Travel takes into account so many aspects, one being it looked upon as a soft-power exercise. When people are travelling abroad, or crossing borders, they don’t just carry passports, they also carry with them their habits, volume levels, queue etiquette, bargaining styles and unspoken social codes. Places like airports, markets, and amusement parks turn into quiet places where national stereotypes are often discussed.For many Indian travellers, international trips are moments of pride, but sometimes, travel does become an uncomfortable mirror. That’s what happened to one Indian Reddit user who recounted his two-week holiday in Vietnam.Posting his experience in reddit, the traveller’s post described sensing a visible difference in how locals interacted with Indians compared to other foreign tourists. The tone felt shorter. Expressions were less warm, and hospitality seemed more transactional. “I could sense the locals were not a big fan of us,” he says, adding quickly, “I can’t blame them.”Read more: This major river flows entirely within Uttar Pradesh: Know which one and the legends associated with itAt street markets, bargaining turned aggressive. Offers were made so low that some vendors simply refused to sell. The traveller noted that these were small businesses operating in competitive conditions, and yet negotiations continued past what they felt was reasonable.
The most jarring experience, however, unfolded at the airport. Due to staff shortages, the luggage check-in line was moving slowly. According to the Redditor, some Indian passengers began barging forward, removing partitions and allowing friends and family to cut in. “The mighty Indians took their civic sense for a ride,” the post read.A French tourist nearby reportedly grew increasingly frustrated as his position in line kept shrinking. When he tried explaining the situation, he was met with resignation and shrugs. Eventually, he lashed out in anger before walking away. There were smaller but equally telling incidents. At an amusement park, loud arguments between parents and children disrupted what had been a relatively calm environment. The traveller described nearby Korean tourists appearing visibly uncomfortable. At one point, a mother from another group reportedly asked for quiet, a request that went ignored.Read more: “I don’t hate India. But I also don’t think it’s my home anymore. The way husbands treat their wives…..” Female traveller shares her India experience“India is a lovely country,” the Redditor wrote. “But some Indians and our lack of sense? That’s not.”The post quickly drew responses from other Indians who had witnessed similar behaviour abroad. One of them recalled confronting a man pretending to be on a phone call while cutting a boarding queue. Another described tapping someone’s shoulder in the US to remind him, “Bro, there is a line here.” A traveller in Singapore shared an experience of a “silent zone” airport lounge disrupted by loud conversations and reels playing without headphones.
Several commenters argued that unless Indians correct such behaviour within their own community, the stereotype will persist internationally. “If we don’t correct this behaviour within our group, we don’t show the world that there are Indians with better civic sense,” one user wrote, even declaring they had “resolved to police such civic behaviour fails.”The conversation wasn’t about one airport or one country. It was about something larger: how everyday habits at home translate abroad, and whether survival-style behaviour in crowded Indian systems becomes disruptive when transplanted elsewhere.At times, trips offered more than sightseeing memories. It delivers uncomfortable clarity too. Sometimes, the hardest part of travelling isn’t adjusting to a new country. It’s recognising what you carry with you.Disclaimer: The above article is based on a Reddit post and Times of India has not verified the veracity of the claim
