Sincere Traveler

How to blend in with the locals while traveling in Europe

Blending in like a local to get the authentic local experience. Have a meet and greet with locals without them recognizing you as a tourist immediately is your passkey to an authentic trip. With a little effort, you will easily pass on for a local living in the city and meeting new people.

The key to blending in when travelling through Europe is to be a little stylish, but not like you are going to the club. Blending in can be very useful, especially in big cities as tourists are always an easy target for criminals or vendors. With these tips, it will be a piece of cake.

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Dress in style:

Especially a must do when you are on a city trip is to dress in style. You are not camping out or working in your garden when you are on holiday and in a city, it is not appropriate to dress in a bathing suit or walk around without a shirt. It will be valued if you dress well.

For the guys, a pair of linen pants or jeans combined with sneakers. A shirt and a jacket will close the deal and is ideal to put on when it is getting cold in the evening. For the ladies, a stylish summer dress combined with sneakers or baggy jeans and a vintage shirt will give you the perfect city look in Europe.

If you really want to be beyond recognition from the locals, buy a set of clothes in the county that you visit. The fashion in France is for example just a little different than the trends in Greece. Remember to always be yourself and dress in something that you feel good in.

Tone down the big travelling bags:

Big bag packs and suitcases scream ‘ I am a tourist’ like nothing else. Pack a small bag and use this on for day trip. Many cities have luggage storage, where you can store your baggage for a few hours. An ideal solution to enjoy your day in the city without the noise of a wheeled suitcase rattling on the streets behind you.

Especially in old cities, the streets are made of old cobblestones which make an awful noise. A small backpack or even better a linen bag will fit you into the crowd like a local.

Use your map wisely:

Use your map wisely: Nothing says ‘I am a tourist’ more than a big paper map including all the touristic sites from the local hotel. Very useful, but not helpful to blend in when walking down the streets.

Luckily these days you can use google maps for a detailed route, which helps to solve this. Please tone down the sound of your mobile if you want to blend in. We love the vibration function that google maps has. It is very helpful to move around a city not having your phone in front of you all the time. Where would we be without these technologies these days?

As much as you try to blend in, sometimes you are just a tourist enjoying the city. We always stay true to ourselves but that doesn’t mean we can put in a little effort and avoid being that obvious tourist.

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Lots of love Angelique and Carlo.