For the 2nd time, some one asked where the ocean was!

[leilaniguy]

That would be a problem in Hawai'i.

[glassnumbers]

Originally Posted by steiconi

Tourists in Disneyland...one of my (least) favorite aspects of island life.

One of the guide books gave directions to cross our land to get to the Champagne Pond. Tourists would open our gate with the No Trespassing and Beware of the Dog signs, walk past our house, then get upset when we told them to leave. "But the guidebook says we can get there this way!"

One actually told me I wasn't practicing Aloha by turning him away.

Aloha is like the Code of the Pirates...more like guidelines, really.

Got to frame it in the right way. "Here you have the historic Steiconi Estates, long cherished for it's role as a shortcut to the famous Champagne Pond. Come one, come all, and witness the incredible sights to be seen, all for the low low price of 19.99 per head"

[hotzcatz]

I dunno, Steiconi, I'd be tempted to sue the blue book folks because they do that sort of thing all the time. There's loads of folks got tourists tripping through their pastures - some of which have livestock that escapes because of open gates or livestock that doesn't interact well with strangers (bulls). Some of the places which used to let folks go through because it was just a few local folks now and then who were either friends or friends of friends sorts of things, now don't let anyone go through because of too many people.

So in this case, it's not just tourist ignorance, it's encouragement for ignorance put out by someone trying to make money on tourists.

[Stacey27520]

Originally Posted by Weatherguy

Reminds me of someone who wrote into TripAdvisor to complain about a visit to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. Best Friends is on about 33,000 acres, and is the largest sanctuary in the country. Its purpose is to rescue dogs, cats, horses, pigs, etc. and find homes for them. The lady who complained said she was upset because there were hardly any purebreds at the sanctuary. She apparently had no idea what animal rescue is all about. Her complaint provided many laughs, but it was also sad.

It's not just the U.S., but every day in this country it's sad to realize how uninformed and uneducated Americans are. There are large numbers who don't know that Hawaii is part of the U.S.. In Texas, we hear from tourists all the time who can't grasp that we're not somewhere near Nevada or Utah. We get blank stares when we mention to many tourists that we border the Gulf of Mexico. It's like they've never seen a map, or never studied geography.

A more forgivable lack of knowledge is regarding how many people don't know that there can be snow on the volcanoes on the Big Island. I would bet that the vast majority of Americans don't know that.

I went to Alaska to visit about 10 years ago and a woman on the train asked a guide when we'd be going to the other side of the island. Huh? Well, see, it looks this way on the map. WTH, grown woman thinking Alaska is an island!