carter

I just wanted to trigger some dialogue on things we observe travelers doing that are annoying travel behaviors. One of mine is the traveler who wants to eat only in familiar chain restaurants as opposed to trying local food. Yeah, the french fries at the McDonald's are probably much different state to state and nation to nation. Stay at home...Unfortunately, the U.S. also sends some bad ambassadors abroad and I have overheard Americans complain frequently that not enough English is spoken in the rest of the world...that's kind of the point of foreign travel isn't it, different cultures, people, sights, languages?

John

My pet peeve is having to look at grossly overweight women wearing skimpy clothing. They should do that sort of thing at home, not on the road!

AC

Personally, Carter, I agree with you about eating at chains vs. locally owned resturaunts. I think that travellers experience more of the local culture this way and I feel like people cheat themselves of this all too often. However, to each his own. For example, my mother-in-law much prefers the fimiliarity of the chain where she can go in and order exactly what she orders when she is at home an know exactly the quality she will receive and what to expect from the resturaunt. She is equally amused, I'm sure, whith my desire to dine in every small cafe, biestro and eatery we pass by.
Surely most Europeans know that those who go abroad aren't representative of our entire culture. I have seen European travellers in the US struggling with their English, I'm sure they wish we spoke more of their native language.

Cameron

This topic has been debated/discussed many times on the European forum. Very interesting, as those that frequent Europe are, I would say, more open minded and adventuresome than those who stay closer to home. You won't find many travellers there seeking out American chains (except as a "fix" or when the local food just isn't very appealing).
My pet peeves? Ethnocentric American travellers abroad (very embarrassing), people who go on vacation but can't cut away from home/work mentally such that they never fully enjoy the experience, people who are rude to visitors (expecting them to know local history/customs/directions, etc. simply because locals do), people who are never satisfied because "it's not like I thought it would be" or "it's not like home".

Cindy

I have scores of pet peeves, and it is quite a burden to carry them all around all the time. But there is one that I have never seen mentioned on this board, so here goes:

I can't figure out people who just have to touch the precious art, valuable sculptures, and the interiors of historical buildings. They'll just stand there picking at the wallpaper or scratching the varnish on the chair railing or whatever. Even if there is a sign right there saying do not touch the whatever. I live in the D.C. metro area, so we visit museums, monuments and national shrines from time to time. And any part of an artwork and historical sight that is at all accessible has been stroked and picked at to the point that its appearance has changed.

Also peculiar are people who take flash photos in a show despite signs or announcements expressly forbidding it. I give them all the benefit of the doubt because maybe they don't understand the language. But don't they know the picture is unlikely to turn out anyway?

Maybe this will motivate all of you art fondlers and sculpture strokers out there. When we are out and about, I point you out to my kids. "Honey, look over there. See that guy in the Coors hat? No, not that one, the big one. See him rubbing the foot of the lion sculpture? See his kids trampling the grass around the outdoor sculptures? Don't ever do that!"

NoName

For John-The other side of the coin is fat bubbas with their beer bellies hanging out of a skimpy speedo.

John

Dear NoName:
Of course! They're just as gross! Exposed beer bellies ought to be illegal.

anna

People who talk on cell phones in such a loud voice as to disrupt.
People who take infants to graduation ceremonies. Some crying babies have disturbed the speakers, presentation.
People who forget or refuse to turn off theri pager, cell phone at the theatre, church, concerts, etc.

xxx

Boy, Anna, you really hit the nail on the head there. I was in a plant nursery recently. The exterior walkways are cobblestone. I was pushing my cart and picking out some plants. There was a woman wearing a suit (in the middle of the workday, mind you), but she was standing there talking on her cell phone. Whatever. But boy did she give me the evil eye for walking past because my cart made so much noise she couldn't hear.

kong

My favorite one is couples who want everyone to see what great kissers/petters they are in public-generally disgusting humanity, as well...get a room...

ilisa

Like Cindy, I live in the Washington, DC area, and some of my biggest pet peeves deal with the metro. I ride the metro every day and never fail to see some tourist family who view the train as some sort of attraction rather than a means of transportation for thousands of commuters each day. A day doesn't go by where I don't see little kids running up and down the cars or hanging and swinging on the bars like it was their own personal playground - doesn't matter how crowded the trains are. Their parents just stand by thinking it is cute. I once had a very fat family - all three of them - fall on me because they thought it would be fun to ride the metro without holding on. And people, keep your voices down while on the train. At the end of a busy day, I don't want to hear about Uncle Maury's prostate.

Cindy

Ilisa,

That is so funny and so true. When I commuted downtown, the best motivator to get an early start in the morning was to miss the tourists you describe. Do you think we can get those huge families to stand on the right side of the long escalators so they don't block everyone walking on the left? Will they stop their kids from playing on the escalators? Do you think we can get them to stay out of the seats reserved for the disabled? Any chance they'll move to the center of the train and stop blocking the whole darn doorway? Any way they'll move aside and let people out before they charge on in?

It's a jungle out there.

ilisa

Cindy, you have just described my daily commute! How about in the event that they actually utilize the poles, can they please hold them rather than lean on them so my hand does not get trapped under their sweaty backs?

Cindy

Ilisa,

Well, of course they have to lean on the poles. Although able-bodied, they are absolutely exhausted from hogging the whole elevator instead of using the escalator so that people with strollers or wheelchairs have to wait to get to the platform. That explains why these pole leaners have to immediately replenish their nutritional reserves immediately upon boarding, despite dozens of signs prohibiting eating or drinking in the Metro.

martha python

Cindy--
Thank you for the explanation. I thought the pole-leaners were just self-involved, lazy jerks. I never considered their physical/medical needs. If only people would give up those handicapped seats to them....

PS Are those "Please stand on the right" decals on the escalators new, or have I just missed them all these years? And what optimist is under the impression that riders can/will read and follow the instructions in this case when they ignore them in every other situation?

anna

How about people who simply MUST get on THAT train, even though the doors are closing and there will be another one along in four minutes? Got on the terminal transport train at O'Hare last month and, as the doors were closing, a party of 6 adults approached. The lead guy pushed the doors open and got on, followed by all 5 of the others, who each had to struggle with the doors and their luggage, as the doors tried more persistently to close. Lead guy is screaming at people to back up and give his wife room to get on (even though there was no room), and she falls down on her suitcase (sound of glass breaking somewhere deep inside very large overstuffed bag) while he (who jumped on ahead of her and left her to struggle alone), demands that someone help her (from his secure spot in the train). It was pathetic.

Cindy

Martha,

Maybe you are right. Perhaps we should let the sweaty-backed hard-charging pole-leaners have the disabled seats. They need to catch their breath so that they can begin smoking the second they leave the platform, despite the many signs expressly forbidding it. It must take a lot of pulmonary effort to generate that much smoke. The way I know they put out quite a lot of smoke is because I suck a good bit of it deep into my lungs as I stand behind them on the long, long escalator. Oh sure, I could just go around them to where all of the fresh air is, but they are standing on the left and I can't get by.

ilisa

Now, all my metro peeves are going to come out. When I am putting my farecard into the machine at the station, can the person behind me not crawl up my rear end in their efforts to get to the platform or leave the station? Because I am about to lose it and it will get ugly!

Alex

Ilisa,
Are you looking forward to your commute home now? You'll be noticing everything! Watch your blood pressure!

angel

My peeves are: (1) People who drag around small children who are sunburned, dehydrated and getting grumpier by the minute. (2) People who gesture towards me and say to their child, "If you don't behave, that lady is going to _____ you." This one gives me an opportunity to give my drop-dead look.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share.