Well, good lord. I was quietly reading this thread with great interest and enjoying Barbs writing, when all of a sudden a Barb bashing has errupted. I hope you all can just hold your tongue until she is done, for I fear poor Barb will stop writing. Don't ruin it for the rest of us, ok?

Teri

>>I fear poor Barb will stop writing<<

No, no...Barb keep going...it's slow at work at you are my entertainment!!!!!

that's what i'm worried about too- if you attack barb she might decide just to stop and i NEED to find out what happens- i'm loving it!

I can tell you we spoke almost every day while she was on her trip and she had the best of intentions with this group. She, herself, was close to tears at times on the phone. She was not taking this lightly and was truely trying to help these women have a good time or at least salvage what they could of the trip.

Alot of what is happening I am finding out for the first time myself as alot of times she "couldn't talk" about it.

Hmmm... sounds like a few posters on this thread are relating - perhaps a little too closely - to the Divas.

There's a lot to be learned by this story. Keep it up, Barb.

Hi lyb
>>My suggestion is that you immediately find a reason why you have to cancel the trip with this woman.<<

> I've got to think of good reasons...luckily I have a year before this trip, ....<

I suggest that you think of a good reason STAT. The longer you let the other person think that the two of you are going to Venice, the worse it will be.

You might want to consider something along these lines: "I'm very sorry, but because I like you so much I agreed to sharing a visit without thinking.

I know that I am a solo traveler. I can't plan ahead because I tend to do things on the spur of the moment and I'm afraid that I would ruin your visit.

Perhaps you and xxx can plan a trip to Italy together".

Best of luck.

Hi Barb,

Even though we are now in the tragic depths of this Shakespearean drama, I know that the White Flag is up and all will end well.

Please continue the report and don't let those who are taking your story too seriously drive you away.

Barb, I understand you perfectly, and can personally relate to your feelings. I had once an one and only Diva.. And I must tell you that I dropped her in the middle of the trip.

I regret for taking her with me ( wrong, wrong decision..) but not for letting her on her own.

The good thing is that she learned how to travel and had made subsequent trips on her own, as no one on earth would take her as a trip companion. I was the only one to make such a big mistake. Well, live and learn, even if it is the bad way.

Please, don't stop. I've been anxiously waiting for the next installment!!!

Fauna: I am really sorry you feel that way – maybe you should stop reading it.

I just start walking away. My ears are ringing and I can feel my BP rising. I can hardly breath. I walk down to the Marina. I’m breathing in the fresh air, trying to calm down and trying very hard not to cry. I sit and watch all the happy tourists getting on boats to Capri, Naples or wherever. I wish I was part of their groups. I look up and see this beautiful old bright red hotel – Il Faro. I remember reading about that on Fodors. I think how wonderful it would be to be staying there, looking out to sea. I walk back up the hill and stop by the Foreigners Club, picking up some bus and ferry schedules. Even though it is only 11:00 a.m., I order a glass of vino and sit for awhile. I am mad I don’t have my journal, it’s a miracle I had my purse with me when I walked out of the Lorelei.

When I feel calm enough, I walk back to the Lorelei to face the music. I have decided that I will ask J once more if she will switch with me and I will room with KIA, or if KIA will switch with me. If not, I will find another hotel and see if maybe J will share the expense for my half of D's room and I could pay her back or whatever. There is no one around when I get back, but there’s a note on my bed that says to meet J and KIA at Fauno’s at 1:00. I know I can’t stay in this room, so I pack my suitcase leaving it in the room and walk to Fauno’s. Both KIA and J say they are really sorry, but there is no way they will room with D, but KIA has gone to the tourist office and has found a pensione not far from the Lorelei that’s only 40 E a nite and we should go see what it’s like. She offers to take it and I can room with J. Apparently Eiffel has taken D shopping, ha. Gotta love Eiffel.

We visit the Pensione Mara. It’s like walking into Grandma’s house, except Grandma smokes and speaks Italian. The room is large, basic and for some reason, I love it – I want it!! So we rush back over to the Lorelei, pick up my stuff and I move into the Pensione Mara. I’m feeling better already. The people at Lorelei are very confused about what’s going on. We agree to all meet at 6:00 at Fauno’s.

I pull up the metal screen on the one window and there is a brick wall, oh well, it has some lovely little flowers growing out of it. I don’t care – it’s my brick wall. I completely unpack and set up all my stuff just like I want it. Just for a moment I sit on the bed – looking at my brick wall and I’m thinking how ironic it is that after all the planning, feeling so ecstatic that I got us all into the Lorelei – and here I am sitting in this 40 E night flea bag and D is sitting on that cute little balcony with that awesome seaview. But that’s life and I’m for the first time in days, starting to relax. I do notice that there are no towels, except two very thin cotton tea towels in the bathroom and no soap. I decide I will go the Standa, buy some real towels, which I can use at the beach or on Ischia and some lemon soap, which hopefully will take away a little of that smoke smell, which I’m starting to notice. The toilet has not been cleaned so I find a use for my antibacterial wipes which I’ve been carting around with me and which I use on the drinking glass that hasn’t been cleaned either. I turn on Dido and get dressed to meet the Divas.

I'm glad you got away.

How much were the rooms at Lorelei (out of curiosity)?

I think that the Divas should have been more accommodating in terms of switching roommates. That seems fair given the situation.

Oh, Barb, I do feel for you! Obviously, this is a topic with which Fodorites can identify!

My TCFH story -- 4 people, 2 who are close, long time friends but first time to travel together, and the TCFH unknown to me before the trip. We did have a pre-trip lunch to talk about towns to visit and sights to see. She seemed like a nice enough person. NOT!

This woman was the TCFH and the Ugly American rolled into one. Made the Divas look like angels. She could not be bothered to learn the French coinage so she would hold out a hand full of change to cashiers and taxi drivers and make them pick their pay out of her hand. Not just rude, but stupid too. She would ask questions in English with no attempt at so much as a single French word. When the person either didn’t understand, or pretended not to, she would keeping repeating her question -- more LOUDLY each time.

Upon check in at our Paris hotel, she took two hours to “freshen up” while we waited for her. Then,in spite of our warning not to plug her American curling iron into the socket, she said, “oh, it will work” and proceeded to blow out the electricity on the entire floor of the hotel. We left and told her where we were going.

The next day she requested an iron and ironing board from housekeeping. It took a whole 15 minutes for them to bring it to our room and she actually yelled at the maid for taking so long!

She packed at least 6 pairs of high fashion, high heeled shoes and was crippled by blisters before the end of the first day. Then she refused to walk anywhere because her feet hurt. This woman went to Paris for the first time and didn’t want to see the Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louve, the gardens, or do a Seine River trip. But that’s her choice. I’m not sure what she did see.

Upon check in at our Cannes hotel, she was unhappy that, once again, the room she was sharing was made up with pushed-together twins. She also thought the room was “shabby” which it wasn’t, really. She marched down to the front desk and since housekeeping was not available at that instant to re-make the beds, she demanded that the hotel manager, who was home ill, be summoned to do something about it. We could have simply traded rooms with her, but she was not going to accept that simple solution.

The last hotel we checked into had also made the mistake of pushing the beds together. As soon as the door opened and she saw this, she actually threw her luggage DOWN THE HALL and stomped down the hall after it to go yell at the front desk.

By the time we flew home, no one was speaking to her. Thank goodness she wasn’t a friend of mine!

On the way to Fauno’s I meet J, who is white-faced and heading back to Lorelei because she thinks she is going to throw up and has a horrible migraine. I wonder if it’s from all the stress of the day. The Divas are waiting for me. D is sitting there smiling and shows me the earrings that Eiffel bought her. She’s like a little kid. I tell her they are beautiful. She is acting like absolutely nothing has happened. The Divas are asking me for my recommendation of a good place to eat dinner. I know lots of nice places, but I know I can’t face another Diva chaotic dinner, so I tell them about a place that’s good. I know it’s touristy, but I know they won’t care and will probably enjoy it much more than some of the nicer places. And I’m right. Eiffel has fish and chips with ketchup, KIA has already had some yogurt and orders tea and D orders the same thing as me, an omelet because I still have not regained my appetite and then D orders ½ ltr of wine and starts making toasts. I don’t care, let her drink as much as she wants, I have my own room, ha ha. I do overhear Eiffel telling KIA that she gets to sit beside D tomorrow for dinner.

The Standa is closed so I end up buying three souvenir Sorrento tea towels and a lemon soap for my room and head back to the Pensione Mara for a good nights sleep. Little do I know. ..

I'm glad you were able to get a different room and I do hope it helped the situation! Please - just one more Friday tidbit before the weekend!!!

Oh Dayle you had me laughing, although I know from experience it was not funny at the time. Where do these people come from!! Do they never read a book, or watch a movie - do they have absolutely no curiosity about the world?? It's just beyond me why they even want to travel.

I can really feel for Barb, but for D too. I went on a trip with a group of 6 friends, two each to a room. My roommate didn't like dry weather (she though it would age her skin) so every night she would soak EVERY SINGLE TOWEL in water and hang them around the room to add humidity. Every night after my shower, I had to use my shirt or other piece of clothing as a towel. I even tried hiding fresh towels in hope that she wouldn't find them. She didn't stop even when I asked her to. Apparently, she didn't feel the need to take a shower every night (which only added to the problem)!

She also insisted that everyone should eat at the same place so we can be "together." But she is a vegetarian, and didn't trust "regular" restaurants to have a wide enough selection for her, so we ate at the SAME vegetarian restuarant every night. I suggested we go someplaace else or split up, and she immediately started crying to get sympathy from the others, then threatened to move out to her own room. That would have made me stuck because I could not afford a room of my own (which is why I do sympathize with "D&quot. She also made negative racial comments about my then-boyfriend (future husband) that angered me to no end. She considered it "sisterly advice."

But I have to say the rest of the group (other then the TCFH) was pretty cool, especially about money. It didn't matter if one treated another to lunch, or paid the taxi themselves. Everyone thought that over two weeks, it all kinda evens out. We just estimated our costs and kicked in what we thought we owed - everyone always put in too much rather than not enough (the extra was used to buy ice cream). So that part was fine.

I'm glad you were able to get your own room, which probably was key in preserving what sanity and civility you had left.

On my trip with the TCFH, the 4 of us shared quads for the first week and a half in Italy. Crazy, I know. It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds - we were in apartment type rooms (the type with 2 adjoining bedrooms) at all places - but, still.

I was supposed to share rooms with the TCFH for the remaining week and a half in Paris and London. Point blank I told my other travel companions that I could not share a room with TCFH. Neither of them were wanting to room with her, either.

The tension between TCFH and I got to be so high that finally one of my other travel companions reluctantly agreed to room with TCFH.

When TCFH found out about the switch, she was very upset. I understand her feelings were probably hurt, but I know I was getting on her nerves as much as she was getting on mine.

At any rate, it was the ability to go to my room for some time away from TCFH that enabled me to finish the trip without completely losing my cool.

Barb, I am so sorry that you came away from a trip in one of the most beautiful countries in the world with only bitter memories. You obviously wish you had just stayed home; perhaps that would have been best in this case. Thank goodness you had lots of pills to help you stay rested and good-humored! Well, at least now you know for certain that traveling with only yourself as company is a lot less stressful and much more pleasurable than having to try to contend with other people's idiosyncrasies. You must feel very proud that you can now look back and just laugh at the whole situation! Thanks for sharing – you've made a lot of new internet friends – who needs real ones? Especially such weirdos, huh?

As they say, "With friends like this who needs enemies?" Shame on you for this endless tirade. If you had spent a fraction of the time enjoying Rome that you spent battling your traveling companions, maybe you would have come home with trip memories instead of this dirty, rotten and, obviously, greatly embelished rat-out story about your friends. And, I'm shocked at the frenzied state of usually mature and gracious posters. I can picture you all at the gladiators! More! More!

Oh Barb, I am glad you are still on speaking terms with the Divas.

In case you exchange gifts with each of them for the holidays, have I got the perfect gift-giving suggestion!

At the mall today, one of the stores is carrying "Diva" pillows - yes, ladies, that's right. They're about 8 inches square, black, with "Diva" embroidered across the top, and then there is a space to insert a 4x6 photograph.

Certainly you must have had a photo of all of you together that you could insert.

If you're interested, I'll be glad to order you a half dozen!!

wetravel

Apparently not shocked enough to not read every thread.