I hear you! I'm fortunate enough never to have traveled with an "ugly American" but I've seen them all over the world... I can see where it would leave a bad taste in people's mouths.
When I travel, I try to get as much exposure to the local culture as possible. I can eat Burger King at home; how many chances am I going to have to eat at Jules Verne or Man Wah or a food court in Singapore? (And it really annoys me when they skimp on the spices, even when I ask them specifically to make my food spicy, because "Americans can't eat spicy food.")
I still call myself American when I travel, to try to prove the point that not all Americans are so gauche.
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