Our Amazing and Frightful Experiences When Meeting Locals While Traveling

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When I meet locals while traveling, there is often a mixed response in how I’m treated.  Sometimes I’m looked at as a potential mark to make money, other times no one cares to speak to me at all, and in many cases I receive a warm welcome and immediately feel like I’m part of the family or a long-lost friend even though I was a stranger mere moments before.

It is very interesting to look at how you are accepted by locals when traveling as your overall feeling of a country can be significantly influenced by how the locals treat you.  Appearances may be deceiving on the surface, as workers in the tourist industry (and associated fields) almost always act differently than the locals you meet who have nothing to do with the tourist trade in the first place. 

As our experiences have been all over the spectrum in just about every country we’ve visited, we thought it was time we finally shared a few of our most notable experiences.

The You’re Made of Money Welcome – India

India is one of those places where it is hard, if not impossible, to place it in a single category, in any theme.  No matter what topic you’re writing about, this country will be one of the best while also being one of the worst at the same time.

If this doesn’t make sense to you, then we are going to guess that you have probably not been to India.  Those who have been would be nodding their head in one of twelve different directions in agreement (and would also understand this reference, too).

There are the weird experiences, when dozens of people will come up and ask to take a photo with you (on their own camera or, even weirder, yours).  The disparaging experiences, where you’ll be stared for at for several minutes by just about every single person solely because you’re a foreigner.  Finally, there will be the scam filled experiences, where everyone selling something will try and inflate the price just because they can.

One of the worst experiences we had in India was trying to buy train tickets in Rajasthan, a region that is in our mental running to be one of the largest rackets on the planet. Travel agents will tell you that there are hundreds upon hundreds of people on a waiting list (which, according to online records is actually true) but their “friend” can get you a ticket no problem at 2-3x the standard price.  For something that should be incredibly hard, it is a bit odd that every single travel agent “knows someone” who can make it happen if the price is right.  Repeat this process two or three times over and you may be ready to leave altogether!

Luckily, there were many more positive moments that significantly outweighed these negatives, like meeting charming locals during cooking classes in Kochi and Jaipur, the dozens – if not hundreds – of locals wanting to talk to us on the trains just to make conversation, and so many more.  This country may feel overwhelming countless times throughout your journey, but having a few great conversations with people that are more interested in you than they are your money makes a world of difference!

The Indifferent Welcome – Jordan

My entry into Jordan came after spending two-weeks in Egypt, another country that would fall into the category of visitors being treated like they’re made of money. Thoroughly expecting this same experience in Jordan (mostly because I knew nothing to expect otherwise), I was shocked when we actually began meeting with locals. 

No one seemed to care about us at all!

Being in Jordan felt a lot like being at home in some respects, because going into stores did not feel like we were jumping through hoops or batting off touts left and right.  One shop in particular was so chilled out that the employee was watching television, saw us come in, asked us if we very needed any help (very calmly and without getting up), and when we said no went back to watching his television like nothing happened.

No hassle, no pressure, just a casual question like you’d expect at home.

In the most visited place in all of Jordan, the ruins of Petra, the vendors were nowhere near as extreme as those in the neighboring country of Egypt.  Sure, we did get asked to come in and look at items a bit more than elsewhere in the country, but the sales tactics were much more lighthearted and friendly.  To no surprise, I left with a purchase of a very expensive dagger that I would never have considered buying in Egypt, mostly because I was treated so well and didn’t want to run away screaming!

In this country it very much felt like we were normal people like anyone else, and was a breath of fresh air after the chaotic experience that was Egypt.

The Best Welcome – Thailand

Thailand doesn’t have the nickname “land of smiles” for just any reason.  While the real meaning of the phrase is due to the fact that Thai people have a smile to cover just about every emotion (even sad or angry ones), the populist translation to this is that they are also happy people as well.

Whether you want to debate this is one thing, but I can easily say after my visit to Thailand that I was welcomed with open arms by many very caring residents whether they were employees of a tourist shop, random locals, or a worker at one of our local Thai food tours or other day trips.

Most people even went above and beyond in just about every interaction we had.  One in particular that stands out in our minds was when Angie was stung by a rogue jellyfish tentacle while swimming in shallow waters off the coast of southern Phuket.  We had no shortage of strangers offering to help get her back to our hotel, and when we finally made it the hotel owners gave her attention for the rest of the night until the sting finally went away (she was fine).

If this was an isolated incident in terms of friendliness, we probably wouldn’t be writing about it today. Luckily, our overall experience in Thailand had these little moments amplified time and time again.  But rather than being the pushy experiences of India and Egypt, or the middle-of-the-road example of Jordan mostly due to lack of interest, the conversations and interactions we had with locals here felt genuine, and that made all of the difference during our stay.

No matter what the experience we have when traveling, meeting with locals has been one of our favorite experiences. Sometimes the interactions don’t work out for the best, other times we meet amazing people at every single corner.  In any case, we leave with a greater understanding of another culture and its people, and in the end that is one of the best souvenirs anyone can have when traveling the world.

Do you have a great story from meeting a local while traveling abroad?  If so, comment below!