Oh, Dutch people. Nothing makes them madder than ‘TikTok lines,’ when tourists are tricked into waiting in long lines by their social media feeds. And the place that makes them most mad is Fabel Friet, the delicious and reasonably priced fries stand that is good, but so are most dedicated fries places in town. Not that Amsterdammers have ever been to Fabel Friet, because, well they would never wait in line for fries. That you see is dumb.
But waiting in line for ice cream? Well that’s another story. Lines like this for Pisa Ijs on a warm Sunday evening in June are OK because… uh, why again? Oh, because it’s us in line and not ‘stupid tourists.’ You see, we’re smart and they’re dumb.
NIET KLAGEN
And what about when we travel abroad? Are we then dumb there? No silly. Dutch people are wonderful travelers, who add to the flavor of their destination just by being there. Dutch travelers never contribute to over-tourism or ‘monoculture,’ whatever exactly that is. Dutch people are ‘visitors,’ but only other people are tourists.
It makes perfect, consistent, non-hypocritical sense.
Amsterdam’s official policy ranks the priorities for scarce public space. Pedestrians are officially most important, followed by bikes, public transportation, driving and parking in that order. Parking is