I agree with Melissa. My mother was my worst and only really bad, mean travel companion who could ruin my time anywhere. To wouldliketoknow - someone might travel in a group with a rude smoker even if not traveling and rooming with a friend who is a smoker. Agree it would be pretty stupid to choose to romm with a smoker. Point is I think you don't want to be stuck eating, riding, standing around close to a smoker if you're a nonsmoker. If the smokers are just around but you're not stuck with them in your own group, you can avoid sitting near them, not enter a smoky restaurant, leave their presence, not patronize a shop where the shopkeepers smoke etc. There are courteous smokers who don't smoke in close quarters with nonsmokers and in that case all you need to do is avoid being near them for about a half hour after they have smoked because they still exhale a foul breath. But a minority of smokers are so seriously addicted or so inconsiderate and rude that they will light up in a group even when they are the only smoker. Those are truly awful travel companions.

More stories, anyone?

My husband and I have always traveled alone. In Nov, we invited a couple to Paris with us. At the last moment, they decided to take their 5-year old son, who actually was great. They were great companions; we agreed on the places to visit and have meals; we laughed at the same things; we were all considerate of each other; had no agruments; everyone showed up on time; were finanically compatiable. But, we decided, also, we would never travel with anyone again, even though it was a great experience. The reason...we never had time alone. No romantic dinners alone; no walk alone the Seine alone, etc. So even though it was a great expereince, we'll just go alone. Has anyone else had this experience?

Maybe you could travel with another couple (or single) but agree not to do EVERYTHING together.

Traveled to Egypt, in a small party, with a person who complained constantly about the fact that Egypt wasn't like Florida, who hated visiting museums and ancient sites, who insisted on spending three hours over lunch while we missed out on sightseeing, who would not touch the local food, who we finally gave in to and spent a precious five days of our vacation at the beach (which was very like Florida!) instead of visiting ancient sites. <BR> <BR>What I learnt? It was my own fault: <BR>- know the tastes of those with whom you travel (two weeks can seem like a lifetime when travelling with an incompatable companion) <BR>- nice people in home surroundings can turn into monsters abroad (come live with me and know me!) and I mean that both ways - I was not the most charming of companions when she P***** me off! <BR> <BR>Travelling on your own can be a lot more fun - you only have yourself to please and yourself to blame.

A friend and I travelled through France and Italy in 1994. By the time we reached Tuscany, we were ready to kill each other. Everything blew up one evening in Florence as we were returning from a restaurant, and we wound up standing in the middle of a little street screaming obscenities at each other. It was, I suspect, an entertaining spectacle: two bellowing 20-something women, both very pale, both with dyed red hair, both in black, both wearing de rigeur Doc Martens. We looked like the Bobsie Twins of the Dark Side. A crowd of men gradually gathered to cheer us on. Finally I'd had enough and stalked off into the rainy night. My friend -- who was terrified of being anywhere alone, which was one of the our points of contention -- followed me, and the Italian men followed her, still applauding. I glanced over my shoulder, saw her coming, and broke into a run. She, too, started to run. The men took their cue and started to run. Together we ran through the streets of Florence, with me leading the way laughing, Ally on me heels shrieking and the Italian men bringing up the rear, cheering. The procession ended at our hotel, where the guys lingered outside to give us a final ovation. When we were back in our room, my friend plopped on her bed and said, "Maybe (pant,pant) we... should start (pant,pant)... doing some things... SEPARATELY." We got along much better after that.

Upsy.

Neva....that is soooo funny, I love it. <BR>Sounds like a very outrageous scenario...Thanks for brightening this dreary rainy Monday. :-D Judy

Two very nice but very unlike elderly ladies took a tour together. They were roommates. "Ann" was very conscientious, very kind, very energetic, very exuberant, imaginative and a little eccentric. "Nan" is also a nice peerson, but more cautious, a little rigid, very opinionated. Ann was always eager to start the day, eager to meet the group, eager to get going. Nan always slept late, got to breakfast late, kept the tour bus waiting. The tour provided meal voucher packets for each solo traveler and each set of roommates but each person had to use a separate voucher. Ann, to be nice, would pull out Nan's voucher and leave it out on the bureau while Nan overslept so she could find it right away every a.m. Nan was very guarded about her privacy and was furious when Ann touched "her" voucher. Ann loved to try new and different foods and is herself an intuitive cook. Nana likes bland food and cooks only by recipe. Ann is a compulsive talker and rarely stops. Nan gets tight lipped when annoyed. Ann is fascinated by the medical field and enjoys discussing her own or anyone else's ailments just for the academic satisfaction. Nan is squeamish about any mention of the body. Ann is a classical music lover and also enjoys folk music of various cultures, except Irish. Nan is fiercely proud of her Irish heritage and collects Irish music. In short, these two lovely ladies were for each other the roommatesw from hell.

I travelled to Jamaica with a friend and an old acquaintance of hers. We should have killed her at the airport. Thats where the complaining started and ended. She was afraid of black people- go figure- and made it uncomfortably obvious. Why go to Jamaica? who will ever know- when our car broke down in the hills around Port Antonio she refused to give up her bottled water to our driver to fill the cooling radiator- she might need it later- where were we going at that point. Every day was a new adventure of accusations, whining and selfishness. My advise - never go on a trp with someone you don't know well. we were in a three bedroom-three bath rental home , with pool and staff- with a view of the ocean- paradise- but not good enough. Never agan.

My very first trip to Europe was in 1994--took a well-known tour group for London/Paris/Rome. Our London tour guide--Sandra--was affectionately (not!) known among all but four on the bus as "the tour guide from Hell." The four who liked her were the two couples who had booked the "upscale" tour and stayed in the best hotel. She figured they'd tip her the best so she waited on them hand and foot. Even, at one point during a lecture at a sightseeting stop rubbed her thumb and forefingers together (as in the money sign) and said "those who give the most get the most attention." We were all livid and couldn't wait to dump her when we caught the bus (yes, bus--this was in 1994, remember) for Paris. Imagine our horror when she greeted us on the bus the morning we took off. Listened to her fawn all the way to Paris. She left us a few days later at the train station where we boarded an overnight for Rome and we all breathed a sigh of relief and begane a GREAT party! The two couples who took advantage of her personal attention to ignore the rest of us ("I only wear silk") missed out on a great time when they were left without their protector! We had a wonderful, sweet, funny young girl in Rome and we were all so relieved we were giddy for three days!

Recently my father-in-law graciously and generously took us to Europe. He had worked in corporate jobs overseas all his career and wanted to show his adult children some of what he had experienced. To this day I am incredibly grateful but... He decided that he wanted to go to his favorite restaurant in Rome. He was nervous about finding it and thought it would take hours to find. Actually we just hopped in a cab and arrived at the door in 5 minutes. The problem was it was 5 p.m. and they didn't start serving dinner at least until 6 or 6:30 because the staff was enjoying their own meal. My F-I-L freaked out and demanded that they seat us immediately. The owner suggested we walk around but my F-I-L would have none of that so we were seated, alone, while the waitstaff ate their meal across the room and glared at us. We were all mortified but said nothing out of respect for my F-I-L. <BR> <BR>We were also traveling with an Italian business friend of his. This gentleman was a wonderful and kind person. But, at the time we had no idea that he was in the very early stages of dementia. The plan was that he and his wife would meet us at the Rome airport after flying from the US, help us get our rental car, then we would all drive to our villa about 2 hours away and travel together for the rest of the time. We were all set, in the cars, and he kept driving and driving and driving. At one point he was driving the wrong way down one way streets and drove through toll booths without paying (motioning us through). Eight hours later it was getting dark, we were carsick, jetlagged and getting concerned--it finally dawned on us that he didn't know where we were or where we were going. No one wanted to challenge him but, as I remember, my husband took over as lead car and we finally made it to the villa. <BR> <BR>Now, a story on myself...on that same trip we were taken to the Savoy in London for an after theatre dinner at 11 p.m. Problem was the kitchen was closing and we hadn't eaten since lunch. So, very quickly we ordered whatever was still available and waited. What arrived was sort of luncheon portions on demi-plates and I immediately realized that on my demi-plate those weren't potatoes but huge garlics. I was so hungry I gobbled them up figuring they were cooked so how bad could it smell? Well, the next morning I took 2 showers, brushed my teeth 100 times but I totally reeked of garlic. That day we had hired a car to drive all of us through the countryside. At one stop my in-laws picked me up and tried to stuff me in the trunk of the car. I certainly couldn't blame them...Sometimes it's those awful times that make the best stories.

I have one advice for everyone, do not travel with anyone that you are not completely 100% comfortable with. Last summer I went on a 25 day trip to Europe with 2 college friends and 1 other girl who was a friend of one of the college girls. To make a long story short, our personalities were very different and it ruined my memories of the vacation. The three of them seemed to have more in common with each other and "bonded", making me feel left out. Needless to say, since we came back from the trip on June 28th, 2000 I have seen them only 1 other time and talked on the phone briefly 2 times (in the beginning). Now I don't have anyone to relive the memories with but me and my pictures.

Nice one 'X' ( "Ann" & "Nan" ).

top!

ok, so what's all this "Top" business? And "to the top" and "I'll put this to the top" What the heck does that mean?

It seems impossible that you don't understand this - - you just did it - - but let us explain it again. when you add any message - - no matter how small - - even the one word "top" - - this "thread" of messages goes back to the top - - on the left hand side - - and is thus, easier to find. <BR> <BR>This is contrast to "sinking" - - i.e., having hundreds of messages "on top of" a "thread" that gets no attention - - and thus "sinks" ever deeper and deeper into the stack. <BR> <BR>Get it now? <BR>

I appreciate your patience. What do you mean the thread "goes to the top--on the left hand side--and is easier to find"? Is "topping" a good thing or a bad thing? Some of us aren't into the lingo here and would like to be positive contributors.

...and I'm very late to work. Good thing there's so little to do there today. <BR> <BR>You've crossed the line from "dense" to "troll". <BR>

Topless, The messages on the left are sorted in order of most recent response. Anytime someone replies to a message/thread it's moved to the top of the list since it has the most recent activity. The longer a message is on the list without a response, the farther it sinks to the bottom of the list. Since there is only room for 50 messages on the first page of the list, people will 'top' a message/thread to bring it back where others can find it easily. <BR>