Many years ago, I recall hearing the label “ugly American.” It seemed to be applied to citizens of the United States who traveling abroad. Many Americans were rude, demanding, and contemptuous of life styles in other countries that were considerably different from “back home in the good old U.S. of A.” Savvy travelers, on the other hand, would pay attention to that old saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Over the years, I think the label may have gone the way of the dodo, because other countries have adopted, and even exceeded, the cultural lifestyles of the so-called West. A visitor from Poughkeepsie can speak English in Amsterdam and be understood completely. A lady from Indianapolis can slip and fall in London, and immediately receive superb hospital care at no charge. A naive Arizona tourist in Paris can hold out a fistful of French coins to pay for a postcard, and be relieved of only the few centimes required for the purchase. I have personally observed each of these phenomena in the past decade.

However, one should still be aware of certain situations requiring caution when traveling abroad. On a trip to London with my Sweet Adeline chorus, we were cautioned by one of our members who had been stationed there with the Air Force. She would sing at us: “Look right first, before you cross the street. Look the other way and you will be dead meat!” That was to remind us that traffic would be on the driver’s left side of the road coming at us pedestrians from our right. Most of us were taught from childhood to look to the left first, to see the traffic approaching on our side of the road.

Of course, those of us who were from the country always looked down first, because we were used to dodging “horse apples” and “cow patties.”

A friend of mine served a couple of years in Kuwait, working for the Armed Forces at a Rest & Recreation facility for servicemen. She lived in an American compound, but went out on the streets of the city to do her shopping. Therefore, she had to be sure she was well covered, even in the extreme heat, so as not to offend the natives. However, she told me her worst experience was walking anywhere in the city. “The men drive like 10-year-olds. There are absolutely no rules of the road, and as far as roads are concerned, anywhere a car can go is considered a road.”

Our U.S. drivers generally follow the rules of the road, but only to a certain extent. Most drivers feel that speed limit signs are placed at the side of the road merely to indicate the location of the edge of the pavement. And any space into which an automobile can fit is part of the road. I once observed a car pull out of a local shopping mall, cross a busy street of eastbound traffic, and enter a left-turn lane so as to cross the boulevard and join the westbound traffic. However, the lane she entered was for the other side, the westbound traffic, to turn left into the mall. Fortunately, there were no drivers who wanted to go shopping that day.

In conclusion, I’ve come to believe that the “ugly Americans” are more likely to be found on the streets of my adopted hometown of Peoria, Arizona, rather than on the streets of Rome (where I was pinched on the derriere in 1968…but who’s complaining?)