British Abroad, Staggering About
 

"Prague Journal: British Abroad, Staggering About"

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/04/in...al/04PRAG.html

"In the last few years, a new kind of British tourist, lured by cut-rate airlines whose flights can cost as little as $25 or less, has descended on Prague in unprecedented numbers, apparently with one goal in mind: to drink as much as possible. Wasted and aggressive, in drag or wearing only underpants, they spend weekends staggering in packs from bar to bar near Wenceslas Square. So troublesome have they become that some places refuse to serve Britons who arrive in large groups."

Drat! Just when I was about to talk the "little woman" into a long weekend in Prague!
The drunken lout can be hard to take in Edinburgh also, but we cannot refuse them admittance!

The mental picture I now have of a pack of pasty-white Brits in nothing but their skivvies (and black shoes and socks, presumably) staggering drunkenly around central Prague is NOT one I will soon forget.

And their theme song?

"I'm...too sexy for my skivvies, too sexy for my skivvies.... "

Wait a minute..."in drag?" Is there some reason alcoholic British transvestites or perhaps cross-dressers are drawn to Prague?

Yes, they ARE a pain in the ass. I spent three weeks in Prague this summer, and I WAS SICK of seeing obnoxious Brits everywhere. Only good thing is that they make some of the immature Americans who only go there for cheap beer look tolerable!

I was wondering the same thing, Marilyn, about the "in drag" part. Of course, the "wearing only underpants" part is equally intriguing.

Does this offer new promotion possibilities: Come to Prague to see Britons in their underwear.

[email protected]

Somehow I think the 'full colour broshure' of Britons in their stained y- fronts will fail to attract many voyeurs.

Yes, it's kind of embarrassing. They have had real problems in Greece as well this summer. I suspect that a lot of these are stag parties. I would like say that this kind of behaviour is restricted to just the men but I can't. The women can be just as bad. My partner and I witnessed a hen party in Paris. The whole restaurant stared, including us, at this gaggle of women in identical t-shirts with rabbit ears on their heads (bride-to-be with the traditional condoms pinned to her mock veil) as they staggered out of the restaurant half-cut. I wanted to hide under the table.

I have to regrettably admit that the long held British tradition of Stag and Hen parties has moved Europe wide. Once, it was sufficient merely to tour the local town pubs on such a trip. Then, due to Easyjet and Ryanair, a long weekend in Dublin became the norm. The latest version is the Euro trip, £25 will get you to a range of cities, where you can get drunk and find yourself tied naked to a lampost. We are all truly now European!!!!!

I saw a funny group like this in London,they were wearing sunvisors,check shirts,gleaming white reeboks,white socks tight shorts and were covered in fake tan.They wanted to take pictures with policemen and all kinds of crazy things.

They even had name badges and their leader was carrying an open red umberella even though it had'nt rained for weeks,crazy dudes !

amp322 remarks
> Only good thing is that they make some of the immature Americans who only go there for cheap beer look tolerable!<

My goodness! What were those Americans doing that makes this sort of behavior tolerable?

I have to tell you, though, that the behavior you guys are talking about isn't limited solely to Brits.

My sister, in between backpacking stints around Europe and the UK, stayed at our house for a few weeks while we were stationed in Belgium. One night she, my husband and I were in the Grand Place in Mons, sitting outside a bar having a drink. Typical rowdy crowd, great people watching, etc.

A group of maybe 6 or 7 young men appeared, obviously **slightly** tipsy, arms all linked together, singing at the top of their lungs. Several of them kept singing to one kid in particular, and giving him a really hard time. Suddenly, the guys all grabbed this one kid, pulled off all his clothes, picked him up, chair style, carried him over to the Brass Monkey (it's a tradition to rub the monkey's head for luck. The rest of the monkey is patinized, but the head is as shiny as can be, from all the rubbing.)

They rubbed this guy's naked derriere all over the brass monkey, with him laughing hysterically the whole time. Then they carried this guy back over to his pile of clothes, where he started to get dressed again. HOWEVER, they only let him get his shirt on, then they held his arms, and he struggled as they made a pile of his socks, underpants and jeans and set them all on fire with a lighter. Then they let go of the guy's arms.....he shrugged resignedly (standing there in only a short sleeved shirt and NOTHING on from the waist down) and as if on cue, they all linked arms and started dancing around the burning underpants, etc, singing at the top of their lungs.

Now, we, and many other people, were laughing at this, but the FUNNIEST thing was the fact that there were two Gendarmes standing a few feet away, watching the whole escapade, not doing a darn thing about it. When the young guys started dancing around the burning clothes and singing, the Gendarmes just both put their hands behind their backs, and walked away together, whistling.

We were amazed at this, but man oh man it was funny.

There are a lot of young British women in the Brussels area who get amazingly loud when they're out as a group drinking, either in Irish Pubs or around the Grand'Place. Most of them are au pairs, so we call them the "Screaming Nannies".
A good friend of ours who was an au pair but is now a teacher here was ejected from the group for being too "poncy"--that is, too well behaved.
A French guy I used to work with now is working in London and he is astonished by the way young British women behave on almost every week-end.
"When we (the French) go out drinking on, we drink to relax, to socialize with your friends. These British go out just to get drunk. The drink these horrible drinks--pitchers of Red Bull and vodka, for example. And they're terrible dancers, they won't put their purses down, so they're stuck under their arms, and they can't dance or walk properly in the high heels they're all wearing. They look like insane truck drivers."

So says the Mirror...

BRITS are the rudest, worst behaved and least adventurous holidaymakers in the world - and Germans the best followed by the Americans.

Tourist offices placed us bottom of 24 countries, a survey said yesterday.

In contrast those sunbed bandits from Germany ranked highest for behaviour and their attempts to speak the local language. Dermot Halpin, boss of online travel service Expedia which conducted the survey, said: "Much as it pains me to say it, the Germans deserve the best sunbeds.

"British holidaymakers are some of the most widely travelled in the world. But that doesn't mean we're good at it." Expedia questioned tourist offices in 17 popular destinations worldwide. Britons were worst for rudeness, followed by Russians and Canadians.

They were also worst for their behaviour, learning the language and enthusiasm to try local delicacies.

Next on the bottom of the list were the Israelis, Irish and Indians. At the top, the Germans were followed by Americans, Japanese, Italians and French.

Americans were the most polite and most generous tippers and Italians the most adventurous eaters.

The Foreign Office said: "A lot of our tourists are no worse than other nationals. Look how well behaved they were at the World Cup in Japan."

Wow, Rufus, that's pretty interesting!! My kneejerk response was to defend the British initially but I have to agree that we can be pretty appalling. Having said that, I think it's pretty much an age thing (early to mid 20s). As for the World Cup, that WAS amazing. We all held our breath and there was no trouble at all. The only thing I query is the Canadian element - would love to know who they polled for that. Canadians do NOT top my list of rude people.

Hey Rufus you forgot to mention how bad brits look in their football shirts.

Could I just point out at this stage that not all brits behave in this manner, and the behaviour is usually fuelled by bellies full of beer and a great commoraderie between mates.

Usually at places that provide the means to get drunk by taking the copious amounts of money off them in return for copious amounts of beer.

Hands up those of us who have never ever been drunk !! ;-)

Yes, football and beer are a bad mix. That's usually 90% of the problem!

This is a timely thread for me- I have a bachelorette party tomorrow night! I promise to be on my best behavior!!

This is what happens when the alcohol lobby is allowed to buy the Gov.It is normal in UK to see large bands of 14 year olds very drunk in town centres.Occasionally the police confiscate the booze, otherwise they ignore it.Meanwhile the drinks companies, already banned from their habit of free drinks promos in clubs & places where young people gather, devise other ways of getting our youth hooked when young.There are many types of "alcopops" aimed specifically at the young.No politician dares do anything - the lobby is too powerful.
The results can be seen in the casualty departments of our hospitals every weekend.I can see no end to it.

Interesting article and thread. We were told about this sort of thing by the van driver, who picked us up at Prague airport and drove us to our hotel. Seems these groups liked to hang out with the ladies of the evening in Wenceslas after dark. He was advising us this was not a place to go.

We saw two groups in Old Town Square at an outside cafe, where we stopped for lunch, guzzling beer, laughing and talking at the top of their lungs. Gave the waitresses a hard time and also every unfortunate female who walked by.

Didn't realize it had reached the proportions noted in the article. Very sad isn't it? All these young males wasting their lives.

Allypally, I don't necessarily agree that beer and footie are a bad mix.
But when you add police dressed in riot gear into the equation the formula is bound to spill over.
I know. I have been to a footie match where the Police were hellbent on hitting two shades of sh** out of someone, as it happened it was a family of Dad,Mum and 3 boys under 8yrs who got it amongst others.
Right in front of my eyes, and the only reason I didn't get hit was because en route to my car I ran like hell with my daughter and son the other way, away from the police.
The police attend these games demanding trouble and subsequently they get it.

Muck

Mucky, I know what you mean because I couldn't believe how ridiculous the police were being - particulary the mounted ones - when I went to watch the Changing of the Guard at Buck Palace. We got seriously pushed around.

However, I wonder why the police need to dress in riot gear at all for a sporting match?? Having been to matches on both sides of the pond, there is a profound difference. I made the mistake of watching Tottenham v. Leicester a few years ago and I cannot tell you how appalled I was by the behaviour of a fan sitting directly behind me, drunk, of course. Having to listen to the 'C' word about a thousand times, I lost it when he stood up and screamed at a Tottenham fan 'sit down Jew-boy or else Klinnsman (german player for Tottenham) will gas you'. I could not believe I spent the better part of £20 for this. And just getting into the ground was unbelievable: riot police, mounted police, the horses had visors and protective gear, german shepherds. It was just plain stupid. All this over a simple game (i prefer 'ice' hockey).

Over the years I have witnessed a lot of drunken behaviour related to football. Maybe it doesn't always spill over into violence but a lot of it is nasty aggression after some men have had 'a few' while watching the game, either on tv or live. It could be something as sinister as 'have you got a boyfriend, love?' while you're on your way to the loo, and all his friends laugh at you.

Anyway, the moron element is alive and well in Britain, with or without football. Let's hope it ends sometime... :-)