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The joy of travel is in the discovery. However, in these days of Tripadvisor, Instagram and Google maps, the magic of the unexpected has been diminished somewhat; we seem to want to find exactly what we are looking for, rather than simply bask in the newness of it all.

There is a certain kind of traveler that takes this concept to the extreme, and would probably be happier just staying at home. You'll find them in English pubs up and down the Spanish Costas, red as lobsters, tucking into egg and chips and complaining about the lack of Marmite or baked beans, or some other obscure product from the U.K.

Then there are the Instagram hordes who saw a heavily filtered picture of an iconic attraction and join a huge crowd of people with selfie sticks, jostling to get that exact same shot. Hardly the breathtaking and romantic experience you had in mind, was it? When reality fails to match expectations, based on the promise of home comforts or unrealistic Instagram images, people get disappointed and make ridiculous complaints.

These vacation complaints, made to real travel agents and tour companies and based on a Thomas Cook/ABTA survey, are so absurd that it's hard to believe that they are real. Spanish people speaking Spanish in Spain? The brochure didn't tell us it would be like that! Why is the sand yellow? I expected white sand!

I guess the lesson to take from all the disappoint and ridiculousness is this: Travel without expectations, and accept that the world doesn't exist simply to cater to your comforts and photography needs.  Go with an open mind to discover, experience and learn!

Scroll down below to see the list for yourself, and tell your travel stories in the comments!

#1

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

Peter Dickinson Report

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Kaisu
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This can't possibly be real, no one can actually be this stupid

Carol Emory
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Here's a shocker...now make sure you brace yourself...You're actually the foreigner and they're the locals...AAAAHHHHHHH!!!

Rowlie
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Spanish people in Spain eating Spanish food speaking Spanish- shocking!

Bill
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I wanted to expose the kids to European culture but whenwe got to Spain everyone was speaking Mexican"

Thomas Duncan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Comment left by Donald Trump, President of the United States of 'Murica.

Sol Vetland
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't be surprised, I know fellow Norwegians who spend months down in Spain without learning Spanish and complain that the locals doesn't know Norwegian... A lot of entitlement in some people!

Loki’s Lil Butter Knife
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No me digas! (Translation: You don’t say!?) I honestly don’t think I can roll me eyes back any further in my head. If they wanted everyone to speak in English they should have gone to Mallorca...

Vicky Zar
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No no no Mallorca is officially part of Germeny! ;) thats a joke from Germany because so many Germans go there

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N G
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahh British tourists aboard, Spain has been the destination of choice for cheap holidays in the Sun, and a few destinations are full of a certain type of English person.

Ben Steinberg
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was watching a spring break special with a friend -- it took place in a town in Mexico, right over the boarder, very popular with the spring break crowd. They interviewed this person, and she said, on camera, 'this place is great, except that there are too many Mexicans here...'. I'm NOT kidding. We laughed SO hard. What a moron.

James Floyd
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I live in Japan and I hate when people use "foreigner" even to describe others (including locals) when they go abroad. I'm thinking, "B***h, you're the foreigner!"

Debrina Blackmoon
Community Member
5 years ago

idiots love to generalize, huh?

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Phantom Captain
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's sad that we have people out there like this...I'm utterly baffled.

Zan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't your normal level of stupidity it's boss level of stupidity

StinkyMonkey
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I lived in the Gambia when I was little, and you wouldn't believe the amount of times we heard people exclaim: "omg look at all the black people, you'd think we were in Africa!"

Stacie Sterling
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband was disappointed by the scarcity of good meatballs in Rome. They didn't taste like Chef Boy R Dee.

Ed Martin
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can believe this is real as this is the Age of trumpturd which is the age of ignorance, bigotry, illeteracy and stupidity beyond imaginations. Woe is us lasting much longer as the human race. The sooner we are gone the better Mother Earth will be. Ed

Mike Procaccini
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Your next trip should be to Greenland where everything is lush and Green, of course!!!

Diana Crawford
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Let me be kind ….I am not going to say the race of these travelers. But, let me assume these travelers are white people or people from America. These travelers hated education so much that they failed Geography and History. These travelers know no other civilization on the planet earth but English speaking Americans and became shocked when they found out the world is actually bigger then they were told by their limited minded parents. Now, this is me being kind.

WaffleFryLife
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

is it bad that i kindof want to hear you letting completely loose and throwing kindness out the window...? yes?

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Nikki
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this has to be some type of joke, but my faith in humanity is so low that i am willing to believe this.

Viviane Katz
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dagnabbit, why does Spain let in so many foreigners?! Oh wait...

Anne M Sim
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard the same complaint of tourists in China. Too many Chinese there!

Karen Lees
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Confused?!?. They went TO Spain and thought Spanish people wouldn't speak the native language? How absurd!!

Akash GG
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Guess that at the moment they'll die the average IQ of the world would show a sudden increase...

Ana Miranda Lisbon - Portugal
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Spanish people speaking spanish at Spain are a lot, really! Lots of spanish food don't need ketchup, trust me. LOL

Lisa Shaw
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone should enlighten them and explain that in Spain they are the "foreigners"!

Taryn Wallace
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We are doomed as a species...at some point aliens or god will get tired of our selfish b******t and wipe us out so they can start over...

Kanga9ine
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stay home next time. Eat wonder bread with ketchup. Live it up. Travel with Trump. Talko like thiso. Or just talk real loud. You know how deafo those furreners are. You were a quest in another country assholo. Act like it.

Robyn Wilson
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They can be that stupid..years ago read one where an American went to German..complained not enough American stuff

Cathy Baker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This reminds me of a review for a lovely hotel in Barranquilla, Colombia, written by someone in English, who commented something along the lines that the hotel staff did not speak English. Ya think? They speak SPANISH in Colombia! I mean, I understand it's a decent hotel with many internationals, but still... SMH

Id row
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And no one told Spain that the tourists had undergone a lobotomy.

Candice Lewis
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please please please tell me this isn't real! I'll be right back. I need to wipe out the human race right now lol

캉 홍빈
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I refuse to believe that people can be this dumb, there's no way

Shivam Vishwakarma
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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Kristina Cowan
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

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KellyO
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i use this as a 'grandpa joke' when I've traveled. not surprising someone really said this.

Mala Qiu
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I lived in Taiwan for many years, and so I learned to speak Mandarin Chinese. One day I walked into the convenience store near home that I regularly visited, and the lovely girl who worked there was almost in tears because she'd been berated by some foreign woman who was upset because the clerk didn't speak English. I was appalled and comforted the girl, wishing that rude woman were still around so I could tell her it was SHE who needed to learn Chinese, not the other way around.

Frozengeckolover
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have traveled to countries without speaking the language. I prefer to have someone with me as a translator, but I have managed without one. I don't expect other people to speak English for me and I love trying new foods from other countries. Food and music is part of the fun of travelling. If you don't like trying new things, please keep your stupid self at home.

3xtr3m3
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So there was this news article that said 'There might actually be a very stupid person alive' and this guy read it and said 'ooh, he might be me!'

Foxyloxylou
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Eu fui para a América há alguns anos e havia muitos americanos. Comida americana, todo mundo falava inglês, era horrível, ninguém me avisou! (não se preocupe, eu realmente não quero dizer isso)

Laura M D
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How did my comment did this? I see it under every other comment... Sorry.

Warren Cancilla
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In school I read a 1920's New York Times article where the author tried to explain what was wrong with world politics; "In spain, they call it 'agua', Italians 'acqua', the french say 'eau', and Germans say 'Wasser'. What's wrong with them? don't they understand it's all the same thing. It's water?..."

Smiley Rie
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Having stood in a money exchange queue in France behind some passengers from my Cruise ship complaining that "the exchange staff were just being difficult speaking French and they could totally speak English if they wanted to", I am sad to say that there are truly people this ignorant

katt
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sadly, I say on an almost a daily basis: — "There's a lot of stupid out there" —

Sue Hubbard
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s exactly what my dad said the first time he went. He just didn’t get the fact HE was the foreigner!

Roberto Durante
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LOL no pasa nada chico, no te preocupes, es normal en España.LOL nothing happens boy, do not worry, it's normal in Spain.

M. Bo
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was a similar complaint by Norwegians who went to Eastern Europe on vacation, and they complained there were only Eastern Europeans, and it was in the newspapers not only in Norway, but other countries as well.

Guglielmo Marconi
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For many northern european tourists, south countries, like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc, are considered amusement parks. I found a couple in Algarve (south Portugal) thinking they were in Spain (it was the 90's and Euro was not a thing yet).

rachel carter
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is this person serious!? Wow if so please just don't leave your house

Wlle Leitz
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can speak a little Japanese - Sony, Honda, Kawasaki,Suzuki, Mistzubitch...

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But are we getting more picky about our holidays? How are people's travel habits changing? Let's take a look at the ways that technology and modern life have affected the ways we choose to spend our time off.

We travel more frequently but for shorter durations: "The Office for National Statistics in the UK conducted a survey called the International Passenger Survey in 1996 and 2016 to uncover the biggest changes in the travel habits between the 1990s and now – that’s a 20-year study," Drifter Planet writes.

"The results show that Brits are now going on more holidays than before. In 2016 they went on more than 45 million holidays abroad, compared to only 27 million in 1996, an overall rise of 68%. But despite this, holidays are becoming shorter, proving to be one of the biggest changes we’ve seen over the years marking a huge decline of two week holidays. A week-long break is now much more popular than ever before and there’s been an increase in holidays lasting up to 10 nights."

With budget airlines making the citybreak a more affordable option, it's no surprise that people are exploring their own continent more, rather than save it all for one big summer trip. It keeps you fresh to get frequent little escapes from work and daily life, rather than waiting almost a whole year for the summer to come around again!

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Active holidays are on the rise: As people are becoming more health conscious, so are wellness holidays becoming more popular. Instead of letting it all go with booze and food while away, people are seeking to recharge, repair, and have more of a fitness-oriented break. Things like Ayurveda, Yoga, reiki, body detox, spa and meditation holidays have all seen a huge spike in interest, while classics like hiking, camping and cycling are as popular as they ever were.

Conversely, the old 18-35, contiki tour classics are on the wane, which many people would see as a good thing. While there are still plenty of resort options if you want to get wasted, sunburned and laid, it doesn't quite seem to have the same appeal to the younger generation as it did for us oldies. Maybe kids these days are just more sensible, introverted, health and image conscious to get into wild drunken brawls on the streets of Benidorm or Ayia Napa.

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#4

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

Peter Dickinson Report

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Foxxy
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Your husband is probably making the person bathing topless uncomfortable. It should not be allowed to ogle.

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Social media's effects: Back in the old days, you'd arrive at your destination with maybe a guide book, a map and some interesting new banknotes. These days, we've seen photos of everything, read all the restaurant reviews, know which attractions we want to photo ourselves, as well as the funky 'hidden' bars and hangouts. We all find these things in the same place: Google. 'Top 10 things you must see in Porto' leads tourists to the same few places in the city, all busy instagramming away and trying to keep the crowds out of their image.

If somewhere happens to be particularly popular on Instagram, it will be packed with people trying to get that 'money shot,' rather than simply enjoying the aura of the place. The tumbling, colorful buildings of Cinque Terre; the strikingly blue streets of Chefchaouen, the sun setting over the pyramids of Giza... we've all seen these iconic images in gorgeous photos, and we want to take those exact same photos. Perhaps it has always been that way, but Instagram has definitely 'influenced' the way we travel.

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#9

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

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Vic
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a Goan, I apologise for this obviously forsee able error. Next time we'll suck the spices out, before we serve you gravy!

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#14

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

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Kwj
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sounds like someone has "sniffed" too much hairdye chemicals already :O

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#16

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

Peter Dickinson Report

#19

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

Peter Dickinson Report

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Rowlie
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would have solved it by pushing them into the water to wait for boat's arrival

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#21

Funny-Customer-Travel-Complaints

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Foxxy
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You would hate it in Australia. Shops open 9am - 5:30pm Monday to Friday except late night shopping one day a week, which finishes at 9 pm. Saturday is 9-5 and Sunday is 11-5. Although supermarkets are open from 7 am - 9pm mon to fri.

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