If you’re lucky enough to live by the coast, you know how great it can be at the beach during the summer. The water gets warmer, the sun shines constantly, and everyone is always down for a beach day. But there is one downside to being this close to a resort area: tourists.
It’s getting to be that time of year again. As summer approaches, the tourists start coming down in droves. As a local, tourists have a very special way of frustrating me faster than anyone else, but it’s important to keep in mind that tourists do play an important role in helping the coastal economy. And you can’t blame tourists for coming to our beaches. For this article, I tried to put myself in the shoes (in this case, a cheap pair of flip-flops) of the tourists that come to my state. If you are planning to be a tourist in a coastal town this summer, please keep reading.
1. Take some time to recollect Driver's Ed.
If you’re doing some traveling, you’re going to drive on roads that you’re not familiar with. There will be different traffic patterns, varying speed limits, and more importantly, thousands of other tourists driving around you. While driving, there’s no need to bob and weave through traffic. There’s no need to accelerate to the point that you’re in the backseat of the car in front of you, and then slam on your breaks. There’s no need to cut people off, or forget to use your turn signal, and there’s no need to take up multiple parking spaces. You’re on beach time now. The ocean isn’t going anywhere, and it’ll only take you longer to get to your vacation when you get into an accident.
2. Respect the place you're visiting.
The beach is an awesome place, so let’s keep it that way. Tourists are notorious for leaving their trash on the beach, climbing all over the dunes no matter how many signs tell them not to, and feeling the need to carve their names and initials into basically any surface they see. You obviously thought this town was nice enough for you to vacation here, so leave it the way you found it.
3. Don't feed the seagulls. I'm begging you.
Or any other animals that you come across, for that matter. But seagulls most importantly. When you feed seagulls, multiple things happen: first, they flock. All it takes is a handful of fries to make every seagull within a mile radius circle above your outstretched hand. Second, they digest the food and, well, you get it. A flock of seagulls, um, “raining on your parade” is the quickest way to ruin a beach day. Finally, the locals get mad. Leave the animals alone. They’re not pets. They are annoying and poop everywhere, and thanks to you, they are all directly overhead.
4. Do a little research first.
Before making your trip, Google your destination a little. If I had a dollar for every time a tourist asked me what state they were in, or how to get to the town they were currently in, or how to get to the beach when they can hear the waves crashing, I would have enough money to make the tourist industry obsolete in my area. Knowing where you are and what you’re doing while on vacation makes things easier for you and everyone around you.
5. Control your children please.
I get it, you’re on vacation too, but you can’t take a vacation from parenthood. We want you and your family to have fun, but don’t let your kids be obnoxious. Don’t let them kick sand on people at the beach. Don’t let them run around screaming through crowds of people. Most importantly, enforce manners with your children while on vacation. It teaches them to respect places and people they’re unfamiliar with, and please and thank you goes a long way to the poor waitress that has to serve your family of 12 while she's in the weeds during the dinner rush.
6. Save some space for the rest of us.
This goes for on the roads, on the beach, and everywhere else. Personal space is a beautiful thing and you’re not entitled to all of mine just because you’re paying an exorbitant amount of money to rent your beach house. You don’t need a whole block of the beach to set up your towels, tents, chairs, and volleyball net. You don’t need to walk 10 in a line down the boardwalk, forcing people to side-step around you. You don’t need to tap my bumper with the front of your car when I stop at a red light.
7. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your trip.
Now you know all there is to know about being a good tourist. You’re free to go about and enjoy your vacation, as long as you’re not doing it at the expense of others. I can’t promise you that I won’t be annoyed by all the tourists in my state this summer if they follow all of these tips, but I promise to make fun of them less behind their backs… maybe.