Of all the nerve! Travel companions who ask too much & are demanding
Oct 26th, 2001, 03:29 PM
#1
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Of all the nerve! Travel companions who ask too much & are demanding
I had a lunch date today with a friend who is about to go on a trip to Italy and we started talking about travel (we both love to. The next best thing to traveling is talking about traveling) and she said she has some worry about her travel companion, her sister, and how it will be to spend the next 3 weeks with her as she can be demanding. <BR> <BR>That had us talking about demanding travel partners we have known. My most infamous example was the fellow student I had to share a room with once in Barcelona. We stayed at an expensive hotel as his parents were very wealthy and he had booked the hotel through their agent. When it came time to check out I died of embarrassment when the desk clerk sternly announced "one of you had taken the towels from the room"! I had no idea he had. With no shame he said he had and asked how much he could pay for them. The clerk seemed surprised and, after talking to the manager, came back with a high price, to which my rich companion peeled off some large bills and tossed them with disdain on the desk. <BR> <BR>Anyone else have difficult travel companion stories to relate?
Oct 26th, 2001, 03:47 PM
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I once travelled with a friend who can be lots of fun but also has a tendency to be very bossy. She would always tell me what to do, never ask me. Once when we were leaving a B&B she said, "Hurry up. Get into the car." When I said "I have to use the bathroom first," she replied "Okay, but hurry up." I found that pretty funny -- I mean, some processes simply cannot be hurried.
Oct 26th, 2001, 07:57 PM
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Many years ago I had a girlfriend who I went to France with. This was my first time spending so much time with her as back home we each had our own apartments. It was the being with her 24 hours a day for 2 weeks that made me realize just how annoying it was to be with someone like her who never makes up her mind about anything. I had to made any and all decisions everywhere. It wasn't that she asked too much, just the opposite. She just always said "what would you like" and I had to guess what would really be ok with her. <BR>I'd rather be with someone too demanding than with someone who doesn't <BR>have a clue what she wants.
Jan 13th, 2003, 02:35 PM
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I have learned the lesson of matching your travel habits with your companions. i.e., I travelled to Disney (yeah, I know) with a couple of girlfriends of mine. The problem being that I dislike window shopping. I can do it for a couple of minutes, but then I must move on. Most stuff (especially cheesy Disney tacky stuff) doesn't interest me. However, my travel companions could spend HOURS in EACH little boutique... and there are a LOT in Disney! I got used to waiting for them on the bench outside, reading a book I learned to bring along 
<BR><BR>Yes, I know it sounds selfish, but I like to see the stuff, not buy it.
<BR><BR>Yes, I know it sounds selfish, but I like to see the stuff, not buy it.
Jan 13th, 2003, 02:40 PM
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I once travelled to Germany with a colleague from work. He turned out to be somewhat deaf so he always yelled at people in slow english. When ever he returned from using the bathroom I thought the whole hotel would have to evacuate because of the stench. Plus, he loved to snack on smoked herring.
Sep 16th, 2004, 01:57 PM
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>The clerk ... came back with a high price, to which my rich companion peeled off some large bills and tossed them with disdain on the desk. <
That's a difficult traveling companion?
I've been forced to deal with people who, I am sure, would have demanded they search their suitcase and, when the towel was found, would have claimed that I must have put it there.
I have dealt with people who have locked me out of the room before falling into a drunken stupor.
I have traveled with people who, after agreeing weeks in advance to the itinerary, have decided they wanted to go somewhere else in mid-trip.
I have had to deal with people who have decided that they didn't like:
the hotel, the food, the traffic, the city, the countryside, the museums, the lack of museums,..........
I have traveled with people who, after agreeing to the budget, then spent a week complaining about the expense.
I no longer travel for more than a day with anyone with whom I have not been married for at least a decade.
That's a difficult traveling companion?
I've been forced to deal with people who, I am sure, would have demanded they search their suitcase and, when the towel was found, would have claimed that I must have put it there.
I have dealt with people who have locked me out of the room before falling into a drunken stupor.
I have traveled with people who, after agreeing weeks in advance to the itinerary, have decided they wanted to go somewhere else in mid-trip.
I have had to deal with people who have decided that they didn't like:
the hotel, the food, the traffic, the city, the countryside, the museums, the lack of museums,..........
I have traveled with people who, after agreeing to the budget, then spent a week complaining about the expense.
I no longer travel for more than a day with anyone with whom I have not been married for at least a decade.
Sep 16th, 2004, 02:58 PM
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Oh ira, Bless your heart!!
This mother wants to hear that someday, for now, I just hope it
I agree also with the companion of many years...the Yankee and I are becoming interchangeable LOL we like so many of the same things, we never have to debate what to do or where to go.....not something I would find if I hired someone ( unless my name was Mrs Stone hee hee)
This mother wants to hear that someday, for now, I just hope it
I agree also with the companion of many years...the Yankee and I are becoming interchangeable LOL we like so many of the same things, we never have to debate what to do or where to go.....not something I would find if I hired someone
( unless my name was Mrs Stone hee hee)
Sep 17th, 2004, 06:34 AM
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Just because you're traveling with someone, you don't have to be with them all the time. Instead of waiting outside on a bench while someone is doing something that you have no interest in, tell them you're going off to do something else for a couple of hours. Agree on a meeting place for lunch or dinner at a set time to get back together.
Sep 17th, 2004, 08:27 AM
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Hearing these stories reminds me why my husband and I never have been interested in taking a trip with other people. We know it would be frustrating, and we'd probably end up being the pain-in-the-neck travel companions ourselves! We have our own ideas about what we want to do on our trips, and we're jealous of the limited time we have on vacation, so we wouldn't be very compromising if others insisted on shopping when we hate to spend time shopping. We aren't even good at skiing with a group of people, because inevitably they stand at the top of every lift and debate the route down!
