nay sayers
 

We are planning a fammily trip to Kenya in August. Some of our "friends" don't want to hear anything about our trip. The best they can say is: bugs, disease, horrible warnings, danger, "we'd never risk taking our family to a place like that", blah blah. I'm ready to throw them out as friends. How do you deal with this. Betty

show them your pictures when you return....

Betharwein,

Honestly, the only problem with these people is.....their lack of exposure, and the lack of openness to try different things.

I pity people like that, as they are the one's missing out.......

Stick to conversations they are comfortable with......mall shopping, movies etc etc.,

Hari

a shame you are getting such a response. We have encountered nothing less than unadulerated jealousy from everyone. We have even had sales clerks who are strangers to us beg us to come back and show them our pictures upon our return.

My view would be if they do not want to hear about such an important event in your life, you might want to find a new friend or two.

Kevin

Hi Betty,
Don't let the unenlightened ruin your pretrip excitement.
Here's what I do:

1. Ask them where they got this information, tell them you'd like to check it out - guess what, they usually can't tell you where they got their facinating dire predictions. #o

2. Dis them in the future, as you've really known all along that these people are boobs.

Let them go on their way, and hope that they don't get run over by a bear riding a bicycle when they cross the street - you know that did happen in Montana one time back in 1966 (not really, to my knowledge)
* Travel warning Do not go to Montana, ever :)
Good Luck!
Sherry

edit; fascinating

They're the ones in danger! Some day they'll despair that they lived such a pinched off life.

Let them go to Cancun or Orlando, and don't discuss your trip with them.

Sherry, just don't bother with such people and it is a waste of time trying to convince them or to dis them or whatever.......on the other hand, i doubt if any of us are interested in their trips to Orlando or New Jersey....

Hari

<i>Some of our &quot;friends&quot;</i>
Change your friends ;-)
Stay here. In good company...

Hi Hari,
The intended meaning of 'DIS' in my above post was 'get RID of' as in deletion or getting new an improved friends. That would be, however, after asking where they got their useless and mean spirited info. :L

You can't even imagine the idiotic things I had to listen to after announcing my intent of going to Africa after having some health issues.

Did you know you'll contract AIDS if you go to Africa? Must be in the air, I suppose :-! - this, my friends, came from so called educated (or so I thought) people. LOL

In retrospect, I must say that most of it was very humorous and it's a good thing I do have a sense of humor. Just think if I didn't, and listened to these folks. I'd be hiding under my bed reading tattered African Geographics rather than having healing memories of Afreek - ah.

To nay sayers everywhere: [(
Get on the bus Gus, make a new plan Stan and get out of my face Grace. Go take a cruise Suze, go see Micky Vicki!
Peace;
Sherry

Most everyone I've told about our forthcoming trip shares my excitement.

The exception: I, too, was asked if I &quot;wasn't afraid of catching AIDS.&quot; This from someone who had been on a long safari tour in East Africa about 20 years ago.

The funniest comment was &quot;there's no danger, right? They make sure all of the animals that you'll see are well fed.&quot;(!)

CW

As I've said before, tell them when you get home.

AIDs, duh! Yeh, in the air! cw - That was the thought 20-years ago, when your friend was traveling in Africa.

Just remind your &quot;friends&quot; there are as many, if not more, deseases to catch right here at home.

Go on your safari and enjoy with your family. And, personally, I wouldn't even bothering showing the friends your photos! Leave them chomping at the bit! LOL!

Thanks for your input. You are right for an event that is so important to us to show no interest and to belittle our trip tells a lot about the type of people they are, doesn't it. Most people are excited for us and say positive things. Thanks again, Betty

a Tahitian friend of mine asked why I was going back to Africa and why didn't I go to Tahiti instead. I asked her if they had elephants in Tahiti, she said &quot;NO&quot; I said &quot;Let me know when they get them and I'll be the first one on the plane to Tahiti&quot;

But Dennis, i have been asked honest questions like......why do i repeat specific camps vs trying new camps or discovering other parts of Africa or the rest of the world that i have not previously been to. I just said,&quot;i feel at home and at peace there.....&quot; To be honest........fair question, fair answer.

Lots of people here in India, their original impression of Africa was from CNN etc etc., and their own experiences at Indian game parks, but, when i showed them pics of all the lions and cheetahs and the camps and people. Their reaction was, WOW!!! I want to go......On the other hand, all my friends in America and Europe ask me for guidance in assisting them with planning their trips to Africa, since many of them have seen my pictures and once i cancelled travelling to New Jersey for a wedding to go to Africa instead!!! Dont blame me....i did go to the Macy's registry online and bought them a nice gift.

Hari

Hari I know what you mean about repeating camps because of feeling of home and at peace. I'm going somewhere new in October but already planning a trip back to LRL next year.

Hi Dennis!!! I had to be out last night (60th b'day party of a friend's dad)......gosh, i bumped into a whole bunch of ppl that i normally bump into, only once a year or so (for good reason)........all very curious about my Africa travels and wanting to give them suggestions.

If they were genuinely interested in my advice, i would glady give it to them (like i try to do on these boards), but, in their case.....i think their curiosity was for gossip purposes and to try and assess where i was travelling to...etc etc., I honestly dont have time for such people........and occassionally, i have to bite my tongue and put up with their crap!!!

Hari

I think everyone who has lots of &quot;friends&quot; has to face this Betty. PLEASE don't try to convince them to visit Africa - just take heart that it's just as well for the Masaai Mara and its animals that they do feel this way. They'd have the roads surfaced and the camps turned into 100% sanitised, risk-free fortresses in no time! Forget open vehicles - it'd be armoured Humvees sprayed for bugs hourly, US and British white guides only and predator-free zones for the kids. The Masaai would need to take a disinfectant bath before coming to &quot;camp&quot; to perform their evening show - preferably involving a declawed lion playing dead for the cameras. :-(

However, I wouldn't take it that seriously - there are plenty of people out there who believe much worse than that. I am afraid an open mind has always been considered rather an antisocial and dangerous trait and things like African travel are always going to put you in the &quot;potentially weird and dangerous&quot; category. Take comfort in the fact that you may find it will bring you new and possibly more interesting (although certainly more 'dangerous')friends.

Just stumbled upon this thread from awhile back.

Perhaps you read about a dangerous location that made CNN headlines a month ago. It is where I spent a week last summer in DOOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN-NEAR GREEN BAY! Not what one considers a hot spot for danger.

The very lovely, highly civilized, resort where I stayed a week as part of a family reunion blew up and killed two and injured several more. There were problems with underground propane tanks that were mishandled by contracters building private homes in the area.

An additional danger occured during my stay last July. My husband and I were walking on a designated trail in a state park at 9:00 am on a windless day in the middle of a week without strong winds or storms. Suddenly we heard a crack and saw a 40-foot dead tree coming down toward us. We jumped out of the way and it missed us by 10 feet.

So despite two near death experiences in
northern Wisconsin, I will bravely venture to those parts again, as well as to Africa.

Betty, I sympathize with you, because my husband and I are going to Kenya in September, and as my husband is less than enthusiastic about this trip, he is especially tuned in to the negative comments from people, and there have been a lot of negative comments from friends and relatives. The other night we were at a concert, and the man next to us told my husband that natives are slaughtering people right and left in Kenya and Tanzania, and they cancelled their trip because of it. UGH! I tune into the people who are excited for us, and there are lots of those people, too. And I've gotten so used to the nay sayers anymore, it bothered me A LOT at first, but now I just smile and nod...sometimes I say, &quot;Yes, I think we are crazy&quot;, but mostly now I let it go in one ear and out the other!
Cindy from California

Betty,

I am not sure if you are already on your trip or not. You don't need to get rid of your friends. Some will just never get it and you can agree to disagree. But pictures and video will convert a few of your friends when you come back.

My mother was &quot;one of them&quot;, who never wanted to go to some 'terrible foreign place'. However, last year my sister and I used pressure and guilt to get her to come on a safari. My Mom's two sister are at least FIFTY times worse than my mom. Basically she didn't even talk to them about the trip before leaving because she didn't want to be criticized.

My Mom came on the safari and had a great time. Her eyes were opened.

She let her sisters see video and pictures. While neither of them would ever leave the country, even if you paid them, they looked at our footage and said &quot;Well that looks nice.&quot;

You have no idea what a huge step that is. It will just have to do.

Betty, we have had the same experience, with co-workers as well as some family members!...curiously they are all enamoured of behemoth-size cruiseships with 3 hour stops in harbour...so I guess I am just as bad as they are when I think &quot;why would anyone want to go on a cruise and share a holiday with 2000 other people, insulated from the wildlife, culture, and environment???&quot; (of the destination, not the ship population...!)
I guess &quot;travel&quot; and &quot;holidays&quot; have different meanings for different people
(but I suspect there is a certain amount of envy - I know because I've dreamed of Afree-kah for 40 years! - and it seems to me that a lot of baby-boomers have grown up with Africa as a dreamy but unattainable destination.)
You're making YOUR dreams come true so ignore them and revel in the anticipation! We are!
The enthusiastic and encouraging friends on this site more than make up for the &quot;wet blankets&quot;!!

For the ones who haven't yielded to the inevitable, I always bring up my chances of dieing in a car accident on the way to work

Our Sister/BIL were really excited about joining us on a private Kenyan safari last winter but then backed out without a good explanation. So we continued to book the trip without them. We had an amazing time in Kenya.

The relatives took a Princess cruise to Mexico instead.

When we both returned and compared notes, they were telling us about the dozen or so flamingoes they had seen at the San Deigo Zoo. We then told them we had seen between 1 and 2 million flamingoes at Lake Nakuru!!!

They were really sad that they had changed their minds about the trip. It turns out that the cruise ship incident off Somalia had scared them off.

We never felt we were in danger in Kenya. It was a fantastic experience not to be missed.

Your comments are wonderful. I'd rather life and experience it than sit in a shelter and only talk about it. I've decided it's ignorance or jealousy. Although your point is well made, I pooh pooh cruise ships. Fortunately my children all have the gift for travel adventure and straighten my head out when I get influenced by others. We have been on some pretty wonderful trips but I have a feeling this will top all of them. What will we do after this? My husband and I are always talking about the next trip. Trips are like a good book, you always need a couple extra waiting to be read. Stay tuned. We leave Saturday, two more days, but who is counting. Betty

Have a great trip Betty! You and your family will love Africa, and I bet your next trip will be to return somewhere in Africa! Travel safe and have fun!

cindysafari,
I can't wait to hear your husbands &quot;Post Africa&quot; thoughts. I'm trying to convince my husband to joing me next time, he is a bit reluctant. I have yet to hear of anyone being disappointed. I wish you well!

Thanks, Countingdown, I hope my husband comes back very glad that he went...I have a feeling this will be the case. And Betty, here is one of my favorite quotes, and I remember it while people are telling me we are crazy for leaving the country for a &quot;horrible place&quot; like Africa.
<font color="blue">&quot;Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.&quot;
- Mark Twain
</font>

Farewell Betty and Family!! You'll have a wonderful time!!

I love Mark Twain's quote. Great. Thanks for all of the good wishes. I'm wishing the hours away. Betty