Life imitating Cantr?

[Báng]

Not in Ireland anyway...not too sure about Italy. But I can't really see it.

[The Hunter]

Well, the Hawai-shirts usually make it quite clear who's american or not..

It's a cliche, and a true one, don't deny it..

If not wearing a Hawai shirt there are usually some other clues. I usually can pick an american from the crowd, don't know what gives them away tho, but the tennis shoes are a sign, tru. Ugly and oversized sunglasses aswell. Rest, I don't know... There are some well camouflaged yankee-tourists around too I bet.

[new.vogue.nightmare]

Well, the Hawai-shirts usually make it quite clear who's american or not..

It's a cliche, and a true one, don't deny it..

If not wearing a Hawai shirt there are usually some other clues. I usually can pick an american from the crowd, don't know what gives them away tho, but the tennis shoes are a sign, tru. Ugly and oversized sunglasses aswell. Rest, I don't know... There are some well camouflaged yankee-tourists around too I bet.

I always wear hiking boots with my baggy ripped jeans and tight-fitting t-shirts, with an occasional unbuttoned shirt over it...although yes, sometimes it is a hawaiian shirt =P And I almost ALWAYS have a bandanna on me head, or around my arm or hand. Then again, I've always been forcibly excluded from American society. Bastards.

Yah.... I'm reading up on ways of not to look too conspicuous on my trip to Italy. Apparently, the more I research: in Europe, an American can be spotted just based on the shoes and clothing that they wear... in other words bright or branded clothing or expensive tennis shoes basically makes you an easy target for petty theft in Italy.

Those poor people...I'll have to teach them the MEANING of theft.

[Thomas Pickert]

Thieves in Italy (and also elsewhere) don't particular aim at american tourists, but at tourists in general.
If you have a camera, tourist. If you carry a backpack, tourist. Sunburn, tourist. You look amazed at hostorical buildings, tourist. You carry a map, tourist. You ask for directions, tourist. List goes on...
I don't think that you should spend too much effort on avoiding to look like a tourist. Professional thieves (usually gangs of those) will spot you anyway. They don't see someone, and go and try to steal from him, they spy on you for a while first, to find your weak spots.

You should rather spend effort on not having weak spots. Don't buy flowers from women. Don't give them money, no matter how pitiful they look. Same goes for children. If they start to touch you, grab their arm, and hold it for a short moment, look at them, then push it away. Make very clear that you are aware of the try to distract you. (But don't be distracted while you do that. ) If a woman approaches you, starts talking to you in an almost incomprehensible way, while waving her hands at you, take a step back, and yell at her as loud as you can. They don't like attention. Don't follow them to un-crowded areas . As I said, they usually work in teams, mostly without violence, but if it was a bad day...

Don't expect to impress them with the yelling, though. They will likely yell back at you in disgust, as if you have committed the worst crime possible, but they will mostly back off.
Don't carry your wallet in your backpack. Don't sit down, and let your backpack stand behind you. Don't carry your backpack on your back. If someone in the crowd bumps into you, your internal alarm systems should immediately go off like crazy.

Other than that, from your photo (if that is you, that is), you look european. On your first day, you could probably look warily at the locals, and adjust to their style as best as you can. Chances are, that you will not be bothered with theft during your stay, but if you are, the above hints will probably help you. It's an art, to find a good mix between healthy paranoia and enjoying your trip. Good luck.

[new.vogue.nightmare]

How about meeeeeeeeee? What do I look like?

[Thomas Pickert]

Like someone who's not used to much mediterranean sunlight.

[Báng]

and me?

[Thomas Pickert]

Who am I now, the face-teller?

Well, but since I started it, I guess, I have to deal with it now. From your photo (and everything I said was always based on one photo, they sometimes don't really reflect the person they depict accurately) I would say, that you fit in almost anywhere. I wouldn't have guessed that you're Irish, but I don't have a picture of an 'average Irishman' in my mind anyway.
You could just as well be someone from Eastern-Europe, as far as it concerns me. If I hadn't read the Ireland info beneath your picture, I would have guessed that you're probably Czech. I wouldn't think, that you're a typical victim for thieves, judging from the face on your photo. Clothing is also important, as well as general behavior.

[David]

Not that I believe everything the U.S. government says... but I checked the State Department web site and they said that their is a particular problem of nonviolent team petty theft in Italy, especially around tourist sites... that's what got me to thinking about it, but that is true anywhere I guess... just as much so as here in the states... But there is something about those scheming Sicilians joking., some are my in-laws

[Thomas Pickert]

From personal experience, and from accounts of friends, I can support your government's information in this case. The same strategies of petty theft is found in Paris (friend's camcorder got stolen from his backpack right behind his back, when briefly sitting down, on a different occasion, a kid of mostly 12 or 13 years tried stealing my wallet, while an older guy, likely his father, distracted me by putting a golden ring right over my finger, before I even realized what was going on), in Spain (a woman was asking the father of my former girl for some money, and he decided to give her some, all the time clutching tightly to his wallet, but still finding out a little later, that all the banknotes had disappeared from it), and in Italy (a friend found himself surrounded by a bunch of women offering him several useless things, blabbering at him, while they apparently took turns getting things off him they really wanted).

I haven't yet experienced anything similar in Germany or in the Netherlands, but that's probably, because I don't look so much like a tourist in both countries.

I'm not saying, that the Spanish, the French, or the Italian are a people of petty thieves. Actually, I believe, those gangs are all foreigners in those countries themselves. I also beleive, that most of them do it out of desperation. But it's still theft, and there's still a victim. It's your right to make sure, that the victim is not you.

[Sho]

Theft has also been going up in Japan, I hear. It still has a much lower crime rate than the US, but the news said gangs targeting tourists have increased.

Okay, Thomas, an easy one. What do I look like?

[David]

I'm leaning towards Swedish but I'm not sure.

[David]

No Answer? I must be wrong... I'm not good with faces.

[Bran-Muffin]

I dont know dave, maybe he is russian, im not to good with faces either.

[Sho]

And David is. . . burning. I think.