To think that most people on a plane don't know where they are going?

[sallysummer]

When I talk to people they often have an appalling knowledge of geography - not knowing where Poland is, confusion which ocean is which etc; geography is my area of employment.

I think I could get on a plane and ask people to show me where they are going on a map and they couldn't - why do people not know where places are?

OP your posts are slightly odd but I'm with you.

"You don't really need to know where some country is located on what ocean or which continent"
You don't NEED to know but ... are people really saying it's perfectly normal to visit a country without knowing what continent it's on??

It's not elitist or anything to say people should know this information, I genuinely thought everyone learnt this kind of thing in school.

It's about as believable as people getting on a plane, being shown to their seat and then being surprised that they couldn't sit in a deckchair on the wing.

We went on a beach holiday to Poland and it WAS hot.

Yeah, I've been in summer and it was 30-35 °C all week.

No one has ever done this.

I actually know a couple who were in the Caribbean, wanted to go home, and bought a flight to the wrong London. There's one in Ontario, Canada as well. Seriously, no word of a lie. They didn't realize until they got on the plane.

The Japanese minister in charge of cyber security recently astonished the nation by admitting that he had never used a computer.

My geography skills aren’t brilliant, I struggle with actual map reading and have no sense of direction at all.

Yet I’ve managed to never get on a plane without knowing where I’m going and where it is on a map... and I know that Poland is indeed hot in summer...

So if you really know people who can’t find where they’re flying to on a map, presumably it’s because they just don’t care - and people don’t have to care about the same things as you.

It's not just world maps. I've met an English person not thinking East Anglia is in another country.

Yes, indeed you can drive to Ireland, taking your car on the ferry, but the person was asking which is the quickest way to get there from London -- by car or by plane.
So no contest really.
(And the way it was phrased it seemed like they thought it would be as simple as driving to somewhere like Birmingham and not involve a sea crossing.)

Honestly OP who gives a shit.

I would know where I'm going. One of my favourite games as a child was with a friend and his atlas - we'd pick a random page and have to name the capital. I've got maps of pretty much everywhere I've been in the world. I have a good sense of direction. I have to deal with people in different countries and timezones nearly every day of the week. (It does help with scheduling meetings to be told someone is in Colorado or Texas rather than Connecticut, mind you.) I mostly don't expect people to have as good a general knowledge about these things as I do, though some know more. I would judge people who have no idea at all where their destination is relative to their take-off point, though. I doubt I'd mention it, though, so it would make no difference to either of our lives.

I think I could get on a plane and ask people to show me where they are going on a map and they couldn't

I think if I got the seat next to you, I'd put my earphones on and feign sleep.

I live in Perth, Australia. Pretty much everyone that has visited us has asked if we can pop over to Sydney for the weekend. They are usually taken aback when I explain they can, but its a four and a half hour flight. . They usually want to pop to Uluru for the day too. . To be honest, the sheer size of Australia is quite daunting and unexpected really, you only realise when you take a road trip and drive for hours and realise you've only gone a few centimetres on the map.

Was nodding at the title, until I read it and realised what you meant.

I travel a lot for work. I've been out of europe for 45 days out of the last 60.

More than once, I have to physically remind myself which country I am in/going to next.

But yeah, I know where they all are on the map at least.

Holiday makers bug me on flights and in airports. I am increasingly losing tolerance for them 😆

You really sound like a bore op.

"I find it difficult to believe that there's many people they think Australia is a 3 hour flight from the U.K. (I presume)." I don't! There's a lot of thick people about especially on certain types of holidays.

"Why can't they speak English" cos you're in Spain/Portugal/France you twat!

"All the foods foreign" that's cos you're not in U.K.!

"Why is it so hot" cos you're closer to the equator

Reminds me also of a thing I read about tourists complaints

www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/astonishing-holiday-complaints/

Op note the Jamaica complaint.

Just look at the idiots that go to places like dubai and end up in trouble due to flouting the VERY WELL ADVERTISED laws!

I once had to mention to gay friends of mine that sandals (at that time) didn't accept bookings from gay couples.

I've had to explain to more then a few people why the Americans were so freaked out by the Cuban missile crisis (they thought Cuba was near Russia led to very interesting conversations and much map folding to show just how close Russia is to America. The fact that it's physically possible to walk from Russia to America blew their minds!)

Good old colonial arrogance innit? Still alive and well 🙄

"Why do I need to locate my holiday on a map? I care more about the weather and culture and food; that, I would look into it. Which seas surround it and which continent the country are in are irrelevant to me." Location and the geographical features SHAPE the culture. I know not everybody is interested in this stuff but they should at least understand that much. Country borders are largely shaped by things like waterways and mountains etc.

"shows a general lack of awareness/interest in the world around them." Totally agree. Generally speaking I find this type of person also thinks politics is boring and doesn't affect them, don't watch the news etc.

I have relatives in aus and I can attest they have had the most ridiculous questions asked by potential visitors from uk inc "why is the flight so bloody long?" 🙄 "can you get normal food there?" "What happens if I take ill?" People are thick!

I've a friend who is a white caymanian, that's led to interesting conversations too!

And as a Scot I've lost count of the number of Americans that have tried to tell me Scotland is in England! Plus a few Canadians too.

I've met English & welsh people who thought the Shetlands were near the Falklands.

I've seen contestants on mastermind not know about major landmarks, hell even whole cities in Scotland!

"Honestly OP who gives a shit."

All of us when the idiots get arrested for something stupid and the Foreign Office has to bail them out. They also give all other tourists a bad name.

"I genuinely thought everyone learnt this kind of thing in school."

Unfortunately not. The geography I has was about mountains and rivers, not 'where things are'. I suppose geology really. And I was able to drop it at 14 . When I tell people from other countries that we can drop geography and history at 14 they're normally really shocked.
However, I would still look at a map before going somewhere.

"Mechanics is my area of employment.

I think r.e. a car, I could ask people to show me how the engine works and they couldn't - why do people not know how the engine works?"

Yes, but you can pay a mechanic to look at your car. Unless you're very rich, you can't pay someone to be your guide on the whole holiday including getting to the airport and getting on the right flight. You have to do some of that yourself.

OP

I give you my mother. On a flight from Spain to UK she asked the flight attendant which sea we were flying over. The flight attendant was just about to take coffee to the pilot so she asked.

She came back with an answer but my mum thought the pilot must be mistaken and she was right.

I've met English & welsh people who thought the Shetlands were near the Falklands.

To be fair, until Argentina invaded had anyone even heard of the Falklands? It wasn't general knowledge.

"To be fair, until Argentina invaded had anyone even heard of the Falklands? It wasn't general knowledge."

I agree, but if I was going there, I'd find out.

Easier these days to look it up on the internet and a world map is there in front of you. My dad bought an atlas for christmas one year, it was actually really informative but my geography in general is still a bit hazy.
I would look up where I am going, but maybe some people just do not really care?

I had customers arrive in The Algarve once wanting an island tour, customers who thought Cyprus was a Greek Island and then there were those who arrived to stay in a resort in The Algarve who thought they’d booked a resort beginning with the same letter (Q) which was in Malta and asked could we just arrange a taxi.

Some people thought that the Falklands were off the coast of Scotland when they were invaded! I must admit, I wasn't sure either, never heard of them before the conflict, but had heard of Argentina.

Odd, superior sort of question.