Elk Star Ranch Artwork: Travel Blog 2: Common Courtesy and Sense

Common courtesy and common sense seem easy, but living in a tourist town and traveling, I have seen the lack of both.

Please don't leave your brain at home on the couch watching television while you are on vacation. Please be flexible in your vacation and not rigid. There are certain things that you may not get to do because hundreds of others are ahead of you.

The dictionary defines courtesy as "the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others." It defines common sense as " sound judgment in practical matters."

Common Courtesy

Remember, when you are traveling, to think of how you would like to be treated by others (and treat others this way).

This means everyone from the waiter/waitress serving your food to the cleaning people at your lodging, the store clerks and other visitors and so many more.

What you dish out in life you receive back in return. So if you are rude, expect rudeness in return.

Common Sense

Now there are many things that fall under common sense; but they are quite often overlooked.

1. Vehicle Traffic Signs

You know, those lovely signs on the edge of the road that show: Merge, Stop, Speed Limit, No Parking, etc. Those are as important to follow on vacation as they are at home. Yes, I am being a tad sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek here, but you would be surprised at the amount of people that get to their travel destination and think traffic signs are not meant for them.

2. Pedestrian Traffic Signs

Like vehicle traffic signs, it seems when people reach a vacation destination, they forget what certain pedestrian signs mean. Now, pedestrians usually have the right of way, but ONLY in specified crosswalks. If you are crossing a street in the middle of the street and stopping traffic because you don't want to walk the extra 500 feet to the crosswalk, well, don't be surprised if common courtesy is NOT bestowed upon you.

3. Parking and walking

Now, you may wonder why I give parking it's own section. As I have said, living in a tourist town, I have learned a lot of things. In my town, parking is at a premium in the summer months. People drive around and around often with cursing, yelling, honking, and other things to get that "prime" spot - you know the spot where you only have to walk 5 feet to the shop you want to go too.

That being said, when you are traveling, it's best to expect NOT to get a close parking spot and be prepared to walk or ride a shuttle or bus. In the summer months, my town has different shuttle routes: Brown, Blue, Red, Silver, Gold, etc for different destinations in town and are FREE! They start between 8-9 AM and run until 9 PM at night usually every 30 minutes.

Do not park on people's lawns (yes I see this happen all the time), in people's driveways, or in area's marked plainly NO PARKING.

4. Trash

You may be wondering why I put trash here. In my opinion it goes hand-in-hand with vehicle, pedestrian and parking because at some point in any of the above you will have trash.

Do not throw your trash out of the car on the side of the road.

Do not leave it in your parked car.

Here in Colorado if you leave trash in your car you can figure a bear or other wildlife will break into said vehicle and make a huge mess.

Do not throw your trash on the sidewalk just because there are town maintenance crews working. It's not their job to pick up after you.

Trash includes: cigarette butts, bottles, cans, candy wrappers and anything else we put in a garbage container.

I know the town I live in has garbage cans that are wildlife proof everywhere in town within easy access of parking lots and pedestrian paths . There is no reason to throw your garbage on the ground.