The joy of travel is in the discovery. However, in these days of Tripadvisor, Instagram and Google maps, the magic of the unexpected has been diminished somewhat; we seem to want to find exactly what we are looking for, rather than simply bask in the newness of it all.
There is a certain kind of traveler that takes this concept to the extreme, and would probably be happier just staying at home. You'll find them in English pubs up and down the Spanish Costas, red as lobsters, tucking into egg and chips and complaining about the lack of Marmite or baked beans, or some other obscure product from the U.K.
Then there are the Instagram hordes who saw a heavily filtered picture of an iconic attraction and join a huge crowd of people with selfie sticks, jostling to get that exact same shot. Hardly the breathtaking and romantic experience you had in mind, was it? When reality fails to match expectations, based on the promise of home comforts or unrealistic Instagram images, people get disappointed and make ridiculous complaints.
These vacation complaints, made to real travel agents and tour companies and based on a Thomas Cook/ABTA survey, are so absurd that it's hard to believe that they are real. Spanish people speaking Spanish in Spain? The brochure didn't tell us it would be like that! Why is the sand yellow? I expected white sand!
I guess the lesson to take from all the disappoint and ridiculousness is this: Travel without expectations, and accept that the world doesn't exist simply to cater to your comforts and photography needs. Go with an open mind to discover, experience and learn!
Scroll down below to see the list for yourself, and tell your travel stories in the comments!
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But are we getting more picky about our holidays? How are people's travel habits changing? Let's take a look at the ways that technology and modern life have affected the ways we choose to spend our time off.
We travel more frequently but for shorter durations: "The Office for National Statistics in the UK conducted a survey called the International Passenger Survey in 1996 and 2016 to uncover the biggest changes in the travel habits between the 1990s and now – that’s a 20-year study," Drifter Planet writes.
"The results show that Brits are now going on more holidays than before. In 2016 they went on more than 45 million holidays abroad, compared to only 27 million in 1996, an overall rise of 68%. But despite this, holidays are becoming shorter, proving to be one of the biggest changes we’ve seen over the years marking a huge decline of two week holidays. A week-long break is now much more popular than ever before and there’s been an increase in holidays lasting up to 10 nights."
With budget airlines making the citybreak a more affordable option, it's no surprise that people are exploring their own continent more, rather than save it all for one big summer trip. It keeps you fresh to get frequent little escapes from work and daily life, rather than waiting almost a whole year for the summer to come around again!
Active holidays are on the rise: As people are becoming more health conscious, so are wellness holidays becoming more popular. Instead of letting it all go with booze and food while away, people are seeking to recharge, repair, and have more of a fitness-oriented break. Things like Ayurveda, Yoga, reiki, body detox, spa and meditation holidays have all seen a huge spike in interest, while classics like hiking, camping and cycling are as popular as they ever were.
Conversely, the old 18-35, contiki tour classics are on the wane, which many people would see as a good thing. While there are still plenty of resort options if you want to get wasted, sunburned and laid, it doesn't quite seem to have the same appeal to the younger generation as it did for us oldies. Maybe kids these days are just more sensible, introverted, health and image conscious to get into wild drunken brawls on the streets of Benidorm or Ayia Napa.
Social media's effects: Back in the old days, you'd arrive at your destination with maybe a guide book, a map and some interesting new banknotes. These days, we've seen photos of everything, read all the restaurant reviews, know which attractions we want to photo ourselves, as well as the funky 'hidden' bars and hangouts. We all find these things in the same place: Google. 'Top 10 things you must see in Porto' leads tourists to the same few places in the city, all busy instagramming away and trying to keep the crowds out of their image.
If somewhere happens to be particularly popular on Instagram, it will be packed with people trying to get that 'money shot,' rather than simply enjoying the aura of the place. The tumbling, colorful buildings of Cinque Terre; the strikingly blue streets of Chefchaouen, the sun setting over the pyramids of Giza... we've all seen these iconic images in gorgeous photos, and we want to take those exact same photos. Perhaps it has always been that way, but Instagram has definitely 'influenced' the way we travel.
Me too. They give bad reputation to the rest of their fellow co-citizens, and ethnic groups in general.
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No, they just expect them to. Spanish is our second language here in the States. I don't get that some people don't get that.
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Maybe they are right. The taxi drivers should go out of their way just to learn each and every language that the passengers they dive, speak.
Well, at least it's not just Americans being arrogant. You can tell they are from the U.K. by the fact they said "holiday" and not "vacation".
When you're in a foreign country guess what you are the Foreigner. How the hell do you think that they are when you're where they live? 100% of the foreign countries you go to we'll have foreign people to you in it. I know it's hard to believe but I wouldn't kid you
Why do I suspect these people were American? And possibly came off a cruise ship for a brief shore excursion? Experience has made me cynical I guess
We don't go on 'holiday', Brits do. We go on vacation.
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If they were from NYC then they should have expected the Taxi drivers to speak Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Pushtu or Arabic
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I had the same experience funny how all the taxis in France where French and in england all engliah and guess what in Egypt they where all Egyptian also I swear ...
In a foreign country and NOT speaking the language fluently I found it best to simply write down the address and name of the places I wanted to go and gave the slip of paper with that info to taxi drivers to put into their GPS on their phones (yes, it is worldwide - everyone uses google maps in Main St USA, Bermuda, Spain, Amsterdam etc...) Even if they speak English this way you get where you want to go. Now having said that...NEVER underestimate people's capacity for stupidity. Most of these people should win the Darwin Award (yes, real thing and should be googled to REALLY discover just how stupid people can be)and take themselves out of the gene pool as they really shouldn't breed.
Brits have been going to Spain forever. Surely there must be some word of mouth? Of course, now with Brexit the Continent can relax.
Next time do the obvious thing and hire a translator to accompany you throughout your vacation LOL
Amazing! We had the same experience in Africa. The taxi drivers were all African. Go figure!!
There's a definite problem in Spain...the taxi drivers are Spanish, the food is Spanish, they all speak Spanish....someone needs to fix this!!! LOL. It would be funny except that I heard this all the time from people when we were stationed in Europe.
...and maybe they all spoke Spanish? Get a life and learn some foreign language. Or Stay at home!
technically this is kinda bazaar. all taxi cab drivers are from other countries around here.
Once I traveled to poland and oh ma god the people there spoke only polish!!!! Can you imagine that??? - Karen
Ginger Nuts likely the nickname the shop keepers had for these tourists.
When I lived in Africa we had an American tourist that came to the front desk of the hotel and demanded that we "turn the tape off" because he couldn't sleep. After some questioning, we realized that he thought the sounds of nighttime Africa were a recording. He refused to believe us that this was just the sound of nature. We had to take him outside and let him listen. He still was not convinced. He lodged a complaint with management.
my friend who rents a cabin in the woods received a formal complaint saying that "the birds were chirping too loud and we could not sleep" and demanded a partial refund
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As a person who worked six years at the travel agent I hereby confirm that people can be not only this stupid, but much, much worse.. so unfortunately I know these statements are true.. We once had a guest that booked the accommodation for September and demanded that we send them in March (6 months before the trip) the weather report and the exact sea temperature for the dates they booked as they "didn't want to travel all those miles just to spend their holidays indoors or swim in a cold sea." And one asked if the beach were in proximity of the sea.. and so on and so on..
I once booked a beach vacation in the Sahara and had to walk 500 miles each day to get to the water.
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When my family and I that are from the US had the fortunate experience to travel to beautiful Germany. We were repeatedly embarrassed by people from the states. On one of those occasions we were staying at the Café Post on the Rhine, when a party from the states where complaining that could not get a breakfast like in the US. Where are the omelets and pancakes? My thought was then that's where you should have stayed. Also one of the men in the party broke a dowel on the stairway with his suitcase. When the owner approached him with the dowel in hand and asked if he broke it, he laughed. The Café Post Guest House is family owned and they take such pride in its upkeep and cleanliness. My Mom who speaks German said to the owner that the guy was a real a**hole and apologized on behalf of the jerk. When traveling the world please show the best of ourselves not the worst.
I'm English, and other brits abroad are not something I'm particularly proud of either.
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Around the time Braveheart (one of the worst films ever made) came out I was working in tourism in Inverness. I lost count of the number of Americans who complained because the “Scotch” people (?!?!) they met were too hard to understand and there were too many cars and buildings in town. I think they expected the Highlands to have not developed since the 13th century and that we should have all been speaking with the cartoonish Scottish accent of an American actor raised in Australia. I’ve now lived in Australia for over a decade and Americans are confused when I don’t sound like crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin and that I have never and will never come across any wildlife in my daily life because despite what they see on TV this is one of the most urbanised places on the planet. Sorry if this seems like it’s picking on Americans but in general they can be a bit clueless about the world outside.
@djinn I feel like some tourists who come to Scotland get personally offended if we don’t have cartoonish brogues like “groundskeeper W***y” from the Simpsons.
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This reminds me of the woman who wrote a note to the park rangers at Yellowstone to train the bears to come out at the same time each day so she could see them. https://www.outsideonline.com/2011846/yellowstone-visitor-upset-bears-didnt-show
"Every voyager is an ambassador of his country" I think Goethe said that....
That's so true, but also very unfair. I have no problem showing a good image, but I am me, I am not all the people of my country. For example, if I refuse to drink alcohol, it's not because in my country people don't drink alcohol (in fact, they do, and A LOT), it's just because I don't like the alcohol you're offering me. Tsk tsk tsk....
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Same people who still believe in Trump, who thinks the earth is flat or that vaccines are a giant hoax...
You don't think Trump is real? He's not the Easter Bunny....
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People should be required to take a test before having children.
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I am really struggling to believe that these people are THAT stupid. I either hope these are jokes or completely fake. My IQ has dropped 10 points from reading these.
Believe me, they are.. I worked at a travel agent for 6 years and these aren't even the worst complaints I had seen
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Ah the stupid... making normal people feel like einsteins all over the planet.
I had complains from tourists there are too many sheep and horses up in the clearly fenced up part of the valley that also clearly have signs warning about animals on the road. And no we are not removing 50+ sheep, two horses and a uknown number of wildlife so you can camp there for 1 night. It was hell after the first Frozen film sicne it was inspired by Norway meant Norway was just like the Frozen movie and cant wait for the 2nd to come... Yes I had a few americans ask where you could ride reindeers.
They drive through a rural area and they’re surprised to see animals. I’m from Canada and I’ve experienced that very thing.
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My parents once took a trip to Paris. My father was speaking with a shop clerk who spoke perfect English and was very pleasant. Another American walked in who was the classic Ugly American, demanding to be waited on immediately. The shop clerk pretended to not understand her. The woman then turned to my father and said, “If they want our money, they should speak our language!” My father simply shrugged and said, “No English.”
I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan....It's August and 90 in the shade...I had a car pull over with skis on the roof rack..."How far to Canada?"....Umm...you've been in Canada for about 400 miles..."Where's the snow?".......It's August, there is no snow...."Well, where are the mountains?"....About 400 miles to the West, but you won't find much snow there either......LOL
I live on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a national wildlife refuge within a couple of miles of us where I often volunteer. Common heard comments and questions: (1) what time do the birds come out? [We are on a major migratory route and see many unusual species of birds] (2) Why is the water at different levels at different times throughout the day? [Ever heard of tides?] (3) Why is there so much sand? Couldn't they move some of it out of the way? (4) We've been here for hours and only seen some seagulls and other common birds. They really should ensure the better birds are available anytime the refuge is open. [Tell it to the birds!] I could go on for days...people really are as stupid and as clueless as shown here and worse.
I wouldn't tell them the water keeps coming back. Natural selection, you know. ;-)
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"Anderson, don’t talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the entire street." tumblr_ml2...b525ff.gif 
Seriously!!!! the really scary thing is that these people are allowed to vote and have children. God help us all.
I travel to see the world, different people, different countries, different habits, food... Some of these people seem to want to travel a long (or short) time and arrive in their home country they are used to. Why bother travelling then??
YOU travel to see other cultures, but many people travel to be able to say they've been there, because their friends have all visited that place/country and they have to keep up with the Joneses. They only travel to take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Alhambra, the Big Ben, San Marcos, etc, to post the photos in Instagram. They are not interested in the country/food/art/people at all.
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When I worked part time at an auto-camp reception near the sea, a guest complained about the independent individual doughnut sellers on the beach. You know, the ones who walk around with their doughnut filled boxes and occasionally shout "(I sell) dooooooooughnuuuuuts!!!"
Having traveled to every continent except Antartica in my lifetime-yup, people are this stupid and then some. The most stupid complaints to me are complaining about the locals' race "OMG there are so many black people here? In Brazil? In Africa? OMG I feel so uncomfortable agh!" Or language issues. Like do people not realize that the entire world doesn't speak their native language? because there are hundreds of languages spoken all over the world? The apparent answer is no. And I'm not saying you have to become and expert but my god at least learn a few little phrases like yes or no or at least know what the local language is (met a family that was SHOCKED that "OMG Japanese is the official language of Japan? GASP!")
My God how I hate racism, the perfect combination of stupidity and evil.
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You know, these people are classic examples of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain.
I once worked on a cruise ship and we were at sea. A man asked the purser when the mail would be delivered that day.
We once stayed at a Logis de France at the Atlantic coast that was famous for their seafood, in 1999. A German customer complained that they didn't offer salt free plates. Although the owner apologised and created a vegetarian plate on the fly, this guy still sent a formal complaint - by the fax machine of the same hotel - to Logis de France's HQ in Paris. We got pretty close with the owners (it was a family business) and we have sent the same day a fax with our version of events and a lot of praise for the excellent food to the same LdF HQ. Someone from LdF called me (I guess to see if we were real people), and the complaint was dismissed. The owners have ever since added a salt free dish to their menu, but this has never been ordered since.
None of these are at all unusual. I live in a Welsh seaside town, and I swear the summer vistors think we residents are Westworld-esque robots. And that we're put back in boxes when they leave.
Park workers in Banff have been asked questions such as "Where do you keep the animals at night?" Then there are those tourists who tell their kids to pose with a bear, or a bull elk at the height of rutting season...
Elk are massive creatures with even massiver pointy bits at that time of year. This isn't Bambi, haha. Go pick a fight with a moose while you are at it, haha.
Load More Replies... "Went to the wadden sea to watch the tides, and guess what, there was no water there, and the dumb girl at the tourist information just told us to come back in 6 hours! And worst of it, she gave us that tacky little calendar that said that tomorrow the water would be back HALF AN HOUR LATER!! And these morons did not want to change that for me! ME!!!"
After reading all this I wonder how these people even got on their plane. You can't be that stupid...
You’re nicer than I am. I’m frankly amazed that many people have managed to reach adulthood without stepping in front of a bus.
Load More Replies... All of these are what Trump would say, you know because he speaks his mind...
He spoke his mind all the way to the White House. There are several instances of Trump Derangement Syndrome here. When have you ever heard of him being this kind of tourist? Never? Then why bring him up?
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I was in Florida on a beach, who had nets in the water, but a baby-shark slipped through and caused me a mild panic attack as i was swimming pretty far out from the beach. Didn't calm me down when I realized most people already were out of the water since the lifeguards were yelling SHARK! Jeez, I thought it was part of the whole american-beach-fun-stuff... (yeah I'm scandinavian...) Not complaining! Felt like a movie! Yaaay!!
Please explain to us why you don't think that was stupid.
Load More Replies... I've been working many years with travellers( from almost any part of the world), and in the past 10 years i have to underline the worsening of cultural level and growth of rudeness and ignorance.i could write lot of books So i'm not astonished, all of the above can unfortunately be real. One of my personal experiene was a woman travelling in South Africa and Namibia complaining cause lot of people was....black! And she wasn't confortable. Regardless to the unbereable racism.... seriously???
When traveling I watch the locals for what's appropriate, keep my hands to myself and just have a good time. Its not that hard to not be a idiot while traveling.
When we traveled to Cuba on a People To People tour, our Cuban guide was phenomenal but he implored us as all of us retrieved our luggage not to be “that person”. Sure enough there were two who became “those people”. They are living examples of courtesy and kindness versus education can be diametrically opposed. BTW Cuba is beautiful and Cubans are some of the nicest people we have ever met.
I see some potential Darwin Award winners in there..
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There should be a minimum IQ requirement to breed. If you don't measure up, you should be neutered. My eyes rolled so many times while reading this, I think I caught a glimpse of my brain.
Once, I saw a bad review for a host/accommodation because the weather was bad during their stay.
In the USA when I was 11 years old a grown man said to me “hey, you’re English, have you met the queen?” I thought he was kidding, and politely replied “no, have you met the president?” And he gave me a filthy look as if I was completely stupid and said “of course not!!!!”
It doesn't matter where you're from, or where you're going, but if you're taking a vacation, don't be a c**t when you get there. There's nothing worse than a self-entitled moron demanding that reality be altered to their will because they didn't expect Spanish people to speak Spanish, or they ask why Australians don't celebrate Christmas in June since it's winter there, or, like my brother, they ask a non-English person's name, then ask for said person to translate their name into English.
Okay I'm sorry. But was anyone else bothered by the direction of the quotation marks?
When i was staying at a hotel, i saw someone bringing a bucket of sand into the hotel from the beach. They told her to put down the bucket, and she said no because “she wanted to topless sunbath in her room with the sand so it feels like the beach, because all the parents cover their childrens eyes. How rude of them”. Couldnt help but lauh because i was an immature 10 year old.
I have traveled locally and internationally. I have encountered these types of people all over. Travel and exposure to other cultures is so important to help us develop the social skills needed to be a fully functioning member of society. Note: People love to share photos and stories about their travels at church. Many of them reveal how clueless or entitled they were when they were traveling.
There are tons of people that make legitimate complaints...none of these are them. I had a nightmare experience with an Extended Stay in TN. 1) Front desk clerk calls me saying she needs a credit card number to charge a holding fee or that I needed to stop by an ATM to bring the equivalent cash.. There wasn't supposed to be any holding fee according to the booking site I went through. I flat out refused and threatened to call corporate.
2) the room that was booked for us hadn't been cleaned from the previous occupant. There was food all over the counters, someone else's hair in the tub, and stains all over the sheets. I made them move me to another room. This one was clean but half the size of the first. You actually had to climb over the queen bed to get to the entrance for the bathroom.
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I have experience with this kind of things in my country. I was with my friends in a mall, chilling and chatting, when some old white people, yelled at us to speak in English. My friend yelled at them back with "You visited here, you speak our language!"
The shame of being a member of the same species is causing my DNA to cringe :(
Reading this post made my head hurt..are people seriously this stupid? 😣
as guiding tour operator, one tourist told me that it was stupid not to write the name of the company on the light publicity board......LOL, he refer me to a beautiful rainbow!!!!!!
For many northern european tourists, south countries, like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc, are considered kind of amusement parks. I found a couple in Algarve (south Portugal) thinking they were in Spain (it was the 90's and Euro was not a thing yet).
Not only stupid tourists in Spain, I read some city guests at a rural hotel had sued them because of getting wakened in the early mornings by the village roosters hahahaha
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. Albert Einstein
just as a side note, I am Canadian as are my parents. They were in France on a coach tour and met a couple who also wore Canadian Flag badges on their jackets. Mom discovered they were actually American but wore the Canada pins as they said they would get better service if the French thought they were Canadian as opposed to American.
That's quite common, actually. I feel bad for nice Americans who have to suffer through stereotypes.
Load More Replies... I bet these are all true. I've worked in customer service for 15 years and I've heard even stupider complaints. Sad, but true. And, yes, I've lost all faith in humanity at this point.
I'm Mexican and with my parents have travel to the most beautiful parts of the world. And I try to be polite to everybody because they are a part of the country I visit. But in Tanzania, wow, some Chine people were very rude with the Tanzanian people. I didn't like it one bit.
Unfortunately these people that travel outside the country are typically well to do and have a disconnect from reality. You know, the people with all the money and power that pick our politicians and leaders.
when I went half thru posts my thoughts were - "this needs a Shitknife"
Seriously some people should just never leave their homes... or leave their mother's wombs prematurely so the rest of the world who is smart and understands geography won't be bothered by their existence
@AuntMessy She's thick? You called me a child abuser!
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all of these statement are just a joke... we are stupid if we take it seriously
I THINK THAT EITHER ONE PERSON WROTE ALL THIS STUFF AND IS PRETENDING TO BE REALLY STUPID OR WE HAVE A LOT OF OVERPRIVLIGED STUPID PEOPLE.
If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at who he gives it to.
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I once had an American visiting Toronto demand to know where the forest was and how was he going to see a moose with all the streetcars around. He added that if he’d known Toronto had high rises, he’d never have visited.
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When I lived in Africa we had an American tourist that came to the front desk of the hotel and demanded that we "turn the tape off" because he couldn't sleep. After some questioning, we realized that he thought the sounds of nighttime Africa were a recording. He refused to believe us that this was just the sound of nature. We had to take him outside and let him listen. He still was not convinced. He lodged a complaint with management.
my friend who rents a cabin in the woods received a formal complaint saying that "the birds were chirping too loud and we could not sleep" and demanded a partial refund
Load More Replies... As a person who worked six years at the travel agent I hereby confirm that people can be not only this stupid, but much, much worse.. so unfortunately I know these statements are true.. We once had a guest that booked the accommodation for September and demanded that we send them in March (6 months before the trip) the weather report and the exact sea temperature for the dates they booked as they "didn't want to travel all those miles just to spend their holidays indoors or swim in a cold sea." And one asked if the beach were in proximity of the sea.. and so on and so on..
I once booked a beach vacation in the Sahara and had to walk 500 miles each day to get to the water.
Load More Replies... When my family and I that are from the US had the fortunate experience to travel to beautiful Germany. We were repeatedly embarrassed by people from the states. On one of those occasions we were staying at the Café Post on the Rhine, when a party from the states where complaining that could not get a breakfast like in the US. Where are the omelets and pancakes? My thought was then that's where you should have stayed. Also one of the men in the party broke a dowel on the stairway with his suitcase. When the owner approached him with the dowel in hand and asked if he broke it, he laughed. The Café Post Guest House is family owned and they take such pride in its upkeep and cleanliness. My Mom who speaks German said to the owner that the guy was a real a**hole and apologized on behalf of the jerk. When traveling the world please show the best of ourselves not the worst.
I'm English, and other brits abroad are not something I'm particularly proud of either.
Load More Replies... Around the time Braveheart (one of the worst films ever made) came out I was working in tourism in Inverness. I lost count of the number of Americans who complained because the “Scotch” people (?!?!) they met were too hard to understand and there were too many cars and buildings in town. I think they expected the Highlands to have not developed since the 13th century and that we should have all been speaking with the cartoonish Scottish accent of an American actor raised in Australia. I’ve now lived in Australia for over a decade and Americans are confused when I don’t sound like crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin and that I have never and will never come across any wildlife in my daily life because despite what they see on TV this is one of the most urbanised places on the planet. Sorry if this seems like it’s picking on Americans but in general they can be a bit clueless about the world outside.
@djinn I feel like some tourists who come to Scotland get personally offended if we don’t have cartoonish brogues like “groundskeeper W***y” from the Simpsons.
Load More Replies... This reminds me of the woman who wrote a note to the park rangers at Yellowstone to train the bears to come out at the same time each day so she could see them. https://www.outsideonline.com/2011846/yellowstone-visitor-upset-bears-didnt-show
"Every voyager is an ambassador of his country" I think Goethe said that....
That's so true, but also very unfair. I have no problem showing a good image, but I am me, I am not all the people of my country. For example, if I refuse to drink alcohol, it's not because in my country people don't drink alcohol (in fact, they do, and A LOT), it's just because I don't like the alcohol you're offering me. Tsk tsk tsk....
Load More Replies... Same people who still believe in Trump, who thinks the earth is flat or that vaccines are a giant hoax...
You don't think Trump is real? He's not the Easter Bunny....
Load More Replies... People should be required to take a test before having children.
Load More Replies... I am really struggling to believe that these people are THAT stupid. I either hope these are jokes or completely fake. My IQ has dropped 10 points from reading these.
Believe me, they are.. I worked at a travel agent for 6 years and these aren't even the worst complaints I had seen
Load More Replies... Ah the stupid... making normal people feel like einsteins all over the planet.
I had complains from tourists there are too many sheep and horses up in the clearly fenced up part of the valley that also clearly have signs warning about animals on the road. And no we are not removing 50+ sheep, two horses and a uknown number of wildlife so you can camp there for 1 night. It was hell after the first Frozen film sicne it was inspired by Norway meant Norway was just like the Frozen movie and cant wait for the 2nd to come... Yes I had a few americans ask where you could ride reindeers.
They drive through a rural area and they’re surprised to see animals. I’m from Canada and I’ve experienced that very thing.
Load More Replies... My parents once took a trip to Paris. My father was speaking with a shop clerk who spoke perfect English and was very pleasant. Another American walked in who was the classic Ugly American, demanding to be waited on immediately. The shop clerk pretended to not understand her. The woman then turned to my father and said, “If they want our money, they should speak our language!” My father simply shrugged and said, “No English.”
I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan....It's August and 90 in the shade...I had a car pull over with skis on the roof rack..."How far to Canada?"....Umm...you've been in Canada for about 400 miles..."Where's the snow?".......It's August, there is no snow...."Well, where are the mountains?"....About 400 miles to the West, but you won't find much snow there either......LOL
I live on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a national wildlife refuge within a couple of miles of us where I often volunteer. Common heard comments and questions: (1) what time do the birds come out? [We are on a major migratory route and see many unusual species of birds] (2) Why is the water at different levels at different times throughout the day? [Ever heard of tides?] (3) Why is there so much sand? Couldn't they move some of it out of the way? (4) We've been here for hours and only seen some seagulls and other common birds. They really should ensure the better birds are available anytime the refuge is open. [Tell it to the birds!] I could go on for days...people really are as stupid and as clueless as shown here and worse.
I wouldn't tell them the water keeps coming back. Natural selection, you know. ;-)
Load More Replies... "Anderson, don’t talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the entire street." tumblr_ml2...b525ff.gif
Seriously!!!! the really scary thing is that these people are allowed to vote and have children. God help us all.
I travel to see the world, different people, different countries, different habits, food... Some of these people seem to want to travel a long (or short) time and arrive in their home country they are used to. Why bother travelling then??
YOU travel to see other cultures, but many people travel to be able to say they've been there, because their friends have all visited that place/country and they have to keep up with the Joneses. They only travel to take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Alhambra, the Big Ben, San Marcos, etc, to post the photos in Instagram. They are not interested in the country/food/art/people at all.
Load More Replies... When I worked part time at an auto-camp reception near the sea, a guest complained about the independent individual doughnut sellers on the beach. You know, the ones who walk around with their doughnut filled boxes and occasionally shout "(I sell) dooooooooughnuuuuuts!!!"
Having traveled to every continent except Antartica in my lifetime-yup, people are this stupid and then some. The most stupid complaints to me are complaining about the locals' race "OMG there are so many black people here? In Brazil? In Africa? OMG I feel so uncomfortable agh!" Or language issues. Like do people not realize that the entire world doesn't speak their native language? because there are hundreds of languages spoken all over the world? The apparent answer is no. And I'm not saying you have to become and expert but my god at least learn a few little phrases like yes or no or at least know what the local language is (met a family that was SHOCKED that "OMG Japanese is the official language of Japan? GASP!")
My God how I hate racism, the perfect combination of stupidity and evil.
Load More Replies... You know, these people are classic examples of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain.
I once worked on a cruise ship and we were at sea. A man asked the purser when the mail would be delivered that day.
We once stayed at a Logis de France at the Atlantic coast that was famous for their seafood, in 1999. A German customer complained that they didn't offer salt free plates. Although the owner apologised and created a vegetarian plate on the fly, this guy still sent a formal complaint - by the fax machine of the same hotel - to Logis de France's HQ in Paris. We got pretty close with the owners (it was a family business) and we have sent the same day a fax with our version of events and a lot of praise for the excellent food to the same LdF HQ. Someone from LdF called me (I guess to see if we were real people), and the complaint was dismissed. The owners have ever since added a salt free dish to their menu, but this has never been ordered since.
None of these are at all unusual. I live in a Welsh seaside town, and I swear the summer vistors think we residents are Westworld-esque robots. And that we're put back in boxes when they leave.
Park workers in Banff have been asked questions such as "Where do you keep the animals at night?" Then there are those tourists who tell their kids to pose with a bear, or a bull elk at the height of rutting season...
Elk are massive creatures with even massiver pointy bits at that time of year. This isn't Bambi, haha. Go pick a fight with a moose while you are at it, haha.
Load More Replies... "Went to the wadden sea to watch the tides, and guess what, there was no water there, and the dumb girl at the tourist information just told us to come back in 6 hours! And worst of it, she gave us that tacky little calendar that said that tomorrow the water would be back HALF AN HOUR LATER!! And these morons did not want to change that for me! ME!!!"
After reading all this I wonder how these people even got on their plane. You can't be that stupid...
You’re nicer than I am. I’m frankly amazed that many people have managed to reach adulthood without stepping in front of a bus.
Load More Replies... All of these are what Trump would say, you know because he speaks his mind...
He spoke his mind all the way to the White House. There are several instances of Trump Derangement Syndrome here. When have you ever heard of him being this kind of tourist? Never? Then why bring him up?
Load More Replies... I was in Florida on a beach, who had nets in the water, but a baby-shark slipped through and caused me a mild panic attack as i was swimming pretty far out from the beach. Didn't calm me down when I realized most people already were out of the water since the lifeguards were yelling SHARK! Jeez, I thought it was part of the whole american-beach-fun-stuff... (yeah I'm scandinavian...) Not complaining! Felt like a movie! Yaaay!!
Please explain to us why you don't think that was stupid.
Load More Replies... I've been working many years with travellers( from almost any part of the world), and in the past 10 years i have to underline the worsening of cultural level and growth of rudeness and ignorance.i could write lot of books So i'm not astonished, all of the above can unfortunately be real. One of my personal experiene was a woman travelling in South Africa and Namibia complaining cause lot of people was....black! And she wasn't confortable. Regardless to the unbereable racism.... seriously???
When traveling I watch the locals for what's appropriate, keep my hands to myself and just have a good time. Its not that hard to not be a idiot while traveling.
When we traveled to Cuba on a People To People tour, our Cuban guide was phenomenal but he implored us as all of us retrieved our luggage not to be “that person”. Sure enough there were two who became “those people”. They are living examples of courtesy and kindness versus education can be diametrically opposed. BTW Cuba is beautiful and Cubans are some of the nicest people we have ever met.
I see some potential Darwin Award winners in there..
Load More Replies... There should be a minimum IQ requirement to breed. If you don't measure up, you should be neutered. My eyes rolled so many times while reading this, I think I caught a glimpse of my brain.
Once, I saw a bad review for a host/accommodation because the weather was bad during their stay.
In the USA when I was 11 years old a grown man said to me “hey, you’re English, have you met the queen?” I thought he was kidding, and politely replied “no, have you met the president?” And he gave me a filthy look as if I was completely stupid and said “of course not!!!!”
It doesn't matter where you're from, or where you're going, but if you're taking a vacation, don't be a c**t when you get there. There's nothing worse than a self-entitled moron demanding that reality be altered to their will because they didn't expect Spanish people to speak Spanish, or they ask why Australians don't celebrate Christmas in June since it's winter there, or, like my brother, they ask a non-English person's name, then ask for said person to translate their name into English.
Okay I'm sorry. But was anyone else bothered by the direction of the quotation marks?
When i was staying at a hotel, i saw someone bringing a bucket of sand into the hotel from the beach. They told her to put down the bucket, and she said no because “she wanted to topless sunbath in her room with the sand so it feels like the beach, because all the parents cover their childrens eyes. How rude of them”. Couldnt help but lauh because i was an immature 10 year old.
I have traveled locally and internationally. I have encountered these types of people all over. Travel and exposure to other cultures is so important to help us develop the social skills needed to be a fully functioning member of society. Note: People love to share photos and stories about their travels at church. Many of them reveal how clueless or entitled they were when they were traveling.
There are tons of people that make legitimate complaints...none of these are them. I had a nightmare experience with an Extended Stay in TN. 1) Front desk clerk calls me saying she needs a credit card number to charge a holding fee or that I needed to stop by an ATM to bring the equivalent cash.. There wasn't supposed to be any holding fee according to the booking site I went through. I flat out refused and threatened to call corporate.
2) the room that was booked for us hadn't been cleaned from the previous occupant. There was food all over the counters, someone else's hair in the tub, and stains all over the sheets. I made them move me to another room. This one was clean but half the size of the first. You actually had to climb over the queen bed to get to the entrance for the bathroom.
Load More Replies... I have experience with this kind of things in my country. I was with my friends in a mall, chilling and chatting, when some old white people, yelled at us to speak in English. My friend yelled at them back with "You visited here, you speak our language!"
The shame of being a member of the same species is causing my DNA to cringe :(
Reading this post made my head hurt..are people seriously this stupid? 😣
as guiding tour operator, one tourist told me that it was stupid not to write the name of the company on the light publicity board......LOL, he refer me to a beautiful rainbow!!!!!!
For many northern european tourists, south countries, like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc, are considered kind of amusement parks. I found a couple in Algarve (south Portugal) thinking they were in Spain (it was the 90's and Euro was not a thing yet).
Not only stupid tourists in Spain, I read some city guests at a rural hotel had sued them because of getting wakened in the early mornings by the village roosters hahahaha
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. Albert Einstein
just as a side note, I am Canadian as are my parents. They were in France on a coach tour and met a couple who also wore Canadian Flag badges on their jackets. Mom discovered they were actually American but wore the Canada pins as they said they would get better service if the French thought they were Canadian as opposed to American.
That's quite common, actually. I feel bad for nice Americans who have to suffer through stereotypes.
Load More Replies... I bet these are all true. I've worked in customer service for 15 years and I've heard even stupider complaints. Sad, but true. And, yes, I've lost all faith in humanity at this point.
I'm Mexican and with my parents have travel to the most beautiful parts of the world. And I try to be polite to everybody because they are a part of the country I visit. But in Tanzania, wow, some Chine people were very rude with the Tanzanian people. I didn't like it one bit.
Unfortunately these people that travel outside the country are typically well to do and have a disconnect from reality. You know, the people with all the money and power that pick our politicians and leaders.
when I went half thru posts my thoughts were - "this needs a Shitknife"
Seriously some people should just never leave their homes... or leave their mother's wombs prematurely so the rest of the world who is smart and understands geography won't be bothered by their existence
@AuntMessy She's thick? You called me a child abuser!
Load More Replies... all of these statement are just a joke... we are stupid if we take it seriously
I THINK THAT EITHER ONE PERSON WROTE ALL THIS STUFF AND IS PRETENDING TO BE REALLY STUPID OR WE HAVE A LOT OF OVERPRIVLIGED STUPID PEOPLE.
If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at who he gives it to.
Load More Replies... I once had an American visiting Toronto demand to know where the forest was and how was he going to see a moose with all the streetcars around. He added that if he’d known Toronto had high rises, he’d never have visited.
Load More Replies... 