And then you'll start hating it.
I remember taking my very first bus tour when I was about 5 or 6 years old. It was with Safeway Tours back in the 90's. It was one of those USA tours where we went from NYC - Boston - Atlantic City - Washington DC - and I'm pretty sure a few more but I can't remember exactly. All I remember is there were a lot of buses. The 90's was the time that Safeway Tours boomed in the tourism industry. There were a lot of places to visit but I remember they allowed us a lot of time to look around, take pictures etc. The time on the bus was long, but at least there were frequent stops.
Fast forward to the current year. They are all still in operation but I've noticed Safeway has been "beat out" by Taipan. I have taken both companies in the past few years and I've noticed Taipan has more tours offered than Safeway. They are both still very fast paced, so I wouldn't recommend very young toddlers or children to take these tours as wake up calls are ridiculously early (some as early as 5:30am). Also, the very elderly people. I don't know how they do it, but I assume because most of the trips are on long bus rides, maybe that's why majority are all older adults.
Which comes to my next big peeve when it comes to bus tours. Mannerism. A lot of the bus tourists are older generation who have immigrated from countries like Hong Kong and China mainly (some Taiwan) so what they think is normal may not be "normal" in our younger generation's eyes.
For example, when the tour guide is talking on the speaker, you will have people chattering. When the bus is still moving and trying to park, you have a bunch of people start standing up in the aisle, grab bags, and waiting to get off. When people are getting off the bus, they cut you off or don't allow you to enter in front of them. When it comes to attractions and line ups, they will bud in front of you. It's like they don't know how to form a line.
The best one is going to popular attractions and going to their washrooms. They have signs in the stalls where there are two pictures. One that says NO! and a sign with a person squatting on the toilet seat. The other one says YES! and it has the person sitting on the toilet.
It has come to the point where places in Canada and the USA have seen the unsanitary ways of using the public toilets that they have put signs up. It's embarrassing to those who are of Asian descent because when we see it, we totally know it was from "our people" from the older generations. We think it's gross. But to them, it was the way they were raised and taught as normal.
And that's the thing with multicultural countries like Canada. When we see people spit on the streets, take a piss in the bushes in full public view, squat on the toilets and make a mess on the seats with muddy shoes, or squatting in public roadside taking a dump in the sewage, our thoughts are "EEW NASTY! Immigrants!" But what we don't realize is that's probably how they were taught back home as totally normal.
The only thing I can think of if I see someone doing that or know of someone who does anything "weird" to my eyes, I would just say in this country, that is inappropriate. Maybe back home it was normal, but here, it is considered inappropriate. Just a head's up. Whether they choose to follow Canada's mannerism, that's up to them. But with older generation, it is very hard to change their ways. So don't be too surprised when you see any one of the above being done in public.
Fast forward to the current year. They are all still in operation but I've noticed Safeway has been "beat out" by Taipan. I have taken both companies in the past few years and I've noticed Taipan has more tours offered than Safeway. They are both still very fast paced, so I wouldn't recommend very young toddlers or children to take these tours as wake up calls are ridiculously early (some as early as 5:30am). Also, the very elderly people. I don't know how they do it, but I assume because most of the trips are on long bus rides, maybe that's why majority are all older adults.
Which comes to my next big peeve when it comes to bus tours. Mannerism. A lot of the bus tourists are older generation who have immigrated from countries like Hong Kong and China mainly (some Taiwan) so what they think is normal may not be "normal" in our younger generation's eyes.
For example, when the tour guide is talking on the speaker, you will have people chattering. When the bus is still moving and trying to park, you have a bunch of people start standing up in the aisle, grab bags, and waiting to get off. When people are getting off the bus, they cut you off or don't allow you to enter in front of them. When it comes to attractions and line ups, they will bud in front of you. It's like they don't know how to form a line.
The best one is going to popular attractions and going to their washrooms. They have signs in the stalls where there are two pictures. One that says NO! and a sign with a person squatting on the toilet seat. The other one says YES! and it has the person sitting on the toilet.
It has come to the point where places in Canada and the USA have seen the unsanitary ways of using the public toilets that they have put signs up. It's embarrassing to those who are of Asian descent because when we see it, we totally know it was from "our people" from the older generations. We think it's gross. But to them, it was the way they were raised and taught as normal.
And that's the thing with multicultural countries like Canada. When we see people spit on the streets, take a piss in the bushes in full public view, squat on the toilets and make a mess on the seats with muddy shoes, or squatting in public roadside taking a dump in the sewage, our thoughts are "EEW NASTY! Immigrants!" But what we don't realize is that's probably how they were taught back home as totally normal.
The only thing I can think of if I see someone doing that or know of someone who does anything "weird" to my eyes, I would just say in this country, that is inappropriate. Maybe back home it was normal, but here, it is considered inappropriate. Just a head's up. Whether they choose to follow Canada's mannerism, that's up to them. But with older generation, it is very hard to change their ways. So don't be too surprised when you see any one of the above being done in public.
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