How to tell a local from a tourist.

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How to tell a local from a tourist.

Many times I’m stopped on the street in Cruz bay with someone asking me a question only a resident can answer. I’m not sure if I should be horrified or happy. I have to admit it’s super easy to tell who lives down here full time. It’s not pretty. Girl with heels, tourist. Girl with flip flops held together with electrical tape, local. Girl with perfect mani pedi, tourist. Girl with polish on three nails, local. Nice newer jeep rental tourist. Bumper stickers all over the Jeep which is covered in dirt and driving on the spare tire, local. Swimsuit with matching cover up, tourist. Swim suit with a safety pin on one strap and a Beach Bar tank top from a charity event in 2015, local.

You may think the locals just don’t care. Actually, they really don’t, but they also don’t have access to a chain stores. Clothes often get mildew or mold from the salt air and humidity. Thankfully materialism seems to wash away with the tide and friends will never call you out on that mystery stain.

I enjoy that on this island there is no keeping up with the Jones’s. You can go out with a hole in your shirt or a stain and nobody cares. Seriously nobody cares. I remember being stateside and not going to a particular restaurant because I wasn’t “dressed”. You are always dressed here for where ever you want to go.

Want to fit in like a local while you are on vacation? Just pack your swimsuit with the fur balls on the butt and the cute outfit you mowed the grass in last Saturday. See you at happy hour.