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This is the digital version of "Flag-jacking" where a traveler pretends to be from another country. In it's offline form it's also usually US citizens pretendin

This is the digital version of "Flag-jacking" where a traveler pretends to be from another country. In it's offline form it's also usually US citizens pretending to be Canadian.

Dah00n 5y ago
US citizens seem to often do so.. Unrelated, I once on a trip to the US met a group of motorcyclists on modern bikes and with proper, modern safety gear (at Grand canyon I believe). Having never seen this before in the US (outside sports bikers doing it as much as a clothing statement as for safety) I went over and said hi and said this was the first time I had seen this. "We are Canadians" they laughing replied.
- azinman2 5y ago
  I’m not sure where you’re from in the US but I can tell you many motorcyclists are big into safety gear. Yes it’ll probably be associated with a sports bike because in general people driving hogs are doing that for the statement rather than anything else because the bikes aren’t very good (slow, poor steering, etc). I’ve never known someone on a sports bike to be wearing good safety gear just for the fashion as it’s almost always a worse look.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Dah00n 5y ago
    I was on holiday. I'm not from the States at all but from Scandinavia :)
  - RhysU 5y ago
    ATGATT: All the gear, all the time.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  It's more that the organ donor freedom riders vastly outnumber those thinking about safety.
  - Dah00n 5y ago
    >organ donor freedom riders I both cringed and laughed at the same time. Thanks for the (not so pretty) picture in my head!
  - reader_x 5y ago
    A doctor once told me that helmets are actually good for organ donation because they protect the brain stem just long enough to harvest the organs. Wearing no helmet at all just wastes perfectly good organs that could have been donated.
- karmakaze 5y ago
  On my way to Nova Scotia I passed through New Hampshire and rode without my helmet for a number of minutes. It was more fun than driving without a seatbelt which offers no such novelty--which is more like being on a sportbike with sandals.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    I’m glad you made it there noggin intact. Not everyone is so fortunate.
karmakaze 5y ago
I heard that it got so bad that they had to start using UK/Aussie/Kiwi flags because they would be spotted as Americans sporting Canadian flags.
ajcp 5y ago
I remember when this became a "thing" again after 2003-onward when animosity toward the US was running high. I travelled around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa pretty extensively then, staying in hostels or using Couch Surfing (both hosting and surfing). Never once ran into a fellow American traveler who flag-jacked, although we all would share jokes about doing so, with a wink and a nod. I saw the occasional Canadian flag on a backpack, but from my interactions they were all convincingly Canadian. More often I saw travelers from the world over with flags from all the places they visited on their bags. I always suspected those Americans who actually flag-jacked were of the breed that visited Western-European capitals via tour-bus, dressed like they were on safari, and loudly compared everything to how it existed "back in the States".
justnotworthit 5y ago
Big caveat is that OP wants to be treated as en-US and people won't believe him. Maybe the analogy is travelers who say they're from the US (or rural farm area, etc) and the person responds "you? no! really?".

This is the digital version of "Flag-jacking" where a traveler pretends to be from another country. In it's offline form it's also usually US citizens pretending to be Canadian.

Dah00n 5y ago

US citizens seem to often do so.. Unrelated, I once on a trip to the US met a group of motorcyclists on modern bikes and with proper, modern safety gear (at Grand canyon I believe). Having never seen this before in the US (outside sports bikers doing it as much as a clothing statement as for safety) I went over and said hi and said this was the first time I had seen this. "We are Canadians" they laughing replied.

azinman2 5y ago
I’m not sure where you’re from in the US but I can tell you many motorcyclists are big into safety gear. Yes it’ll probably be associated with a sports bike because in general people driving hogs are doing that for the statement rather than anything else because the bikes aren’t very good (slow, poor steering, etc). I’ve never known someone on a sports bike to be wearing good safety gear just for the fashion as it’s almost always a worse look.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Dah00n 5y ago
  I was on holiday. I'm not from the States at all but from Scandinavia :)
- RhysU 5y ago
  ATGATT: All the gear, all the time.
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
It's more that the organ donor freedom riders vastly outnumber those thinking about safety.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  >organ donor freedom riders I both cringed and laughed at the same time. Thanks for the (not so pretty) picture in my head!
- reader_x 5y ago
  A doctor once told me that helmets are actually good for organ donation because they protect the brain stem just long enough to harvest the organs. Wearing no helmet at all just wastes perfectly good organs that could have been donated.
karmakaze 5y ago
On my way to Nova Scotia I passed through New Hampshire and rode without my helmet for a number of minutes. It was more fun than driving without a seatbelt which offers no such novelty--which is more like being on a sportbike with sandals.
- azinman2 5y ago
  I’m glad you made it there noggin intact. Not everyone is so fortunate.

karmakaze 5y ago

I heard that it got so bad that they had to start using UK/Aussie/Kiwi flags because they would be spotted as Americans sporting Canadian flags.

ajcp 5y ago

I remember when this became a "thing" again after 2003-onward when animosity toward the US was running high. I travelled around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa pretty extensively then, staying in hostels or using Couch Surfing (both hosting and surfing). Never once ran into a fellow American traveler who flag-jacked, although we all would share jokes about doing so, with a wink and a nod. I saw the occasional Canadian flag on a backpack, but from my interactions they were all convincingly Canadian. More often I saw travelers from the world over with flags from all the places they visited on their bags. I always suspected those Americans who actually flag-jacked were of the breed that visited Western-European capitals via tour-bus, dressed like they were on safari, and loudly compared everything to how it existed "back in the States".

justnotworthit 5y ago

Big caveat is that OP wants to be treated as en-US and people won't believe him. Maybe the analogy is travelers who say they're from the US (or rural farm area, etc) and the person responds "you? no! really?".