BootsnAll Travel Community

So I thought I'd start a thread where we could document the worst traveler behavior we've observed. Why? Because I want to! So here's my story...

I was in Oaxaca, Mexico for Good Friday. One of the local churches organizes a silent procession every year through the streets. The participants were lined up, waiting for the procession to start. This woman decides she wants a picture of one of the participants. So she walks up to him, sticks her big-honking camera a foot or two from his face and snaps several shots. Walks away. Never said a single word to him, never asked permission to take his picture. Treated him like an object, not as a person. And it still makes me mad that I didn't do anything to stop her or take her camera afterwards and break it into a million pieces.

Your story???

This brings back bad memories... as I traveled with this jerk from Orange County: We were at a camp in Malawi, and upon departure, a staff member came and mentioned a towel was missing. (Getting supplies to a remote location in Malawi, mostly from South Africa, is a big and expensive proposition.) A few days later, when the zipper broke on this pig's suite case, we could see the bright teal towel; unmistakably the one from the camp. Near a different camp, he ordered carvings from the locals, but refused to go pick them up and pay for them later that afternoon when they brought them to the reception. The lack of respect, especially for the less fortunate, made my blood boil over. It wasn't enough that he always shared in drinking wine if someone else bought a round, but he not once bought a bottle. He'd gladly accept snacks from everybody, but would not share his. By the way, he is or was a dentist. I really wanted to knock his teeth out!

I met two guys years ago down in South America. They had totally run out of money and still needed to get back to the USA. They had just enough for bus fare, but nothing for hotels or food. I had just gotten out of the Peace Corps in Honduras, and had lived with a wonderful woman while I was there - so I gave the guys her address so they could have a place to stay when they passed through her city.

Anyway, they ended up buying a whole bunch of old Russian canned goods in Nicaragua - enough to get them to the USA - but they were all expired. They ate a can of tuna and got sick - very, very sick. Of course, by then they were in Honduras at my friend's house.

One of them ended up in the hospital for ten days and the other was there for 5 or 6, and my friend took care of them the whole time.

When they finally left, Gloria said they didn't even say thank you. Needless to say, I felt AWFUL about giving them her address!

I would have to say EVERY person in the Sistine Chapel who freakin took flash pictures of the painted ceilings. There were signs EVERY WHERE prohibiting it and workers who SPECIFICALLY advised them not to for it would HARM the paintings. HARM them. But no, they felt a strong need to take their own crappy pictures instead of buying postcards or getting them off the web. No one thinks for the good of the Commons at all.

we were sitting in a quiet little restaurant in ruhengeri, rwanda, relaxing after a day of gorilla trekking. it was dark out by that time, and people were either chatting quietly in the dim light, or staring at the lightning that lit up the outlines of the volcanoes in the distance. all of a sudden this white guy wearing a red shirt advertising the south carolina gamecocks, khaki shorts, and a cowboy hat comes out of the passenger side of a truck that had just pulled up. he slammed the car door, and angrily yelled out, very loud, 'WHERES THE BATHROOMS.' it was an angry statement, not a desperate question. to no one in particular. WTF! everyone turned around to look and stare at him as he stormed through the restaurant. a little while later, we could clearly hear his voice, in an overly loud attempt at a conversation with one of his friends, from across the entire restaurant. in fact, we were outside and we heard him talking!! great, thanks for helping to reaffirm the american stereotype!

I guess travellers are basically like the rest of society... some people are cool and some people are assholes. Take a wide cross-section of society and statistically you will always find a percentage of assholes.

And that is why the stereotype of the stupid ignorant american is so unjust. It's not just america that has assholes, every society has assholes.

quote:

Originally posted by AnnaM:
I would have to say EVERY person in the Sistine Chapel who freakin took flash pictures of the painted ceilings. There were signs EVERY WHERE prohibiting it and workers who SPECIFICALLY advised them not to for it would HARM the paintings. HARM them.

Well, in all fairness, the prohibition against flash photography in the Sistine Chapel probably has less to do with harming the ceiling than it does with Vatican postcard sales. (Which is the same reason they discourage videography.) The heat and light produced by flash photography is nothing compared to the amount of heat produced by packing several hundred sweaty tourists into the room like chattel. Which is Vatican policy. The deterioration caused by chemical reactions to short, intense light bursts, even a billion of them a day, could probably be offset by limiting the number of tourists they currently allow in the room at one time by about a 10%.

But I hear you. Flash photographers in the chapel drive me nuts as well for the second reason mentioned:

quote:

they felt a strong need to take their own crappy pictures instead of buying postcards or getting them off the web.

Oh...

quote:

Originally posted by Craze_b0i:
And that is why the stereotype of the stupid ignorant american is so unjust. It's not just america that has assholes, every society has assholes.

Yeah, we've had this conversation here on BnA about a hundred times now. The general consensus, although I don't agree, is that the modern stereotype leans toward the "stupid ignorant British asshole." Americans, it seems, just don't travel enough anymore to rate.

But I don't want to steer the thread in that direction. As you say, the world is full of assholes of all shapes and stripes.

In Morocco I was a little disenchanted to find out you had to be Muslim to enter any of the mosques. I love mosques! So quiet! So serene! So pretty! And I was feeling stuck. I'm an American, but I've had full Muslim training. Am I Muslim enough to go in? I can quote hadiths, I know how to pray, but that whole 'not actually believing the doctrine' thing kept me at the arched doorway.

Then I find out the Grand Mosque in Casablanca lets us kafirs in. So I prompted my mom (who was with me at the time) to go. I had to wear a headscarf. "You just dont enter a mosque without it" afterall. So assemble at the entrance and there are these girls from America wearing strapless sundresses. Now. You cannot even go into the Vatican with that kind of clothing. Come on girls! So they bitched and griped but eventually covered using the mosques 'stock coverings'.

Anywhoo we get in and everything is going fine. I'm a little irritated because I'm not let up to the woman's prayer hall that I really want to see. Even trying to talk my way up the guard shakes his head. Silly be-scarfed kafir woman. Sigh.
So we get down to the area where the ablution fountains are......
Quick education: Before Muslims pray they must wash their feet, hands, and face. It's called making abulution. So these gorgeous fountains are where the Muslims come and wash themselves for spiritual purity before they pray.
......
So there is a Dutch couple tying their shoes on the fountains! Tying their dirty ass, dusty shoes on the ablution fountains! The girls have wiggled out of their 'stock coverings' making the guards extremely uncomfortable and talking loudly in Valley-Girl-Venacular about how silly it was to cover up (THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!!) and the whole tour was so horrible I was left wondering why they let non-Muslims into any Mosques anywhere in the world.

Seriously. If you cannot respect a sacred space DONT ENTER. I didnt go into the Vatican and fart on the statues of Pope #4,284,094. Nay. Did not. I gave them a Euro. Ya, I donated. And I kept myself covered up and silent. And when I went to other cathedrals on Easter in Spain, I stayed silent and kept my respect. But know what I didnt do? I didnt do my makeup in the mirror halo around Baby Jesus.
Ahhhh! Still makes me angry.

!!!

What a great post.

In Oaxaca, Mexico I walked into the plaza with these French people I'd met. Once there, we see that there is an anti-American demonstration going on. To my left they set on fire a dummy of Uncle Sam who had been hung by the neck from a tree. Then, in a loud voice this French smuck starts pointing at me and yelling GRINGO, GRINGO, GRINGO. I spent the next hour trying to calm down a bunch of Mexicans who seemed like they wanted to add me to the fire.

Wow those last 2 behaviours by Prisa and Viagggero are pretty shocking.

You know the worst thing is that these examples are not just a reflection of travelling behaviour - they reflect human behaviour in general. The guy who shouted in the restaurant in Malawi probably shouts in restaurants at home all the time. The jerk who stole a towel in the hotel probably regularly steals things back home from schools, shops or public libraries. The Dutch morons who tied their shoes on fountain and swore in the mosque are probably the sort of morons that always put their dirty feet up on other people's furniture and swear infront of other people's children.

I hate these types of people.

quote:

Originally posted by Craze_b0i:
Wow those last 2 behaviours by Prisa and Viagggero are pretty shocking.

You know the worst thing is that these examples are not just a reflection of travelling behaviour - they reflect human behaviour in general. The guy who shouted in the restaurant in Malawi probably shouts in restaurants at home all the time. The jerk who stole a towel in the hotel probably regularly steals things back home from schools, shops or public libraries. The Dutch morons who tied their shoes on fountain and swore in the mosque are probably the sort of morons that always put their dirty feet up on other people's furniture and swear infront of other people's children.

I hate these types of people.

I agree. These people are generally just the most annoying people ever in society and that's that. And here at home I dont have to explain it away, nor do they represent a certain country's culture so it's no biggie. They're annoying. Usually I'll make snarky comments and move on through.
It's just overseas when you really feel the need to punch them in the face.

Allthough I will say...bad behavior at home:
One time a friend and I went to this little mountain town to do some hiking. We stop at a Subway to get some sandwiches and are sitting down to eat. Then a woman, ordering her sandwhich starts talking very loudly (man behind the counter: Mexican. Also speaks English just fine). She starts complaining "I said CHEDDER no, I said CHEDDER CHEESE!. God Damnit where is the manager. Cant somebody speak ENGLISH around here?"

I then spoke up so the whole resturant could hear me and said that if she didnt mind her manners and start treating the people there with respect I was going to throw my sandwich at her head. She.was.just.apalled.

heeeeee.
That was a good day.

I guess I've been lucky, I haven't had any really horrible experiences. The worst thing for me is too loud music that never ends. If a favorite song comes on and you turn it up for a few minutes, that's fine, but people blaring their music for hours is awful.

quote:

Originally posted by janetlynne:
I guess I've been lucky, I haven't had any really horrible experiences. The worst thing for me is too loud music that never ends. If a favorite song comes on and you turn it up for a few minutes, that's fine, but people blaring their music for hours is awful.

Janetlynne, meet Piecar.

I have trouble with travelers who can't be considerate of their roommates in whatever hostel they're staying in.
When I was in London staying in a co-ed room, I was woekn up at 11pm by 2 german guys and 2 girls when they flicked the lights on. Now if it had been for a minute or two, no problem, but it wasn't! They started talking loud and playing music! I was so annoyed and made it known.

Then about 2 weeks ago I was in Nelson, BC staying at this hostel. Once again I was sleeping and heard a faint beep, I checked my cell phone, but I knew it wasn't mine as mine was on silent. I just went back to sleep. That is until the super weird lady across the room woke me up to tell me my cell phone was annoying her. I told her it wasn't mine, but it took a few minutes to get her to go away. Then to top things off she left the room, hunted down the girl who slept above me and told her her cell phone was annoying her and couldn't sleep!
OMG! The poor girl comes into the room, felt aweful and was apologizing all over the place. I told her it was no biggie and no where near as bad as the crazy lady made it out to be. In the end, I called her cell phone and she found it. But I was seriously annoyed about being woken from a deep sleep over it.

I think, the worst person I've ever met traveling was this Australian Neo-Hippie in Kyrgyzstan. I intended to cross from Kyrgyzstan into China via the Irkeshtam border, which had just recently opened. There was (I believe, still is) no public transport to the border from Osh, so you have to rent a car - which can be expensive. I've met a cool German who had started to organize a posse to cross over together and save some money. Eventually it was him, a Scott, me and that Australian chick.
First thing that pissed me off was, when we went to a internet place in Bishkek. The line was veeeery slow. She wanted to send out some pictures to friends but didn't know how to resize the images. I figured, I'd show her how and then get on with my own stuff. Eventually, I ended up doing all her stuff for 1.5 an hour. She didn't say thank you and even got pissed off because 'some friends couldn't see the pictures'.
Next day, we want to go to the market in Bishkek. She claims to know how to get there. So we step onto a city bus. The way it works in Bishkek is: you get on in the back and leave in the front, paying the driver on your way out. After a while, I realize we're going into the wrong direction and I tell her. When she realizes that I'm right, she jumps out the back door at the next stop, because she 'did not want to pay for that bus, as it did not get us where we wanted to go'. Say what? Plus, the fare was 10 cents or so. All locals pay. Everybody was staring at her when she jumped the bus. I felt so embarrassed and bad.
For the next few days (going from Bishkek to Osh and eventually to Irkeshtam), she continually pissed all of us off with her stinginess and the constant 3 hours delay because she wanted to save 10 cents. She even accused the German guys of Anti-Semitism...simply because he didn't like her, once he got to know her.
Once we had organized a car from Osh to Sari Tash (last town before Irkeshtam) we had to stay overnight at Sari Tash. The guy who drove us, offered us to sleep at his house, the only thing we would have to pay for was food. His wife was making traditional Kyrgyz blankets and the Australian chick wanted to buy some. Again, for fairly reasonable prices. In the morning, she leaves very quickly and when I want to leave the house, the wife tells me that the bitch had left without paying for several of the blankets. That was the last straw and we had a huge fight.
Later, at the Kyrgyz border, she pulls out her video camera and starts filming. At a sensitive, newly opened border! What a f$%^ing moron. Of course it took about 2.5 seconds until she was surrounded by soldiers. The rest of us hoped that she'd get arrested and sit in jail for a few days. Unfortunately, they let her out and we were stuck with her till we eventually reached Kashgar.

We've heard more stories from and about her later on which were as annoying and obnoxious as this one. But as it doesn't involve me, I wont' regurgitate them here.

Hm. Quite a rant. Still pisses me off. What an asshole.

quote:

Originally posted by elAdi:Australian Neo-Hippie in Kyrgyzstan.

Yeah. I think I dated this broad.

Kep, Southern Cambodia.

Am travelling with this western guy who has been travelling around asia for a year and a half, i think. We're on a local bus, and we find out that the bus company oversold tickets, and that we had to forfeit our seats (to those who got there first) and had to stand for several hours back to P.P. Admittedly I'm annoyed but this guy was freaking pissed off - i think he had enough of asia and really wanted to go home - he starts screaming at the female bus conductor. I am cringing, the other few western travellers and other passengers are staring, and I cringe some more. This nice Khmer guy who speaks English calms him down, and we stand. Eventually they gave us child plastic seats to sit in the aisle with.

The best part is when we finally got off at P.P., and these European guys walk up to him and say very sarcastically, "Are you American?"

"No, I'm Canadian!" he replies with surprise, and yes shame.

Sigh.

Clipping toenails over the floor and not cleaning up

I was in a hostel in London and this other American group of 3 (not friendly or polite at all) were in my shared dorm. I had been friendly, doing the usual small talk. Went to hang out with some friends and later come back and was flat out accused of stealing one of the girls pants.

Ok, first of all bitch, your pants would be way too big for me.

But whatever, I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I understand their can be some paranoia associated with sharing a dorm room. So I said no I didn't steal your pants, go ahead and check my bag if you want.

I don't know if she searched my stuff or not, but they left the room and she never apologized. I thought it was pretty rude because I tried to be semi-understanding.