by Matt Whiting

Created on: December 17, 2008

This article relates tightly with the Americans. Are the french hospitable to the British. No. They are not. However, whereas the general American tourist is made unwelcome in both France and Holland, The average British citizen is made unwelcome widely throughout Europe. I draw this conclusion from personal experience again and the experience of those whom i came across in my travels.

Wherever i went throughout France i would expect a general disliking by the French if i welcomed them with "hello" or "hi", unless i said "Bonjour" or that golden phrase "G'day mate!" it would be a general assumption that i was English and therefore not worth helping. This was especially highlighted when i found myself at the town border of Dijon trying to hitch a ride to Nice. Car after car pulled up and when they realised how poor my french was, they made the assumption i was most likely English and then drove off. As the sky was darkening and i was beginning to realise i may have to stay another night in Dijon another car pulled up beside me, i thought, leave the bonjour, leave the hello, just say G'day mate. So i did, in the nasalised tone i could muster, i welcomed the car with a "G'day mate". Good lord, i was in the car and on my way to Nice and was then dropped off in-front of my hostel.

When i shared my stories of hitching through France in my lovely Hostel in Nice, i was able to compare it with failed accounts by English backpackers, who had been called "arrogant pigs" by average french men and women. Many even tried to put on an Australian or New Zealand accent to avoid the strife or get that little extra helping hand.

So why is it? Is it still that deep seated hate about a little war that last one hundred years awhile ago? You would possibly think so, but then why are there similar reactions in over parts of Europe too, Greece has deep hatred for English tourists as well as Italy and Spain. Not to mention the Scottish or Irish, where saying you were English and proud of it could well probably lead to a bashing if said in the right pub.

I had wondered why there was such a deep dislikening for the English throughout Europe and it was a question that plagued me the whole while. However when i finally made it to Nice i believe i may have found my answer. I was with a mixed group of new french companions and other Australians in a small but pretty bar in the old city, when we were disturbed by one of the bar staff asking us to leave. While we were a merry bunch, we weren't breaking glass or causing a disturbance, but with a grumble we left, but why? We were replaced by a large group of English and i believe American business men and women waving cash around, all hoo-har-ing and making a mess. So we joined the other ten to fifteen mostly french locals who were also removed to make space for the tourists with money. I can tell you, there were many anti English feelings around the front of the bar that night.

I think the problem we have here is that there is a common hatred placed upon the English tourist and it comes from the love of the English from those who profit from them. Those in the tourist industry love the arrival of the English who have their pound changed into the euro and think they are seeing bargin prices everywhere, while it is the common French man and woman who actually has to serve these people or find themselves outside in the cold while their warm seat inside the bar is filled by a English tourist with a belly full of beer and a wallet full of Euro's.

Thats where i found my dis-likening. I also think this is where the common English backpacker finds their dis-likening for their own too.

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