American in Europe Fumes Over ‘Draining’ Question She’s Always Asked

An American woman who has been traveling around Europe has pointed out a frustration she experiences while exploring the continent.

Kiera Payne is an American travel content creator and digital nomad, and has seen much of what Europe has to offer. However, in a recent video, she describes the irritation she experiences when people ask her where she’s from.

“I have traveled to many places, and I constantly get this question ‘where I am from’ like many other Americans,” she told Newsweek. “Unfortunately, I never know how to answer because of the stigma around Americans being self-centered travelers.”

Payne shared a video on TikTok explaining her frustration and gained over 124,000 views since she first posted it on October 31. In the clip, she reveals the thing she finds “so tiring” when talking to people on her travels.

She says: “I was talking to this girl. She basically asked me where I was from and my response was ‘I’m from Washington.’

“Keep in mind this is the first time in a very long time that I said I was from Washington. I usually say I’m from I’m from the States or I’m from the United States.”

She goes on to explain that whenever she says she’s from the U.S., people ask her where in the country she is from. But when she first says her state, she often hears that Americans just presume that people from other countries know where that is.

She continues: “I meet this girl and the first thing that I do is say I’m from Washington. Her response was: ‘Why is it that every time I ask Americans where they’re from they always say the state like I know where that is?.’

“I can’t win either way.”

In the text overlay of the video, she called such interactions “draining.”

Payne told Newsweek: “I decided to ‘switch it up’ for once because I have been told by other non-Americans to just say the state because they already ‘know’ where I am from…but then when I do that I am met with annoyance from non-Americans. You see the dilemma?

“I wanted to possibly receive online validation that I am not exaggerating and see if anyone else has experienced this. As you can see from the comment section, there was overwhelming validation to my experience and the experiences of other American travelers.”

Payne is one of many Americans who enjoy traveling to Europe. The most popular region of the continent for travelers from the States is Mediterranean Europe, which attracted around 8.3 million arrivals in 2022, according to Statista.

Payne’s video received a huge number of comments.

One TikTok user, with the monicker Yitty, commented: “Me: I’m from Florida in the USA. Them: Are you near Disney? There are always follow up questions for us.”

“It’s a lose/lose… so I learned to say the US Texas near Austin. Then they don’t follow up,” said Andrea Sedillos.

Maddy shared: “I’m from Connecticut and I say I’m from between New York and Boston because no one I’ve met abroad has heard of Connecticut.”

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