I remember at the time being suprised noone else could tell, but a) Europeans on average probably couldn’t tell the difference and b) even alot of Americans can’t place accents anyway Still, it was funny seeing the dudes house of cards come crashing down when I started asking him questions. I was over there during the Stanley Cup finals and asked the guy which team he wanted to win and he had no idea what I was talking about. Boy that was a hoot

Has to be said. Harden up. Just dont draw attention to your selves (That may be hard for some Americans) and you will be fine.

I know an American guy who once told me that he never hides the fact. Why? He says that the only way to break stereotypes is to not hide who you are and let people meet “the other type of X-an or X-ese”, so that those people have a chance to have other experiences and reconsider their stereotype.
 
I think he has a point. I must say that over time many of my stereotypes (which we all have to start with) dissolved thank to the people I met who did not fit into them. Had they hidden who they were I would not have a chance to reconsider my biases
 
 

 
Of course it’s not just Americans, English stag parties have been progressively kicked around the continent, as one town after another gets sick to death of their obnoxious behavior. First Dublin, then Prague and now Tallinn and Riga are trying to get rid of them. Not surprising given the numerous incidents like these
 
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17534/
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/18003/
 
that prompted the British embassy to issue advice to tourists
 
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/uk/news/article_1277780.php/British_embassy_warns_tourists_in_Latvia_think_before_you_drink
 
and it’s not just the Brits who’ve been causing the problems here
 
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/17872/
 
there’s surprisingly few Americans here.
 
Americans in Valencia were generally reasonably well behaved but there are always the idiots everywhere. I recall once in a bar there seeing these guys from Florida smoking giant cigars and throwing business cards around everywhere as they yelled across the bar at each other. Even their countrymen found them an embarrassment.

Jonniboy, that’s nothing new.  What Estonia and Latvia are experiencing with British tourists, Spain and Greece have been putting up with it for decades now.

My point is, while idiots and misbehaved people can come from every country, we Americans tend to give it more of a nationalist twist.  Believe me, in Southern Europe many people would rather deal with Americans than Britons (because Americans don’t get rowdy like young Britons do), but when Ameicans do act stupid, it’s different from the British drunknenness.  Britons don’t think they’re better than everyone else, and don’t chant “UK UK UK UK…”  They’re just ridiculous annoying drunks.  They don’t get all nationalistic like we Americans do, and despite all the nastiness I’ve seen coming from Britons in Southern Europe, I respect them more for not being like those Americans in Valencia, or that American woman in London that demanded she pay in US dollars.  At least Britons don’t do this shit.  The Britons may be misbehaved (and they admit that), but they don’t get nationalistic when traveling broad.