In general, France ranks very poorly among the nomad community. Because we speak poor English, if at all, because we’re not very friendly, and because it’s very or too expensive.

Nomad List is the website that every nomad consults. On the front page, it offers a ranking of all the cities according to nomads’ preferences. It’s not the Bible or Lord of the Rings, but it gives you an idea.

The first French city is Grenoble, which ranks 161st, ahead of Paris.

The photos are quite telling, like the one of Astana, which ranks 99th.

Nomad List users still think it’s better to be there than in France. That makes me laugh.

I love the photo of Lyon personally, which brings back many memories and ranks 414th, by the way.

It’s no surprise either that foreigners hate us. After three years of traveling here and there, what comes up a lot is our arrogance.

I’ve personally witnessed some pretty surreal scenes, like one with an unbearable French woman speaking French to a Spanish shopkeeper as if he were nothing and as if French were a universal language understood by everyone, everywhere in the world, as if by magic.

Years ago, I had already met a French woman trying to enforce a French law in a bar in Belgium, without any shame.

To be fair, some people find this charming. The shopkeeper, for example, had a small smile. He did go out for a cigarette after that, though.

‘They hate us because they ain’t us’ — The Interview

To be sure, though, a little advice if you can manage it: abroad, speak English or, even better, the language of the country you’re in. It’s generally very appreciated.

Most of the time, just making the effort to try is enough. At worst, they’ll reply in English, but you’ll be respected.

Our community will stop coming across as a big bunch of neo-colonizers who still think they’re the center of the world: that’s clearly a plus for the future (in case common sense isn’t enough of an argument).

To put things into perspective, based on my personal experience, you can find yourself in worse company than a group of French people while traveling.

Some regions of Spain, for example, are particularly hostile to tourists, regardless of their nationality and for whatever reasons.

Some regions of the world that you’ve probably never even heard of are already complaining so much about the influx of foreigners that you’d think you were watching C News.

So, we can always comfort ourselves by saying we’re not the worst, and that’s very French, isn’t it?