I heard that many American tourists vacationing in Europe wear Canadian T shirts or have Canadian flags or something to identify them as Canadian like a pin etc etc and they get treated better

And also that some Canadians also do this to not be mistakens for Americans and that some who didn't got shittier treatment because of being thought of as Americans.

Now I heard this a couple of times and also some accounts on some vague travel blogs I remember reading.

Just wanted to hear if anybody else has come across this.

   

Yep. Been going on for years. I had a little cousin working in London for a year and she saw it all the time. What has resulted is most can't tell right away if the tourist is really Canadian, so they treat everyone like they're American. It doesn't take long to sort them out though, she said.

It's done in Australia as well. (That cousin's sister lives there now )

   

I've also run into several fellow Canadians, who get right snotty if a foreigner mistakes them for an American. One of the first questions you get asked here is,'Are you an American?' rather than,' Where are you from?'

You have to wonder if Americans ever get a stick up their ass if they are asked, 'Are you Canadian?' Somehow I doubt it.

Do Pakistanis get indignant if they are asked if they are Indians or Arabs? I know a lot of Iranians don't like being mistaken for Arabs.

The Canadian flag thing is sort of passe now, as those who were liberated by Canadian troops become fewer and fewer. Also, if you're going to be offed for being an infidel by a radical Islamist, I doubt they're going to ask to see your passport. It's white.... it speaks English....it's fair game.

   

Bullshit!

   

BULLSHIT on your 'bullshit'! (See the above posts)

Both my brother, and sister & families, lived, and travelled, all around Europe for several years, and reported a marked difference in treatment/respect when they were clearly identified as Canadians, as opposed to travelling 'incognito'!

   

Man I live in East Europe, what are you talking about, I have friends in poland and everything here and there is ok, i hear it in first time. lol

   

Are Americans often compared to Canadians in every single way? Canada has the not American thing because people frequently say that we are the same thing despite the fact that we are different in a lot of ways. It has also been a major part of our identity to not be American for a long time. For a lot of Canadians it has become an insult because it implies that all the achievements we have done mean we are still nothing more than Americans to people, mistakes happen but when done on purpose it is extremely insulting. Also, call a Japanese Chinese and you will get the same result.

From the people I have talked to areas Canadians liberated have passed on the generosity/love of Canadians to their kids/grand kids.

   

When you live in a foreign culture, one realizes that the differences between Canadians, Kiwis, Aussies, Brits and Americans are negligible in comparison to the differences between 'Anglos' and the majority culture, be it Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Korean or the myriad of ME, Indian and African cultures

   

Americans have a bad rep in Europe ( deserved or not). The first time I encountered this wearing the Canadian flag pin or other clothing that identifies one as Canadian was when my son was playing junior rep hockey and we went to Sweden, Finland, Denmark on tournaments. We were told that during the prep meetings. We were told in Finland that Americans usually got poor service and esp. in restaurants and bars.

   

Me and the wife were on vacation in Mexico once and were talking with the owner of a little hotel. When we said we were Canadians he popped a couple of casual questions that felt like he was testing to see if we were for real.

   

They have been doing it for years, I think maybe even back to Nam.

But the real damage has come from us giving our passports like confetti in the street, plus the fact that Canadian passports are rather easy to forge;

it has done a lot to reduce our standing in the world.

   

Ah so its true after all, not really surprised but very intersting.

And martin as usual what are you on about, did you just read the above posts. Canada has a good rep abroad. Canada is hardly in the news overseas and thats a GOOD thing and thats what keeps its rep status in the green.

And its a myth that Canada is doing air drops of passports all over the world.