I see a huge queue and I think wow, how are this many people so uncynical about the algorithm? That slop was offered to you by the closest equivalent we have to the Matrix and you said "yup, I'll take two I guess"
Same, and even if I know that the thing queued is genuinely good, I'm happy to settle for the second-best (or even "quite nice") as long as I get it without a queue.
@@Munkenba I was in York (UK) a couple of months ago, having a wander about when I came across a huge queue in The Shambles. Turns out it was for the Harry Potter shop. Seriously, people queue up for hours to walk around a little shop ? I was befuggled.
Totally agree, whenever I see a giant queue I automatically assume it'll be overpriced and they'll underdeliver. Of course it's not always the case, some places are actually great and the locals make up that queue, but... In tourist areas? It's usually just a tourist trap.
It is always so sad to see in Amsterdam the large lines for very mid Dutch food, while literally next door the food is so great for significantly less money. And coating the stroopwafels in candy is a crime. If you want your pre-packaged stroopwafels to be hot, put them on top of a hot drink like coffee, that's the Dutch way.
@@johnguzmandiaz and ask €6,40 for it. I know everything has gotten more expensive and it is Amsterdam. But at your average "snackbar" you can get the same for much cheaper
In a local chippy where I lived in England, they had cheese n chips. To me it sounded disgusting. Now I read that in Amsterdam they put parmesan on chips and it's a local "specialty." Yuck.
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw the worst thing is, it's not a local speciality. No Dutch person does this, we only do put cheese on fries in a "kapsalon". And that is our standard cheese.
@@justarjenbut that's Dam for you. Ok the museums are good, but their are such utterly wonderful cities in the Netherlands from Den Hague to Neijnrgen. A mate of mine used to live in Amersfoort. Utterly, Utterly gorgeous town.
I remember seeing a video of an American woman who went to eastern Europe and was looking for a particular library that she'd seen on Tiktok. She was frustrated that it was closed for certain parts of the day so that students could study and was asking why Tiktok hadn't warned her about this. It blew my mind that someone would fly thousands of miles around the world with an itinerary no more detailed than "here are some cute videos I saw online"
There’s a book shop in Porto Portugal which is beautiful looks like an ancient library like beauty and the beast type library… before social media made the place a popular tourist destination you could just go in a buy books and stuff now you have to pay and queue just to get inside a bookstore
@@RitinhaGEShakespeare & Company in Paris has been a famous English language bookstore for decades but they have now banned photography because tourists were just using it as a photo op and not to actually buy books. I’m glad that my university library isn’t especially picturesque so at least I don’t have to deal with tourists being loud.
@RitinhaGE Is that why the queue is so long? I was there 2 years ago, but couldn't be bothered to get in a queue that went down a hill and round a corner!
@@ninamarie177 Yes, they banned photos and the queue is still pretty long to enter that library! Ironically, there is no queue for the Shakespeare and co café directly beside the library (probably not cute enough for TikTok). So the few times I go there for a warm drink I like to just sit and people watch the crowd in the queue while wondering who might be there for what.
As soon as I saw the crazy toppings, I understood immediately. It's the same thing with Belgian waffles. The best ones are from the tiny vendors that literally do nothing but make this single product the best they possibly can. However, the ones who serve all the extras sadly get a double whammy bonus from their business model. Firstly the toppings serve to mask the taste of the interior quality underlying product (waffle), and secondly, it makes for great marketing shots, not least because it aligns much better with the expectation of American visitors, who are used to having lots of choice and customisation options everywhere they go.
@@thescrewfly I did. Did you know that if you edit a comment with a heart, it removes the heart? Presumably it's so some troll can't change their comment to say something like "Hitler was right, these people should be killed" and make it look like Evan is a fascist, but it's slightly annoying for small spelling corrections.
@@thescrewfly I did. Did you know that if you edit a comment that has a heart on it, it removes the heart? Presumably this is so that a troll can't change their comment and make it look like the TH-camr agrees with some unscrupulous thing, when they liked a totally different comment. _Fun fact: this is my second attempt at this comment, in the previous one I gave a verbatim example of something a fascist troll might change their comment to and it got yeeted by the algorithm, so no examples this time. I'm sure you can imagine something much worse than what I came up with anyway_
As a Dutch person those TikTok’s about the stroopwafel place pisses me off (maybe even enrages me) Not even fresh. Too many toppings. You don’t put toppings on a stroopwafel and so expensive. Just go to any market anywhere in the Netherlands and you will find a stroopwafel stall that will make them fresh in front of you and it will only be a couple of euros. Also I just don’t get it why you would want to spend your time in a mega que. For me when I’m a tourist that is a turn off. I already have limited time so why waste it in a que that is probably for a tourist trap.
I remember when van Wonderen opened up and thinking, that's ridiculous! Who tf would want that or would pay so much? I assumed most people would think the same. Oh how wrong I was! :D And I'm salty about TikTok ruining actual decent places like van Stapele.
Er zijn gewoon ongelofelijk veel achterlijke aandachtshoeren overal, die hun persoonlijke leegte op die manier willen vullen. Eigenlijk moet je die maandenlang in een Big Brother huis stoppen en niet filmen en niemand laten weten. Alleen de teleurstelling filmen wanneer ze eruit komen en het kan niemand schelen 😊
Let me hit you with some context and crucial thinking. So you're mocking these people because they want to "waste" time on vacation in a line. Your writing comments on TH-cam is definitely a waste of time. You're not changing anyone's mind. So before you critique others behavior. Realize you do the same thing. It's just you don't value waiting in line. I guarantee there is something you waste time on that others would call stupid.
@@beatbuildersstudio I just want to say I wasn’t mocking anyone in my comment. What I was saying is I don’t get it why you would do that. As in I don’t understand it. That is not mocking someone unless that meaning has suddenly changed. And if you want to have a conversation about it to explain what for you the added experience is I’m all for it. I don’t shy away from that. I also said for me it is a turn off and I myself would see it as a waste of time. That is not an attack on people who do it. It’s a personal perspective. If that is what you want to do that is perfectly fine. I’m not going to stand next to a line yelling at people they need to stop and that they are stupid. What I am negative about is the TikTok’s claiming that van wonderen is the best place in the Netherlands for stroopwafels, because it is far from it. If you want a better experience there are other cheaper place for that with less waiting time. Call it national pride. But if you want to wait in line for a mediocre stroopwafels with toppings that don’t add to the taste that is up to you. So yes I do think about this critically and I’m highly aware that somethings I do other people don’t understand why I would want to do that. And if they want to I don’t mind having a conversation from my own perspective.
Thank you for this! You verbalized exactly why I say no when my friends tell me to be a travel influencer. It seems like everyone is following the same formula, rushing into a place to film the highlights which they've heard about from each other, and then rushing off to the next place. Few are actually traveling anymore, or creating CREATIVE content. It's why I don't bother watching videos about my own city when they pop up; I know it's just someone who was in town for a couple days and hit the spots they heard about from another person who was here for 2 days.
Gen Z are actually not mentally capable of creating creative things. That part of their brain is damaged at birth. Its also the part that controls empathy and such. Gen Z has no such thing.
About 10 years ago we went on a weekend break to Istanbul and stayed at a hotel that was very highly rated on TripAdvisor. It was shyte. When we came downstairs we caught a glimpse of the screen of the guy behind the desk. He was on TripAdvisor writing a review of the hotel.
No, it's humans. TH-cam was blamed for ruining everything, facebook was blamed for ruining everything, now its claimed tiktok is ruining everything. Which ever is the most popular is blamed for all of societies woes. Though sometimes unfairly since META(Fb/IG) have long been hiring PR firms to blame any bad trends that comes from their media sites on tiktok.
Tik Tok makes Instagram and Facebook look irrelevant. Tik Tok today is like MTV in the 90s, but losers stuck in the past refuse to give credit to anything in the present.
Another effect worth noting is that: after a business gets a lot of short-lived popularity through TikTok, they naturally may increase prices to ripoff levels, lower authenticity of food (e.g. ordering premade stroopwafels), and source less good ingredients to serve all the new customers and make money before the hype ends. This naturally gets them a lot of poor reviews, but the TikTok won’t be changed, making it become outdated due to its own popularity.
The problem really is that so many people have to be told what to do. They want experiences served to them on a spoon, and don't consider that there might be something else to see. That's why they all use that one shop/cafe they've seen on tiktok, or that one angle for a picture they've seen in instagram. There's a section of the Great Wall of China that is horrifically congested, because everyone goes there, squeezes there way through the crowd, does the same picture everyone else does, then leaves - completely ignoring all the other sections of the wall, just 50m away, that have far fewer people and are just as impressive. It's not just the young. I was once in Bangkok, in bar, and a guy said to me that he was in the city for three days for a stopover, and asked what he could go any see. How can you arrange three days somewhere and not even think to look at what you could do there?
I love taking pic when I travel and so many of my best photos came from shooting everything at random even things that don't seem interesting at first glance. As soon I I got an Instagram account and followed travel influencers for "inspo", my photos started to suck and I wasn't enjoying it as much
Gen Zs DNA is broken from birth. They are unnaturally high in aggression, Yet also incredibly submiss ive when defeated. also without empathy, sympathy or most emotion. They are masterful at manipulating people by PRETENDING to have emotions though. Thus why They are anti social yet pretend to be social and fail every time. Humans can sense when someone is wrong, and all of gen Z are VERY wrong. They do not in fact understand human emotion or social cues at all. The yare not good for the world basically. Its not their fault but it doesnt really matter we all suffer.
im glad you made a video on this! i’ve been recently gathering a lot of travel ideas from instagram, including for food, and started noticing this a LOT
@@djlads im aware, so i remain skeptical, very used to seeing the same kind of content about my own city and can smell the bs right away when it’s about home, but not all of it is bad advice and advertising, you just gotta research ^_^
@@imsoooboredjaehyun Yes, that's what I mean. People can buy them anywhere, or make them at home. It's not unique to one area, so it's not worth an inflated cost. Personally, I love strawberries & chocolate, but chocolate covered strawberries are usually a bigger mouthful than I want & the chocolate often breaks away if you try to bite a smaller piece. I'd rather have them not combined, unless it's on a dessert that's easier to eat. I have made chocolates in the past (unfortunately I can't anymore due to chronic illness). But when I could, I liked to make: ganache truffles, peanut butter balls, nut clusters, & almond bark -- all with dark chocolate. Also, I usually made chocolates for Valentine's or Christmas, and strawberries in my area are best from around May to July. So I'll just have a strawberry in one hand & chocolate in the other, please! 🍓🍫❤ I agree -- with homemade, you can have better quality for much less cost, and exactly how you like it.
Same tbh. I don't really trust social media for advice on the best things to do. I went travelling last year and I asked the people at the reception desks of my accommodation where and what is good to try and they didn't fail me at all. Had some incredible poffertjes in Amsterdam thanks to my hotel's recommendation 😂
Same but the same stuff on tik tok ends up being shared to instagram and Facebook so its not all completely avoidable or a friend or my partner shares something from tiktok 🙃 at least im not endlessly scrolling it though. My internet habits are already less than ideal, definitely dont need to add to that 😂
I just told a family member yesterday to stop taking travel advices from tiktok for an incoming trip. Then this video got realesed what a god sent, thanks evan!!!
People taking advice from TikTok always blows my mind, but maybe that's due to me not using TikTok and being a big Reddit user. (Maybe I'm just too old!) I feel like... The incentive for TikTok is to over-hype whatever you're showing to get more views, so there isn't really any incentive to be honest. I mean... Honestly is boring, how can my monkey brain enjoy something serious and realistic right? At least on Reddit, Google Maps reviews, Trustpilot, etc. you're getting 'generally' realistic people with no motivation to lie about their experience. You get a much more unfiltered reaction, IMO it's always great to know the good and the bad of a place to keep your expectations in check. :)
really enjoying your new form of content. I think choosing to not force yourself to post every sunday has meant you've given yourself freedom to dig deeper into what you want.
Gulls are absolute b*stards. A few years ago my wife and I were getting Fish and Chips in Scarborough. Lady in front of us got a pie and chips, got three steps outside the shop, and a dirty great gull swooped, snatched the pie and dropped it over the harbour wall. Clever gull knew it was hot, and breaking it open it would cool faster. That lady screamed like she peed herself too.
I hate seagulls. When I was a child at Disney's Magic Kingdom, there was a great flock of them terrorizing the guests. One of them had pooped on me as it swooped overhead, luckily it was not on my head but on the shoulder and stayed confined to my shirt so I just went to the nearest bathroom to take off my shirt and clean up as best I could. Needless to say, the magic was mostly gone for me the rest of the day.
Honestly wish a video like this existed for the city I live in. So many tourist traps and overpriced junk (particularly during the fringe festival) that finding good places I haven't been before can be a pain.
@wardiya3arbiya Yes, it's bit odd. I'm guessing it's Edinburgh, based on the reference to the fringe. Edinburgh Festival, complete with fringe events, is held every August and draws huge crowds. Understandably, the locals get a bit peeved but, to be fair, that was a problem long before TicToc existed.
As you mention the "fringe festival" I assume you mean Edinburgh. It is the Festival Fringe though, at the fringe of the Edinburgh Festival. Not to worry, even BBC reporters get that wrong.
@@annwhiteaker6144 thank you for that. Everywhere touristic the locals get peeved, except in Brighton. I live in London and take a train to Brighton anytime i see a ray of sunshine. I am always well impressed with how nice the locals are to us, the tourist. Although they do make us pay with the extorting prices: 5 quids for a crafted 🙄 IPA in can of 330mls.
The amount of times I see someone (I don't mean you) act like the entire UK is London, make sweeping generalisations, is equal parts funny and maddening when you see the millions of likes it gets.
Every other American when you're British: "You're from London right!? No? Then Manchester right!?" Ah yes, I forgot our country has 2 cities. :) It'd be like British people assuming everyone is from LA or NYC.
It drives me crazy when Americans use Britain/British, and England/English interchangeably like they mean the same thing. Worse still, when I tried to ask Americans to learn the difference or explained the difference myself, I would say maybe 1% of them have been interested and open to learning. It isn't even close how 99% of them refuse, bring up really weird arguments/reasons they won't, insult me, get angry, like it's wild As an English man, it's not difficult to notice how particularly Scotland and Ireland don't like us, which I do not blame them, but I think one thing that could help is if people outside of the UK recognised the different countries/terms, and that it isn't all just England. One time I spoke to an American who was being all smug and arrogant using all these fancy, long, technical terms, and clearly trying to show off and that he knew more than me. Then he showed me where he wanted to move to in the "North of England". Scotland. He showed me the North of Scotland. He had no idea what Scotland was, and thought the entirety of the mainland was England. So when you get that, then people acting like all that matters is London, augh, it does us no favours
I honestly don’t think that most Scots truly dislike the English. We don’t like that you keep voting Conservative for god knows what reasons, but apart from that, most of it is friendly banter. I’m perfectly happy that most foreigners think the UK is comprised only of England. I like my country wuiet and empty of Tik Tokers as possible (though Skye and Edinburgh are still concentration points, and less so Loch Ness). In short, Scotland is horrible, it’s freezing cold and never stops raining and the food is dreadful and there’s nothing to do and the people are momstrous and the UK really is just London and Buckingham Palace, okay Tiktok? Stay away. Please.
Read Books. Admittedly you'll get a culture shock when you get to Paris and find out everyone's not wearing crinolines from the Zola era and the Champs Elysee is not that epitome of style and elegance it was in those Audrey Hepburn films and in rural Dorset the Tess's and their Swains are hanging about the market cross looking goth and sulky but once you've got used to the dysmorphia it'll be fine.
When I visited Poland with my Polish ex-gf, the nicest food we ate was at the little local diners-it also happened to be the cheapest. When I lived in Thailand, it was the same-roadside noodle bars and food courts. The best food is always what the locals eat.
I can't help but smirk when they say "it's visited by locals". Yeah, no, no Amsterdammer goes to van Wonderen. However, i have to say the best fries in my opinion are Manneken Pis on Damrak (there is also one on Nieuwendijk and I've seen several in Utrecht. There is sometimes a big queue, but I, as a local, actually wait in line there!
@@MartijnPennings I have to be honest I didn’t realized mannekepis branched out to Amsterdam. Makes sense in a way. It’s such a staple in Utrecht and the best fries also in my opinion. I believe they started here in Utrecht around 1991
I've been a Disneyland passholder for 12yrs as a Anaheim local. And I can't tell you how different Disneyland is since covid & the explosion of tiktok. There is HUGE demand for little things like popcorn buckets & they swarm all the picturesque places for streaming and it's just horrible
Always love TH-cam randomly recommending me stuff like this. Noted the locations, but as usual, the best way I find to go on trips is just randomly pick a place around where you are. Maybe look it up before ordering, just to make sure it's not crap, but you're actually discovering and enjoying your time.
Pro tip: Ignore all touristy marketing and TikTok BS. and just chat with some locals, then ask them where they normally go. Also, if you try and use some of the local language during your chat, the locals will like you much more, so they'll probably give you several excellent recommendations, rather than just one. This works almost anywhere.
Gen Z is incapable of actualy doing that. The part of their brain that handles things like: Empathy, sympathy, social functioning, is damaged or not present from birth. Most of gen Z has damaged DNA. Due to fetal alchahol syndrome. From bad mothers. Or are products of outright incest. They can not speak to locals. They can not speak to anyone. They can pretend they have these traits though. But it becomes clear after a few moments that they do not. We can sense when someone is wrong and gen Z is WRONG.
Plus he gave them more advertising, chips with cheese on top should be good, but he didn't wait in the queue, he should have said are they worth the amount of time you queue, as for me I'm not queuing 40+ mins for cheesy chips, when there's other places around, you'd have walked past so many to get there.
I've heard the same argument before. Five years ago it was said that TH-cam is ruining travel. And before this, ten years ago, they said it was Instagram. And fifteen years ago, travel blogs were blamed. In other words, this is just old news in new clothes.
@@AmyFerguson but because youtube videos and blogs have time, date, and a loooong description of how they got those fantastic views, its easier to see if you could also do it.
In Japan, be weary of not just TikTok, but Google maps too. 5-4.8 star reviewed places are usually places that harass you to drop a review as you're about to leave. Outside of Indian food, 3 star foreign restaurants are also really good - they're just lower rates because Japanese people might not like them. Best choice is to look at pictures and make your choice from there.
This is so funny. So I’m one of the people you showed in your Tik tok medley… I went on my first trip in 2022 and thought they were great so gave my honest review. The video went viral (the company never said thanks for free advertising which is always fun) … but now I have been to Amsterdam 4 times and can honestly say these are the worst stroopwaffles I’ve ever head (after Starbucks 🤮). I wish I could delete that recommendation off the face of the earth🤣🤣😭😭
I'm from york, not the touristiest place on earth but touristy enough, and don't even get me started on THE GHOST MERCHANTS my god, some days the queue is a solid 3 hours long and I honestly cannot understand how you can come to a 14th century street just go buy a 3 inch ghost figurine
I visited York in March. It was lovely. I particularly enjoyed the Jorvak museum, little old streets overhung by houses and the Minster. I am guessing the tourist situation in Summer is over the top!
I'm from Leeds and I never understood why people queue for ages outside that shop. There are lots of small places that sell nice things in the city for reasonable price, but that is what people want to bring home as a souvenir? That is what people queue on a claustrophobic street for? It's insanity. The market is nearby. Lots of nice things there.
They're lovely little handmade gifts and they do have good theming, but not worth multiple hours of queuing. I'll admit I do have one from a trip, however we headed down to the dispensery a couple streets away. Although a little harder to find, the much shorter wait and location in a small walled garden made it feel much more pleasant than I imagine waiting for hours on the shambles might. There's always so many lovely things to do anywhere, it's rarely worth spending hours of your precious time in a place standing around.
Came to comment about this. Was a student in York, and always assumed the blockage was people waiting for a ghost tour to start. Only found out overhearing from someone else in a pub the night of my graduation that they were queuing for the ghost shop. So many other interesting independent shops and stalls in York, I'd never looked at that ghost shop twice, but it seems to be one York's top draws to the TikTok crowd. Totally mind-boggling.
Ah, TikTok. It's hard to learn much about *anything* in 60-90 seconds. We have Sphynx cats. A young coworker of mine told me that she learned about popping Sphynx zits on TikTok. NO!!!! 😳 You should absolutely NOT do this! Annnd I haven't used TT since. Go ahead, ban them lol. Excellent video, Evan! 👍👍👍
I’m fairly certain the “queue issue” is what prompted Van Stapele to move to a bigger location. (Also I much prefer their cookies to stroopwafel.) For friets, I think, you’re best to find a market stall selling them. But also most of the little shops (like “Chipsy King”) make perfectly good fries. And many use the cone holder with sauce compartments that allows for eating and strolling. The FabelFriets just never look that appetizing…
Oh I LOVE the stroopwafel place in the market! But honestly a stroopwafel should be bought from Ah and put on a coffee cup to soften (and become fresh), I think that is probably the true Dutch way :)
Careful placing your mobile phone directly on your bike. Constant gyrations from the road through the bike to your phone can ruin delicate parts of your phone like camera image stabiliser hence your camera will no longer focus automatically. There are specialised phone holders to dampen these small road disturbances.
Oh my goodness part of the fun of travelling is finding what you think are little hidden gems and places where only the locals go to eat, where’s the fun and adventure in waiting in a queue with other tourists 🤷♀️
This is such an excellently scripted, edited and produced video Evan! I know you talk about always wanting to make better and better content and just thought I'd say...this viewer appreciates it!!
Thanks! I came up with the whole thing while I was out there! Got caught in Amsterdam an extra 2 days due to the crowdstrike issue. Made a vid out of it
I always watch every video at normal 1x speed. I seriously cannot understand how people can be so impatient that they always need to watch something at faster and faster speeds.
Most I watch at 1.25x speed. Had to put it on normal for this one 😂 The only other one I have to do that with is when Jess is presenting on The Running Channel
@@Alfonso162008 there are some people who just speak extremely slowlylike there's one channel i used to watch I could get away with 1.75x and she wouldn't sound sped up at all lol. Shed' sound like she's speaking normally imo. Plus sometimes my queue's long lol gotta get through all my videos in a timely fashion ;)
I used to live in Florence, and there was a sandwich shop behind the Uffizi which which was great for a cheap, quick lunch. It's since exploded on social media and there are always huge queues outside, more interested in the photo op it seems. Shame, but I guess it's not the only place to buy a sandwich.
Its very interesting to see how hit or miss some tiktok recommendations are, i went to japan and other parts of asia recently, and about half of what i planned was through tiktok recommendations, majority of which were awesome! Guess its dependent on locations and what you look for/the extra research you’re willingn to put in
I go to Melly’s several times a year and I’ve literally never been served one cold. They’re always warm and super fresh! By far my favourite stroopwafel in Amsterdam and I’m super happy to see you include them on the best options!
If you are at a stroopwafel maker on the market, ask for a bag of stroopwafel crumbles. Most makers sell the crumbles produced in making stroopwafels and I think it's more delicious than stroopwafels themselves. I always had them as a child and now I want stroopwafel crumbles. Thanks Evan ;) Also, best belgian fries I think are in Utrecht, at ' Manneken Pis'. Thick golden fry with sauce of choosing. If you want to go full dutch, ask for 'patat oorlog', it's not with cheese (WHY PUT CHEESE ON FRIES?!) but with mayonaise, finely cut onions and peanut sauce. Although I just like it with mayonaise
I'm really glad that not only do I not use TikTok, but a majority of my travel is to visit friends who live in locations that are overlooked by most tourists, and so I get to see these places through the eyes of a local. Some of my favorite experiences have been the ones I've gotten while visiting towns that nobody has ever heard of, like when I visited a friend in Matsuyama during my time in Japan, and the town really charmed me.
last summer i went to split, croatia, and there was always a massive queue for this one little ice cream store. i never really had the time or patience so i didn't go there, but then on the very last night my partner and i decided to give in. it was situated in the middle of a crossroads which meant that people going to/from it wouldn't cause massive congestion, plus the pedestrian road it was facing was relatively wide so the queue wasn't blocking shops or anything. it was so good we went back for 2nds even though it took us almost half an hour of waiting, and the reviews definitely reflected the quality. sometimes you just really have to check the reviews to know if places are worth it or not
No what you need to do gen Z is stay in your hole and do as you are told. No gen Z has anything useful to say. Be silent and submissive as your DNA demands. You are agressive until you are put down.
Hahahah considering it was all they did and what they COULD have charged like the stroopwafel place I thought it wasn’t bad. I assumed 8.50 or something more
@@evan In Sydney they'd cost more than that. Loaded fries (particularly at a trendy place) can be easily upwards of $15 dollars (around 10 euros or more) and regular fries are often around 7-10 dollars.
While I've never been on Tik tok, I have always found that the most popular places, however you measure them, are not the best places. In the best case scenario it's a good place ruined by long lines. But more often, it's a place that was good once, or just has a good marketing team, and has now gone all in on raising prices and lowering costs to maximize value extraction.
I've been to Amsterdam multiple times and I never looked anything up. Just walk around, see what's interesting, give it a go. I love this city so much.
Went Amsterdam last year so watching this video was nostalgic! Definitely was fed all the videos from Van wonderens , we walked by and it was too full and a local guide told us it was a tourist trap. So glad we went Rudy's. They were so warm and friendly to talk to! We went back like 3 times on our trip❤ as soon as i saw the big stropwafel in your hand at the beginning, i know it was Rudy's
Evan I am in love with your content at the moment. It's so varied, it's like a surprise every time I click onto TH-cam ❤ p.s I watch you whilst I was my dishes which is my least favourite chore but you make it much better.
TikTok isn't ruining travel, it's the idiotic TikTok viewers!! Well, in reality, they're not. You can spot a TikTok queue a mile off and stay well clear, rather like Madame Tussaud's pre-TikTok. :D
If food isn't reasonably priced to me (a Yorkshire-Northeasterner), no matter how popular it is, I won't be buying it whether TikTok says to or not. About threw a fit when an ice cream van wanted to charge £3.50 for a '99 on Holy Island and said feck no to afternoon tea in a York hotel charging £56 for afternoon tea for 2. People wanting to buy stuff because TikTok says it's the best are just idiots with no common sense and an open wallet
Ha ha,sorry but Afternoon Tea in a hotel in York,thats a structured thing and you are also paying the ambience and the imagined sense of specialness,that sounds about the right price to me. You've taken Granny or Great Aunt to celebrate their 90th birthday. It's not about a few slices of bread and the tiny cakes. Go to the nearby Greasy Spoon aka Starbucks for that. That price sounds about right to me for what you're buying which is not food. As for the ice cream,well a 99 costs only about £1 less everywhere else. You're on Holy Island for God's Sake. I hope so. Pay the bloody price. D'you insist your employer pays you the least money he/she possibly can.
@@janebaker966 If you pay £56 for afternoon tea you're a mug. I've bought gift vouchers for £30 in similar if not nicer hotels in my more local area - for two. Having half a sandwich, 1 scone and 3 miniture slices of cake plus tea (only one pot between two) for £56 is not on. Betty's Tea Room in York was cheaper and much nicer (but sadly was fully booked when we wanted to go). My more local cafe that does it is £10 per person and you all get your own selection, not shared and is very nice for the ambience. But yeah... if you want to waste £56, go ahead. There's making a profit, and then there's taking advantage and both the ice cream van and the hotel in York were taking advantage. No, I don't insist my employer pays me the minimum. I expect to be paid for my value; I expect to pay the value of a meal/food with a little extra for their own profit. I don't expect them to charge £56 for a meal for two that equates to 1 sandwich, 2 scones, 4 cups of tea and a handful of of miniture cakes.
7:59 YES! Local subreddits are best! It’s how I find the BEST hidden gems/hole in the wall authentic places! For instance in New Orleans last year, the BEST food I had was from a local place with no seating in a rougher part of Treme. It’s less than a mile from the French Quarter but the food was tastier (and better value) than any of the tourist traps. Seriously, I’m still dreaming of the catfish I bought there!🤤 Think of your favorite local haunts, I bet many of them are not on Trip Advisor for your area (except maybe in smaller towns with only a few options). Edit: I just checked Trip Advisor for best restaurants in St. Paul MN. I’ve only ever heard of 3/30, all of which are ethnic (aka not local cuisine). If you asked a local for a recommendation, none of these would be on there!😂
If you want good Stroopwafels, take the train to Gouda. It’s the birthplace of Stroopwafels! And they have good Gouda cheese as well. O yeah, for all English speakers… stop saying Stroepwafels. You pronounce the oo as an o as in “coat” not an oe as in “soon”! €6,40 for Fries is way too expensive. They are not even the best in town as multiple Dutch reviewers have checked. If you are a foreigner you should also try them Dutch style. So with peanut sauce and mayonnaise. (I know, don’t tell the Belgians that you put on peanut sauce, they hate it most of the time)
There is a spot in Nord Amsterdam called Wonder, it is a tick-tock trap. I live over the road from it, and find it fascinating that people choose to go to an out of the way industrial estate for a vibe, rather than explore Amsterdam itself. That said, i would rather the tourists be clumped in one place keeping the real gems for people living locally.
There is this book statue in central library. People stand line sometimes for half hour too see that statue. Not historical building or gallery which located there as well. Weird
I would argue that it's not ruining travel but improving it. Tiktok crowd will go these places and more sensible travelers will have less crowd in other places. (I am old and judge people use tiktok for any information)
@@eimere I think it's the waffle. Made with (probably) equal parts of wheat flour, beet sugar, and butter ("roomboter"). The latter is dairy, so not vegan. It's likely replaced with (plant based) margerine, which is somewhat less tasty.
A lot of dutch people seem very opposed to putting toppings on a stroopwafel but when I took stroopwafels with me to Italy as a gift to my host family and they pit Nutella them and fellas. I know its unconventional but sometimes when you're right you're right
Saw tv news articles about this during the week. The irony of TV highlighting this as an "issue" when their travel programmes did the same thing for over 30 years is crazy. "Wish You Were Here"...
The difference with Wish You Were Here...? Was that they went through multiple options they gave you recommendations for cheap, mid and expensive budgets, unlike TikTok and Insta which just go for what looks good on camera! And if they returned to places they wouldn't recommend the same things again, they were also done at a time when fewer people were travelling compared to now and if you did, you only had travel guides or wander about until you find something.
Exactly the reason I started my TikTok channel. Everyone is always looking for the flashiest place for “the gram”, but honestly, never the best. Tired of seeing places locals don’t go being glorified because it looks good for TikTok.
It's just a cookie and has been for centuries until the undereducated started flying around the world in droves feeling entitled to somehting uniquely local.
@@janebaker966 because like this video, Evan has gone to popular internet places & recommended more authentic, traditional places. I'd like to see London versions of this or whilst he's on his travels
This shit is out of control in Japan everyone tourist spend there whole time following TiK Tok videos and then complain about it being overcrowded. I was there back in may would literally see a restaurant that was all over tik Tok with an 3 hour wait time. I would walk either around the corner or down or up a block find the same type of restaurant with no line or only a 20 minute wait and would taste just as good or better full of locals and no one filming there food. I'm really starting to hate travel influencers.
@@rhipotter6191 lol yeah I seen them online and was like that's annoying but going to Japan and seeing it in person really was like oh ok this shit is out of control lol.
@@slimscorpio09 we have an issue here in US filming everyone else while they eating or at gym...im over here like dude I don't wanna be filmed in the wild eating corn dogs like a feral cat 🤣🤣😜
I must be wired differently; I see a huge queue and I run the other way, totally not interested.
Same, even if I really want something I just can't be arsed with queues lmfao
I see a huge queue and I think wow, how are this many people so uncynical about the algorithm? That slop was offered to you by the closest equivalent we have to the Matrix and you said "yup, I'll take two I guess"
Same, and even if I know that the thing queued is genuinely good, I'm happy to settle for the second-best (or even "quite nice") as long as I get it without a queue.
@@Munkenba I was in York (UK) a couple of months ago, having a wander about when I came across a huge queue in The Shambles. Turns out it was for the Harry Potter shop. Seriously, people queue up for hours to walk around a little shop ? I was befuggled.
Totally agree, whenever I see a giant queue I automatically assume it'll be overpriced and they'll underdeliver.
Of course it's not always the case, some places are actually great and the locals make up that queue, but... In tourist areas? It's usually just a tourist trap.
It is always so sad to see in Amsterdam the large lines for very mid Dutch food, while literally next door the food is so great for significantly less money. And coating the stroopwafels in candy is a crime.
If you want your pre-packaged stroopwafels to be hot, put them on top of a hot drink like coffee, that's the Dutch way.
Oh don't get me started with those fries that they put on some parmiggiano on top and call it a "must-try" of Amsterdam...
@@johnguzmandiaz and ask €6,40 for it. I know everything has gotten more expensive and it is Amsterdam. But at your average "snackbar" you can get the same for much cheaper
In a local chippy where I lived in England, they had cheese n chips. To me it sounded disgusting. Now I read that in Amsterdam they put parmesan on chips and it's a local "specialty." Yuck.
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw the worst thing is, it's not a local speciality. No Dutch person does this, we only do put cheese on fries in a "kapsalon". And that is our standard cheese.
@@justarjenbut that's Dam for you. Ok the museums are good, but their are such utterly wonderful cities in the Netherlands from Den Hague to Neijnrgen. A mate of mine used to live in Amersfoort. Utterly, Utterly gorgeous town.
I remember seeing a video of an American woman who went to eastern Europe and was looking for a particular library that she'd seen on Tiktok. She was frustrated that it was closed for certain parts of the day so that students could study and was asking why Tiktok hadn't warned her about this. It blew my mind that someone would fly thousands of miles around the world with an itinerary no more detailed than "here are some cute videos I saw online"
There’s a book shop in Porto Portugal which is beautiful looks like an ancient library like beauty and the beast type library… before social media made the place a popular tourist destination you could just go in a buy books and stuff now you have to pay and queue just to get inside a bookstore
@@RitinhaGEShakespeare & Company in Paris has been a famous English language bookstore for decades but they have now banned photography because tourists were just using it as a photo op and not to actually buy books. I’m glad that my university library isn’t especially picturesque so at least I don’t have to deal with tourists being loud.
@RitinhaGE Is that why the queue is so long? I was there 2 years ago, but couldn't be bothered to get in a queue that went down a hill and round a corner!
@@ninamarie177 Yes, they banned photos and the queue is still pretty long to enter that library!
Ironically, there is no queue for the Shakespeare and co café directly beside the library (probably not cute enough for TikTok). So the few times I go there for a warm drink I like to just sit and people watch the crowd in the queue while wondering who might be there for what.
Like what happened to doing actual research on the internet?????
As soon as I saw the crazy toppings, I understood immediately. It's the same thing with Belgian waffles. The best ones are from the tiny vendors that literally do nothing but make this single product the best they possibly can. However, the ones who serve all the extras sadly get a double whammy bonus from their business model. Firstly the toppings serve to mask the taste of the interior quality underlying product (waffle), and secondly, it makes for great marketing shots, not least because it aligns much better with the expectation of American visitors, who are used to having lots of choice and customisation options everywhere they go.
Or just trained from infancy to pay over the odds for crappy food.
Whoops, I meant inferior lol.
@@adhillA97 You know you can edit your comment, right? (three dots on the right)
@@thescrewfly I did. Did you know that if you edit a comment with a heart, it removes the heart? Presumably it's so some troll can't change their comment to say something like "Hitler was right, these people should be killed" and make it look like Evan is a fascist, but it's slightly annoying for small spelling corrections.
@@thescrewfly I did. Did you know that if you edit a comment that has a heart on it, it removes the heart?
Presumably this is so that a troll can't change their comment and make it look like the TH-camr agrees with some unscrupulous thing, when they liked a totally different comment.
_Fun fact: this is my second attempt at this comment, in the previous one I gave a verbatim example of something a fascist troll might change their comment to and it got yeeted by the algorithm, so no examples this time. I'm sure you can imagine something much worse than what I came up with anyway_
20 Euros Vs 2.50!?!? For that price I'd want them to be dipped in bubblegum resin
Hell. For 20 Euros they could put gold leaf on them and still turn a massive profit. 😂
€20 for a stroopwafel??? As a Dutchman I just want to say “HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!”
@@J.e.r.o.e.n 20 fucking euro is getikt
As somebody who lives in a touristy area, I can confirm all the popular tourist traps are overpriced and often serve disgusting food.
Yeah exactly, while tiktok is promoting this issue, overpriced tourist traps are nothing new and locals know how to avoid them
Right. That's true all over the world.
As a Dutch person those TikTok’s about the stroopwafel place pisses me off (maybe even enrages me) Not even fresh. Too many toppings. You don’t put toppings on a stroopwafel and so expensive. Just go to any market anywhere in the Netherlands and you will find a stroopwafel stall that will make them fresh in front of you and it will only be a couple of euros. Also I just don’t get it why you would want to spend your time in a mega que. For me when I’m a tourist that is a turn off. I already have limited time so why waste it in a que that is probably for a tourist trap.
Exactly your there for a few days, why waste that time queuing when you could see more of the place.
I remember when van Wonderen opened up and thinking, that's ridiculous! Who tf would want that or would pay so much? I assumed most people would think the same. Oh how wrong I was! :D
And I'm salty about TikTok ruining actual decent places like van Stapele.
Er zijn gewoon ongelofelijk veel achterlijke aandachtshoeren overal, die hun persoonlijke leegte op die manier willen vullen.
Eigenlijk moet je die maandenlang in een Big Brother huis stoppen en niet filmen en niemand laten weten.
Alleen de teleurstelling filmen wanneer ze eruit komen en het kan niemand schelen 😊
Let me hit you with some context and crucial thinking.
So you're mocking these people because they want to "waste" time on vacation in a line.
Your writing comments on TH-cam is definitely a waste of time. You're not changing anyone's mind.
So before you critique others behavior. Realize you do the same thing. It's just you don't value waiting in line. I guarantee there is something you waste time on that others would call stupid.
@@beatbuildersstudio I just want to say I wasn’t mocking anyone in my comment. What I was saying is I don’t get it why you would do that. As in I don’t understand it. That is not mocking someone unless that meaning has suddenly changed. And if you want to have a conversation about it to explain what for you the added experience is I’m all for it. I don’t shy away from that.
I also said for me it is a turn off and I myself would see it as a waste of time. That is not an attack on people who do it. It’s a personal perspective. If that is what you want to do that is perfectly fine. I’m not going to stand next to a line yelling at people they need to stop and that they are stupid.
What I am negative about is the TikTok’s claiming that van wonderen is the best place in the Netherlands for stroopwafels, because it is far from it. If you want a better experience there are other cheaper place for that with less waiting time. Call it national pride. But if you want to wait in line for a mediocre stroopwafels with toppings that don’t add to the taste that is up to you.
So yes I do think about this critically and I’m highly aware that somethings I do other people don’t understand why I would want to do that. And if they want to I don’t mind having a conversation from my own perspective.
As a Dutchman, I'd say that the prepackaged stroopwafels aren't necessarily bad... fresh stroopwafels are just MUCH better.
Prepackaged ones in Britain are sadly much worse than the prepackaged ones of the Netherlands
I can just imagine this 🥲
Thank you for this! You verbalized exactly why I say no when my friends tell me to be a travel influencer. It seems like everyone is following the same formula, rushing into a place to film the highlights which they've heard about from each other, and then rushing off to the next place. Few are actually traveling anymore, or creating CREATIVE content. It's why I don't bother watching videos about my own city when they pop up; I know it's just someone who was in town for a couple days and hit the spots they heard about from another person who was here for 2 days.
ACCURATE
Gen Z are actually not mentally capable of creating creative things. That part of their brain is damaged at birth. Its also the part that controls empathy and such. Gen Z has no such thing.
3:28 omg the car wheels perfectly synchronized to the framerate!
Good catch!
So satisfying!
Lies, we have hover cars in the Netherlands xD
About 10 years ago we went on a weekend break to Istanbul and stayed at a hotel that was very highly rated on TripAdvisor.
It was shyte.
When we came downstairs we caught a glimpse of the screen of the guy behind the desk.
He was on TripAdvisor writing a review of the hotel.
How much was it? It must been Lots like lots!
Yeah, I always sort to see worst to best. You can usually see common things, and how the hotel replies is very much a factor
Trip Advisor is like Wikipedia, it is a starting point for research but you need to dig deeper and fact check!😂
@@tachi4everBingo! The worst reviews are the most valuable!
TikTok is Ruining everything nevermind Travel.
No, it's humans. TH-cam was blamed for ruining everything, facebook was blamed for ruining everything, now its claimed tiktok is ruining everything. Which ever is the most popular is blamed for all of societies woes.
Though sometimes unfairly since META(Fb/IG) have long been hiring PR firms to blame any bad trends that comes from their media sites on tiktok.
I wouldn't go that far. There are also plenty of things being ruined by advertising in general without any social media involvement.
Just ignore it. Sounds pretty easy to me.
Should be banned. But the kids will just move to a new platform and put all their nonsense there
Tik Tok makes Instagram and Facebook look irrelevant. Tik Tok today is like MTV in the 90s, but losers stuck in the past refuse to give credit to anything in the present.
Another effect worth noting is that: after a business gets a lot of short-lived popularity through TikTok, they naturally may increase prices to ripoff levels, lower authenticity of food (e.g. ordering premade stroopwafels), and source less good ingredients to serve all the new customers and make money before the hype ends. This naturally gets them a lot of poor reviews, but the TikTok won’t be changed, making it become outdated due to its own popularity.
So a sc-am. And false advertising. Yep typical gen Z crimes.
The problem really is that so many people have to be told what to do. They want experiences served to them on a spoon, and don't consider that there might be something else to see. That's why they all use that one shop/cafe they've seen on tiktok, or that one angle for a picture they've seen in instagram. There's a section of the Great Wall of China that is horrifically congested, because everyone goes there, squeezes there way through the crowd, does the same picture everyone else does, then leaves - completely ignoring all the other sections of the wall, just 50m away, that have far fewer people and are just as impressive. It's not just the young. I was once in Bangkok, in bar, and a guy said to me that he was in the city for three days for a stopover, and asked what he could go any see. How can you arrange three days somewhere and not even think to look at what you could do there?
Immediately knew you were talking about Khao San Road lol
I love taking pic when I travel and so many of my best photos came from shooting everything at random even things that don't seem interesting at first glance. As soon I I got an Instagram account and followed travel influencers for "inspo", my photos started to suck and I wasn't enjoying it as much
Gen Zs DNA is broken from birth. They are unnaturally high in aggression, Yet also incredibly submiss ive when defeated. also without empathy, sympathy or most emotion. They are masterful at manipulating people by PRETENDING to have emotions though. Thus why They are anti social yet pretend to be social and fail every time. Humans can sense when someone is wrong, and all of gen Z are VERY wrong. They do not in fact understand human emotion or social cues at all. The yare not good for the world basically. Its not their fault but it doesnt really matter we all suffer.
im glad you made a video on this! i’ve been recently gathering a lot of travel ideas from instagram, including for food, and started noticing this a LOT
Instagram is as bad, if not worse than Tik Tok.
Edit: when I saw those queues whilst I was there, I thought it was Instagram that had caused them.
@@djlads im aware, so i remain skeptical, very used to seeing the same kind of content about my own city and can smell the bs right away when it’s about home, but not all of it is bad advice and advertising, you just gotta research ^_^
it's a bit like TH-camrs visiting Borough market and ALWAYS choosing the same three items, as if there's only three stalls in the entire market
yasss £8.50 strawberries and chocolate 🔥🔥
Omg the chocolate covered strawberries I always see 😂 like they say it’s the best thing they have eaten ever for £8 I will pass
@@imsoooboredjaehyun I could understand more for something unique to the location, but you can get chocolate covered strawberries just about anywhere.
@@miriamrobarts just make them yourself at home it’s cheaper and taste way better trust me.
@@imsoooboredjaehyun Yes, that's what I mean. People can buy them anywhere, or make them at home. It's not unique to one area, so it's not worth an inflated cost.
Personally, I love strawberries & chocolate, but chocolate covered strawberries are usually a bigger mouthful than I want & the chocolate often breaks away if you try to bite a smaller piece. I'd rather have them not combined, unless it's on a dessert that's easier to eat.
I have made chocolates in the past (unfortunately I can't anymore due to chronic illness). But when I could, I liked to make: ganache truffles, peanut butter balls, nut clusters, & almond bark -- all with dark chocolate.
Also, I usually made chocolates for Valentine's or Christmas, and strawberries in my area are best from around May to July. So I'll just have a strawberry in one hand & chocolate in the other, please! 🍓🍫❤
I agree -- with homemade, you can have better quality for much less cost, and exactly how you like it.
I avoid the problem altogether by not having TIK TOK!
Because all the time you spend on TH-cam and Facebook is so much more valuable compared to Tik Tok. At least Tik Tok is actually fresh and exciting.
Is it though? It has some good stuff, but say it's all fresh and exciting. What platform you watch depends on what you want from it.@@robertbones326
Same tbh. I don't really trust social media for advice on the best things to do. I went travelling last year and I asked the people at the reception desks of my accommodation where and what is good to try and they didn't fail me at all. Had some incredible poffertjes in Amsterdam thanks to my hotel's recommendation 😂
Same but the same stuff on tik tok ends up being shared to instagram and Facebook so its not all completely avoidable or a friend or my partner shares something from tiktok 🙃 at least im not endlessly scrolling it though. My internet habits are already less than ideal, definitely dont need to add to that 😂
@@robertbones326 sure if you like like your bullshit fresh...go for it.
Wow your video quality has gone NUCLEAR dude. Well done - filming, editing, music, pacing… on point.
Danke
I just told a family member yesterday to stop taking travel advices from tiktok for an incoming trip.
Then this video got realesed what a god sent, thanks evan!!!
People taking advice from TikTok always blows my mind, but maybe that's due to me not using TikTok and being a big Reddit user. (Maybe I'm just too old!)
I feel like... The incentive for TikTok is to over-hype whatever you're showing to get more views, so there isn't really any incentive to be honest. I mean... Honestly is boring, how can my monkey brain enjoy something serious and realistic right?
At least on Reddit, Google Maps reviews, Trustpilot, etc. you're getting 'generally' realistic people with no motivation to lie about their experience. You get a much more unfiltered reaction, IMO it's always great to know the good and the bad of a place to keep your expectations in check. :)
really enjoying your new form of content. I think choosing to not force yourself to post every sunday has meant you've given yourself freedom to dig deeper into what you want.
But I still do upload every Sunday haha
Mine mine mine 😂 I got the reference before you showed the clip. I was also on high bird alert as soon as it came into frame 😆 seagulls show no mercy
Gulls are absolute b*stards. A few years ago my wife and I were getting Fish and Chips in Scarborough. Lady in front of us got a pie and chips, got three steps outside the shop, and a dirty great gull swooped, snatched the pie and dropped it over the harbour wall. Clever gull knew it was hot, and breaking it open it would cool faster. That lady screamed like she peed herself too.
Pigeons are flying rats, seagulls are flying wolverines.
😂😂 seagulls
And the gulls in Holland are the size of eagles!
I hate seagulls. When I was a child at Disney's Magic Kingdom, there was a great flock of them terrorizing the guests. One of them had pooped on me as it swooped overhead, luckily it was not on my head but on the shoulder and stayed confined to my shirt so I just went to the nearest bathroom to take off my shirt and clean up as best I could. Needless to say, the magic was mostly gone for me the rest of the day.
Honestly wish a video like this existed for the city I live in. So many tourist traps and overpriced junk (particularly during the fringe festival) that finding good places I haven't been before can be a pain.
Without mentioning the City name?
@wardiya3arbiya Yes, it's bit odd. I'm guessing it's Edinburgh, based on the reference to the fringe. Edinburgh Festival, complete with fringe events, is held every August and draws huge crowds. Understandably, the locals get a bit peeved but, to be fair, that was a problem long before TicToc existed.
If it's Edinburgh, Kakibot's Guidebook has a fun video trying out some tourist traps in the city.
As you mention the "fringe festival" I assume you mean Edinburgh. It is the Festival Fringe though, at the fringe of the Edinburgh Festival. Not to worry, even BBC reporters get that wrong.
@@annwhiteaker6144 thank you for that. Everywhere touristic the locals get peeved, except in Brighton. I live in London and take a train to Brighton anytime i see a ray of sunshine. I am always well impressed with how nice the locals are to us, the tourist. Although they do make us pay with the extorting prices: 5 quids for a crafted 🙄 IPA in can of 330mls.
The amount of times I see someone (I don't mean you) act like the entire UK is London, make sweeping generalisations, is equal parts funny and maddening when you see the millions of likes it gets.
Every other American when you're British: "You're from London right!? No? Then Manchester right!?"
Ah yes, I forgot our country has 2 cities. :)
It'd be like British people assuming everyone is from LA or NYC.
It drives me crazy when Americans use Britain/British, and England/English interchangeably like they mean the same thing. Worse still, when I tried to ask Americans to learn the difference or explained the difference myself, I would say maybe 1% of them have been interested and open to learning. It isn't even close how 99% of them refuse, bring up really weird arguments/reasons they won't, insult me, get angry, like it's wild
As an English man, it's not difficult to notice how particularly Scotland and Ireland don't like us, which I do not blame them, but I think one thing that could help is if people outside of the UK recognised the different countries/terms, and that it isn't all just England. One time I spoke to an American who was being all smug and arrogant using all these fancy, long, technical terms, and clearly trying to show off and that he knew more than me. Then he showed me where he wanted to move to in the "North of England". Scotland. He showed me the North of Scotland. He had no idea what Scotland was, and thought the entirety of the mainland was England. So when you get that, then people acting like all that matters is London, augh, it does us no favours
London is rich the entire country is a dump😊😊😊😊
I honestly don’t think that most Scots truly dislike the English. We don’t like that you keep voting Conservative for god knows what reasons, but apart from that, most of it is friendly banter.
I’m perfectly happy that most foreigners think the UK is comprised only of England. I like my country wuiet and empty of Tik Tokers as possible (though Skye and Edinburgh are still concentration points, and less so Loch Ness).
In short, Scotland is horrible, it’s freezing cold and never stops raining and the food is dreadful and there’s nothing to do and the people are momstrous and the UK really is just London and Buckingham Palace, okay Tiktok?
Stay away. Please.
Took me awhile to realize that uk and Britain are different, but that's because I couldn't care less lol. L british
The effort that went into this video did not go unnoticed. Respect.
I'm loving this new style of video it's SO GOOD also it's a really important message- don't get all your travel advice from one source!
Read Books. Admittedly you'll get a culture shock when you get to Paris and find out everyone's not wearing crinolines from the Zola era and the Champs Elysee is not that epitome of style and elegance it was in those Audrey Hepburn films and in rural Dorset the Tess's and their Swains are hanging about the market cross looking goth and sulky but once you've got used to the dysmorphia it'll be fine.
When I visited Poland with my Polish ex-gf, the nicest food we ate was at the little local diners-it also happened to be the cheapest. When I lived in Thailand, it was the same-roadside noodle bars and food courts. The best food is always what the locals eat.
I can't help but smirk when they say "it's visited by locals". Yeah, no, no Amsterdammer goes to van Wonderen. However, i have to say the best fries in my opinion are Manneken Pis on Damrak (there is also one on Nieuwendijk and I've seen several in Utrecht. There is sometimes a big queue, but I, as a local, actually wait in line there!
@@MartijnPennings I have to be honest I didn’t realized mannekepis branched out to Amsterdam. Makes sense in a way. It’s such a staple in Utrecht and the best fries also in my opinion. I believe they started here in Utrecht around 1991
I've been a Disneyland passholder for 12yrs as a Anaheim local. And I can't tell you how different Disneyland is since covid & the explosion of tiktok. There is HUGE demand for little things like popcorn buckets & they swarm all the picturesque places for streaming and it's just horrible
I am thankful for TikTok keeping the crowds away from the nice places..
Always love TH-cam randomly recommending me stuff like this.
Noted the locations, but as usual, the best way I find to go on trips is just randomly pick a place around where you are.
Maybe look it up before ordering, just to make sure it's not crap, but you're actually discovering and enjoying your time.
Pro tip: Ignore all touristy marketing and TikTok BS. and just chat with some locals, then ask them where they normally go. Also, if you try and use some of the local language during your chat, the locals will like you much more, so they'll probably give you several excellent recommendations, rather than just one. This works almost anywhere.
If you asked the locals where I live you would end up with disgusting food
I usually start a trip off with a tip-based walking tour and ask the guide for any and all recs!!
Gen Z is incapable of actualy doing that. The part of their brain that handles things like: Empathy, sympathy, social functioning, is damaged or not present from birth. Most of gen Z has damaged DNA. Due to fetal alchahol syndrome. From bad mothers. Or are products of outright incest. They can not speak to locals. They can not speak to anyone. They can pretend they have these traits though. But it becomes clear after a few moments that they do not. We can sense when someone is wrong and gen Z is WRONG.
this is what travel season by watcher could've been. i love your vibe and the clear passion and the inclusion of local businesses! great video 😊
You asking people "can I ask you a question?" Is the most English-sounding you've ever been lol
Noah is such a mood in this icl we love
Yup, I smiled when I saw him. So silly!
LOVE this style of video. The editing is so good
I'm glad, as a 35 year old, I'm too old for tictok.
Also, £6.50 for a tray of chips is expensive!!
In any language.
Plus he gave them more advertising, chips with cheese on top should be good, but he didn't wait in the queue, he should have said are they worth the amount of time you queue, as for me I'm not queuing 40+ mins for cheesy chips, when there's other places around, you'd have walked past so many to get there.
€3 max is the average. Honestly, snake oil is cheaper.
especially when it is such a small portion
They're worth it, the truffle mayo fries were 10/10. I went there with a recommendation from a local tho, not tictoc
I've heard the same argument before. Five years ago it was said that TH-cam is ruining travel. And before this, ten years ago, they said it was Instagram. And fifteen years ago, travel blogs were blamed. In other words, this is just old news in new clothes.
Cheap flights are ruining travel.
And all those things are still …fucking with your head when you go to research travel
Agreed!!
@@AmyFerguson but because youtube videos and blogs have time, date, and a loooong description of how they got those fantastic views, its easier to see if you could also do it.
Dang, it’s almost like travel has been getting progressively worse for a long time and everyone knows why…
I am loving your filming style lately. This one especially!! Felt like a segment on PBS or Discovery. Great content as always!
this is a great style/ concept of video you should do more like this 🙏
I saw the same thing in Tokyo. The best shops were just mom n Pop chops hidden along the ways, not the viral stuff.
In Japan, be weary of not just TikTok, but Google maps too. 5-4.8 star reviewed places are usually places that harass you to drop a review as you're about to leave. Outside of Indian food, 3 star foreign restaurants are also really good - they're just lower rates because Japanese people might not like them. Best choice is to look at pictures and make your choice from there.
This is so funny. So I’m one of the people you showed in your Tik tok medley… I went on my first trip in 2022 and thought they were great so gave my honest review. The video went viral (the company never said thanks for free advertising which is always fun) … but now I have been to Amsterdam 4 times and can honestly say these are the worst stroopwaffles I’ve ever head (after Starbucks 🤮). I wish I could delete that recommendation off the face of the earth🤣🤣😭😭
I'm from york, not the touristiest place on earth but touristy enough, and don't even get me started on THE GHOST MERCHANTS my god, some days the queue is a solid 3 hours long and I honestly cannot understand how you can come to a 14th century street just go buy a 3 inch ghost figurine
I visited York in March. It was lovely. I particularly enjoyed the Jorvak museum, little old streets overhung by houses and the Minster. I am guessing the tourist situation in Summer is over the top!
I'm from Leeds and I never understood why people queue for ages outside that shop. There are lots of small places that sell nice things in the city for reasonable price, but that is what people want to bring home as a souvenir? That is what people queue on a claustrophobic street for? It's insanity. The market is nearby. Lots of nice things there.
They're lovely little handmade gifts and they do have good theming, but not worth multiple hours of queuing. I'll admit I do have one from a trip, however we headed down to the dispensery a couple streets away. Although a little harder to find, the much shorter wait and location in a small walled garden made it feel much more pleasant than I imagine waiting for hours on the shambles might. There's always so many lovely things to do anywhere, it's rarely worth spending hours of your precious time in a place standing around.
Came to comment about this. Was a student in York, and always assumed the blockage was people waiting for a ghost tour to start. Only found out overhearing from someone else in a pub the night of my graduation that they were queuing for the ghost shop. So many other interesting independent shops and stalls in York, I'd never looked at that ghost shop twice, but it seems to be one York's top draws to the TikTok crowd. Totally mind-boggling.
Ah, TikTok. It's hard to learn much about *anything* in 60-90 seconds. We have Sphynx cats. A young coworker of mine told me that she learned about popping Sphynx zits on TikTok. NO!!!! 😳 You should absolutely NOT do this! Annnd I haven't used TT since. Go ahead, ban them lol. Excellent video, Evan! 👍👍👍
The word cookie comes from the Dutch word koekje and we name a stroopwafel a koekje, so yes a stroopwafel is in fact a cookie/koekje.
I’m fairly certain the “queue issue” is what prompted Van Stapele to move to a bigger location. (Also I much prefer their cookies to stroopwafel.)
For friets, I think, you’re best to find a market stall selling them. But also most of the little shops (like “Chipsy King”) make perfectly good fries. And many use the cone holder with sauce compartments that allows for eating and strolling. The FabelFriets just never look that appetizing…
Well presented video! Felt like a news programme or documentary
Oh I LOVE the stroopwafel place in the market! But honestly a stroopwafel should be bought from Ah and put on a coffee cup to soften (and become fresh), I think that is probably the true Dutch way :)
I really enjoyed this video! Fascinating! A lovely mix of vlog and information.
Great video evan! The production level is crazy this is like something I'd see on PBS as a kid
Careful placing your mobile phone directly on your bike. Constant gyrations from the road through the bike to your phone can ruin delicate parts of your phone like camera image stabiliser hence your camera will no longer focus automatically.
There are specialised phone holders to dampen these small road disturbances.
Congratulations Evan. It is so nice when a foreigner pronounces 'stroopwafel' correctly. Well done!
Almost, he sort of pronounced it, didn’t get the r sound, but most foreigners don’t, so he can’t be forgiven and the oo sound was okay I guess
@@cantbothernaming Really, well CU next Tuesday.
The music and sound effects around 3:00 are transporting me to 2009 Diners Drive-Ins and Dives
8:28 I usually watch TH-cam at 1.75 speed but not sure why , I had to reduce down to 1.25 for this one to hear everything :P
Evan what is happening with this video these cuts and scenes and the artistry is AMAZING!!! Keep it up
Oh my goodness part of the fun of travelling is finding what you think are little hidden gems and places where only the locals go to eat, where’s the fun and adventure in waiting in a queue with other tourists 🤷♀️
This is such an excellently scripted, edited and produced video Evan! I know you talk about always wanting to make better and better content and just thought I'd say...this viewer appreciates it!!
Thanks! I came up with the whole thing while I was out there! Got caught in Amsterdam an extra 2 days due to the crowdstrike issue. Made a vid out of it
I usually watch your videos at normal, or 1.25 speed. Many other channels require starting at 1.5 speed because they talk SO sloooowly
I watch him at normal speed cuz I think he speaks fast enough typically but there are some channels I always watch on 1.25 or more lol.
I always watch every video at normal 1x speed. I seriously cannot understand how people can be so impatient that they always need to watch something at faster and faster speeds.
Most I watch at 1.25x speed. Had to put it on normal for this one 😂 The only other one I have to do that with is when Jess is presenting on The Running Channel
@@Alfonso162008 there are some people who just speak extremely slowlylike there's one channel i used to watch I could get away with 1.75x and she wouldn't sound sped up at all lol. Shed' sound like she's speaking normally imo. Plus sometimes my queue's long lol gotta get through all my videos in a timely fashion ;)
Yesssss I was hoping you’d hit Hans egstorf. Some of the best in the Netherlands
I used to live in Florence, and there was a sandwich shop behind the Uffizi which which was great for a cheap, quick lunch. It's since exploded on social media and there are always huge queues outside, more interested in the photo op it seems. Shame, but I guess it's not the only place to buy a sandwich.
Its very interesting to see how hit or miss some tiktok recommendations are, i went to japan and other parts of asia recently, and about half of what i planned was through tiktok recommendations, majority of which were awesome! Guess its dependent on locations and what you look for/the extra research you’re willingn to put in
Fun video Evan - From following you I know you've tried all the stroopwaffles for verification lol
I have tried stroopwafels at about 8 different places around Amsterdam :)
The quality of this video is 👌 and such a good topic. Now I want to go to Amsterdam and find some genuine hidden gems 💎
Omg thank you Evan for the stroopwaffle Amsterdam tour I didn’t know i needed. Gonna come back to this video if I ever get to travel to Germany!
GERMANY?
ah yes, Amsterdam, the capital of Germany 😂
I go to Melly’s several times a year and I’ve literally never been served one cold. They’re always warm and super fresh! By far my favourite stroopwafel in Amsterdam and I’m super happy to see you include them on the best options!
If you are at a stroopwafel maker on the market, ask for a bag of stroopwafel crumbles. Most makers sell the crumbles produced in making stroopwafels and I think it's more delicious than stroopwafels themselves. I always had them as a child and now I want stroopwafel crumbles. Thanks Evan ;)
Also, best belgian fries I think are in Utrecht, at ' Manneken Pis'. Thick golden fry with sauce of choosing. If you want to go full dutch, ask for 'patat oorlog', it's not with cheese (WHY PUT CHEESE ON FRIES?!) but with mayonaise, finely cut onions and peanut sauce. Although I just like it with mayonaise
What do you put the crumbles on?
@@Luubelaar On my tongue
I'm really glad that not only do I not use TikTok, but a majority of my travel is to visit friends who live in locations that are overlooked by most tourists, and so I get to see these places through the eyes of a local.
Some of my favorite experiences have been the ones I've gotten while visiting towns that nobody has ever heard of, like when I visited a friend in Matsuyama during my time in Japan, and the town really charmed me.
last summer i went to split, croatia, and there was always a massive queue for this one little ice cream store. i never really had the time or patience so i didn't go there, but then on the very last night my partner and i decided to give in. it was situated in the middle of a crossroads which meant that people going to/from it wouldn't cause massive congestion, plus the pedestrian road it was facing was relatively wide so the queue wasn't blocking shops or anything. it was so good we went back for 2nds even though it took us almost half an hour of waiting, and the reviews definitely reflected the quality. sometimes you just really have to check the reviews to know if places are worth it or not
We all need to promise that if any of us go to these recommended places we don’t whack it all over tiktok
I'm in!
I promise 😂
Easy. just don't use tiktok.
No what you need to do gen Z is stay in your hole and do as you are told. No gen Z has anything useful to say. Be silent and submissive as your DNA demands. You are agressive until you are put down.
Ayy, love the vegan option shout-out at the end. Appreciate it 🙌
Only someone from London could pay €6.50 for a bag of chips and say it's not a bad price.
Hahahah considering it was all they did and what they COULD have charged like the stroopwafel place I thought it wasn’t bad. I assumed 8.50 or something more
@@evan In Sydney they'd cost more than that. Loaded fries (particularly at a trendy place) can be easily upwards of $15 dollars (around 10 euros or more) and regular fries are often around 7-10 dollars.
@@gabyg38915 Australian dollars is 7 pounds and 7 dollars is 3.50 pounds
@@gabyg389$15 aud is €9. price is basically the same
bro its not even a bag, its a small tray
It's so cool to see Luke and Noah in your video and also to listen to sciguys and therefore roughly know how the visit is connected.
While I've never been on Tik tok, I have always found that the most popular places, however you measure them, are not the best places. In the best case scenario it's a good place ruined by long lines. But more often, it's a place that was good once, or just has a good marketing team, and has now gone all in on raising prices and lowering costs to maximize value extraction.
I've been to Amsterdam multiple times and I never looked anything up. Just walk around, see what's interesting, give it a go. I love this city so much.
Evan loves waffles: The video
It’s crazy that I didn’t see this earlier, I’m on holiday in Amsterdam right now and it feels like I’m being followed 😂
Original Stroopwafels can be found on almost every farmers market in the country.😂
Went Amsterdam last year so watching this video was nostalgic! Definitely was fed all the videos from Van wonderens , we walked by and it was too full and a local guide told us it was a tourist trap. So glad we went Rudy's. They were so warm and friendly to talk to! We went back like 3 times on our trip❤ as soon as i saw the big stropwafel in your hand at the beginning, i know it was Rudy's
For 20 euros I’d want it to have gold flakes or something, that’s daylight robbery
I could have a week's worth of groceries for this in Poland
Evan I am in love with your content at the moment. It's so varied, it's like a surprise every time I click onto TH-cam ❤ p.s I watch you whilst I was my dishes which is my least favourite chore but you make it much better.
TikTok isn't ruining travel, it's the idiotic TikTok viewers!! Well, in reality, they're not. You can spot a TikTok queue a mile off and stay well clear, rather like Madame Tussaud's pre-TikTok. :D
I was just wondering when Evan would make a new video, feels like forever since he made one and here it is!
If food isn't reasonably priced to me (a Yorkshire-Northeasterner), no matter how popular it is, I won't be buying it whether TikTok says to or not.
About threw a fit when an ice cream van wanted to charge £3.50 for a '99 on Holy Island and said feck no to afternoon tea in a York hotel charging £56 for afternoon tea for 2.
People wanting to buy stuff because TikTok says it's the best are just idiots with no common sense and an open wallet
Ha ha,sorry but Afternoon Tea in a hotel in York,thats a structured thing and you are also paying the ambience and the imagined sense of specialness,that sounds about the right price to me. You've taken Granny or Great Aunt to celebrate their 90th birthday. It's not about a few slices of bread and the tiny cakes. Go to the nearby Greasy Spoon aka Starbucks for that. That price sounds about right to me for what you're buying which is not food. As for the ice cream,well a 99 costs only about £1 less everywhere else. You're on Holy Island for God's Sake. I hope so. Pay the bloody price. D'you insist your employer pays you the least money he/she possibly can.
@@janebaker966 If you pay £56 for afternoon tea you're a mug. I've bought gift vouchers for £30 in similar if not nicer hotels in my more local area - for two.
Having half a sandwich, 1 scone and 3 miniture slices of cake plus tea (only one pot between two) for £56 is not on.
Betty's Tea Room in York was cheaper and much nicer (but sadly was fully booked when we wanted to go).
My more local cafe that does it is £10 per person and you all get your own selection, not shared and is very nice for the ambience.
But yeah... if you want to waste £56, go ahead.
There's making a profit, and then there's taking advantage and both the ice cream van and the hotel in York were taking advantage.
No, I don't insist my employer pays me the minimum. I expect to be paid for my value; I expect to pay the value of a meal/food with a little extra for their own profit.
I don't expect them to charge £56 for a meal for two that equates to 1 sandwich, 2 scones, 4 cups of tea and a handful of of miniture cakes.
7:59 YES! Local subreddits are best! It’s how I find the BEST hidden gems/hole in the wall authentic places! For instance in New Orleans last year, the BEST food I had was from a local place with no seating in a rougher part of Treme. It’s less than a mile from the French Quarter but the food was tastier (and better value) than any of the tourist traps. Seriously, I’m still dreaming of the catfish I bought there!🤤 Think of your favorite local haunts, I bet many of them are not on Trip Advisor for your area (except maybe in smaller towns with only a few options).
Edit: I just checked Trip Advisor for best restaurants in St. Paul MN. I’ve only ever heard of 3/30, all of which are ethnic (aka not local cuisine). If you asked a local for a recommendation, none of these would be on there!😂
If you want good Stroopwafels, take the train to Gouda. It’s the birthplace of Stroopwafels! And they have good Gouda cheese as well.
O yeah, for all English speakers… stop saying Stroepwafels. You pronounce the oo as an o as in “coat” not an oe as in “soon”!
€6,40 for Fries is way too expensive. They are not even the best in town as multiple Dutch reviewers have checked. If you are a foreigner you should also try them Dutch style. So with peanut sauce and mayonnaise. (I know, don’t tell the Belgians that you put on peanut sauce, they hate it most of the time)
There is a spot in Nord Amsterdam called Wonder, it is a tick-tock trap. I live over the road from it, and find it fascinating that people choose to go to an out of the way industrial estate for a vibe, rather than explore Amsterdam itself.
That said, i would rather the tourists be clumped in one place keeping the real gems for people living locally.
There is this book statue in central library. People stand line sometimes for half hour too see that statue. Not historical building or gallery which located there as well. Weird
Do as the locals do and get your “patatje met” at a “cafetaria” or snackbar. Way cheaper. Most locals buy their daily stroopwafels at the supermarket.
This wins the Internet. Thank you for doing this.
I would argue that it's not ruining travel but improving it. Tiktok crowd will go these places and more sensible travelers will have less crowd in other places. (I am old and judge people use tiktok for any information)
Yeah I cant help but think, shhhhhh let TikTok have their crap and let us people with a modicum of ability to find the good places.
Although it's giving a filtered view of a place which is an issue and reducing the fun of exploring and adventure you get from traveling
I'll be in Amsterdam next year and just marked all your recommendations on my Google Maps haha
Getting a good vegan caramel is so rare - sounds like it's worth the price
Sorry for the total ignorance. Why normal caramel isn't vegan? Isn't it only sugar?
@@eimere Caramel is quite a broad definition but it's usually finished with butter and or cream to make it more viscous/luxurious
I just bought some corn meal ie polenta which is the packaging assures me "gluten free" lol,ha ha ha.
@@eimere I think it's the waffle. Made with (probably) equal parts of wheat flour, beet sugar, and butter ("roomboter"). The latter is dairy, so not vegan. It's likely replaced with (plant based) margerine, which is somewhat less tasty.
@@jodocusonbenul @dogcatdogable ohh butter! Didn't know that. Thank you!!
A lot of dutch people seem very opposed to putting toppings on a stroopwafel but when I took stroopwafels with me to Italy as a gift to my host family and they pit Nutella them and fellas. I know its unconventional but sometimes when you're right you're right
Saw tv news articles about this during the week. The irony of TV highlighting this as an "issue" when their travel programmes did the same thing for over 30 years is crazy. "Wish You Were Here"...
The difference with Wish You Were Here...? Was that they went through multiple options they gave you recommendations for cheap, mid and expensive budgets, unlike TikTok and Insta which just go for what looks good on camera! And if they returned to places they wouldn't recommend the same things again, they were also done at a time when fewer people were travelling compared to now and if you did, you only had travel guides or wander about until you find something.
Exactly the reason I started my TikTok channel. Everyone is always looking for the flashiest place for “the gram”, but honestly, never the best. Tired of seeing places locals don’t go being glorified because it looks good for TikTok.
Never heard of a stroopwaffle before lol. Also, the amount of people that actually use tiktok is astonishing to me.
Don't people READ BOOKS anymore? Absorb the vibe of a place long before you go,internalise it,then go and find out it's now all McDs and Westfield's.😕
It's just a cookie and has been for centuries until the undereducated started flying around the world in droves feeling entitled to somehting uniquely local.
You can't have watched a lot of Evan then, I'm sure he's mentioned and shown stroopwafels in at least five videos before this 🤣
@@durabelle mostly just on my second channel tho
@@evan Ah, that explains it. I just watch everything from both channels so don't even check which one they're on 😄
Evan Edinger, nice video keep up the great content
Would love an internet v reality series from you!
😅 why not just look around you.
@@janebaker966 because like this video, Evan has gone to popular internet places & recommended more authentic, traditional places. I'd like to see London versions of this or whilst he's on his travels
this is so well edited!!!
This shit is out of control in Japan everyone tourist spend there whole time following TiK Tok videos and then complain about it being overcrowded. I was there back in may would literally see a restaurant that was all over tik Tok with an 3 hour wait time. I would walk either around the corner or down or up a block find the same type of restaurant with no line or only a 20 minute wait and would taste just as good or better full of locals and no one filming there food. I'm really starting to hate travel influencers.
😂😂starting too ??
@@rhipotter6191 lol yeah I seen them online and was like that's annoying but going to Japan and seeing it in person really was like oh ok this shit is out of control lol.
@@slimscorpio09 we have an issue here in US filming everyone else while they eating or at gym...im over here like dude I don't wanna be filmed in the wild eating corn dogs like a feral cat 🤣🤣😜
@@rhipotter6191 lmao yeah luckily I haven't had to deal with the gym thing but you are right its even here in the US
I love going to Rudi’s then turning around and picking up a coffee from the market.