How to Blend In When Traveling Internationally

How Do You Blend In With Locals When Traveling?

One of the best ways to enjoy your international vacation is to learn a little about the culture and its people before you arrive. When you understand some of the finer points of culture, interaction, and daily life, you can conduct yourself respectfully and hopefully get the most out of your activities and experiences.

You may feel like it’s impossible to truly blend in when traveling to some faraway international locations, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to interact with people of different nations, even if you’ve never visited there before. Even if you’ve never been more than 1,000 miles from Toronto and you’re now flying across the planet to visit Vietnam, blending in – at least somewhat – isn’t absolutely impossible.

Remember that there are immigrants, long-term visitors, students, and all sorts of international visitors staying in foreign countries all around the world, so the locals are used to interacting with foreigners, especially in the bigger well-known cities. While you might get the odd glance here and there when traveling to remote areas, simply understanding some common phrases and acting like a local in those areas can go a long way in helping you blend in – and why should you want to blend in?

Well, the locals might offer you some extra attention and consideration when it comes to teaching you about their culture and showing you around, especially if you’re on a guided tour of the area. In some cases, interacting with locals in the same way a native might interact will help you enjoy perks like restaurant recommendations, activity suggestions, and making the most of your travel.

Let’s learn a little about how to act like a local, especially if you’re traveling a huge difference to an entirely different side of the planet where the culture may feel completely different than your own.

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Should You Blend In as a Tourist?

One of the reasons people try to blend in when they’re traveling in a foreign country is because they think it’ll make them less susceptible to theft or crime when they look like a native part of the population. While this may feel true in some respects, it’s much more important to remain aware and vigilant of your surroundings to avoid petty theft or crime rather than to focus on trying to look like a local.

Sure, a potential thief might not automatically target you if they think you’re a local, but blending in culturally won’t keep you from getting your backpack stolen or your pockets picked if you’re not also very aware of everything that’s going on around you.

Blending in with the locals will help you when it comes to getting a great cup of coffee or an awesome restaurant recommendation, but it won’t necessarily help you when someone has their eye on your bag. Experienced pick-pockets and thieves will know you’re a foreigner whether you blend in or not.

You may want to consider carrying a secure travel version of your wallet, purse, backpack, or whatever you normally carry while walking around. Even if you’re in a particularly safe country, or you’re already aware that one of the areas you might stroll around is known for petty theft, taking precautions is always a good idea, so you can focus on your experiences and activities rather than the thieves that could have an eye on your backpack.

As you research the cities you’ll visit on your vacation, learning about the rules and regulations about that country will definitely help you blend in like a local, as well as avoid any unnecessary interactions with law enforcement. Even if you’re traveling to a country that’s very different from your own, you’ll probably find that many of the local laws are a lot like what you have to follow in your own country.

When I traveled to Vietnam, I felt a little trepidation while booking my activities and arranging the itinerary, but I eventually learned that the things that can get you into trouble in Vietnam aren’t that strange or out of the ordinary. In fact, understanding the general rules of the country went a long way in helping me to interact with locals without having any worries about law enforcement or the legalities of traveling in that country.

Can Americans Blend In While Traveling Internationally?

As an American, I understand that the citizens of my country have an onerous reputation abroad. According to complaints I’ve heard and read, Americans are loud, boisterous, and wholly ignorant of every other culture other than their own. Unfortunately, this reputation actually encouraged me to pretend I was Canadian when I was traveling throughout the British Isles.

I actually got a lot of flack from the locals when they learned I was an American, but nobody raised an eyebrow when they thought I was Canadian. I was a lot younger when I traveled across the Atlantic for the first time, but I probably wouldn’t engage in any pretending today. Not only have I never acted like a “typical” American, but I’ve learned that locals will tend to make fun of you when they learn you’re an American whether you’re loud and hyper or calm and reserved.

Sometimes, the reputation of your countrymen will follow you no matter what. What I found most helpful was doing just the barest amount of research about the culture and attitudes in the country I was about to visit. You don’t need to have a Ph.D. on the history of the country to which you’re traveling. All you need is to know the basics and some helpful phrases, when the locals speak a different language than your own.

In all honesty, if you resemble the locals where you’re traveling, you can certainly blend in like a local. When I visited Iceland, I was mistaken for an Icelander a few times. This isn’t really too surprising since I resemble much of the population of Europe. On the other hand, when I traveled to Colombia, people pretty much knew I wasn’t from Colombia, but what they didn’t know is how much experience I had – or didn’t have – of the local culture.

While it’s possible that I could have moved to Colombia as a child and been totally at home anywhere I went in the country, the reality is that it was often pretty easy for the locals to figure out I wasn’t from the area, even before I spoke a single word. Your clothing, mannerisms, and the way you carry yourself can give away your foreignness, even if you speak the local language beautifully.

When we were on a hike to a waterfall in Colombia, some school kids on a field trip who were also hiking to the waterfall pointed at me and said “gringa,” which wasn’t surprising. Even though I can speak a decent amount of Spanish, I was still easily picked out as a foreigner. I wasn’t bothered by the pointing. The same thing happened when I was in rural Vietnam. The kids were very pointy and giggly when interacting with me. It’s just an experience you have to expect when visiting another country where your appearance marks you as a tourist.

What Do You Wear To Blend In?

One of the most important parts of blending in as a foreigner is dressing the part. However, it’s important to remain cautious in just how much you dress like the locals. It’s also important to weigh the comfort you feel in your own style of clothing versus what they wear in the country you’re visiting. I’m most comfortable wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket that suits the current weather (so maybe a lightweight hoodie for spring time or a big beefy jacket for winter).

Should you leave behind what you regularly wear and try to mimic the locals exactly? In most cases, it’s probably going to be a mixture of both your home style and the style of the nation you’re visiting. As you conduct your research on how best to dress while traveling to a country, remember that some of the information you get will feature traditional garb that you won’t see on any random street while walking around.

If you’re visiting Germany, you’re not going to see citizens wearing traditional German costumes from day-to-day. Sure, if you’re visiting Oktoberfest or you’re out on a Munich beer tour with a festive tour guide, you might see some revelers and servers wearing lederhosen and dirndl dresses, but let’s be realistic. German people don’t wear these costumes unless it’s for fun, on a holiday, or for a job.

The same is true in most countries regarding their holiday and traditional dress. In fact, if you dress up in a traditional costume, you might draw more attention to yourself and mark yourself as a tourist before you ever open your mouth. Don’t wear a kimono in Japan and expect the locals to assume you’re Japanese. Instead, look at the general walking-around clothes that people wear.

Overall, Japanese people dress relatively conservatively in day-to-day life, so you might want to stick with pants, longish skirts, and modest tops. If you’re an American, your comfortable jeans and a t-shirt should work out just fine. Stick to neutral colors and conservative styles, and you won’t stick out like a sore thumb. If you travel south from Japan, you’ll find a similar dress code in Vietnam and some southeast Asian countries.

When I traveled to Vietnam, most of the tours we enjoyed requested that we didn’t wear shorts or tops that revealed our shoulders (so no tank tops or spaghetti-strap tops). For the tours where we were active, I wore leggings and a workout top with short sleeves, and no one gave me any strange glances. I did have a light jacket with me though, for when we toured sacred places.

If you’re at all curious about how to dress like a local, just look at the clothing recommendations for your tours. If they recommend a certain style of dress, their request probably matches what the locals wear in most instances.

How Do You Immerse Yourself in Culture While Traveling?

One of the best reasons to dress and act like a local is that it helps you experience everything your destination has to offer in the way of hole-in-the-wall restaurants, small tourist attractions, and the cool spots only locals know about. The people who work in the hotel, B&B, or rental you stay in while traveling will always have some good info about the local scene, but random people on the street are a great resource, too.

And, if you’re dressed to blend in rather than to stand out, you’ll have a much easier time getting the locals to interact with you, especially if you’re in a conservative country or a place where everyone is polite rather than raucous. You can use Google street maps to get a close-up look at the local area where you’re staying, but it will be the residents who can actually give you the details on where to eat, what to visit, and how to get there.

A lot of the art of blending in with the locals is related to how you dress. If you’re visiting the United States, t-shirts and jeans are the way to go. If you’re visiting Morocco, loose-fitting slacks and covered shoulders are a good idea. If Brazil is on your to-do list, you may want to toss a few stylish items in your bags to fit in when you’re walking around metropolitan areas.

You can also take a lot of clues from the way people dress in a particular region as to how they act. With more clothing comes more calmness and with less clothing comes a bit more excitability, or so it would seem from my travels thus far. Sometimes, acting like a local requires nothing more than dressing right and adopting the same mannerisms of the locals.

If you want to go the extra mile and really get the most out of your cultural excursions, try learning some basic phrases for introductions and farewells in your destination country. Nothing gets locals to open up more than a traveler who’s taken the time to learn a few words of the local language. Just watch the face of your hotel host light up when you offer a traditional greeting before asking them about the best place for dinner.

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