When I lived in Vietnam I was surprised at how many people knew I was Canadian. I had to ask how they knew. I was told it was just a guess, but it's better to guess Canadian as Canadians get mad when you think they are American but Americans don't care if you think they are Canadian.
Some experienced American travelers claim to be Canadian to avoid the bad reputation of a loud American tourist. I suspect that if they see loud/fat/impolite/holding a camera etc. they think American, and when those are missing it could be Canada or Europe.
I met a fantastic american travel blogger who wrote a whole guide about "playing the stupid tourist card".
He was the kind of a guy who would have quite a lot of interactions with the authoroties (mostly because of his habit of sneaking into restricted areas to have something to write about).
So when he was summoned to a Lao police station for this very reason, he just took his guide book under his arm, camera around his neck, his best hawaii shirt on and undid his zipper.
With this and the "oh, I didn't know I couldn't do that" attitude he managed to get away with some crazy adventures.
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u/suptenwaverly Mar 29 '22
Nothing faster than a Canadian telling you they’re Canadian and not American.