On their very first gondola ride up the mountain, they were seated next to a Canadian couple.
“I think they’re taking it really personally.
She felt, personally, ‘How could you do this to us?
We’ve been so kind to you,'” Donahue said.
The spring and summer travel season is upon us.
He’s put in placewidespread tariffs.
His administration has issued loud public complaints about trade and defenserelations with Europe.
Some are rethinking their travel plans, and those who remain undeterred are bracing for some thorny conversations.
“Everybody else almost felt sorry for us,” she said.
“It’s embarrassing.”
Foreign travelers are turned off by America’s inward turn and adversarial stance.
They’ve also seen stories about tougher border security and travelers being detained upon entry into the US.
American tourists may also be scaling back some of theirinternational travel plans.
International sales fell less than domestic sales, but both declines are a bad sign, given booking habits.
“While one month is not a trend, it could signal an inflection point,” he said.
Virgin Atlantichas saidit’s seeing a slowdown in travel from the US to the UK, citing economic uncertainty.
Still, for some travelers, the potential for negative international attitudes may be part of the calculation.
She has both American and Irish passports, and she plans to travel with both, just in case.
Politics talk doesn’t make for great vacation talk, but it’s sometimes unavoidable.
“Most continued to be polite but were far less cheerful than before,” she said.
“One outspoken Trump supporter was avoided by most people.”
“They feel completely let down.”
“A lot of these people are people that I’ve known for a very long time.
I think they’re confused and frustrated by US policy,” he said.
Some American expats find themselves in situations where their home country is now antagonizing the country they call home.
“He’s front and center of all those conversations,” she said.
Some people treat her with a sense of concern as though she’s gone through a natural disaster.
“The vibe that I’ve been getting is pity,” she added.
A colleague who was going to visit the US with her family has decided to delay the trip.
“I don’t know what his view will be.”
The complications of traveling while American are hardly new.
Trump is hardly the only politician whose policies American travelers have had to reckon with while on the road.
He remembers telling the tour guide, “I’m sorry.
I apologize for my country.”
Thepoint of travelis that it’s supposed to be a way to leave worries behind.
They bought Canadian products, including sweatshirts from a very obvious local brand.
Her husband wore the same sweatshirt with a Canadian flag and a beaver on it every day.
“We wanted to blend in,” she said.
Emily Stewartis a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.
