Sometimes the most effective lessons sting a bit. For Nadia Caffesse, that pain came in the form of a number of tiny needles lodged in her hands, forearms and chest.
In September 2006, Mrs. Caffesse, now 45, and her family were driving through Big Bend National Park in Texas, where she found herself admiring the native blind prickly pear cactuses jutting out along the rocky roadside. One of them would make a nice addition to her garden, she thought, so she decided to ask her family to pull over so she could pick one.
She was violating a cardinal rule when visiting a national park: Take only memories and leave only footprints.
“They aren’t just pretty words,” she said. “They are a poetic threat.”
She knew she’d made a mistake the second she grabbed the paddle of the cactus. “The pain was instant, searing and, because of the diffuse nature of all those tiny needles, unrelenting,” Mrs. Caffesse recalled.
She finished her day not with a souvenir to take home, but with red, swollen arms and an enduring respect for the rules.
We often hear of tourist misbehavior, some egregious and some innocent, drawing public outrage. This year alone, a man was recorded carving his and his girlfriend’s name into a wall at the Roman Colosseum; children in England defaced a more than 200-year-old statue with bright blue crayon; and in Paris, the opening of the Eiffel Tower was delayed one morning after security officials said they had found two American tourists sleeping in the monument overnight.
In an effort to help future travelers learn from others’ mistakes, The New York Times asked readers to share examples of instances in which they’ve committed a travel foul or have acted against good tourist etiquette and, maybe, their better judgment. In the more than 200 submissions we received, one consistent theme emerged: There are lessons here.
Uninvited guests
Maybe you’ve noticed while crossing international borders just how strict the authorities can be about bringing in produce or agricultural goods.
Jennifer Fergesen, a 29-year-old food writer from New Jersey, was on a monthslong trip to various countries after finishing her master’s degree several years ago. On her way back from the Philippines, she had a layover for a couple of days in Austria. She decided to bring some fruit with her from Manila — a bag full of mangoes and mangosteens — to have for breakfast once she arrived at the hostel in Vienna.
Ms. Fergesen conducted a quick Google search and…
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