Summer has officially hit and one thing is for sure, the tourists are in full swing. We have all seen them walking down the boardwalk with their cameras attached to their necks taking pictures of literally anything and everything. What exactly is a tourist? Well it is someone who doesn’t necessarily belong here, but is visiting anyways whether it is for the weekend or for the summer season. How exactly do you spot a tourist? Well that’s easy.
Large families with color coordinated t-shirts. Haven’t you ever been to Disney World where there is an entire family in what I like to call, “a shade of obnoxious” or in other words some bright neon color so they can be easily retrieved if they were to get lost? These shirts don’t just temporarily blind you, but usually on the back they say, “The Jones Family.” Well, here it is relatively the same as Disney except most of the kids are on leashes and families all have on matching “Rehoboth Beach” sweatshirts.
The sun tan lines. Clearly these are vacationers that are so overly excited about finally getting on the beach and soaking up the summer sun that they don’t think they will need sunscreen the first day. That is until the later that night when they realize their skin resembles a lobster and for the rest of their vacation they are coated in sunscreen as white as their tan lines.
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They feed the seagulls. As if the seagulls aren’t already annoying enough, flying over top of your head or landing close to your towel at the site of anything edible. Tourists don’t seem to realize that when they feed one seagull it becomes a stampede of birds flocking around you. Now for us locals this is one of the last things we want to deal with.
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The way they talk. It’s “Lewes” not “Lews.” Clearly if you ever have been approached by a tourist with a deer in a headlight look in their eyes when they are lost or have a question they typically pronounce many of the local spots completely wrong. As if the fanny pack, bright t-shirt, and your sun burn more red than lipstick didn’t give it away you had to speak.
Socks and sandals. You are at the beach where flip-flops are a vital part of the summer wardrobe. But the people that come to the beach wearing their flip-flops with white tube socks make me giggle especially when they actually walk on the beach. Why would anyone want to get sand in their socks?
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| Image URL: http://greaseormascarafashion.blogspot.com/p/fashion-faux-pas.html |
So we salute you sunburned, fanny pack wearing, turtle pace walking tourists. Because while it is entertaining to park yourself on one of the benches and go “tourist spotting” these are the people that keep our season running and without them many of us would not have summer jobs.
