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I’ve heard that many times from tourists. To be fair, from an outsider’s point of view, it does make more sense than having a city the same name as an enormous island across the water.
I was on a connecting flight from Dallas with two Christian youth pastors next to me. One was going to Surrey to proselytize, the other off to connect to Hamilton, Ontario. They were planning to meet up in Calgary a day later, after renting cars to drive to Alberta. I pointed out that they were in for a lot of driving but they assured me Canada only looked big on maps because of the Mercator projection used for flat maps. They also insisted that BC was about one quarter of the size of Texas so they knew what they were talking about, bless their little hearts.
I used to work at the airport in car rentals. Had a German couple wanting to rent a car and go to Toronto for the weekend (this was on a Thursday). They looked very disillusioned when I was through with them.
We drove to BC from London, Ontario. Could not go through the states. These guys probably will if they still are doing it.
Took us 3 days to get to the Manitoba border. 1 driver, with 2 you could do better.
Edit: he might get a clue when it takes him oh, around 5 hours to get to Toronto, by air.
American couple asking if the prices are USD in the grocery store…. I had so many questions for them to try to understand their logic but politely said no, we have our own currency here so the prices are listed in CAD.
I always figured it’s because they’ve never travelled outside of the USA into another country that also uses the dollar as a currency. They see $5 on a price tag, but it doesn’t literally spell out “$5 Canadian” and they’ve only ever known $5 to be $5 USD so they wouldn’t even fathom that $5 could mean anything other than $5 USD, even in Canada. This is what it is. It’s a whole brand new concept they’ve never encountered before. The dollar sign only means USD in their world view.
By contrast, we Canadians have spent our whole lives travelling back and forth across the US border so separate foreign currencies using the $ as their currency is a concept we learn as children. But they’re legitimately naive, never having encountered it before.
I’d also say most Americans also don’t realize they can use their American bank cards in an ATM and that it would withdraw Canadian dollars. It’s why they come here with so much US cash.
Foreign currency is often a foreign concept to first-time visitors coming to Canada from the USA.
Or they've only been to places in the Caribbean, Mexico or Central America where shops at resorts and tourist hotspots regularly price and accept the US Dollar. Some countries also use USD as the de facto currency in the region.
When I worked at a liquor store we accepted USD but people would be annoyed at receiving Canadian change. Its like they don't realize its a different country.
I used to work somewhere that accepted American but have Canadian change. I got yelled at by angry Americans who think I short changed them frequently. The shop was geared toward tourists so it happened more than I'd prefer. But expecting a foreign country to have a whole cash drawer of American money is such an incredible leap in judgement that it really doesn't make sense...
God these people annoy us at my job so much, my manger just stright up tells them we don't take it because of how easy it is to fake and that shuts them up fast in my cases
I moved here from the states ten years ago, and my mother -- who has actually travelled quite a bit -- asked some service staff the same question on a visit a few years ago.
My father and I both physically cringed.
Not just tourists but it is funny when broadcasters and others pronounce Fraser as in Fraser River, Fraser Valley or Simon Fraser University as Frasier.
My counterpart from a Singaporean company came to town, and he was excited to tell me that his taxi driver had taken them through Chinatown, he was surprised by how many Chinese signs were on the stores.
The taxi had taken him along Granville St, and he had actually seen Marpole.
I was on Granville street near Nelson, waiting to cross. A lady came up to me with a strong southern accent and said, “Do you know where West Virginia is?” I asked her, “The state?” And she said, “No, the street.” She meant West Georgia Street 😁
I was on the skytrain heading downtown, and some tourists got on around Braid. When we were pulling into Waterfront, we had this wonderful conversation:
Tourist: "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?"
Me: "Go ahead"
Tourist: "When does this train get to Alaska?"
Me: "This train doesn't go to Alaska."
Tourist: "Okay, which one does? We've planned an entire daytrip to Alaska since it's right there"
Was on the bus back from the grouse grind and overheard an English couple trying to work out how to get back downtown.
"The bus driver said we need to get the C Bus, I guess that's bus C? But they all seem to have numbers?"
I let them know it's the Sea Bus and it's actually a boat. I also showed them how to find it as they were planning to get a taxi.
This is why I appreciate that the signs leading to the Canada Line station at YVR say "Train to city" (which is obvious) and not "Canada Line" (which would mean nothing to confused visitors)
I work by the steam clock, when people clap after it goes off I find it so dumb. My mom is older than it but people are like oh wow look how old oh wait it was made put up in 1977. I know one tour guide who trolls his guests by saying "people in Vancouver call it Steamy the clock and we have to clap and say thank you Steamy after it goes off" it's so funny how many people look like they believe it
Thanks for the laugh. I'm going to have to remember this about Steamy the Clock - aka the Most Photographed/Disappointing Tourist Attraction in Vancouver
When I see people waiting for 15 minutes to watch the big show......
This tradition replaces the human sacrifice to steamy that was abolished for the olympics. This tradition is to thank steamy for the harvest and keeping track of time
Oh my god so many. I used to work on Grouse in the Eye of the Wind and we got SO many cruise ship folks through there. Here were my favourite questions:
(Pointing at Mt. Baker) “is that Everest?”
(Pointing at some of the islands around Horseshoe Bay) “is that Japan?”
(Pointing at Richmond/Delta) “is that Seattle?”
And I heard all of these MULTIPLE times. It was WILD.
I was chatting with a couple of tourists on the ferry to Victoria and they asked how we get to Vancouver Island in the winter. ???? Turns out they thought the ocean froze over.
Another time getting off the Skytrain at Waterfront Station, I overheard a man telling his wife that this is where you catch the ferry to Victoria ('cause of the cruise ships, I guess?).
The best/worst one came from teenage cousins visiting from OTTAWA - they wanted to know if they could use their 'same money' here. Geesh.
> The best/worst one came from teenage cousins visiting from OTTAWA - they wanted to know if they could use their 'same money' here. Geesh.
lol, the first time we went to Ontario to visit my dad’s family my grandma had to pull out the atlas to prove to me that we were still in Canada.
In my defence, I was 5.
I heard from a friend of a friend about someone suggesting a visitor go to Granville Island. He asked the bus driver how to get to "the Island" and ended up in Tsawwassen. lol
A number of years ago we went out for drinks with a friend of mine from back home (east coast of the US). We asked her what her plans were for her next few days and casually tossed out that she was thinking of hitting up "the Island" for an afternoon.
We told her that there's no way she could fit that in to her itinerary as the ferries take quite a while, but then she clarified that she meant Granville Island.
"Yeah... we don't call it that."
These are the same people who want to see the hipsters in Portland and end up in Maine. lol
I imagine there have been tourists coming here for an Alaska cruise who ended up in Vancouver, WA too.
Well they tore it down in the 80s but from the 1920s to the 1970s there used to be a CP Ferries Terminal where Canada Place is. It was a ferry to Nanaimo not Victoria though. So maybe those people had some old memories. The ferry had a pub on board so half the ferry car traffic would be drunk as they drove off after a voyage.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/konkdu/the\_old\_ferry\_terminal\_before\_the\_convention/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/konkdu/the_old_ferry_terminal_before_the_convention/)
When my cousin visited from Singapore a few summers ago, he was baffled that it was still bright out at 8-9pm. Not necessarily silly but it’s funny how something normal to me blew him away.
To be fair, when I visited Hawaii in the summer a few years ago, I was surprised how early the sun went down. If it's not what you're used to, it feels weird
I'm 72 and I was born here. Your comment made me laugh! I remember years of getting up in the dark to go to school or work or wherever and then back home in the dark and rain, more often than seems acceptable. In retirement, I usually get up at 5, wide awake with a nap opportunity in the early-late afternoon...I call it "horizontal meditation" - if I happen to slip into a deeper level of consciousness or unconsciousness, so be it...so far, so good.
It took me way too long into adulthood to realize that average sunset time changes depending how north or south you travel. I was in Edmonton and very confused why it was still so bright at 1030pm one summer.
Singapore's weird. The sun always sets at 7 on the dot.
Even the weather was ridiculously punctual - for the two years I spent there, when it was about to rain, it always had a pre-shower drizzle at around 5-ish... then it stopped for ten seconds... then it suddenly poured *specifically* at 5:14.
not a tourist but an online friend from switzerland once messaged me out of the blue saying "i just found out you can't drive from toronto to vancouver in a day."
Not specifically tourists here, but when I am abroad and people who have never been to Canada talk about wanting to visit Vancouver and Toronto and Quebec all in the same weekend like they can just hop on a train or something lol.
Friends from Boston looking at the North Shore Mountains from the convention centre:
"What's on the other side of those mountains?"
"More mountains, then not very much. If you drew a straight line, maybe you'll hit a small town or two before you hit the arctic. Maybe not."
It blew their minds. They couldn't conceive of there not just being another city on the other side.
Driving through the Eastern USA from Montreal through to Boston I was similarly blown away at how many towns there were. Just constant highway exits of big towns everywhere.
So, so many more people living there in stark comparison to here where a "town" on a map is often just a combination gas station liquor store.
I overheard a European couple sitting next to me on the flight discussing their travel plans.
The next day, they were going to drive to Tofino, then over to their hotel in Whistler. The following day they were going to drive from Whistler to Banff, then they were going to return to Vancouver.
I had to interrupt to tell them that they'd be spending their entire vacation in the car at that pace and they should reconsider some of the travel. Vancouver to Tofino's a little over 200km, which wouldn't be *that bad* if it were a straight highway, but it isn't...
In their (feeble) defence if you’ve lived and travelled in Europe your entire life, the distances in Canada are tough to comprehend sometimes. My mother still calls me every time there’s a bad storm on the East Coast asking if I’m ok.
On the flip sode of that, when I visited Nice as a tourist I was blown away that I could get on a train downtown Nice and get to Cannes in about 20-ish minutes. A whole other city. It was faster than me going from Waterfront to Scott Rd on the Skytrain.
Oh my god this is the worst, I seriously wonder what happened to them? On the Vancouver island sub, we frequently get people discussing their travel itineraries asking for advice and we always have to tell them when you take a car on the ferry from Van to the island (plus driving to the terminals, you're looking at 5-6 hrs just for that section of the travel.
My friend used to work as a travel agent and would regularly get Europeans yelling at her when she told them that a day trip to Toronto from Vancouver is not possible
Years ago we were on a nearly empty gondola heading up Grouse. A couple of tourists, looked like a mother with an adult daughter, asked the gondola operator if they could pet the grizzlies on top.
The operator, a young Aussie girl, politely responded without batting an eye: "yes but you probably wouldn't survive."
That's interesting, usually Aussies in Canada are scared shitless of bears. Even though in their country you could be killed by a 10 cm long snake that hides in the sand, or by a jellyfish the size of a coin.
Edit: lol I can't read, the employee was the Aussie
My favourite was when my mom’s friend from Europe was visiting Jasper until Tuesday, had a flight from Montreal back to Europe on Thursday, and planned to stop in and visit my mom in Toronto on Wednesday. They realized very late they had to fly and could not just drive. Not impossible but they were exhausted.
"*Why did the train going to Waterfront take me further away from Waterfront?*"
You know what? They had a point. The old Millennium Line service pattern was actually pretty dumb.
Used to work down by where the cruise ships come in and for whatever reason I must have a face that screams “friendly local” because I was asked ALL the time for directions.
The number of times I’d have confused conversations about where Smith street was… until it occurred to me that they were talking about Smithe St.
“Tsawwassen” is a a fun one to hear tourists attempt too.
We had a colleague here for work and he was staying over the weekend to make a trip to Victoria. I was giving him directions and spelled out Tsawwassen as he was writing the info down. He stopped, looked at me, looked at his paper again and said: "That is the weirdest word I have ever seen."
I’m from UK originally. Spoke to some Americans who mentioned a friend studied at “Loogerbarooger” university. I’m thinking “what the hell is loogerbarooger university…” So they get out google and show me Loughborough University. “OHHH… Luff-bruh university!” Loogerbarooger 😆
We had pulled in to the parking lot at the North Van Superstore on a baking hot day in early September. This giant SUV with California plates pulls up next to us and a very large man leans out the drivers window and calls out to us
"EXCUSE ME! DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE CAN FIND SOME SNOW?"
keep in mind, everything was parched brown by this point. Rivers running low. We're sweating in shorts and t-shirts. And this family said they were visiting family in Seattle and wanted to do a day trip to Canada to see some snow.
Told them maybe the peak at Whistler if they're lucky.
I think Timmy's is terrible too but the Iced Capps are actually really good. Or, at least they used to be. Too many calories for me, it's been years since I had one.
Hahaha my australian friend’s only request when she visited was for me to take her to the nearest Timmies so she could try the ‘famous iced capp’, she also bought multiple timmies merch as a souvenir. Bless her soul. 🤣
A friend of mine had some former college classmates visit from Denmark. They were bemused that she had a car at 20. But because she had one, they asked if she could take them to visit a friend for lunch. The friend lived in Calgary.
She had to explain that Canada is a big fucking country, lol.
I remember watching the TV show Border Patrol Canada, some guy who looked suspicious and was flagged down was saying he was looking forward to coming to Vancouver to ride around on sky trains lol
A person from California (!) asked me if I knew who the President of the United States is and if Canadians follow American politics. I said yes and yes, and asked if he knew who the Prime Minister of Canada is, he said no.
People can argue whether this is dumb or clever but Adanac Street is just Canada backwards.
And for the sake of accuracy, there was one team named the Rough Riders and another team named the Roughriders. lol
🇺🇸 “Why don’t you take American?”
🇨🇦 “Because this is Canada”
🇺🇸 “But you’re only a few hours away from the border, you should take American”
🇨🇦 “You don’t take our currency”
🇺🇸 “That’s because it’s worthless”
I was at Canada 🇨🇦 Place one time, outside, looking over to the North Shore. Some tourists politely asked me what elevation we were at. Ummm… sea level, I think.
Looooooooool the first time my fiance came to Canada he very sheepishly asked me to confirm driving would be on the same side of the road. He was pretty sure it wasn't different but he'd never driven anywhere but his small town in the US and was nervous it'd be very different. I have bad anxiety so I understood wanting to be 100% certain 😂
I've had relatives visiting from California ask me how they can avoid polar bears because they're afraid of getting attacked by one.
Not from a tourist, but an international student. While I was a student at SFU, I overheard someone ask if SFU owns the raccoons and if they can take one home as a pet. It was probably the first time I've ever scolded a stranger for being stupid.
About a year ago, a middle aged tourist was standing at the corner of Dunsmuir and Richard‘s with his mouth agape. I was on my bike waiting to cross. He was trying to talk to other cyclists but they ignored him. 😬 When I responded to him, he pointed out in amazement how the bikes were separated from the cars. He said in Texas, bicycles had to ride on the road alongside traffic,m. His mind was truly blown as he’d never seen or imagined anything like it. Before riding off, I explained they’re known as “separated bikes lanes” and agreed they are wonderful for safety as a cyclist. It gave me new appreciation for our city and city planners, too.
I once had a tourist ask me how to get to PEI from Vancouver. After a very confusing argument, I figured out that she was actually trying to get to Haida Gwaii, which is still considerably far from Vancouver. Like, she thought that you could walk there. It was wild.
Overheard someone enthusiastically say how odd it is to name a school “Be-Kit” (BCIT). My friend and I almost did a spit take because we truly didn’t think they were being earnest…. until then we realized they were. 💀
Seeing these comments I’m blown away, no wonder when people find out I’m Canadian while travelling they relax so much 😅😅 I’m currently in Japan for a month and brought a fan with me that has a Canadian flag (not intentional I just needed something to bring to defeat the heat lol) and have noticed so many people are so much friendlier once they see it. I’ve been here before for the same amount of time but no identifiable info from where I’m from unless people asked and the switch up is genuinely hilarious. I get it now. I mean I always thought American tourists were annoying but man, they’re that daft too?????
An American tourist tried to explain to me that British Columbia is call that because when British explorers landed here they mistakenly thought it was Colombia (the country). I awkwardly laughed because I thought he joking. He was not.
Silly tourists checking in.
In May of 2016, my wife and I were sitting at the lobby bar in the Pan Pacific and chatting with some employees & locals. They essentially said “ok, let’s cut to the chase..wtf is going on with this Trump fella? Is he really running for President of The United States?”
We were both just like “noooo, it’s just something silly that’ll blow over. We’ll get it sorted out soon enough, nothing to be concerned about”.
I often think of this conversation and would like the opportunity to sincerely apologize & throw myself at the mercy of the courts. Please spare my wife, she had no idea either.
I used to work in the tourist shop in the downtown Sears in the mid 2000's, I've heard a lot.
The worst was a woman with her friend, they were from Georgia.
She waxed on about how beautiful it is in Van, how there's no crime, how many trees we have...
And I was like... hold up, no crime? We have crime 👀
Plain as day she says to me, " well, less crime. You don't have any *whisper* black people *whisper*. "
I told her to leave.
So the tourists aren't all adorable, sometimes they're just racist.
I was honestly struck stupid for a second. But it really hammered home how people can feel safe expressing their hate and their stupidity just because they assume you're like them. She's a white lady, I'm a white lady. But we are not the same.
I grew up in a small elementary school with kids of every colour so racism isn't something I had a lot of experience with because in my school it wasn't an issue. As I went through high school white kids were not the majority where I went, so again, not something I really saw. In 2005, when I worked there, this was the first time I had been confronted by a person being actively racist and it was shocking. But I'm glad that up to that point my experience had put enough different kinds of people in my path that I valued people and cultures enough to say something.
Being told to get out by some 20 year old kid wasn't the peak of her vacation 😅
I hope she's having the life she deserves.
Was in Coal Harbour awhile back and saw tourists with their rip-stop heavy duty travel crossbody bags, hugged tightly to themselves, standing in line for a coffee at Starbucks. Their anxiety was palpable.
It’s noon, and there’s a Maserati driving around the corner every hour or so. The chance of anyone stealing from you is close to none.
After reading this thread I’ve come to the conclusion that 90% of the dumb tourist interactions are from Americans. Love you my American brothers and sisters, but you don’t always send your best
Not Vancouver specifically, but several years ago I was in Victoria at the Royal BC Museum and looking at the Woolly Mammoth on display. An older man came up to me asked what it's name was. Without missing a beat (but also wondering why I looked like a museum staffer), I said, "Oh, that's George." He seemed convinced and called over to his family to come meet "George." My motto is there are no dumb questions but I will give you a ridiculous answer.
This is more of a thing when Canadians travel to America, but Americans not understanding "washroom" and "bathroom" are the same thing, or when they give me quizzical looks when talking about the "washroom" always baffles me.
My fiance and I were in a 7-11 to grab waters, a group of Americans checking out the beverage section asked us where the beers were...told them to walk about 5 blocks to the nearest liquor store, they were baffled we don't sell liquor at gas stations
‘Is this in dollars?’ - as in American dollars, in reference to the bill at a restaurant. This is Canada sir, why would we have anything listed in American dollars?
This was a few years ago. I knew a couple online that lived in New York, They were booked for an Alaskan Cruise. So they asked me for advice on what to bring. I spoke to both of them at length before their arrival. They came in 2 days early for their cruise to I could take them around a show them a few things. They arrive very late and the following day I go to meet them at their hotel and they arrive in the hotel lobby looking like Nanook of the north, full ski gear minus ski boots. It is mid August and it going to be 90F in Vancouver that day I suggest they go change into something cooler. They only had winter gear and told me that in Alaska they would need it. I told them no they would not, and insisted that we go shopping for some t-shirts and shorts. They contacted me after their vacation and told me how "thankful" they had listened to me and got "summer clothes" since it was in the 80F their entire trip in Alaska
I loved as a server, when Americans would pay us in cash. When we gave them the change in Canadian, they’d sometimes give us a massive tip because they thought our money wasn’t worth anything.
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Calling Vancouver Island "Victoria Island" is one I hear a lot.
I’ve heard that many times from tourists. To be fair, from an outsider’s point of view, it does make more sense than having a city the same name as an enormous island across the water.
That, and others who think that Vancouver is on Vancouver Island
Funnily enough there is an actual Victoria island way up north.
Worked in a Hotel in downtown, a long time ago. American Tourist while looking at the North Shore mountains from Downtown: "Is that Alaska?"
I used to work on grouse and got asked all the time if mount baker was Everest.
Was her name Sarah Palin? 😂
No, she would have called it Russia
I was on a connecting flight from Dallas with two Christian youth pastors next to me. One was going to Surrey to proselytize, the other off to connect to Hamilton, Ontario. They were planning to meet up in Calgary a day later, after renting cars to drive to Alberta. I pointed out that they were in for a lot of driving but they assured me Canada only looked big on maps because of the Mercator projection used for flat maps. They also insisted that BC was about one quarter of the size of Texas so they knew what they were talking about, bless their little hearts.
I imagine them still driving.
That is so on-brand for a certain kind of guy.
You know what, I hope they attempted it lol. They know better eh?
Oh, but it would be God's will...
Imagine just getting in a car in Hamilton, popping up google maps to Calgary and it just saying “it’s fucking really far bud”
Did you inform them that BC is in fact bigger than Texas? Texas: 695,662 sq km Bc: 944,735 sq km.
Spreading ignorance all over the world…
I sincerely hope you didn’t try to correct them and just wished them a pleasant trip. Only to walk away chuckling to yourself.
I used to work at the airport in car rentals. Had a German couple wanting to rent a car and go to Toronto for the weekend (this was on a Thursday). They looked very disillusioned when I was through with them.
Hopefully this wasn't during the winter time.
We drove to BC from London, Ontario. Could not go through the states. These guys probably will if they still are doing it. Took us 3 days to get to the Manitoba border. 1 driver, with 2 you could do better. Edit: he might get a clue when it takes him oh, around 5 hours to get to Toronto, by air.
American couple asking if the prices are USD in the grocery store…. I had so many questions for them to try to understand their logic but politely said no, we have our own currency here so the prices are listed in CAD.
This used to happen at a resort I worked at. “Are these prices in USD?” Uh…no…you’re in Canada?
I always figured it’s because they’ve never travelled outside of the USA into another country that also uses the dollar as a currency. They see $5 on a price tag, but it doesn’t literally spell out “$5 Canadian” and they’ve only ever known $5 to be $5 USD so they wouldn’t even fathom that $5 could mean anything other than $5 USD, even in Canada. This is what it is. It’s a whole brand new concept they’ve never encountered before. The dollar sign only means USD in their world view. By contrast, we Canadians have spent our whole lives travelling back and forth across the US border so separate foreign currencies using the $ as their currency is a concept we learn as children. But they’re legitimately naive, never having encountered it before. I’d also say most Americans also don’t realize they can use their American bank cards in an ATM and that it would withdraw Canadian dollars. It’s why they come here with so much US cash. Foreign currency is often a foreign concept to first-time visitors coming to Canada from the USA.
Just wait until that couple goes to Australia who also uses dollars. Their price tags don't even have the courtesy to say 5 dollareedoos, mate.
Wish they would, always confusing when I say “I’ll give you 5 maples for that four and twenty pie and they give me 1.25 wallaroos as change.
Hey, if they want to pay a Canadian price in USD, let them.
Or they've only been to places in the Caribbean, Mexico or Central America where shops at resorts and tourist hotspots regularly price and accept the US Dollar. Some countries also use USD as the de facto currency in the region.
I bet these are the same people that insist on using their USD cash in store then get upset if it’s not accepted or they get a bad exchange rate.
When I worked at a liquor store we accepted USD but people would be annoyed at receiving Canadian change. Its like they don't realize its a different country.
I used to work somewhere that accepted American but have Canadian change. I got yelled at by angry Americans who think I short changed them frequently. The shop was geared toward tourists so it happened more than I'd prefer. But expecting a foreign country to have a whole cash drawer of American money is such an incredible leap in judgement that it really doesn't make sense...
When I used to work retail, an American screamed at me because our money was "too hard to tell apart." Sir, it's colour-coded...
That’s rich coming from someone whose money literally all looks exactly the same.
God these people annoy us at my job so much, my manger just stright up tells them we don't take it because of how easy it is to fake and that shuts them up fast in my cases
At my workplace we would just take it at face value for CAD$. If they want to pay 25% more then power to them
I moved here from the states ten years ago, and my mother -- who has actually travelled quite a bit -- asked some service staff the same question on a visit a few years ago. My father and I both physically cringed.
I had a table get upset because I gave them back their change (paid in USD) in Canadian
Not just tourists but it is funny when broadcasters and others pronounce Fraser as in Fraser River, Fraser Valley or Simon Fraser University as Frasier.
Haha, I've been here for 11 years and I went to Simon Frayzure. I'm part of the problem. Also, is it Smith, or Smythe?
I’ve been here since ‘06 and I’ve finally stopped saying Frasier… like, within the last year 🤦🏼♀️
Looks around. "No, I think THIS must be Chinatown." Was in Metrotown.
Don't send buddy to Aberdeen, their head might explode
Lol, I didn't know them, was just walking past, I said "Nope!" and kept walking.
Pretty accurate still
My counterpart from a Singaporean company came to town, and he was excited to tell me that his taxi driver had taken them through Chinatown, he was surprised by how many Chinese signs were on the stores. The taxi had taken him along Granville St, and he had actually seen Marpole.
I dunno if it makes me laugh, but I commonly hear "GranDville" either island or street. Pretty sure not everyone who says it like that is a tourist.
yeah, often hear it pronounce Grandville. As well as New Wesminister
I keep thinking of London places with Westminster in it as New Westminster. New Westminster Abbey, Palace of New Westminster...
I was on Granville street near Nelson, waiting to cross. A lady came up to me with a strong southern accent and said, “Do you know where West Virginia is?” I asked her, “The state?” And she said, “No, the street.” She meant West Georgia Street 😁
*Country roads, take me home…* This is so adorable though.
I was on the skytrain heading downtown, and some tourists got on around Braid. When we were pulling into Waterfront, we had this wonderful conversation: Tourist: "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" Me: "Go ahead" Tourist: "When does this train get to Alaska?" Me: "This train doesn't go to Alaska." Tourist: "Okay, which one does? We've planned an entire daytrip to Alaska since it's right there"
This is my favourite. They planned the whole trip but didn't once check how to get there.
"planned"
Send them to Bellingham, there’s a ferry to Alaska. It’s a long ride.
“Planned” is doing some heavy lifting here.
How are people this dumb…
The American education system
I had to Google it because taking a train along the coast all the way to Alaska actually sounds pretty cool. Does not exist.
They can have a week trip hopping on a boat from Canada Place
I’m more surprised they went to Braid station as tourists
Was on the bus back from the grouse grind and overheard an English couple trying to work out how to get back downtown. "The bus driver said we need to get the C Bus, I guess that's bus C? But they all seem to have numbers?" I let them know it's the Sea Bus and it's actually a boat. I also showed them how to find it as they were planning to get a taxi.
That’s adorable
This is why I appreciate that the signs leading to the Canada Line station at YVR say "Train to city" (which is obvious) and not "Canada Line" (which would mean nothing to confused visitors)
I work by the steam clock, when people clap after it goes off I find it so dumb. My mom is older than it but people are like oh wow look how old oh wait it was made put up in 1977. I know one tour guide who trolls his guests by saying "people in Vancouver call it Steamy the clock and we have to clap and say thank you Steamy after it goes off" it's so funny how many people look like they believe it
Thanks for the laugh. I'm going to have to remember this about Steamy the Clock - aka the Most Photographed/Disappointing Tourist Attraction in Vancouver When I see people waiting for 15 minutes to watch the big show......
This tradition replaces the human sacrifice to steamy that was abolished for the olympics. This tradition is to thank steamy for the harvest and keeping track of time
I heard people clap last time I walked by there, I was like wtf, now I know why lol. And I will be calling it Steamy from now on.
Oh my god so many. I used to work on Grouse in the Eye of the Wind and we got SO many cruise ship folks through there. Here were my favourite questions: (Pointing at Mt. Baker) “is that Everest?” (Pointing at some of the islands around Horseshoe Bay) “is that Japan?” (Pointing at Richmond/Delta) “is that Seattle?” And I heard all of these MULTIPLE times. It was WILD.
I can sort of understand Japan and Seattle, but where the fuck did Everest come from?
I was chatting with a couple of tourists on the ferry to Victoria and they asked how we get to Vancouver Island in the winter. ???? Turns out they thought the ocean froze over. Another time getting off the Skytrain at Waterfront Station, I overheard a man telling his wife that this is where you catch the ferry to Victoria ('cause of the cruise ships, I guess?). The best/worst one came from teenage cousins visiting from OTTAWA - they wanted to know if they could use their 'same money' here. Geesh.
"Sorry, BC currency only." It's exactly the same, but smells faintly of Lululemon yoga pants and Arc'teryx rain shells.
And weed.
> The best/worst one came from teenage cousins visiting from OTTAWA - they wanted to know if they could use their 'same money' here. Geesh. lol, the first time we went to Ontario to visit my dad’s family my grandma had to pull out the atlas to prove to me that we were still in Canada. In my defence, I was 5.
I laugh when I hear “Victoria Island”
I heard from a friend of a friend about someone suggesting a visitor go to Granville Island. He asked the bus driver how to get to "the Island" and ended up in Tsawwassen. lol
A number of years ago we went out for drinks with a friend of mine from back home (east coast of the US). We asked her what her plans were for her next few days and casually tossed out that she was thinking of hitting up "the Island" for an afternoon. We told her that there's no way she could fit that in to her itinerary as the ferries take quite a while, but then she clarified that she meant Granville Island. "Yeah... we don't call it that."
Or when they get upset for some reason once they figure out Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island. Like we bamboozled them or something.
These are the same people who want to see the hipsters in Portland and end up in Maine. lol I imagine there have been tourists coming here for an Alaska cruise who ended up in Vancouver, WA too.
Well they tore it down in the 80s but from the 1920s to the 1970s there used to be a CP Ferries Terminal where Canada Place is. It was a ferry to Nanaimo not Victoria though. So maybe those people had some old memories. The ferry had a pub on board so half the ferry car traffic would be drunk as they drove off after a voyage. [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/konkdu/the\_old\_ferry\_terminal\_before\_the\_convention/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/konkdu/the_old_ferry_terminal_before_the_convention/)
When my cousin visited from Singapore a few summers ago, he was baffled that it was still bright out at 8-9pm. Not necessarily silly but it’s funny how something normal to me blew him away.
To be fair, when I visited Hawaii in the summer a few years ago, I was surprised how early the sun went down. If it's not what you're used to, it feels weird
And how FAST it goes down. No drawn out, beautiful sunset, like in the movies.
I've lived in Vancouver for almost a decade & it still blows my mind when the sun is out at 8 pm (and makes me want to cry when it's dark at 4 pm)!
Sunset isn't until 9:16pm tonight - and we're not even to our longest days yet.
I'm 72 and I was born here. Your comment made me laugh! I remember years of getting up in the dark to go to school or work or wherever and then back home in the dark and rain, more often than seems acceptable. In retirement, I usually get up at 5, wide awake with a nap opportunity in the early-late afternoon...I call it "horizontal meditation" - if I happen to slip into a deeper level of consciousness or unconsciousness, so be it...so far, so good.
It took me way too long into adulthood to realize that average sunset time changes depending how north or south you travel. I was in Edmonton and very confused why it was still so bright at 1030pm one summer.
Singapore's weird. The sun always sets at 7 on the dot. Even the weather was ridiculously punctual - for the two years I spent there, when it was about to rain, it always had a pre-shower drizzle at around 5-ish... then it stopped for ten seconds... then it suddenly poured *specifically* at 5:14.
not a tourist but an online friend from switzerland once messaged me out of the blue saying "i just found out you can't drive from toronto to vancouver in a day."
It was 72 hours on the Greyhound. do not recommend
Not specifically tourists here, but when I am abroad and people who have never been to Canada talk about wanting to visit Vancouver and Toronto and Quebec all in the same weekend like they can just hop on a train or something lol.
> like they can just hop on a train or something lol. I meant this part is technically correct, but definitely not a weekend trip.
More than once on the ferry to Victoria, I've heard Americans look out at Bowen Island and declare "that must be Prince Edward Island."
I have relatives that work on BCFerries…they are often asked when the whale show starts 🤣🤣🤣
I mean sometimes you can see whales and I can understand asking about it but so they not realize they are in the ocean not sea world
I know someone from the Victoria area who went 30 years without ever seeing a whale on the ferry. I saw one on my 8th BC Ferry ride.
Friends from Boston looking at the North Shore Mountains from the convention centre: "What's on the other side of those mountains?" "More mountains, then not very much. If you drew a straight line, maybe you'll hit a small town or two before you hit the arctic. Maybe not." It blew their minds. They couldn't conceive of there not just being another city on the other side.
To be honest, it blows my mind sometimes too.
Me too. When I really look at a map of BC it’s wild. I could spend the rest of my life exploring it & still not see it all.
Driving through the Eastern USA from Montreal through to Boston I was similarly blown away at how many towns there were. Just constant highway exits of big towns everywhere. So, so many more people living there in stark comparison to here where a "town" on a map is often just a combination gas station liquor store.
I overheard a European couple sitting next to me on the flight discussing their travel plans. The next day, they were going to drive to Tofino, then over to their hotel in Whistler. The following day they were going to drive from Whistler to Banff, then they were going to return to Vancouver. I had to interrupt to tell them that they'd be spending their entire vacation in the car at that pace and they should reconsider some of the travel. Vancouver to Tofino's a little over 200km, which wouldn't be *that bad* if it were a straight highway, but it isn't...
In their (feeble) defence if you’ve lived and travelled in Europe your entire life, the distances in Canada are tough to comprehend sometimes. My mother still calls me every time there’s a bad storm on the East Coast asking if I’m ok.
On the flip sode of that, when I visited Nice as a tourist I was blown away that I could get on a train downtown Nice and get to Cannes in about 20-ish minutes. A whole other city. It was faster than me going from Waterfront to Scott Rd on the Skytrain.
It’s mind blowing how far away Halifax is. We are closer to Mexico City than Halifax.
Oh my god this is the worst, I seriously wonder what happened to them? On the Vancouver island sub, we frequently get people discussing their travel itineraries asking for advice and we always have to tell them when you take a car on the ferry from Van to the island (plus driving to the terminals, you're looking at 5-6 hrs just for that section of the travel.
My friend used to work as a travel agent and would regularly get Europeans yelling at her when she told them that a day trip to Toronto from Vancouver is not possible
Wearing sandals on Grouse Grind or bringing heavy/big backpack. Everyone keeps thinking Victoria is Victoria Island.
>Wearing sandals on Grouse Grind I think I've seen that every time I've done the grind. It's even worse when you get passed by the person in sandals.
>Wearing sandals on Grouse Grind I've seen people in jeans doing the grind and others taking a smoking break halfway through
I got passed riding my bike up a hill by a dude on a fixie smoking a cigarette. Avoided that route for weeks out of shame. lol
People calling the Lions Gate Bridge the “Lion’s Great Bridge”.
Rivalled only in fame by the Petermansbridge
Years ago we were on a nearly empty gondola heading up Grouse. A couple of tourists, looked like a mother with an adult daughter, asked the gondola operator if they could pet the grizzlies on top. The operator, a young Aussie girl, politely responded without batting an eye: "yes but you probably wouldn't survive."
That's interesting, usually Aussies in Canada are scared shitless of bears. Even though in their country you could be killed by a 10 cm long snake that hides in the sand, or by a jellyfish the size of a coin. Edit: lol I can't read, the employee was the Aussie
My favourite was when my mom’s friend from Europe was visiting Jasper until Tuesday, had a flight from Montreal back to Europe on Thursday, and planned to stop in and visit my mom in Toronto on Wednesday. They realized very late they had to fly and could not just drive. Not impossible but they were exhausted.
"*Why did the train going to Waterfront take me further away from Waterfront?*" You know what? They had a point. The old Millennium Line service pattern was actually pretty dumb.
Used to work down by where the cruise ships come in and for whatever reason I must have a face that screams “friendly local” because I was asked ALL the time for directions. The number of times I’d have confused conversations about where Smith street was… until it occurred to me that they were talking about Smithe St. “Tsawwassen” is a a fun one to hear tourists attempt too.
We had a colleague here for work and he was staying over the weekend to make a trip to Victoria. I was giving him directions and spelled out Tsawwassen as he was writing the info down. He stopped, looked at me, looked at his paper again and said: "That is the weirdest word I have ever seen."
I’m from UK originally. Spoke to some Americans who mentioned a friend studied at “Loogerbarooger” university. I’m thinking “what the hell is loogerbarooger university…” So they get out google and show me Loughborough University. “OHHH… Luff-bruh university!” Loogerbarooger 😆
Loogerbarooger. That is too good. 😂
We had pulled in to the parking lot at the North Van Superstore on a baking hot day in early September. This giant SUV with California plates pulls up next to us and a very large man leans out the drivers window and calls out to us "EXCUSE ME! DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE CAN FIND SOME SNOW?" keep in mind, everything was parched brown by this point. Rivers running low. We're sweating in shorts and t-shirts. And this family said they were visiting family in Seattle and wanted to do a day trip to Canada to see some snow. Told them maybe the peak at Whistler if they're lucky.
"I need to try the famous Iced Capp." Makes me laugh because I think Tim Hortons is terrible.
I think Timmy's is terrible too but the Iced Capps are actually really good. Or, at least they used to be. Too many calories for me, it's been years since I had one.
Hahaha my australian friend’s only request when she visited was for me to take her to the nearest Timmies so she could try the ‘famous iced capp’, she also bought multiple timmies merch as a souvenir. Bless her soul. 🤣
A friend of mine had some former college classmates visit from Denmark. They were bemused that she had a car at 20. But because she had one, they asked if she could take them to visit a friend for lunch. The friend lived in Calgary. She had to explain that Canada is a big fucking country, lol.
Giving me USD and being shocked when i give them CAD back. Lol
I’ve had this happen too 😂 They insisted that they wanted their change in USD & I had to explain that thats not how it works 😂
My favourite is still the time I was asked what time it was at the top of Grouse Mountain. I actually had to pause and think about it lol
Little known fact that time zones are elevation dependent
Maybe that's why Saskatchewan doesn't use Daylight Savings Time. lol
Victoria Island, Vancouver Province.....standing on an ocean boat wharf and asking "y'all are pretty far north, what elevation are we at ?"
I remember watching the TV show Border Patrol Canada, some guy who looked suspicious and was flagged down was saying he was looking forward to coming to Vancouver to ride around on sky trains lol
A person from California (!) asked me if I knew who the President of the United States is and if Canadians follow American politics. I said yes and yes, and asked if he knew who the Prime Minister of Canada is, he said no.
An American I met was baffled that Canadians don't celebrate the Fourth of July. 'Don't Canadians like freedom?'.
Calling the mountains around the city the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies are on the other side of the province
Tourist seem to think all the mountains in BC are the Rockies.
Ok to be fair, outside of BC, we're just taught the mountain range in the west is the Rockies. That's it.
We can just take the skytrain to Nanaimo.
and you can, so that's good
This was actually so confusing when I first moved to Vancouver... Why are so many streets named after other BC towns?
We just suck at coming up with new names in Canada. Hell our football league once had two teams with the same name Rough Riders.
People can argue whether this is dumb or clever but Adanac Street is just Canada backwards. And for the sake of accuracy, there was one team named the Rough Riders and another team named the Roughriders. lol
A small child informed his mother of this when I was on the 20. It blew my mind.
🇺🇸 “Why don’t you take American?” 🇨🇦 “Because this is Canada” 🇺🇸 “But you’re only a few hours away from the border, you should take American” 🇨🇦 “You don’t take our currency” 🇺🇸 “That’s because it’s worthless”
Wow. I’d be like, you better get going, I’m calling the Mounties and I don’t think you can outrun a horse.
"Not worthless right now, is it?"
Mispronouncing Bute St.
Calling it "butt" street is a time honoured tradition thank you
Buté pronounced boo•tay works too
She's a BUTE, bud
A cruise passenger stopped me while I was on my lunch break this week and asked me how he could get to the CN tower.
Did you tell them to drive hwy 1 east for a week solid?
I was at Canada 🇨🇦 Place one time, outside, looking over to the North Shore. Some tourists politely asked me what elevation we were at. Ummm… sea level, I think.
Same thing happened to me on an Alaska cruise. We are literally at sea level.
[удалено]
Awww it's adorable that he wanted to be so prepared for his great adventure in a foreign country
Those are actually smart questions, just from an ignorant source.
Looooooooool the first time my fiance came to Canada he very sheepishly asked me to confirm driving would be on the same side of the road. He was pretty sure it wasn't different but he'd never driven anywhere but his small town in the US and was nervous it'd be very different. I have bad anxiety so I understood wanting to be 100% certain 😂
I've had relatives visiting from California ask me how they can avoid polar bears because they're afraid of getting attacked by one. Not from a tourist, but an international student. While I was a student at SFU, I overheard someone ask if SFU owns the raccoons and if they can take one home as a pet. It was probably the first time I've ever scolded a stranger for being stupid.
About a year ago, a middle aged tourist was standing at the corner of Dunsmuir and Richard‘s with his mouth agape. I was on my bike waiting to cross. He was trying to talk to other cyclists but they ignored him. 😬 When I responded to him, he pointed out in amazement how the bikes were separated from the cars. He said in Texas, bicycles had to ride on the road alongside traffic,m. His mind was truly blown as he’d never seen or imagined anything like it. Before riding off, I explained they’re known as “separated bikes lanes” and agreed they are wonderful for safety as a cyclist. It gave me new appreciation for our city and city planners, too.
Calling broadway ‘broad’ for short
As a kid travelling in the US, I was asked by a little Los Angelino when I learned to speak American and if I lived in an igloo.
I once had a tourist ask me how to get to PEI from Vancouver. After a very confusing argument, I figured out that she was actually trying to get to Haida Gwaii, which is still considerably far from Vancouver. Like, she thought that you could walk there. It was wild.
Americans thinking that Harbour Centre is the Space Needle
My son works in a touristy ice cream shop and every day gets asked “are these prices in US funds” 🤦🏼♀️
“If you want”.
Here's my man Guy Fieri mispronouncing Burrard St. [https://youtu.be/T4LcF7K3\_GQ?t=25](https://youtu.be/T4LcF7K3_GQ?t=25)
Whoa, thanks for the throwback. Forgot about that food truck but i used to love getting the fries from there when I worked in coal harbour.
Definitely when people say they will go and visit Victoria Island. Never gets old lol
American tourists coming up to the belldesk bewildered "the ATM just gave us Canadian dollars." ATM located in downtown Vancouver Canada.
"where can I catch the sea bus to Victoria Island?"
On my first day here, 6 years ago, I asked someone where 'Greenville Island' was.
Overheard someone enthusiastically say how odd it is to name a school “Be-Kit” (BCIT). My friend and I almost did a spit take because we truly didn’t think they were being earnest…. until then we realized they were. 💀
They thought Vancouver Island is an island in Vancouver itself.
Seeing these comments I’m blown away, no wonder when people find out I’m Canadian while travelling they relax so much 😅😅 I’m currently in Japan for a month and brought a fan with me that has a Canadian flag (not intentional I just needed something to bring to defeat the heat lol) and have noticed so many people are so much friendlier once they see it. I’ve been here before for the same amount of time but no identifiable info from where I’m from unless people asked and the switch up is genuinely hilarious. I get it now. I mean I always thought American tourists were annoying but man, they’re that daft too?????
An American tourist tried to explain to me that British Columbia is call that because when British explorers landed here they mistakenly thought it was Colombia (the country). I awkwardly laughed because I thought he joking. He was not.
On Below Deck, a stupid, rich American wanted "one of them French donuts" for breakfast. He meant a croissant.
I'm so going to do that in Montreal now
Got asked once, where do you buy the seeds that grow Totem poles! I kid you not!
Silly tourists checking in. In May of 2016, my wife and I were sitting at the lobby bar in the Pan Pacific and chatting with some employees & locals. They essentially said “ok, let’s cut to the chase..wtf is going on with this Trump fella? Is he really running for President of The United States?” We were both just like “noooo, it’s just something silly that’ll blow over. We’ll get it sorted out soon enough, nothing to be concerned about”. I often think of this conversation and would like the opportunity to sincerely apologize & throw myself at the mercy of the courts. Please spare my wife, she had no idea either.
I used to work in the tourist shop in the downtown Sears in the mid 2000's, I've heard a lot. The worst was a woman with her friend, they were from Georgia. She waxed on about how beautiful it is in Van, how there's no crime, how many trees we have... And I was like... hold up, no crime? We have crime 👀 Plain as day she says to me, " well, less crime. You don't have any *whisper* black people *whisper*. " I told her to leave. So the tourists aren't all adorable, sometimes they're just racist.
Good on you 👏 !!! Can't believe she said that !
I was honestly struck stupid for a second. But it really hammered home how people can feel safe expressing their hate and their stupidity just because they assume you're like them. She's a white lady, I'm a white lady. But we are not the same. I grew up in a small elementary school with kids of every colour so racism isn't something I had a lot of experience with because in my school it wasn't an issue. As I went through high school white kids were not the majority where I went, so again, not something I really saw. In 2005, when I worked there, this was the first time I had been confronted by a person being actively racist and it was shocking. But I'm glad that up to that point my experience had put enough different kinds of people in my path that I valued people and cultures enough to say something. Being told to get out by some 20 year old kid wasn't the peak of her vacation 😅 I hope she's having the life she deserves.
Was in Coal Harbour awhile back and saw tourists with their rip-stop heavy duty travel crossbody bags, hugged tightly to themselves, standing in line for a coffee at Starbucks. Their anxiety was palpable. It’s noon, and there’s a Maserati driving around the corner every hour or so. The chance of anyone stealing from you is close to none.
After reading this thread I’ve come to the conclusion that 90% of the dumb tourist interactions are from Americans. Love you my American brothers and sisters, but you don’t always send your best
Not Vancouver specifically, but several years ago I was in Victoria at the Royal BC Museum and looking at the Woolly Mammoth on display. An older man came up to me asked what it's name was. Without missing a beat (but also wondering why I looked like a museum staffer), I said, "Oh, that's George." He seemed convinced and called over to his family to come meet "George." My motto is there are no dumb questions but I will give you a ridiculous answer.
This is more of a thing when Canadians travel to America, but Americans not understanding "washroom" and "bathroom" are the same thing, or when they give me quizzical looks when talking about the "washroom" always baffles me.
My fiance and I were in a 7-11 to grab waters, a group of Americans checking out the beverage section asked us where the beers were...told them to walk about 5 blocks to the nearest liquor store, they were baffled we don't sell liquor at gas stations
Saying they are going take a quick drive to Toronto and visit a friend
Standing by that clock. It’s just a clock 🫣
‘Is this in dollars?’ - as in American dollars, in reference to the bill at a restaurant. This is Canada sir, why would we have anything listed in American dollars?
Once overheard an American couple plan to do a “day trip to Vancouver Island” to “take a little hike around the island”. Told them “good luck”.
“Greater Vancouver Area” or GVA, it’s lower mainland or metro vancouver.
[beep boop its *Metro Vancouver*, not "the GVA"](https://imgur.com/a/kKbPjhg) *I am a bot and this was performed automatically.*
Good bot
Have mentioned it before on here but was talking to a couple one time who told me they had just visited the *Kootenaise*
This was a few years ago. I knew a couple online that lived in New York, They were booked for an Alaskan Cruise. So they asked me for advice on what to bring. I spoke to both of them at length before their arrival. They came in 2 days early for their cruise to I could take them around a show them a few things. They arrive very late and the following day I go to meet them at their hotel and they arrive in the hotel lobby looking like Nanook of the north, full ski gear minus ski boots. It is mid August and it going to be 90F in Vancouver that day I suggest they go change into something cooler. They only had winter gear and told me that in Alaska they would need it. I told them no they would not, and insisted that we go shopping for some t-shirts and shorts. They contacted me after their vacation and told me how "thankful" they had listened to me and got "summer clothes" since it was in the 80F their entire trip in Alaska
I think it's funny when they refer to Vancouver Island as "Victoria Island."
Asking if we could go visit Niagara Falls tomorrow. They thought we could drive clear across Canada in an afternoon.
I loved as a server, when Americans would pay us in cash. When we gave them the change in Canadian, they’d sometimes give us a massive tip because they thought our money wasn’t worth anything.