The St. John Sun Times reports tourists really are different. "A species who tend to refer to ‘coffee’ as ‘Starbucks’ and bemoan the island’s lack of good malls," according to Crystal Bray. "They wear nice shoes to the beach and suffer under the delusion that St. John is spelled with an ‘s’ at the end." The best strategy, when confronted by such behavior, Bray writes, is to have a good laugh about it with friends.
Some sayings of tourists which Bray says were heard on island:
- To a local bartender: "Am I getting drunk faster here because we’re closer to the equator and gravity is stronger?"
- "Have you ever swum under any of the islands?"
- "Are there an colored fish on St. John?"
- "How quickly does the water get deep?"
- A lady brought empty canisters of film on a snorkel trip. "To collect samples of all the different colors of water."
- "Are these prices in US dollars?"
- "Is the sand here naturally or do they have to bring it in specially?"