It's so easy to spot a tourist

Growing up in Williamsburg has led me to despise tourists. They invade my town in all seasons of the year with their fanny packs, Hawaiian shirts, and unnecessarily rude behavior. But, they are the fuel of our economy so we put on our happy faces and treat them to Colonial hospitality so they will keep coming back and spend more money. As you might guess, this hatred has led me to try my hardest to not appear like a tourist on any vacation that I take. I always try to go to the local finds and avoid the tourist traps. However, I don’t know if this has been a successful strategy here in Washington. Maybe I am actually missing out on seeing some great things by protecting my self-respect. For example, I have been working in Congress for over two months and still haven’t taken a tour of the Capitol (I’ll have to jump on that tour with Ayush and Walter). Kiplinger’s essay made me think that maybe this is not uncommon behavior after all. He says, “…ordinary men and women like to be tourists but don’t like to seem to be tourists.” Unfortunately, it still does not explain why some people lose all senses of decency on vacation…