To wonder what your idea of the holiday companion from hell is?

[Summerbreezing]

Just inspired by another thread, but what kind of person do you hate finding yourself on holiday with?

I can't bear the kind of person who wants to frogmarch everyone around to 'interesting places', and think a minute spent relaxing is a minute wasted. I don't want to spend my entire time in Paris up the Eiffel Tower or wandering around the Louvre or catching a train to Versailles. I want to spend some time just 'being' in Paris, wandering aimlessly around, stopping for coffee or wine, people watching, saying 'let's go down here, it looks interesting' etc. Please don't present me with an hour by hour timetable. It's a holiday.

My BIL. Gets annoyed when things aren't done in the 'British' way. The last (and I mean last) h

Holiday we went on, he stayed by the pool and didn't leave the hotel, for fear of having to deal with the locals. His loss. We had a fab time exploring.

Anyone who will only eat in chain restaurants (in the UK), especially in places like London, where there is a myriad of lovely independents.

Overseas, anyone who still wants to go to McDonalds or similar or won't eat local food, or is very fussy and restrictive on what they will eat so that they will look at a dozen restaurants and not be happy with any of them.

I will eat pretty much anything that is not fast food or chain restaurant food. Put me in the town square in any resort or town in Spain or Italy, or anywhere else for that matter and I can usually point to at least half a dozen places that I will happily eat, but I need to wait while others have looked at them all with a disappointed face.

People who insist on cleaning and tidying every 2 mins, when there is no need. We went away years ago on a Eurocamp style holiday with most of DPs extended family and SIL was putting things away and sweeping the tent out at least once a day.

People who fuss and worry unnecessarily and start worrying about what time they need to be at the airport to fly home on day one of the holiday.....

Some people are creatures of habit, Summerbreezing. Each to their own, but I love exploring new places with new people.

mine is a people combo. so I can holiday with dsis, and with dps, but dsis and dm together form the companion from hell. dsis (30) reverts to being a moody idle slovenly teen and dm runs around after her, enabling and excusing shitty behaviour and stressing about how dsis will feel about everything. I have no idea why, it drives me crazy

My sister. She is a teacher (of 5 year olds) and on the last holiday she spent the entire time managing us (her dp, other sis and I) as if we were 5 year olds.

She also threw massive strops if she didn't get her way - we had to eat where she wanted to, go to the beach when she wanted to, let her sit in the front of the hire car at all times and stick to her ridiculous itinerary.

Never ever went anywhere with her after that.

I'm with you on the cultural bully OP.

We went to Sicily in August and arranged to meet a new friend (ahem) who was going to be there at the same time.

As time went on, we thought: 'Fucking hell. She's hard work.' But we were staying in Taormina for two weeks and she was only passing though for two days on a cultural tour of the island (naturally), so thought it wouldn't be that bad.

Sicily in August is hotter than hell. We barely moved from the pool. Even at night it was so hot that one night we asked for an ice bucket and dunked napkins in it to lay on the backs of our necks.

On her first day she arranged to meet us in the botanical gardens at 10am. We negotiated 10.30am what with it being a holiday, not a school trip. She moaned. It was sweltering. And it's just flowers.

We moved on to the amphitheatre and got there just as the sun was reaching its zenith at midday. It was so fucking hot I swear I heard the sun zinging off the stone. You couldn't take off your sunglasses because you'd have been blinded.

I'm pale and was worried about burning even though I had high factor lotion on. She scoffed. She is dark skinned. And again, it's just ruins.

That evening she insisted on a route march of the town so when we were eventually allowed to sit down I was covered in sweat with my make up sliding off. She then inflicted her bad Italian on the waiter, who spoke great English, and got angry with him for not understanding her accent. I bet he spat in our drinks.

The next day she wanted to set off at 8am for the train to Mt Etna. I point-blank refused. She asked me why I'd come to the cultural treasure house that is Sicily if all I wanted to do was lie by the pool. I don't know how I kept my hands off her. It was too hot for physical violence, I suppose.

BTW, DH and I went to the amphitheatre again one evening to see a ballet of Romeo and Juliet (Taormina has a brilliant cultural festival in August, if you can stand the heat). It was a wonderful production, a beautiful setting, and slightly less than roasting.

We saw a shooting star at the beginning of the performance which seemed like God's reward for us putting up with this person instead of sending her to sleep with the fishes.

Oh and shed wake everyone at 7 in the morning to begin her plans for the day.

People who want to calculate individual shares of every restaurant bill down to the last cent.

People who tag along to things they don't want to do (despite you saying you're happy to go on your own and meet up later) but then indulge in every delaying and avoidance tactic they can think of to make you late/miss the bus or whatever so you can both do something they want to do

People who expect everyone in the group to work around their child's schedule and habits. 'Maisie doesn't like pasta so we can't go to any Italian restaurants' 'Maisie gets cranky if she eats late so I've booked a table for us all for six o'clock' etc etc

Anyone that spends their entire holiday sitting by the pool.

I did not fly to another country to sit by a pool for a week. A few days I can do, but the whole time is boring boring.

Gary Barlow. Presumably he'd want to go to Jersey or the Isle of Man. I get "small island fever" very quickly.

Oh, and people that you have to walk on eggshells around the whole time because they're always in a fucking mood.

Anyone who wants an all inclusive holiday. I want loads of different restaurants.

If I buy ice cream for my children it's as though I've destroyed all her hopes and dreams.

Sneepy how awful. How on earth do you deal with this?

Everlong - Do you want a third friend next year? Sounds like heaven to me

I could never be friends with anyone doesn't understand why I want to get up late, have breakfast about noon and then lie on a beach until sunset. I'm just too polite to say so.

I'd come everlong but I don't like Greece. I was traumatised in my 20s by lukewarm food and not being able to flush toilet paper.

Other than that, your holiday sounds right up my beach.

Apologies OP, I'm really sociable and don't let other people rub me up the wrong way. I make the best of every holiday I go on with extended family as I appreciate having them and enjoy their company.
When I said about being intolerant of other human beings it was meant in a jokey way, not sneery

Dh was a bit of a nightmare travel companion until we both realised we like doing different things. He can't sit still. I love to lie on a beach, sipping cold drinks and devoring a pile of murder mystery books. So we go somewhere a) with a kids club - so we get at least 1/2 a day off, b) that has a beach/pool combo for me, and c) has hire bikes for him. We have breakfast together, drop the DCs at kids clubs, I wave him off on his tour of the local area ride, and settle myself down for a few hours baking reading in peace. Afternoons are with the DCs and evenings we both like to eat and drink interesting food. (he can do sitting still in evenings, usually because he's knackered from riding a bike in the heat, he knows better than to suggest I join him).

I had a holiday from hell with a girl who was the sister of a friend of a friend.

She had zero manners - smoked at the table when people were eating and stubbed her fag out in the middle of her plate; then proceeded to shag her way round as many blokes in Tenerife as she could muster. Irritatingly she felt the need to try to palm the mate of whichever bloke she was shagging off on me, and I wasn't having any of it.

Fortunately, after only a few nights of dining on my own and getting propositioned by weirdos, I fell in with a really nice group of guys and they rescued me from my own personal hell.

A few years later I went travelling round the world on my own - by far the best company.

My mother. If she is paying for anything she will moan about the cost but her preferred holiday would be one on which we pay for everything and she freeloads tags along.

Last time we foolishly let her come and stay in the rental cottage we had booked she also didn't plan or cook any dinners (which is more annoying to be honest than not paying for any food), she complained when I went to the ice cream stall on the beach and didn't get her anything so she had to go and pay for it herself, and we didn't dare tell her how much the beach hut cost to rent per day (it was well worth it to give DS somewhere to nap). She also sat in the garden "watching" DS play on the hard concrete steps and "watched" him fall down and cut himself on them. Then she complained when we wouldn't let him outside if we were both busy and she was outside.

Never again. Ever.

Also my brother. This is the one who insisted that we didn't need a carseat for DN aged 18 months, but could use her baby backpack instead. And complained about the cost of food in the supermarket in the resort (to be fair, it was an expensive country) and didn't offer to pay a share of any meals or food that we bought.

I sound really mercenary I know! But it is more about the constant moaning (when you know you can't tell someone how much something you've paid for costs because they will moan, it is really annoying - it's a case of them asking and you having to say "I can't remember" which is a lie, as otherwise they will say you are wasting your money and/or imply you have so much money you don't know what to do with it), and the lack of help in organising things (DB and DSIL are not as bad on the latter).

People who expect everyone in the group to work around their child's schedule and habits. 'Maisie doesn't like pasta so we can't go to any Italian restaurants' 'Maisie gets cranky if she eats late so I've booked a table for us all for six o'clock' etc etc

That's reminded me of SIL (not the one mentioned above) and DNiece on a recent family city break. Only thing is that DNiece was 17 YEARS old at the time but she still expected concessions like the above to be made for her.

My sister.
her children must have dinner at 6 o'clock sharp.
And she never has a drink.or five