Being latched onto abroad! NOW

[Poisongirl81]

Help! We don't want to appear rude but we are in Spain with my toddler and another couple have latched onto us for a week now...they have 3 dc and are different ages to ours 🙂 today we got up early to put towels down but they spotted us and so sad next to us...again! We can't move our towels now as it would be rude. We just want to chill and read but they talk all day mainly at us!

I never read the previous thread, so I won't comment on that, but from what OP has said, the couple weren't interested in finding out about them at all. Also, mumsnet is anonymous so how would they make the connection? Unless they knew what happened from the OP and her OH talking about it? It seems unlikely as they didn't really want to talk to them.

Just saw your post, OP, they sound like they're thoroughly weird. I'm not surprised you're fed up!

Hope you have a latcher on free day OP.. You haven't got much time left so don't worry about atmospheres now! Enjoy the peace and feel good in the knowledge you were assertive.

well done! enjoy your last day

This is my absolute nightmare and makes me very glad that we mostly holiday touring in our motorhome - no-one gets a chance to limpet. Any sign of people wanting to spend time with us and we fuck off for good the next day.

DP's ex was a limpet and used to dominate other people's holidays. He used to find it so awkward he would pretend illness and stay in the room while she went and made a nuisance of herself at the pool/bar/restaurant. If anyone's just come back from a cruise round Croatia where their holiday was ruined by a loud pisshead and her loud pisshead mate, you've met her!

Don't be afraid to be boring.

My MIL is something like this; she's desperate to talk and will spend hours talking to people she doesn't know when she's away with us. Then afterwards she complains that we didn't have enough time together, I wonder why???

She even does this when travelling by coach, by the end of her journey she's able to tell us all about someone we've never met before. When I travel by coach I don't feel all that sociable so I would hate it if someone I didn't know kept asking me questions!!

Sounds like you've dealt with it now but please don't be so polite in the future. If you don't want to talk to someone just tell them (kindly to start with and then increasingly bluntly if kindly doesn't work). You can't let it go on for a week and then complain like it's all their fault.

You should always pack a disguise

Or you look on the reviews and book a hotel popular with Germans/Dutch/Swedish etc anyone but Brits. Then all you have to do is say a polite hello each day. No risk of 'new bessie mates'.

In the good old days, a good method was to offer a paperback that you'd bought in the 2nd-hand book shop before setting off and giving it to the annoying person, asking them to read it and tell you what they thought, as you were sure it was their sort of book. Then frequently ask what they thought of the plot (Nostromo by Joseph Conrad which I suffered for A-Level Eng. Lit is a good one)

These days, a bottle of mouthwash for one and a can of deodorant for the other, plus whatever treats the kids wouldn't like (sweets if the family are health freaks/fresh fruit if they're not) will see them leave you alone.

Norland, unless the pests turn out to be secret Conrad fans who are positively thrilled at the idea of having a week-long sunlounger bookgroup about the internal politics of Costaguana and the corrupting effects of greed.

Of course, judging by your username, you could cast them an effortlessly toddler-quelling stare from under your brown hat...

Just say what my daughter did when we were being bothered by fellow holidaymakers.
I was on a course of antibiotics and day three of being bothered by fellow holidaymakers my daughter asked ' have you taken your tablets mum?
Ooh said Mrs fellow holidaymaker, what are your tablets for?
Quick as a flash my daughter said ' schizophrenia'.

They never came near us for the rest of the holiday.

Or something really infectious might put them off too! Good scheme.

Teutonic Your daughter is ace, and a great signal reader. You have raised a future non latcher-onner

Teutonic I'm sad that your daughter (and you) clearly think that mental illness is dangerous and frightening.

Or indeed anything to make a joke about, that's so wrong.

All Teutonic's anecdote shows is that the latcher-onners thought it was dangerous and frightening. You can't assume anything about Teutonic or her daughter from what's been said.

Are they called Donald and Jacqueline?

mummy

This is my worse nightmare. I barely say a sentence to anyone on holiday and scowl a lot. Give people an inch and they take a mile.

Sorry unhelpful now but useful for the future. Do not engage with anyone....

Gasp - it sounded to me that the daughter was trying to put the people off by pretending her mother had schizophrenia.

That's really sad. That people with schizophrenia are seen as frightening and undeserving of friends

It is sad that anyone would think that. Teutonic's daughter had clearly worked out during three days of being pestered that these two were of that ilk.

I've got bipolar - if I get latched onto on holiday, I'll definitely mention it if I think the limpets are ignorant gits

Actually, to be fair, I'm quite open about my mental illness - haven't really had any negative reactions, except for the prat across the road to me who shouted "you're mental" after I complained about his dog attacking mine