Website of the Week

We rarely see them in NEPA, but when we travel to Philly, New York City, Washington D.C. or any other major city in the world, they are all over the place. No, not taxis or subway systems…I'm talking about tourists.

While most have plyed the role at one time or another, it is hilarious to spot blatantly obvious tourists and laugh at their stupidity. Fannypackantics.com is the first ever tourist humor blog and it has made an art out of spotting tourists and poking fun at their silly habits.

Clearly, the website tends to focus on "fanny packs," those fashionably questionable, ultimate-in-pragmatic tourist tools that allow a hands-free approach to shopping. Fanny packs are pouches that are strapped on around the waist and can serve as purse, wallet, or backpack.

Fannypackantics.com offers pictures of men, women and children wearing fanny packs in the front, to the side and in the back. The site hails such fashion disasters as the number one way to spot a tourist. Possibly my favorite part of the site is the "Fanny Pack of the Week." A guy wearing his fanny pack backwards was described as "trying to avoid looking like a lame tourist" and compared to someone wearing a backwards baseball hat which "can look really douchy, too."

But wait! There's more. Not only does this website poke fun at fanny packs, but it also finds other funny ways of identifying tourists from cameras worn around the neck, to absurd fur coats and hats to suits worn with sneakers. There are also pictures of tourists that ask the viewer to comment on whether or not you would mug the tourist. The site even pokes fun at those who mispronounce the names of streets, cities and landmarks. While this site is written by jaded city dwellers who bemoan having to deal with tourists crossing their path every "80.3 seconds," it's entertaining to see what these city people see daily. It's even funny to see the site poke fun at a few things that maybe we have even done ourselves. I give this site an L for laugh-out-loud at out-of-towners. Go to this site, take a few notes and deal with fewer disdainful townies.