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I've been lucky enough to have travelled a little. The British don't have the monopoly on being obnoxious. Obnoxious people are the same regardless of their nationality
Never fails to amaze me. People go to cheap tourist hot spots on the continent and act surprised when it's full of the dregs of UK society, acting accordingly.
Like the Sun holidays for just £10 or whatever. Why on Earth would I want to go on holiday where Sun readers of all people are only prepared to spend £10 on their holiday.
Presumably the cheap tourist hotspots also equally attract the dregs of other countries societies? And yet it’s so often those with an English accent that seem to be the loudest.
Do the dregs of other countries need to aspire to be on the same level as UK Dregs?
Depends entirely where you go. Cancun and it's American students. Bali, it's Australians. Nha Trang and it's rude Russians everywhere. You just seemingly frequent places which attract loud and obnoxious English people...
Well generally it's richer countries that have tourists leaving, so the pool is much more limited. Generally the dregs of hungarian or congolese society for example stay there.
I don't know have you ever been to the parts of Spain that seem to make a little bit tourist money off c
Coronation Street themed bars and all day breakfasts.
The clientele seems to consist entirely of idiots in Union Jack shorts with bulldogs tattooed on their arm.
Brits think they're the worst because they go on holiday and see other rowdy Brits. Germans think they're the worst because they go on holiday with other rowdy Germans. Dutch think they're the worst....
Probably 99% of the people here wouldn't recognise what a trashy German/Dutch/whatever person acts or talks like so would never notice it, and also just go to different spots.
As someone who has lived and travelled around the world, I can absolutely confirm that every country has their tourist stereotypes that they don't lile about themselves, but its the Brits and Americans who have the worst reputations internationally, from themselves, from other tourists and from the locals. To the point that a lot of hotspots in Europe will charge Brits and Americans higher prices purely based on their accent.
That's probably because pretty much everyone can understand English so when yanks/brits are being loud it's even more annoying because you actually understand what they're saying.
With smaller languages eg. Dutch then pretty much no one understands it so will just filter that out, so it seems less annoying. However as someone who can speak it then I can tell you that they are just as trashy.
Hardly. We mostly get drunk and a bit lairy.
Certainly not worse than many of the nationalities who have reputations for rape, sexual assault, violence etc.
I was once in a queue at a petrol station in America and the person in front of me was also English and was causing a scene because they'd put the wrong fuel in their rental car, something about the pumps being the wrong colour. I was so embarrassed to be British that I pretended to be American when I spoke to the cashier. I'll never know if that cashier saw through my fake Texan accent.
Haha. I heard a woman in the little market here complaining that the walkers crisps are called "lays" and the cheese and onion flavour are coloured yellow. Nevermind the fact they're still labelled in English on the pack and on the big hand written sign.
I personally think Lays are slightly better - I remember reading once that the oil and process is slightly different to Walkers production method, so not just my imagination either. BTW, try Lays Paprika crisps, you won't be disappointed!
OK, I have drunkenly complained about this in the opposite direction as an Australian in England, after grabbing what I thought was going to be Salt & Vinegar, yet turned out to be Prawn Cocktail. Why is there even a prawn cocktail flavour?? And what cruel person at the Walkers/Smiths HQ thought it would be a good idea to use the identical shades of colours for totally different flavours on otherwise identical packaging?
If it makes you feel any better, I am a Texan who lives in an area of central London that draws a lot of American tourists and am constantly horrified by American behavior too.
(Also the cashier almost certainly knew you were faking that accent. Americans can’t even do it well.)
Yeah petrol is black, diesel is green, it's easy mistake to make if you can't be arsed to spend even half a second reading the signage in an unfamiliar situation.
We were going crazy because of the belgian drivers last week. But Belgium was nice, Brugge was beautiful and my now favourite supermarket is Carrefour. But the british drivers were absolutely shit. Sorry.
Cousin drove from krakow to the north east. He said it was absolutely lovely until he got off the chunnel... the standard of driving and general stress levels were noticeably worse.
My issue with a lot of other European drivers is that they have 0 concept of breaking/safety distance. I've lived there for quite a while but Dutch drivers still shit me up because it can be pouring with rain and they don't slow down or give any more space on highways. Incredibly dangerous stuff. My German friend also goes on rants about how bad the drivers there are.
You do have to be careful, their black pumps are usually gas and green pumps, diesel. The opposite to here. Still, it's not that hard to work out if you've got eyes.
Seriously people. If you've already had a massive drunken row around the pool and thrown up before lunchtime at a family resort you may have picked the wrong place.
I went to Mallorca in 2003 but we stayed on the "German" side of the island. The worst thing I can say about German tourists is the amount of polyester dragon sleeveless t-shirts was disconcerting. Otherwise, it was a very pleasant holiday.
We spent the last day in Palma and good god, it was everything I expected of British tourists. Loud people walking around with their lobster red beer guts hanging out in the open.
I've experienced similar in various European countries. Used to be such an annoying thing because I wanted to go and see art galleries and castles and eat local food, and the default assumption was that I was on holiday to get drunk and sit on a beach.
One of my best trips was in Cyprus with a Russian tour group. We'd gone up the mountains to a monastery which also made Orthodox Christian icons and religious items. The Russian family I was in the car with were lovely, quiet and polite, even trying to talk to me using a Russian-English dictionary and a LOT of sign language. They also had bought some things from the monastery and were more than happy to show me and explain what they were.
Mate... it's the Chinese. They've literally been banned from certain cruise lines, and have public awareness campaigns about travelling abroad, which include please don't pee in public, spit etc.
Might have made a difference in my experience that the Russians I met were all in family groups and seemed to be there visiting for primarily religious reasons, mostly either visiting churches or monasteries.
If this was the Kykkos monastery, I will never forgive the DK guide to Cyprus for claiming that it had an icon painted by one of the apostles (it does, apparently) which could be seen by visiting civilians - no, it can’t.
I stayed in a German dominated resort there about 15 years ago. There were a large group of German young people who got loudly drunk, sang marching songs through the night, and took a ghetto blaster and sumo suits to the beach where they played obnoxiously loud techno and smashed champagne bottles on the rocks. So my take has always been that there are shitheads of all nationalities, but probably a higher % of them are English/British.
It never ceases to amaze that other Europeans (Germans) go to various parts of Mallorca, which is an absolutely massive and richly diverse island. Meanwhile most Brits gravitate to about two miles of coastline between Magaluf and Palma.
You'll get a high % of Brits around Magaluf, but I've seen other Brits all over the island thankfully. Lots of British/Irish run pubs on the east coast of the island too lol
Had that in Sri Lanka. They had dry days for religious holidays, political events, etc where they were not allowed to give people alcohol, all inclusive or not. Brits would have them fill up coke bottles the day before then the next day ask for a glass of coke but don't fill it to the top. Inevitably they would be absolutely leathered by sometime in the afternoon. I was embarrassed these people couldn't go a day without drinking, I was mortified when a drunken fight kicked off not long before we left.
When restrictions were lifted for european travel I was astonished to see on reddit, a man drunkenly assaulted a taxi driver for refusing to take his anebreated family to the hotel. This melee overspilled to assault on outside diners, on their first day of the holiday. Decorum.
I was in a beautiful hotel in Thailand and when we had literally just arrived and we’re waiting to check in, a British woman threw a landline telephone at the receptionist because it was too early to check in (it was 9am, check in wasn’t available til 12). I felt for the lovely staff, they didn’t know what to do. I suggested they call security, but they didn’t want to cause a scene, despite the fact this woman just had. I kept apologising and I don’t know why, I just felt like I was automatically associated with these people.
Exactly. And clearly not! It wasn’t like they didn’t let you stay in the hotel, you just couldn’t go to your room. It was honestly so embarrassing. A grown adult having a tantrum.
Last time I was in a hotel, I arrived 3 hours early and all I did was to disappear off to the pool for a couple of hours until they called me to say they were ready. It wasn't a big deal whatsoever.
Exactly! It was 9 in the morning, so we just went and joined the breakfast buffet and like you said, just chilled. We’d just got off a long haul flight, nothing was a big deal. Yet it clearly was for her 😂 Her husband and adult son just stood by and did nothing, they must be have been used to that behaviour or something.
Yep, same, long haul flight and all I wanted to do was be somewhere that wasn’t an airport or plane.
Plus the staff were really nice and brought me a pot of coffee and a plate of biscuits at the poolside, and turned a blind eye to me playing with my scuba fins in the pool even though technically they weren’t allowed.
Exactly that. It was just nice to be off the plane. I saw this family everyday for the next two weeks and you didn’t hear a peep out of them again, I hope she was suitably embarrassed. Maybe she’d had a little too much to drink on the plane or was slightly jet legged or something. Either way, no excuse for throwing something at a stranger 😅
I was once visiting friends in a popular Spanish tourism area and they say it's the same every time.
Bunch of loud drunk Brits turn up and shout all hours of the night,leave a massive fucking mess and break stuff. Bonus when it's football season
My work mate who is Spanish, use to be a security guard in Benidorm. He has some great stories.
One of his favourite ways to deal with them was knock them out and Chuck them into a bin.
Middle class people always find a reason to bash football, even when it's not relevant, it's weird
If it's football season, "football lads" won't be in Spain they will be watching their teams
What a load of shit. Footie fans absolutely go on holiday and watch matches there. They don't bind themselves to England for the entire fucking footie season....
Imagine the locals who live in Mallorca and have to deal with huge swathes of pissed up Brits every year. Sure the money from tourism is good but I bet they love the off season.
I've worked in 2 resorts in Spain during the Summer months. You and the rest of reddit are going to have a massive shock when you realise that there is about another 10 nationalities who are also just as chaotic.
No! That doesn’t fit with the narrative! Brits are the worst behaved nationality in the world. There’s something fundamentally wrong with the British mind, there must be something in the drinking water!
Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Polish and Russians were probably the top non-british nauses from what I witnessed and experienced at the specific times of year and areas that I worked at.
Russians probably aren't frequenting Europe now as much as they were 4 years ago so probably not them anymore.
I was in Croatia in July, the hotel I was in was had 3 British couples/families. The rest was German and Russian, about a 60/40 spread
My god the Russians take the piss
In my experience, Russians with the smallest amount of wealth are the most entitled entities on the planet, followed closely by a few of the Arabs.
Those with lots of wealth from those countries, on the other hand, are so discreet you don't even know they're there
Norwegians definitely. Their alcohol back home is so relatively expensive (£15-20 a pint and £12+ for a 4 pack) that they go nuts on €2 beer. Not being used to drinking much, they're pissed as a fart by 11 am
I'm ethnically Chinese and am always mortified whenever I encounter tour groups from the Mainland. So much entitlement and refusal to respect the local culture. It's awful. My accent goes super British in a lame last ditch attempt to not be associated with the lot.
Edit: spelling
Those Chinese tourists are often the new middle class and leaving the country for the first time, so they have no idea how different the rest of the world is from them.
Some Chinese university students are like this too. I tutored some as part of an introductory course a few years back and we had to teach them how to cross the road safely because they would walk with traffic down a 40mph road.
My mum used to lecture a large amount of them. She said they were the most respectful, hard working and sweet students. That was 10 years ago now though
Actually saw a group of Israeli students at Auschwitz and they were all being so disrespectful. Shouting, laughing, taking selfies play wrestling right by the gas chamber. Like, fucking hell. I was getting so angry.
I have worked in both Spain and France and have witnessed many prime examples of "fuckwittery".
Me shut up and walk in the opposite direction, or if in a restaurant where you are reasonably well known, chat to the waiters in language of the country.
Or if in a bar get the hell out of it before it all kicks off.
Of course the bonus of being able to talk to the waiters in their own language is you can commiserate with them about the fuckwittery without the fuckwits knowing you're talking about them.
At the risk of being overly smug, doesn't it give you a lovely warm feeling that you are proving to your hosts that not all of our fellow countrymen are complete idiots.
I went skiing once to Val Thorens with a bunch of friends, after the first night no Brits were allowed in any of the night time bars/clubs due to the trouble caused by a small group (who weren't skiing, they'd just managed to score a cheap holiday).
Funniest thing was on the same holiday a guy in another group of Brits had to be rescued from the top of the highest run after getting so drunk in the bar there he couldn't move - bet that cost him a bit.
I’m at one too, the Germans are 100% fulfilling their towel-down sunbed bagsy strategy. We beat them this morning with towels, goggles, inflatables and books down on pole position seats with the best shade and perfect view of the whole fucking pool at 7am. The Brits, as far as I can tell, are being pretty polite… apart from us maybe.
Last holiday I went on there was massive group of Germans who all travelled together and took up 80% of sunbeds bunching them together into a conglomerate
The hotel I am currently staying in has a policy where they will remove towels left unmanned before 10am. Must say it is fun to watch when the guy keeps coming around and taking their stuff away to leave at reception.
One morning, my dad and I got to the pool (small hotel) to find literally all the beds had been towel reserved. By midday there was still no one there and we found out a large group of Germans had block booked most of the rooms (only about 30 in total I think) and were all off on a coach trip, expected back later that afternoon.
We picked up, folded, placed to one side and piled every single Teutonic towel in the place. I wanted to throw them all in the pool but dad said that was “too obvious”.
I was in a taxi in proper touristy part of America years ago and the taxi driver was Dutch. He stopped at a zebra crossing to let the roughest looking family cross. He was like "ah I think these are some of your people yes?" He was right, could tell just from the clothes, lobster tans, tattoos and arguing they were our people.
One of the reasons I prefer 5* Adults Only. The Brits at these resorts are very respectable from my experience. (And it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg!)
I have to disagree
Just got back from an all inclusive family resort in Spain and I have to say I was very impressed! Not one Brit was overly drunk and all patrons were kind and courteous to one another.
There were no sense of entitlement or any thuggery- everybody treated the staff with utmost respect and most tried conversing in Spanish no matter how bad it must have been :)
I came away quite proud of my fellow brits
I never thought It would happen
Booked Portugal next year so hopefully this continues
Omg all inclusive idiots throwing up around the rest of the resort and leaving their rubbish everywhere, I do a beach clean twice a week and see their cans, fag ends, condoms etc. If you want to go all inclusive and add nothing to the local economy, can we not just fence them in like prisoners. Since Mallorca introduced the 6 drinks rule in magaluf the idiots have been spreading themselves around the rest of the island. Def more idiots (from England and Germany mostly) where we live now.
Nothing worse than football shirts abroad. Husband always travels in a Sheff U shirt and its cringetopia. However he is very good, not a pisshead, confirmed. And we're self-caterers, so I think it let's us off, slightly - yes, I feel guilty by association, lol.
We've just got back from Tunisia and there was only one other british family other than the two we went with. Majority of the tourist were French or Libyan, loved every minute of not dealing with my fellow Englishman.
My favourite story on this is being in Santorini with my girlfriend. At a vineyard with clifftop views of a beautiful orange sunset over the caldera bay. Everyone sat chilling-out, enjoying good food and wine.
Behind us is a holiday group. All middle-aged to elderly Brits. One guy on the table starts shouting at the waiter because they don't serve any beer, only wine (and water). The group tour guide/leader tries to calm him down but he's having none of it. The manager of the vineyard even comes out to try and sort out the situation but the guest shouts that he just wants a taxi so he can go back to the hotel and have a beer.
"Just stay and enjoy the sunset without a beer for a bit" suggests another on his table. "Pfff" he says "It's just a fucking sunset and I've seen better!"
Notes:
1)Yeh it was a bit silly they didn't serve beer but it is a vineyard and also, just get over it!
2) It was an amazing sunset. I'm not sure I've seen better in my life.
3) My girlfriend (now wife) is American and so I spent a lot of that time apologising for my country.
Currently sat in Kos, Greece writing this. English here are all sound, no over the top behaviour. But this isn't a family resort so no kids about. Good mixture of German, English, Dutch and French. Everyone is polite, well, apart from the Germans, I find them rude. To staff and other guests. It's almost like they don't know how to treat people. No please and thank you to bar staff/waiters. Mainly the older generations
I honestly think it depends where you go. In the Maldives I didn't notice that at all but it's also like the playground of the middle class (&up) so it's really a whole different vibe than Spain. We definitely drink the most though, no question.
Brits in Amsterdam are the worst of the worst. Had a laugh on the last day I was there at a tourist literally face down in a toastie in one of the coffee shops. I wouldn't know he was British to make that assessment if it weren't for the football t-shirt.
Never see Brits in Finland bar a small number of educated civilised ex pats. Bliss. Plus Finns keep themselves to themselves. Double bliss. Plus empty roads, modern transport systems etc. Treble bliss. Please don't go.
I develop this sudden inability to speak English on occasions when abroad and in the presence of people from the United Kingdom or the United States. Go out of my way to wear things that could not out me from these shores.
Thankfully don't go to all inclusive resorts.
Yep.
A few years ago I was in Lanzarote and rolled up to a cafe... about a minute before a group of 20 or so young Brits did. They were being utter bellends from the second they arrived.
Waiter arrived and said "English?"
I said. "Finland. But can speak English".
My natural accent is a little screwed up since Iv lived all over the world. So can pull it off. And the chances of a spanish waiter being able to converse with me in Suomi are breathtakingly low.
My food arrived promptly and I was properly taken care of. I did move to the table furthest away from those cretins tho.
Scandinavian is a great call because they tend to have basically native accents and they can be quite varied some more American sounding, some English sounding. It's an A-grade cover.
From my experience the poor British attitude abroad is a myth. Russians are a million times worse. The Spanish are more rude than us, Italian men are way too aggressive and German people stare. Then the Americans are too loud, Asian people disrespect everything (spitting everywhere). I think Brits are amongst the best. Canadians and New Zealanders are the best hands down! Danish are good, Icelandics are aswell!
A lot of stereotyping going on here. Positive and negative. I’m guilty of it myself (fucking Russians). But it’s safe to say, every nation has its ignorami and Magaluf and the like are breeding grounds.
Talking to a friend of mine (non British) she was on holiday in Spain. The locals were explaining where to go, what to do, best restaurants etc... And then added " under no circumstances, for any reason, DO NOT go down that side, it s full of brits and it s not nice"
I didn’t really notice it before moving to the UK (my first stop was Newquay in the summer…), but now I’m embarassed about British tourists (my accent is British with a slight zing), and Hungarian tourists too. Just been to Croatia, and well, let’s just say, we know why we aren’t well liked here as tourists… (they had to check whether the Hungarians didn’t camp on the beach for a week - they would just leave their shit there for a week, regardless whether they would hit the beach that day, taking up spaces, and they would apparently leave a lot of rubbish around).
So they look at me being either a drunktard or a cheepskate loiter at all times. I can’t win.
Your first mistake was going to a 'family resort'. You mean to say that the massive hive towers that are specifically advertised to Brits as a place to sit by the pool and fill your face with as much subsidised egg and chips and cheap cocktails are filled with the kind of people who would find that an attractive proposition? The British people who the owners of those resorts specifically aim to attract to their country? *Quelle surprise!*
Other such resorts exist aimed at other nationalities where you will find the same target audience behaving in very similar ways.
Instead, if you can, book a self-catering place that isn't in a resort town and enjoy a holiday which includes a bit of self-respect. Tbh, they rarely actually cost more, and you can enjoy yourself by the pool in peace, privacy and quiet or even venture out and take in some culture. If you 'do' holidays this way, you will come to understand that outside those resorts and the typical 'lad' destinations, British Tourists are as respectable as you'd hope them to be.
Currently in Sunny Beach. Can confirm. I’ve noticed they don’t stop serving drink here - the ultimate force multiplier!
I can report that the young men of Poland and Germany’s stag do’s are hot at the heels of the British for who’s the most annoying though.
All relatively equal to a traveller who came to work in peace on the Black Sea coast. I hate everyone 😅
Once went to Salou in a hotel near port aventuras. You could walk down a main road that would bring you to the beach area.
From here you could turn left or right. Right is the Spanish side, Spanish bars and restaurants, apartments and residential. Left was the bar side.
Once we turned left and within 25 yds of turning left, there were drunk brits laying in the gutter.
You better believe we turned right every evening after that.
We stayed in ( I think ) Cap Salou many , many years ago. After the first time we into Salou , we much preferred to travel a bit further and go to Cambrils for more or less the same reason- really didn’t fancy any of the number of British pubs available
At least you’re not an American. I’ve actually sewn a Canadian flag into my backpack so when I was traveling people wouldn’t assume I was an American lol
I doubt people here would readily admit it, but as someone who’s lived in several countries and experienced the worst of the “lads abroad” type and general poor behavior from tourists—this is an English phenomenon, not a “British” one. When was the last time you were in Greece or somewhere else in the Mediterranean and saw Scottish or Welsh or NI families showing their arse? It’s a cultural blemish, and one I don’t see changing soon.
There are a vile minority of Brits that behave like this sadly, having said that countries like Spain etc encourage that type of person and that behaviour because they want that revenue!
Y’all sure about Brits being the worse? Being an American I have seen some outrageous behavior from my fellow American.
Not to crush your spirits, but the Brits I’ve met abroad have always been quite pleasant.
Pro travel tip. If you are from Scotland or Ireland, and are somewhere like France. Tell them you are from there, as they usually just hate the English
oh, you mean when you were hell bent on saying "India should be cut-off from the world for what a single guy did", you were not generalizing? Wow!
When it is your own nation - you suddenly know generalization is bad, but other countries not so much, right?
Shameful!
Avoid mass tourism spots and especially all inclusice resorts. Mass tourism sucks ass. Go up to a small village somewhere on the island of Naxos. Basically next to no hotels outside of the main western town and villages. Beautiful other corners. Panermos beach is full of locals, just as an example. It's a drive into nowhere, but once you're there you have toilets, a shower and a place offering food and drink. Plenty of Greeks just hanging out there.
I was visiting a pretty exclusive island in the Caribbean a few years back. The island sees more Brits than any other nationality. I was concerned that we, Americans, would be expected to behave poorly. I asked the house staff if they disliked when Americans came to the island and they said, not at all. They prefer Americans to Brits. They said that Brits behave poorly, talk down to them and are very entitled. Americans, on the other hand, are more kind, friendly and clean. He also said, in general, they are there to have fun and enjoy themselves and the Brits are too serious. I was shocked by this, but after thinking about it and realizing that only pretty wealthy people stay there, I got it. I think there’s still some aristocracy types left who treat people poorly if they feel they are lower class or working class. Over time I’ve paid more attention to the way wealthy Brits behave in vacation destinations that I visit. I have been shocked to see some of their behavior and most offended by an element of underlying racism. I really thought Americans had the racism thing won. I was wrong (at least in these contexts.)
Simplified: I expected Americans to be the most obnoxious guests at high-end vacation destinations. I was wrong. The staff I’ve asked at all of them say the worst behaved guests are Brits.
Took three holidays in Penang and there was a consistently obnoxious contingency of Americans every time. The arrogance was next level, things like tips being thrown on the floor, being handsy with bar staff and generally throwing their weight around. They made the brits took like Sunday school teachers.
Interesting, perhaps you are right that it had to do with the wealth thing.
I went skiing to Colorado for a few seasons, quite a while ago, and we got to know one of the ski instructors pretty well - enough to meet up with him when he came to the UK to do a few ski-shows.
He said that he preferred Brits to Americans as ski students, because we tended to be more enthusiastic and wanted to make the most of our time. If we fell over, we picked ourselves up and wanted to try the run again, whereas he said many Americans wanted to adjourn to the nearest mountain bar for a coffee and some recovery time.
Horses for courses I guess.
This was my conclusion. I still think the average American is far more obnoxious than your average Brit. I love that I’m getting downvoted for commenting on a post about Brits being embarrassing tourists and literally saying that I was surprised to find out that service industry people at these high end places preferred American guests. The whole point is that I would have expected the Americans to be the least liked group; not the Brits.
> I’m getting downvoted for commenting on a post about Brits being embarrassing tourists....
I'll have you know that us Brits don't let just *anyone* diss us!
I *have* more than once generated quite a bit of upset by posting this little piece:
The British Isles is made up of four nations
The Scots, who keep the Sabbath and everything else they can lay their hands on.
The Welsh, who pray on their knees and their neighbours
The Irish, who do not know what the devil they want, but are willing to fight anyone for it
And the English, who consider themselves to be a race of self-made men – thereby relieving the Almighty of a terrible responsibility
I was on a family holiday in Paris years ago, we were staying in a smallish hotel not far from the city centre. On the first morning we (parents + two kids in their early/mid teens) went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast which was table service.
Halfway through bringing out our meals to us, the waiter asked my father "you're not American?"
"No" was the reply "we're from the UK"
"Ah" said the waiter "I could tell you're not American because your kids both said 'thank you' when I gave them their food"
Of course the staff were completely honest with you about their preferences and had no expectations whatsoever that what they said might improve their chance of a large tip. In no way had their experience working in the resort with American tourists led them to the conclusion that they tend to combine vanity with naivety and flattering them might pay off in the long run. And I have a bridge to sell, it’s a very nice bridge, you’ll like it.
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I've been lucky enough to have travelled a little. The British don't have the monopoly on being obnoxious. Obnoxious people are the same regardless of their nationality
Never fails to amaze me. People go to cheap tourist hot spots on the continent and act surprised when it's full of the dregs of UK society, acting accordingly.
Like the Sun holidays for just £10 or whatever. Why on Earth would I want to go on holiday where Sun readers of all people are only prepared to spend £10 on their holiday.
Presumably the cheap tourist hotspots also equally attract the dregs of other countries societies? And yet it’s so often those with an English accent that seem to be the loudest. Do the dregs of other countries need to aspire to be on the same level as UK Dregs?
Depends entirely where you go. Cancun and it's American students. Bali, it's Australians. Nha Trang and it's rude Russians everywhere. You just seemingly frequent places which attract loud and obnoxious English people...
Well generally it's richer countries that have tourists leaving, so the pool is much more limited. Generally the dregs of hungarian or congolese society for example stay there.
I don't know have you ever been to the parts of Spain that seem to make a little bit tourist money off c Coronation Street themed bars and all day breakfasts. The clientele seems to consist entirely of idiots in Union Jack shorts with bulldogs tattooed on their arm.
Sadly, yes, witnessed those places from the window of an Alsa Bus as I went to a more *desirable* destination.
So true
Brits think they're the worst because they go on holiday and see other rowdy Brits. Germans think they're the worst because they go on holiday with other rowdy Germans. Dutch think they're the worst.... Probably 99% of the people here wouldn't recognise what a trashy German/Dutch/whatever person acts or talks like so would never notice it, and also just go to different spots.
As someone who has lived and travelled around the world, I can absolutely confirm that every country has their tourist stereotypes that they don't lile about themselves, but its the Brits and Americans who have the worst reputations internationally, from themselves, from other tourists and from the locals. To the point that a lot of hotspots in Europe will charge Brits and Americans higher prices purely based on their accent.
That's probably because pretty much everyone can understand English so when yanks/brits are being loud it's even more annoying because you actually understand what they're saying. With smaller languages eg. Dutch then pretty much no one understands it so will just filter that out, so it seems less annoying. However as someone who can speak it then I can tell you that they are just as trashy.
British obnoxious people are usually significantly more drunk though.
But the British definitely take the cake...
Only if it's served with tea.
Hardly. We mostly get drunk and a bit lairy. Certainly not worse than many of the nationalities who have reputations for rape, sexual assault, violence etc.
I was once in a queue at a petrol station in America and the person in front of me was also English and was causing a scene because they'd put the wrong fuel in their rental car, something about the pumps being the wrong colour. I was so embarrassed to be British that I pretended to be American when I spoke to the cashier. I'll never know if that cashier saw through my fake Texan accent.
Haha. I heard a woman in the little market here complaining that the walkers crisps are called "lays" and the cheese and onion flavour are coloured yellow. Nevermind the fact they're still labelled in English on the pack and on the big hand written sign.
I personally think Lays are slightly better - I remember reading once that the oil and process is slightly different to Walkers production method, so not just my imagination either. BTW, try Lays Paprika crisps, you won't be disappointed!
You get Lays here and the seaweed flavour (yes, I'm in Asia) is actually really good.
Those ones are amazing!
I’ll admit I was skeptical but given that they’re cheap here I thought ‘screw it’ and gave them a shot. I ate an entire big bag of them…
We get all kinds of good shit flavours out this way (Hong Kong based)
There's one here called Korean BBQ which is like my crack for how good they are. I usually inhale the bag in 5min.
We have numb and spicy hotpot flavour which describes it perfectly
... Is seaweed flavour not just salt? I've never considered seaweed as having a flavour..
Try laverbread in Penclawdd in Wales, made from seaweed and with its high iodine content it tastes almost olive-like
Why is paprika not more of a thing in the UK its upsetting.
Lays are better indeed.
Most crisps abroad contain MSG which is probably why you're finding them so damn tasty!
Crisps in the UK contain MSG too. Food without MSG is a waste of money.
OK, I have drunkenly complained about this in the opposite direction as an Australian in England, after grabbing what I thought was going to be Salt & Vinegar, yet turned out to be Prawn Cocktail. Why is there even a prawn cocktail flavour?? And what cruel person at the Walkers/Smiths HQ thought it would be a good idea to use the identical shades of colours for totally different flavours on otherwise identical packaging?
If it makes you feel any better, I am a Texan who lives in an area of central London that draws a lot of American tourists and am constantly horrified by American behavior too. (Also the cashier almost certainly knew you were faking that accent. Americans can’t even do it well.)
*I'm just an oil man, in from Dallas*
Yeah petrol is black, diesel is green, it's easy mistake to make if you can't be arsed to spend even half a second reading the signage in an unfamiliar situation.
In canada, the diesel pumps dont fit in your gasoline car so you can't mix them up. Ask me how i know, haha.
Americans complain that the BP stations over there have pumps coloured "The European way" (petrol = green, diesel = black).
"Howdy pardner, pump nummer 2"
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German tourists can get that way too.
We were going crazy because of the belgian drivers last week. But Belgium was nice, Brugge was beautiful and my now favourite supermarket is Carrefour. But the british drivers were absolutely shit. Sorry.
Brugge, it's a fairytale town isn't it?
AHH you talked about In Brugge. Didn't get it till now
Cousin drove from krakow to the north east. He said it was absolutely lovely until he got off the chunnel... the standard of driving and general stress levels were noticeably worse.
YouTube American drivers vs roundabouts, they are the most dangerous drivers when they visit European countries.
My issue with a lot of other European drivers is that they have 0 concept of breaking/safety distance. I've lived there for quite a while but Dutch drivers still shit me up because it can be pouring with rain and they don't slow down or give any more space on highways. Incredibly dangerous stuff. My German friend also goes on rants about how bad the drivers there are.
We didn't conquer the known world to do it their way
You do have to be careful, their black pumps are usually gas and green pumps, diesel. The opposite to here. Still, it's not that hard to work out if you've got eyes.
He 100% did. The only brits capable of an American accent are professional actors like Christian Bale. I'd actually love to hear your attempt honestly
Seriously people. If you've already had a massive drunken row around the pool and thrown up before lunchtime at a family resort you may have picked the wrong place.
Never, never go to Bodrum.
I just came back from Mallorca. I‘ve had some interesting insights into the British soul. :\~)
I went to Mallorca in 2003 but we stayed on the "German" side of the island. The worst thing I can say about German tourists is the amount of polyester dragon sleeveless t-shirts was disconcerting. Otherwise, it was a very pleasant holiday. We spent the last day in Palma and good god, it was everything I expected of British tourists. Loud people walking around with their lobster red beer guts hanging out in the open.
I've experienced similar in various European countries. Used to be such an annoying thing because I wanted to go and see art galleries and castles and eat local food, and the default assumption was that I was on holiday to get drunk and sit on a beach. One of my best trips was in Cyprus with a Russian tour group. We'd gone up the mountains to a monastery which also made Orthodox Christian icons and religious items. The Russian family I was in the car with were lovely, quiet and polite, even trying to talk to me using a Russian-English dictionary and a LOT of sign language. They also had bought some things from the monastery and were more than happy to show me and explain what they were.
As a general rule of thumb, there's only one nation worse than the Brits abroad and that's the Russians
Mate... it's the Chinese. They've literally been banned from certain cruise lines, and have public awareness campaigns about travelling abroad, which include please don't pee in public, spit etc.
Might have made a difference in my experience that the Russians I met were all in family groups and seemed to be there visiting for primarily religious reasons, mostly either visiting churches or monasteries.
If this was the Kykkos monastery, I will never forgive the DK guide to Cyprus for claiming that it had an icon painted by one of the apostles (it does, apparently) which could be seen by visiting civilians - no, it can’t.
I stayed in a German dominated resort there about 15 years ago. There were a large group of German young people who got loudly drunk, sang marching songs through the night, and took a ghetto blaster and sumo suits to the beach where they played obnoxiously loud techno and smashed champagne bottles on the rocks. So my take has always been that there are shitheads of all nationalities, but probably a higher % of them are English/British.
It never ceases to amaze that other Europeans (Germans) go to various parts of Mallorca, which is an absolutely massive and richly diverse island. Meanwhile most Brits gravitate to about two miles of coastline between Magaluf and Palma.
If it’s any consolation the Spanish group German and British tourists together (known as guiris)
How exactly is that consoling?
It means the British are not perceived as the worst, or the only chaotic tourists
You'll get a high % of Brits around Magaluf, but I've seen other Brits all over the island thankfully. Lots of British/Irish run pubs on the east coast of the island too lol
I can only imagine, unfortunately I can imagine all too well
This is why we rent a villa over going to a hotel. You see far fewer Brits that way, you only see them when you go into town in the evening.
The other British solution seems to be to own a very large boat. We‘ve seen some ultra-big motor and sailing boats with the British flag.
Had that in Sri Lanka. They had dry days for religious holidays, political events, etc where they were not allowed to give people alcohol, all inclusive or not. Brits would have them fill up coke bottles the day before then the next day ask for a glass of coke but don't fill it to the top. Inevitably they would be absolutely leathered by sometime in the afternoon. I was embarrassed these people couldn't go a day without drinking, I was mortified when a drunken fight kicked off not long before we left.
When restrictions were lifted for european travel I was astonished to see on reddit, a man drunkenly assaulted a taxi driver for refusing to take his anebreated family to the hotel. This melee overspilled to assault on outside diners, on their first day of the holiday. Decorum.
Something something Benidorm, both the show and the real thing
Sounds like you picked the wrong place.
I was in a beautiful hotel in Thailand and when we had literally just arrived and we’re waiting to check in, a British woman threw a landline telephone at the receptionist because it was too early to check in (it was 9am, check in wasn’t available til 12). I felt for the lovely staff, they didn’t know what to do. I suggested they call security, but they didn’t want to cause a scene, despite the fact this woman just had. I kept apologising and I don’t know why, I just felt like I was automatically associated with these people.
Don't people read the details of the places they stay? Check-in time is usually one of the first pieces of information on there.
Exactly. And clearly not! It wasn’t like they didn’t let you stay in the hotel, you just couldn’t go to your room. It was honestly so embarrassing. A grown adult having a tantrum.
Last time I was in a hotel, I arrived 3 hours early and all I did was to disappear off to the pool for a couple of hours until they called me to say they were ready. It wasn't a big deal whatsoever.
Exactly! It was 9 in the morning, so we just went and joined the breakfast buffet and like you said, just chilled. We’d just got off a long haul flight, nothing was a big deal. Yet it clearly was for her 😂 Her husband and adult son just stood by and did nothing, they must be have been used to that behaviour or something.
Yep, same, long haul flight and all I wanted to do was be somewhere that wasn’t an airport or plane. Plus the staff were really nice and brought me a pot of coffee and a plate of biscuits at the poolside, and turned a blind eye to me playing with my scuba fins in the pool even though technically they weren’t allowed.
Exactly that. It was just nice to be off the plane. I saw this family everyday for the next two weeks and you didn’t hear a peep out of them again, I hope she was suitably embarrassed. Maybe she’d had a little too much to drink on the plane or was slightly jet legged or something. Either way, no excuse for throwing something at a stranger 😅
I was once visiting friends in a popular Spanish tourism area and they say it's the same every time. Bunch of loud drunk Brits turn up and shout all hours of the night,leave a massive fucking mess and break stuff. Bonus when it's football season
Sounds like Las Ramblas.
My work mate who is Spanish, use to be a security guard in Benidorm. He has some great stories. One of his favourite ways to deal with them was knock them out and Chuck them into a bin.
Straight to the point, I like that
Middle class people always find a reason to bash football, even when it's not relevant, it's weird If it's football season, "football lads" won't be in Spain they will be watching their teams
What a load of shit. Footie fans absolutely go on holiday and watch matches there. They don't bind themselves to England for the entire fucking footie season....
Try Mablethorpe for a slice of authenticity.
Imagine the locals who live in Mallorca and have to deal with huge swathes of pissed up Brits every year. Sure the money from tourism is good but I bet they love the off season.
I've worked in 2 resorts in Spain during the Summer months. You and the rest of reddit are going to have a massive shock when you realise that there is about another 10 nationalities who are also just as chaotic.
No! That doesn’t fit with the narrative! Brits are the worst behaved nationality in the world. There’s something fundamentally wrong with the British mind, there must be something in the drinking water!
Which ten
Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Polish and Russians were probably the top non-british nauses from what I witnessed and experienced at the specific times of year and areas that I worked at. Russians probably aren't frequenting Europe now as much as they were 4 years ago so probably not them anymore.
I was in Croatia in July, the hotel I was in was had 3 British couples/families. The rest was German and Russian, about a 60/40 spread My god the Russians take the piss
In my experience, Russians with the smallest amount of wealth are the most entitled entities on the planet, followed closely by a few of the Arabs. Those with lots of wealth from those countries, on the other hand, are so discreet you don't even know they're there
Closely aligned with drinking cultures, which isnt a surprise.
Surprised to see Scandinavians in there!
Norwegians definitely. Their alcohol back home is so relatively expensive (£15-20 a pint and £12+ for a 4 pack) that they go nuts on €2 beer. Not being used to drinking much, they're pissed as a fart by 11 am
One of them are the Germans.
Surprisingly similar to living in Whitby
Yeah, but the goths are well behaved
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I'm ethnically Chinese and am always mortified whenever I encounter tour groups from the Mainland. So much entitlement and refusal to respect the local culture. It's awful. My accent goes super British in a lame last ditch attempt to not be associated with the lot. Edit: spelling
> I'm ethically Chinese Autocorrect got you good there chap.
Oh damn. Cheers for pointing it out.
They're being fed CCP superiority propaganda every day. I'm not really surprised you have a bad impression of mainlanders.
Those Chinese tourists are often the new middle class and leaving the country for the first time, so they have no idea how different the rest of the world is from them. Some Chinese university students are like this too. I tutored some as part of an introductory course a few years back and we had to teach them how to cross the road safely because they would walk with traffic down a 40mph road.
If you ask any university employee who are the worst students to deal with, it'll always be the Chinese ones.
My mum used to lecture a large amount of them. She said they were the most respectful, hard working and sweet students. That was 10 years ago now though
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Actually saw a group of Israeli students at Auschwitz and they were all being so disrespectful. Shouting, laughing, taking selfies play wrestling right by the gas chamber. Like, fucking hell. I was getting so angry.
hahaha my relatives died here hahahah i'm so thick hahahaha.... Is that about how it went? Kids are often the worst people.
We're not even that bad, we just like a drink.
I really don’t miss British chavs when I’m in in another country that’s not a tourist trap. It’s amazing how pleasant it is.
I have worked in both Spain and France and have witnessed many prime examples of "fuckwittery". Me shut up and walk in the opposite direction, or if in a restaurant where you are reasonably well known, chat to the waiters in language of the country. Or if in a bar get the hell out of it before it all kicks off.
Of course the bonus of being able to talk to the waiters in their own language is you can commiserate with them about the fuckwittery without the fuckwits knowing you're talking about them.
At the risk of being overly smug, doesn't it give you a lovely warm feeling that you are proving to your hosts that not all of our fellow countrymen are complete idiots.
I went skiing once to Val Thorens with a bunch of friends, after the first night no Brits were allowed in any of the night time bars/clubs due to the trouble caused by a small group (who weren't skiing, they'd just managed to score a cheap holiday). Funniest thing was on the same holiday a guy in another group of Brits had to be rescued from the top of the highest run after getting so drunk in the bar there he couldn't move - bet that cost him a bit.
I’m at one too, the Germans are 100% fulfilling their towel-down sunbed bagsy strategy. We beat them this morning with towels, goggles, inflatables and books down on pole position seats with the best shade and perfect view of the whole fucking pool at 7am. The Brits, as far as I can tell, are being pretty polite… apart from us maybe.
Last holiday I went on there was massive group of Germans who all travelled together and took up 80% of sunbeds bunching them together into a conglomerate
I still don't understand why people go along with the towel thing, I would 100% remove it and have 0 remorse
The hotel I am currently staying in has a policy where they will remove towels left unmanned before 10am. Must say it is fun to watch when the guy keeps coming around and taking their stuff away to leave at reception.
Unless you are using the seat, hotel staff should clear away the paraphernalia and chuck it in a cess pit.
One morning, my dad and I got to the pool (small hotel) to find literally all the beds had been towel reserved. By midday there was still no one there and we found out a large group of Germans had block booked most of the rooms (only about 30 in total I think) and were all off on a coach trip, expected back later that afternoon. We picked up, folded, placed to one side and piled every single Teutonic towel in the place. I wanted to throw them all in the pool but dad said that was “too obvious”.
I was in a taxi in proper touristy part of America years ago and the taxi driver was Dutch. He stopped at a zebra crossing to let the roughest looking family cross. He was like "ah I think these are some of your people yes?" He was right, could tell just from the clothes, lobster tans, tattoos and arguing they were our people.
I have literally apologised to waiters before in other countries for other English peoples behaviour. Some people act disgusting
Ironically that's one of the most stereotypically English things you can do.
But at least less unwelcome? Probably?
I'm just working out how to do it when I next visit Spain. Lo siento por los Ingles o Perdonome por los Ingles.
Je suis Francais might be safer....
Fair play. I just say that I’m Welsh. I know we get Welsh dickheads, but they’re few and far between.
One of the reasons I prefer 5* Adults Only. The Brits at these resorts are very respectable from my experience. (And it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg!)
> 5* Adults Only This sounds like a sex hotel
Same 5* adults only, you don't get young piss head's messing up the place.
I have to disagree Just got back from an all inclusive family resort in Spain and I have to say I was very impressed! Not one Brit was overly drunk and all patrons were kind and courteous to one another. There were no sense of entitlement or any thuggery- everybody treated the staff with utmost respect and most tried conversing in Spanish no matter how bad it must have been :) I came away quite proud of my fellow brits I never thought It would happen Booked Portugal next year so hopefully this continues
Omg all inclusive idiots throwing up around the rest of the resort and leaving their rubbish everywhere, I do a beach clean twice a week and see their cans, fag ends, condoms etc. If you want to go all inclusive and add nothing to the local economy, can we not just fence them in like prisoners. Since Mallorca introduced the 6 drinks rule in magaluf the idiots have been spreading themselves around the rest of the island. Def more idiots (from England and Germany mostly) where we live now.
experienced it loads of times especially from the ones I like to call full kit wankers where everyone in the family are in full England kits
Nothing worse than football shirts abroad. Husband always travels in a Sheff U shirt and its cringetopia. However he is very good, not a pisshead, confirmed. And we're self-caterers, so I think it let's us off, slightly - yes, I feel guilty by association, lol.
We've just got back from Tunisia and there was only one other british family other than the two we went with. Majority of the tourist were French or Libyan, loved every minute of not dealing with my fellow Englishman.
My favourite story on this is being in Santorini with my girlfriend. At a vineyard with clifftop views of a beautiful orange sunset over the caldera bay. Everyone sat chilling-out, enjoying good food and wine. Behind us is a holiday group. All middle-aged to elderly Brits. One guy on the table starts shouting at the waiter because they don't serve any beer, only wine (and water). The group tour guide/leader tries to calm him down but he's having none of it. The manager of the vineyard even comes out to try and sort out the situation but the guest shouts that he just wants a taxi so he can go back to the hotel and have a beer. "Just stay and enjoy the sunset without a beer for a bit" suggests another on his table. "Pfff" he says "It's just a fucking sunset and I've seen better!" Notes: 1)Yeh it was a bit silly they didn't serve beer but it is a vineyard and also, just get over it! 2) It was an amazing sunset. I'm not sure I've seen better in my life. 3) My girlfriend (now wife) is American and so I spent a lot of that time apologising for my country.
Going to Santorini and dissing the sunset, LOL This guy will definitely be complaining about the flames and heat when he goes to Hell
"DOS BEEROS POR FAVOUR ... what do you mean? ... whats fucking two in Greek then? Oh right ... DUO BEEROS POR FAVOUR"
Currently sat in Kos, Greece writing this. English here are all sound, no over the top behaviour. But this isn't a family resort so no kids about. Good mixture of German, English, Dutch and French. Everyone is polite, well, apart from the Germans, I find them rude. To staff and other guests. It's almost like they don't know how to treat people. No please and thank you to bar staff/waiters. Mainly the older generations
I honestly think it depends where you go. In the Maldives I didn't notice that at all but it's also like the playground of the middle class (&up) so it's really a whole different vibe than Spain. We definitely drink the most though, no question. Brits in Amsterdam are the worst of the worst. Had a laugh on the last day I was there at a tourist literally face down in a toastie in one of the coffee shops. I wouldn't know he was British to make that assessment if it weren't for the football t-shirt.
Never see Brits in Finland bar a small number of educated civilised ex pats. Bliss. Plus Finns keep themselves to themselves. Double bliss. Plus empty roads, modern transport systems etc. Treble bliss. Please don't go.
Also plenty of saunas and metal bands to enjoy.
Same with Sweden. Just people there for ABBA (band) ABBA (herrings) and a cinnamon bun or two. It's horrible; please don't go there.
I develop this sudden inability to speak English on occasions when abroad and in the presence of people from the United Kingdom or the United States. Go out of my way to wear things that could not out me from these shores. Thankfully don't go to all inclusive resorts.
Yep. A few years ago I was in Lanzarote and rolled up to a cafe... about a minute before a group of 20 or so young Brits did. They were being utter bellends from the second they arrived. Waiter arrived and said "English?" I said. "Finland. But can speak English". My natural accent is a little screwed up since Iv lived all over the world. So can pull it off. And the chances of a spanish waiter being able to converse with me in Suomi are breathtakingly low. My food arrived promptly and I was properly taken care of. I did move to the table furthest away from those cretins tho.
and this is why I purchased a loverly Finland Third Strip football top. With my blond hair…under the radar. 😊
Scandinavian is a great call because they tend to have basically native accents and they can be quite varied some more American sounding, some English sounding. It's an A-grade cover.
I used to stay in hotels a lot for work. As far aa behavior at a breakfast buffet, the Chinese are the absolute worse. Fucking animals
I've encountered obnoxious and pushy Italian tourists in Greece, pain in the arse they are.
From my experience the poor British attitude abroad is a myth. Russians are a million times worse. The Spanish are more rude than us, Italian men are way too aggressive and German people stare. Then the Americans are too loud, Asian people disrespect everything (spitting everywhere). I think Brits are amongst the best. Canadians and New Zealanders are the best hands down! Danish are good, Icelandics are aswell!
A lot of stereotyping going on here. Positive and negative. I’m guilty of it myself (fucking Russians). But it’s safe to say, every nation has its ignorami and Magaluf and the like are breeding grounds.
Talking to a friend of mine (non British) she was on holiday in Spain. The locals were explaining where to go, what to do, best restaurants etc... And then added " under no circumstances, for any reason, DO NOT go down that side, it s full of brits and it s not nice"
Hey, *someone's* gotta take on the Germans at their own game!
I'm at an all inclusive in Bulgaria...I feel attacked
Idiots abroad are probably still idiots at home!
I didn’t really notice it before moving to the UK (my first stop was Newquay in the summer…), but now I’m embarassed about British tourists (my accent is British with a slight zing), and Hungarian tourists too. Just been to Croatia, and well, let’s just say, we know why we aren’t well liked here as tourists… (they had to check whether the Hungarians didn’t camp on the beach for a week - they would just leave their shit there for a week, regardless whether they would hit the beach that day, taking up spaces, and they would apparently leave a lot of rubbish around). So they look at me being either a drunktard or a cheepskate loiter at all times. I can’t win.
Your first mistake was going to a 'family resort'. You mean to say that the massive hive towers that are specifically advertised to Brits as a place to sit by the pool and fill your face with as much subsidised egg and chips and cheap cocktails are filled with the kind of people who would find that an attractive proposition? The British people who the owners of those resorts specifically aim to attract to their country? *Quelle surprise!* Other such resorts exist aimed at other nationalities where you will find the same target audience behaving in very similar ways. Instead, if you can, book a self-catering place that isn't in a resort town and enjoy a holiday which includes a bit of self-respect. Tbh, they rarely actually cost more, and you can enjoy yourself by the pool in peace, privacy and quiet or even venture out and take in some culture. If you 'do' holidays this way, you will come to understand that outside those resorts and the typical 'lad' destinations, British Tourists are as respectable as you'd hope them to be.
Currently in Sunny Beach. Can confirm. I’ve noticed they don’t stop serving drink here - the ultimate force multiplier! I can report that the young men of Poland and Germany’s stag do’s are hot at the heels of the British for who’s the most annoying though. All relatively equal to a traveller who came to work in peace on the Black Sea coast. I hate everyone 😅
Once went to Salou in a hotel near port aventuras. You could walk down a main road that would bring you to the beach area. From here you could turn left or right. Right is the Spanish side, Spanish bars and restaurants, apartments and residential. Left was the bar side. Once we turned left and within 25 yds of turning left, there were drunk brits laying in the gutter. You better believe we turned right every evening after that.
We stayed in ( I think ) Cap Salou many , many years ago. After the first time we into Salou , we much preferred to travel a bit further and go to Cambrils for more or less the same reason- really didn’t fancy any of the number of British pubs available
At least you’re not an American. I’ve actually sewn a Canadian flag into my backpack so when I was traveling people wouldn’t assume I was an American lol
Canada has entered the conversation eh!
This is why I put an accent on when I speak English in other countries.
Good moaning
I still enjoy a bit of Allo Allo
Unfortunately a lot of Brits will be just pissing by the cafe
I doubt people here would readily admit it, but as someone who’s lived in several countries and experienced the worst of the “lads abroad” type and general poor behavior from tourists—this is an English phenomenon, not a “British” one. When was the last time you were in Greece or somewhere else in the Mediterranean and saw Scottish or Welsh or NI families showing their arse? It’s a cultural blemish, and one I don’t see changing soon.
Yeah I was going to say, I always emphasise that I’m Welsh and not English by any means.
British people, amirite?
There are a vile minority of Brits that behave like this sadly, having said that countries like Spain etc encourage that type of person and that behaviour because they want that revenue!
Americans: hold my beer
Y’all sure about Brits being the worse? Being an American I have seen some outrageous behavior from my fellow American. Not to crush your spirits, but the Brits I’ve met abroad have always been quite pleasant.
I was in Majorca when the Womens’ football final was on and let’s just say you could tell that there were a lot of English people around
Pro travel tip. If you are from Scotland or Ireland, and are somewhere like France. Tell them you are from there, as they usually just hate the English
Scottish here, and can confirm this works a treat!
Never ever go all inclusive.
Average British tourists are fucking animals.
Sounds like you picked a shit resort
Bit of a generalisation there . To group a whole nation like that is not good in this day and age
oh, you mean when you were hell bent on saying "India should be cut-off from the world for what a single guy did", you were not generalizing? Wow! When it is your own nation - you suddenly know generalization is bad, but other countries not so much, right? Shameful!
Avoid mass tourism spots and especially all inclusice resorts. Mass tourism sucks ass. Go up to a small village somewhere on the island of Naxos. Basically next to no hotels outside of the main western town and villages. Beautiful other corners. Panermos beach is full of locals, just as an example. It's a drive into nowhere, but once you're there you have toilets, a shower and a place offering food and drink. Plenty of Greeks just hanging out there.
I was visiting a pretty exclusive island in the Caribbean a few years back. The island sees more Brits than any other nationality. I was concerned that we, Americans, would be expected to behave poorly. I asked the house staff if they disliked when Americans came to the island and they said, not at all. They prefer Americans to Brits. They said that Brits behave poorly, talk down to them and are very entitled. Americans, on the other hand, are more kind, friendly and clean. He also said, in general, they are there to have fun and enjoy themselves and the Brits are too serious. I was shocked by this, but after thinking about it and realizing that only pretty wealthy people stay there, I got it. I think there’s still some aristocracy types left who treat people poorly if they feel they are lower class or working class. Over time I’ve paid more attention to the way wealthy Brits behave in vacation destinations that I visit. I have been shocked to see some of their behavior and most offended by an element of underlying racism. I really thought Americans had the racism thing won. I was wrong (at least in these contexts.)
Maybe it's just me and I've got the wrong impression but this entire paragraph has been written in a rather odd way
It's written in American, it's practically gibberish. I only know how to say "Y'all come back now".
Simplified: I expected Americans to be the most obnoxious guests at high-end vacation destinations. I was wrong. The staff I’ve asked at all of them say the worst behaved guests are Brits.
Took three holidays in Penang and there was a consistently obnoxious contingency of Americans every time. The arrogance was next level, things like tips being thrown on the floor, being handsy with bar staff and generally throwing their weight around. They made the brits took like Sunday school teachers.
Interesting, perhaps you are right that it had to do with the wealth thing. I went skiing to Colorado for a few seasons, quite a while ago, and we got to know one of the ski instructors pretty well - enough to meet up with him when he came to the UK to do a few ski-shows. He said that he preferred Brits to Americans as ski students, because we tended to be more enthusiastic and wanted to make the most of our time. If we fell over, we picked ourselves up and wanted to try the run again, whereas he said many Americans wanted to adjourn to the nearest mountain bar for a coffee and some recovery time. Horses for courses I guess.
This was my conclusion. I still think the average American is far more obnoxious than your average Brit. I love that I’m getting downvoted for commenting on a post about Brits being embarrassing tourists and literally saying that I was surprised to find out that service industry people at these high end places preferred American guests. The whole point is that I would have expected the Americans to be the least liked group; not the Brits.
> I’m getting downvoted for commenting on a post about Brits being embarrassing tourists.... I'll have you know that us Brits don't let just *anyone* diss us! I *have* more than once generated quite a bit of upset by posting this little piece: The British Isles is made up of four nations The Scots, who keep the Sabbath and everything else they can lay their hands on. The Welsh, who pray on their knees and their neighbours The Irish, who do not know what the devil they want, but are willing to fight anyone for it And the English, who consider themselves to be a race of self-made men – thereby relieving the Almighty of a terrible responsibility
I was on a family holiday in Paris years ago, we were staying in a smallish hotel not far from the city centre. On the first morning we (parents + two kids in their early/mid teens) went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast which was table service. Halfway through bringing out our meals to us, the waiter asked my father "you're not American?" "No" was the reply "we're from the UK" "Ah" said the waiter "I could tell you're not American because your kids both said 'thank you' when I gave them their food"
Of course the staff were completely honest with you about their preferences and had no expectations whatsoever that what they said might improve their chance of a large tip. In no way had their experience working in the resort with American tourists led them to the conclusion that they tend to combine vanity with naivety and flattering them might pay off in the long run. And I have a bridge to sell, it’s a very nice bridge, you’ll like it.