School starts next week, gulp, so of course my natural reaction? Start dreaming about and planning that next vacation. As I was bouncing from site to site, virtually touring through the beauty of Paris, Greece and the Islands of the Caribbean what do I stumble upon? Twenty of the most outrageous, the most ridiculous and stupid travel complaints ever made.
A travel survey conducted a couple of years ago by the people of Thomas Cook and ABTA reveal for us 20 of the most ridiculous complaints by holiday-makers made to their travel agents. You will want to put down that coffee cup. These are actual complaints, and there are some here that will truly make you do the spit take.
1. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.”
2. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time – this should be banned.”
3. “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food at all.”
4. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels.”
5. A tourist at a top African Game Lodge over looking a water hole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel “inadequate”.
6. A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she’d been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the “do not disturb” sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.
7. “The beach was too sandy.”
8. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure.Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white.”
9. A guest at a Novotel in Australia complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.
10. “Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women.”
11. “We bought ‘Ray-Ban’ sunglasses for five Euros from a street trader, only to find out they were fake.”
12. “No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled.”
13. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England it only took the Americans three hours to get home.”
14. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends’ three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller..”
15. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the accommodation’. We’re trainee hairdressers – will we be OK staying there?”
16. “There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners now live abroad.”
17. “We had to queue outside with no air conditioning.”
18. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”
19. “I was bitten by a mosquito, no-one said they could bite.”
20. “My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”
Seriously? This is taking the first world problem to a whole ‘nother level! Thanks for the giggle Wanderlust magazine!
I like 19,i wish they had to ask first lol
This is the most outrageous example of stupidity I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t believe how ridiculous people are ! Another great post !
it’s amazing what people will complain about these days. if you have so much complaints….don’t go on a holiday!
Very funny.
I’ve heard more than a few times IRL that this place is nothing like home. Um, isn’t that the point.
I was quite amazed and completely flabbergasted that people uttered such complaints – have they nothing better to do? I did find them hilarious though. I especially liked the “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England it only took the Americans three hours to get home.”
HAHA! These are unbelievable – most of these people really should not be travelling…