To feel a bit like everyone hates me when I'm a British tourist in Europe now

[Everythingisnumbersnow]

I try with the language, I try not to get in people's way, I tip and I don't complain.

But everything still feels much more hostile than it used to.

Agree - I have a good friend from Bangladesh and had no idea until v recently that there's a hell of a lot going on over there politically. We all live in our bubbles. I don't think most Europeans think about Brexit at all unless they run import/export businesses.

Just stating what had been said to me over the years!

When we were students many years ago we went to Paris on a Uni trip, When we tried to get into one night club they wouldn’t let us in as the thought we were English, we told them we were Irish and they immediately changed their tune and let us in

Since last June I've been to Spain, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Austria and Slovenia.
Mostly by myself but on some occasions with friends.
I haven't experienced any hostility whatsoever.
People have been kind and friendly. Same as they always have been

I’ll never tell 😂

It's not so much that French people love it as it's just seen as the basic bare minimum of reasonable behaviour, and to not do it comes across as really rude. It's considered to be like walking into someone's house without greeting them. People working in heavily touristy areas have come to expect it from some foreigners, but it still comes over as ignorant.

Why are you avoiding Spain? That said, I have only been to Barcelona, which is arguably not really Spain. I know that Barcelona is supposed to be very hostile to tourists, but I haven't found that to be the case at all.

What? 😂You're wasting your time, anyone can tell you're a Brit.

OTOH we were staying with dd, SiL and baby Gdd in a beach hotel in Crete, shortly before the Brexit referendum. The manager told us he was very worried about the vote - if it meant Brexit, would the Brits stop coming? They were his best customers, the most polite and the least troublesome!

Of course it was a nice family hotel, not the sort of place where people would be boozing around the pool from breakfast time, but still, it was nice to be appreciated!

But they constantly make fun of us for being too polite and saying please and thank you too much!

Cannot win.

Nooooo!!! And there's me going to French classes to brush up on my French ...should I not bother? Last time I was in Paris I had a bit of a mixed reaction...some people were lovely and helped me with my rubbish French..others rolled their eyes and sighed and said "Anglaise?" when I tried to speak French to them 😂

God no one has mentioned Brexit to us since the year it happened, I'd be amazed if people on the continent were still bringing that up. We've been to Spain, Greece, Austria, France, Cyprus, Belgium and Croatia since Brexit happened and no one has ever been negative about it - and when it happened they were just mildly disappointed that the UK was leaving.

Some areas of Spain are upset about the lack of housing and are taking it out little on the tourists rather than the people really at fault and who could actually do something about it (ie the government allowing it to go on). We went to Mallorca recently and saw a couple of slogans but had absolutely no issues.

I am in love with Spain but it's a very upsetting place to be at the moment. Madrid is fine nobody cares but in Andalusia there's so much anti tourist sentiment (and none of it is graffitied in German for some reason).

I don’t think the British are known for being too polite

Agree, was in Canaries both when Brexit was announced and when we officially left. You could tell the sentiment towards Brits a mile off . I have a transatlantic accent so people assume I'm American/Canadian and when I correct them, there was always a distinct look of disappointment - now, it's one of pity! 😭

I don't relate to your post OP at all.

Please remember that sometimes staff in bakeries and supermarkets can be a little abrupt/come off as rude because they are trying to serve a lot of customers with varying accents & linguistic ability and sadly don't always have time for pleasantries.

I moved to Greece post-Brexit and have travelled to a variety of other countries & cities during that time and honestly have not had any issue that one could directly link with being British. Brexit has been a topic of conversation at times but most Greeks I have discussed it with either lightheartedly laugh at the stupidity of self sabotage or couldn't care less.

The anti-tourist demonstrations have mostly been aimed at the governments and their allowing Air BnB & their ilk to price local people out of the rental market. It really is disgusting & incredibly short sighted. We have a shortage of teachers & medical staff on our island mostly because trying to find long term and affordable rental properties is becoming increasingly impossible. A good friend of mine had their rent doubled in the space of a year, on the basis that the landlord argued he could make more money via Air BnB.

In what way? I don't think that is true IME, I have been asked if Swedish in Spain, I was with my British family and our British friends. I do have Danish heritage but I'm English and it is quite far back on one side. My husband is often mistaken as Greek, Italian or Spanish. We are originally from London and one of the friends we were with has Greek Cypriot heritage. IME living and growing up in a multicultural part of England means that it is not that easy to tell the 'British' unless you are so referring to drunk red faced stereotypes!

Barcelona, Canaries, Balearics, Malaga, Seville have all been staging anti tourism demonstrations

until that passes I’m going to destinations that want and welcome tourists.

I grew up in Spain and some parts of the country REALLY don't like tourists. It's not specifically a British thing, they just happen to make up most of the numbers. My town didn't much like tourists but relied heavily on the income so people were mostly nice to them.

The few times I've been to Paris everyone has been extremely rude, but that may be just my experience. The rest of France has been mostly OK.

Italy, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Turkey, Hungary - everyone was very nice.

What especially annoys me about this is that my hometown is chocka with Spanish tourists!! Why is what's good for the ganso not good for the gansa eh??

Parisians are just incredibly rude. To everyone, not just the British. They are rude to each other as well. The only nice ones are elderly waiters in old school cafes. They are adorable. PS: if you think Parisians are rude, please never, ever visit Bordeaux. They make the Parisians look delightful by comparison.

Sorry, no I was not referring to the Benidorm Brit, I just found your post very funny, the lengths you go so you are not labelled British. Maybe people can't tell you are a Brit, I don't know. I can generally tell what nationality people are by the way they act, dress etc. lots of little things, but people can't place me either - Danish a favourite also, so maybe I should know better.

Maybe he wanted those cakes for himself 😂.
Seriously, I honestly haven't noticed anything, but I do have the hide of a rhino. I smile and am polite to everyone and seem to get the same back most of the time. If I don't, I don't worry about it.

Yes, I notice it too op, but I live in another European country. They adore the Irish, who can do no wrong, find the Scottish friendly and it’s usually English some can be a bit off with/about. However, where I am, there has been a huge influx of people moving there from other countries, including America, Brazil and illegal immigrants and now they say they don’t mind the Brits at all 🙈😅

This is very true. But if you think that Bordelais are rude, do not go to the big French ski resorts, it's just a whole other level, where rudeness is an art, a vocation 😂