Yesterday I saw a couple at the airport curbside yelling at each other, and the lady hitting the man on his head with a newspaper. This is not the first time I've seen such behavior. Is it jet lag? Spent too much money and taking it out on others? What is it?

Only troll posts make me crankier the travelling.

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I'm SO embarrassed!!
I didn't realize anybody saw us!!
My wife caught me packing my heavier items into her bags.

I think that it could be a little of all of the above. My DH starts to get a bit cranky towards the end of the trip. He says he misses his bed! Me, I am just a very happy traveler until I have to come home(and do laundry and unpack). I think that couple have some major issues beside traveling .

Traveling for work, which I do often, makes me VERY cranky. Mainly because I have to rent a car and drive (I HATE driving) and I don't usually have a navigator to help me along and I get lost. And it's ALWAYS in an area with very high traffic (because that's my job...solving traffic problems :-B ). I can't WAIT for my trip to the Capital Beltway next week!

LOL, I WISH I had seen that sight!

I am never cranky.
OK, I am sometimes cranky, but never when traveling
I am always happy to be on the go and dragging my dear Yankee along or sometimes, he drags me along, so we get along famously and with big grins on our travelweary faces.
Jet lag makes me nap, not cranky.
Spending money makes me even happier.
so count me in the group that is a Happy Traveler

Sometimes I get cranky when my travel companion is someone other than my husband. When you spend so much time with someone while travelling, it is sometimes hard to get used to their quirky habits that you don't normally see.

Few people spend 24 hours/day with anytone - spouse, kids, etc. So when you end up 24-hours/day with someone in a hotel room - with no escape to work, yard, other room in the house - stress can build up.

Sounds like typical behaviour at the local super market. I don't think it has anything to do with travel, some people are just cranky all the time.

Airplane travel does make people cranky. I've seen passengers turn really nasty to desk attendants and flight attendants over trifling things. Nursing literature says it is mainly dehydration, stress about safety, and having to change bathroom habits- plus fatigue.

The travel of commutes make some drivers, Mr. or Ms. Hyde. I see road rage quite frequently in Chicago area traffic. There was a road rage incident late this summer near Wrigley Field, between a pedestrian and a driver, during which one was killed and two injured. That's pretty cranky.

Most people on this board are happy travelers, but many people won't go on a trip even if you treat them. My aunt wouldn't go on a free trip to Hawaii she won- said she had no desire to travel.

How insightful, Patrick.

JJ5: That nursing literature needs updating. These days it's not dehydration and change of bathroom habits that cause travel stress, it's horribly overcrowded airports which, thanks to 911, are now something straight out of a George Orwell novel, standing in line two or three hours for check-in, being packed into airplanes and treated like human cattle; hotels, car rental companies etc who nickle and dime their customers to death, and on and on.

In short, travel in this age of supply-side economics, insatiable corporate greed and mass hysteria over security has become a royal PITA. It's no wonder people are cranky.

Psych studies have shown if you take rats and put them in overcrowded conditions, deprive them of food they become so stressed that they attack each other.

According to many posts here about behavior by air travelers, we seem to have responded the same way as rats to the same conditions.

Hubby and I are happy travelers. I do remember growing up that no trip with the family ever started off without a huge fight between my parents. Usually it was when mom was packing. The next thing you know, someone would say something that got the other one mad and we kids would be in the middle of a war zone.

As far as traveling with others, we try to severely limit who we go out of town with. Many a great friendship has ended over a vacation together. We have only couple that we could go anywhere with for almost any amount of time without arguing because we are very comfortable with each other and can separate and go our own way without hurt feelings. We have two couples that we can only take short weekend trips with. The rest of the world we do not travel with. Due to work, we are not able to travel but about two weeks a year with 2-3 mini weekend or day trips in between so we do not want to ruin the few vacations we have.

I think people travelling with kids are much more likely to turn cranky. Too many people to please!

I agree with Judy Rem. I'm like a spoiled brat at the end of vacation.


Suzanne's post is a crack up. She hates driving, and her job is solving traffic problems. Who better?

I don't know, guys - cranky is one thing, but yelling and hitting is a whole other issue. Does feeling cranky and out of sorts give you licence to behave like a 4-year-old?

Yes

What makes me cranky is when I'm sitting in my seat on the airplane and some doofus who is carrying enough luggage to stock a store, hits me in the head (arm, knee, face etc.) and acts as though I'm somehow in the way. Listen, I am a nurse and fully understand emergencies and unplanned for events, but I think failing to pack better doesn't fall under any of those cattagories.

And no, hitting isn't acceptable. Although I have been sorely tried at times (woe to the next person who hits me with their luggage).

I think when anything messes with two of our basic needs: sleep and food- we can get cranky. Travel will surely do this. But, I have a philosophy that helps me through the tough spots in travel. When you leave the comforst of home (and your ego-centric schedule) and venture out into the real world you are most vulnerable to learn a lot about yourself and others. I find when I travel to another country I may be learning about another culture very different than my own, but more importantly I am learning about my own culture in contrast. It is healthy to get out of your comfort zone and survive out in the real world. When I observe others who can't act civil just because something did not go their way (don't like the food, service, etc), I first get a good laugh and then wonder why these people travel. JJ5's aunt has enough sense to stay home where I think some people should stay! Of course there are those who act the very same way at home. Consider it free entertainment.

That's just the way we are when we get frisky, "offlady". Don't worry about me; I gave her a good paddling when we got home! Sorry you misunderstood. <g>