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Original poster

Weird people you meet on holiday.

329 replies

Diddumz · 02/08/2021 17:04

1988 - went to Majorca with my family. There was a woman who kept pretending she was drowning in the pool.

Have you met any oddballs on holiday?

OP posts:
BrozTito · 08/08/2021 19:28

Argh the americans and english. I flew into an actual rage to see duolingo had english represented with a US flag earlier. Anyway a texan asked my ex what language we speak in England whilst in Venice

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/08/2021 19:47

5 or 6 cruises a year ... it's probably worth giving a teddy a plate of scampi and chips then

Remember, too, the tips someone that deranged was probably handing out

Ask yourself - if you were looking at that kind of money, would you pander (panda?) to the bear, or chuck him over the side as he no doubt deserved? Wink

terrywynne · 08/08/2021 19:58

@Puzzledandpissedoff

5 or 6 cruises a year ... it's probably worth giving a teddy a plate of scampi and chips then

Remember, too, the tips someone that deranged was probably handing out

Ask yourself - if you were looking at that kind of money, would you pander (panda?) to the bear, or chuck him over the side as he no doubt deserved? Wink

Given that when she wasn't dining with the best, she was being shown going through complaints process because the cruise wasn't going where she thought it was, they may also have been afraid of the complaints if they didn't do what she asked (especially if they were regulars).

They were some very odd people and dynamics in that programme - it did not inspire me to take up cruising! (No idea if things have changed in the past 20 years).

BrozTito · 08/08/2021 20:08

Ive got one now but it was my family. In my part of the world back in the day ' a nosh' meant a meal. Elsewhere it means (i think people know?) We got back to the hotel and my dad kept repeating at full volume how he'd 'had a great nosh in st helier!' To the other hotel guests.

Cruddles · 08/08/2021 20:22

On holiday in California and we went to the bar featured in the film Sideways. Two local women sitting at the bar heard our English accents and said they'd love to buy us a drink, so we accepted. They were clearly quite drunk and kept saying they loved our accents and asking us to say swear words which they found hysterically funny. They kept buying us drinks and we kept swearing loudly in our best posh English accents. They didn't seem to want to get to know us, just listen to us swearing. It was a hilarious, weird afternoon!

I had something similar at an ice hockey game in Chicago. I was in a very long and slow moving queue for the toilets, chatting to the guy behind me, he just kept laughing at everything i said saying my accent made everything hilarious. He then got out his phone and asked me to talk into the camera as i was apparently so funny. I asked what he wanted me to say, he said anything, so i talked about English football for a couple of minutes while he doubled over from all his laughing with tears running down his face. I've never had someone respond like that before

Still1nLove · 08/08/2021 20:31

On an all inclusive to Majorca in the early 00’s, a man got so drunk he could barely move. He leaned over the bin that was next to him and threw up, then proceeded to carry on drinking like nothing had happened 🤢

On a small Greek island with a group of female friends, one of whom was black, constant comments about her great tan! 🙄 it got really tiresome 🥱

Original poster
Diddumz · 08/08/2021 21:39

I still cringe about my brother and I attempting to steal glasses from a tapas bar in Spain and being caught by the landlord.

We were profoundly drunk and I was very abusive to him.

It was a long, long time ago and a great night out.

OP posts:
Original poster
Diddumz · 08/08/2021 21:45

@Tigerstripe20 that is revolting 🤮 gum all over your trousers?!! Bastard!

OP posts:
CalamityGladys · 08/08/2021 22:11

When I went to stay with a pen pal in Texas - the waitress heard me talk and brought the other waitresses over to hear me speak - she said I sounded like Mary Poppins and just loved my cute English accent….I am from Wolverhampton ( and sound it!)

Foxylass · 09/08/2021 00:54

I work in tourism. We often have guests making friends while here.
One time two couples seemed to get on nicely and on departure were overheard saying things along the lines of see you next year.
One of them (say guest A) re-booked for the following year and specified that if the others (say guest B) booked different dates, to let them know and they (guest A) would change to come at the same time as B.

Guest B re-booked and specified that they absolutely did NOT want the same dates as A...

They all had lovely return visits - well away from each other. Very odd though.

Roussette · 09/08/2021 06:45

But isn't that like holiday friendships?

I know we've made 'friends' on holiday (not proper friends...but got on and had a laugh) and it's suited all of us whilst we're on holiday but when the holiday ends we're glad we're not seeing them again! I'm sure they feel the same about us too!

Original poster
Diddumz · 09/08/2021 07:07

@Roussette

I remember my family getting on so well with another family (on holiday) that we went on holiday with them the following year.

It was a nightmare. The other family constantly moaned about the hotel and were rude to the staff. They spent most of the holiday guzzling huge meals all day.

The family were in a permanent bad mood and they were not good company.

Never made that mistake again.

OP posts:
Roussette · 09/08/2021 07:09

Oh yes! It's never the same second time round!

MsTSwift · 09/08/2021 07:13

We camped a lot and my parents though very sociable at home didn’t usually pal up with other people on holiday as they wanted a break except once they clicked with another couple. They had drinks with them and it emerged they were actually related! The man was the son of mums aunt by marriage sister. They must have been drawn together somehow.

awaynboilyurheid · 09/08/2021 08:42

On a cruise once in the med where a mature couple danced in front of everyone in the pool a couple of times during the day!

He wore a sailor outfit it was a white top with the blue stripe and white trousers, his wife wore a red dress and the danced about doing huge twirls then dancing away from each other then dancing back in great exaggerated moves, he also had a white hanky he waved about as he danced. Then in the final bit of the “dance” he brought out a red rose and presented it to her with a flourish!
Everyone round the pool in loungers or swimming were open mouthed but they seemed completely oblivious!
Saw him later on wearing the white sailor suit so this was obviously his cruise attire!

Purplealienpuke · 09/08/2021 09:15

Im sure there are huge swathe of people who would rather have been anywhere else than on a cruise with a relative of mine who gave 'talks'.... he was a self important boorish know-it-all.

RedHotChiliChips · 09/08/2021 09:35

@ImInStealthMode

Ukrainian Mr Bean has sparked another memory; I was on a coach from LA to Las Vegas and one of my fellow passengers was wearing a suit and a pair of sliders displaying his dirty feet. Not a scrap of luggage.

He kept taking phone calls on the journey except he didn't have a phone, it was his hand held to his ear, thumb in the ear, pinkie to talk into. About every 20 minutes he'd stick his head through the gap between the seats (imagine Jack Nicholson coming through the door in The Shining) and ask me the time.

We broke down at one point and while waiting for a replacement coach he wandered off and came back with a McDonalds. We were literally in the middle of the Nevada desert, could see nothing on all sides right to the horizon, but somehow he conjured up a McDonalds Confused

I think of him often.

Oh my word Shock Grin
Iamthewombat · 09/08/2021 10:52

@awaynboilyurheid

On a cruise once in the med where a mature couple danced in front of everyone in the pool a couple of times during the day! He wore a sailor outfit it was a white top with the blue stripe and white trousers, his wife wore a red dress and the danced about doing huge twirls then dancing away from each other then dancing back in great exaggerated moves, he also had a white hanky he waved about as he danced. Then in the final bit of the “dance” he brought out a red rose and presented it to her with a flourish! Everyone round the pool in loungers or swimming were open mouthed but they seemed completely oblivious! Saw him later on wearing the white sailor suit so this was obviously his cruise attire!
Christ! The same rose each time, I wonder? It must have been hard to ensure a supply of fresh flowers sufficient for two dances per day at sea! I am dying to know how the hanky came into the dance. Was he using it for semaphore?

I would have been going out of my way to meet them, to answer these and many other questions.

SudokuZebra · 09/08/2021 10:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WTF0ver · 09/08/2021 11:25

On a group tour in an African country, I was there by myself and the majority of the rest of the group were older people, over 50s.

There was one Aussie bloke who fancied himself as being rather cultured and spoke several languages. We'd be trekking through the jungle when he'd suddenly turn around and make a grand statement in French or Russian Hmm. He'd apparently written some books and dropped this into the conversation frequently too. Alright then.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/08/2021 11:39

It must have been hard to ensure a supply of fresh flowers sufficient for two dances per day at sea

Not really - most big cruise ships have an onboard florist to flog overpriced arrangements to those cruising for an "occasion" and to deal with the floral pieces on the ship

Loved the "sailor get up" though; it's always useful seeing idiots dressed like that, in that you know to avoid them at dinner
Do they think they'll be asked to steer the thing??

SingingInTheShithouse · 09/08/2021 12:03

Oooo, I think we might also have met dancing displays older couple. Surely there can't be more Confused

We had a couple do pretty much this in our Egyptian hotel, but on the stage near the dance floor. We spent half the week thinking they were part of the entertainment. Nope, they were just show offs wanting attention

Nixandwotsit · 09/08/2021 12:08

Turkey - a lovely last minute holiday at a nice hotel. First day a family of 3 - mum, dad and adult son - had a drink with us and asked us what trips we'd booked. Turned out we were on the same trips.
Every meal they ate was at the poolside bar - breakfast, lunch and dinner. The staff amiably served up frozen pizzas and fries... you get the picture. We ate out every meal. When we got back and had to walk past them they would quiz us on where we'd been and kind of suck their teeth and shake their heads and say - every time - how good the pool bar food was.
Trips - turns out we were all together in a minibus, sometimes with another couple. Carpet factory - they told us off for buying a carpet because they'd been before and so hadn't taken long looking round and we were holding them up. Jeep tour - wonderful trip around the countryside, great food... they moaned because last time there had been water guns and jumping in rivers and a stop at a pizza place (none of this had been advertised for the tour or we wouldn't have gone). Another trip to a market - again they moaned because they'd been there before and we held them up... by actually visiting the market and getting back to the bus by the time we'd been told.
As we all sat on the coach to catch our flight we knew we were doomed - they were sure to be sitting in the same row as us. Then they realised they'd left their passports in the hotel safe. Had to be sent off in a cab to see if they could get there and to the airport in time to catch their flight and we never saw them again.

Laaaaa · 09/08/2021 16:38

Best thread ever!!

awaynboilyurheid · 10/08/2021 20:18

In answer to the dancing sailor couple, it looked like a plastic rose he presented to her, I’m guessing he had brought it with him, it was so bizarre.
Everyone we met, asked us, have you seen the dancing sailor and his wife yet?
It was a huge cruise ship with many international guests, I think I heard they were Swedish? I did see them with a younger couple and a baby at breakfast one time and I think it was or assumed it was their son or daughter and a grandchild. I also noticed they were nowhere to be seen when the dancing started!! Who could blame them!

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