Blog Dope

The Association of British Travel Agents and Thomas Cook, have reinforced the cliche of the ‘whingeing Pom’ as they are known in Australia. They have compiled a list of complaints from British tourists visiting various countries.

Some of the gems they received were:

One case of a British guest at a Novotel hotel in Australia making a fuss about his soup being too thick and strong. It turns out he had been ladling up ’soup’ from the gravy boat.

Another culinarily challenged traveller grumbled that on my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food at all.

Other British tourists found their holidays were spoiled because the beach was too sandy” and “no one told us there would be fish in the sea; the children were startled.

One disgruntled wife declared that topless sunbathing should be banned because her holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women.

Other classics included…

We bought Ray-Ban sunglasses for five euros ($9) from a street trader, only to find out they were fake.

The brochure stated: “No hairdressers at the accommodation”. We’re trainee hairdressers — will we be OK staying here?

There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners.

We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white.

We had to queue outside with no air-conditioning.

I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.

It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during “siesta” time — this should be banned.

I was bitten by a mosquito — no one said they could bite.

We booked an excursion to a water park but no one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels.

SOURCE: ASSOCIATION FOR BRITISH TRAVEL AGENTS, THOMAS COOK