Everyone who has ever traveled international and many who have not, have heard the term ugly Americans. It comes from the way some of us act when we travel abroad. We are louder than most people, we are more outgoing, and many things that are not strange here stand out in other cultures.

I have traveled a lot internationally and I can tell you that while I am willing to admit that many of the things for which we are labeled ugly are merely cultural differences there is plenty that we need to change when we travel abroad. On the other hand, many times I have seen people behaving in ways that are not inherently American but are inherently ugly.

My first trip to Europe was in the summer of 1980. I spent eight weeks in Munich, Germany and one week in Oxford, England. In Munich we stayed in an apartment at Number 7 Hertzog-Wilhelm Strasse. It was right off the main entrance at Karl’s Platz, see my blog on Munich for a photograph of the entrance. I lived just a block and a half from there.

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