Worst Kind of People to Meet on Solo Travel

/ March 6, 2014

So, I have to say that this is simply my own opinion and I shall give the other party the benefit of doubt.

Solo Travel

Enjoying the beach by myself  (Photo: Wikipedia)

The joy of travel is definitely enhanced by meeting all kinds of people with different personalities and characters. On solo travels, the people you meet can easily define your travel experience, making a trip go from blah to fun and exciting. Unfortunately, not everyone you meet will always be that way. I certainly found this out the hard way on my last few days in Sydney when I met the worst kind of people one could have met when traveling solo.

I was sharing a 4 bed hostel room with a group of 3 girls then who had seemed nice and friendly when we were chatting together. Normally, I would have preferred it if my room had more solo travelers as groups tend to be a bit inclusive and harder to know since they would be more comfortable within their circle of friends.

On my last day there though, the girls were thoughtful enough to invite me to join them as we were all planning to go to the beach. I thought that it was great they were so welcoming of a stranger. I readily exchanged numbers to get in touch later when we were at the beach since they were meeting another friend for lunch first.

So I messaged one of them when I arrived at the beach.

Received a reply letting me know they were still at lunch and will be there soon.

And so, I waited patiently while watching people around me.

When an hour passed, I thought they were probably delayed doing some shopping on the waterfront.

Then 2 hours passed and a feeling came over me. That’s when I told myself to stop expecting them.

Realising this left a bitter taste in my mouth.

For I could have understood it if they were not too keen on having a stranger join them. All they needed to do inform me they were not coming. I was totally fine with it.

Instead, I had nothing.

Not even when I returned to the hostel room as they had apparently left to party the night away, creeping in only at 3am.

I spent the time berating myself for even wasting that time waiting for them.

So what did I do instead?

I was supposed to leave the next day for a morning flight. So I woke up at 7am to get down to reception to arrange for transport.

BANG!

I made sure to let the door close on its own.

That sounded so good to my ears. I did it a few more times by going in and out of the room on premises of going to reception to check on the transport.

I also didn’t try to be quiet while packing in the last of my things into my luggage. I could hear them rustling awake in their beds.

And then I left without a backward glance.

Hoping that karma bites them in the butt.

Solo Travel

So are you sure we can be friends? (Photo: Pfly @ Flickr)

So what’s the worst kind of person you have ever met on your travels? Was your experience worse than mine?

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23 thoughts on “Worst Kind of People to Meet on Solo Travel”

    • Oh yes….i would say so myself..that episode certainly left me fuming mad but…i’ll just leave it be and hope they understand when someone else does the same thing back to them. 🙂

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  2. It was in 2007 in Istanbul. A guy standing at the street corner spotted me walking around and just kept trailing me offering me to join him for a “night full of fun, anything you want: drinks, girls..anything”. It was late at night and I was a little bit worried about it but then after like 15 minutes of nagging and me blocking him, he finally left.

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    • Haha…true!! I’m generally a nice and accommodating person but even I cannot find it in me to feel bad when I did this to them. I just wish I had done more but I’ll wait for karma to get them instead. Thankfully others have been much nicer than them. 🙂

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  5. Hi Sha! Thanks for the like, and for sharing this post with me. Love this! I’m with you, people that are inconsiderate are the worst to deal with. My “favorite” worst? The guys in the former Soviet Union who brought 5 bottles of vodka for 3 of them on a 5 hour flight. Loud, uncouth, stinky (tobacco, meat, cheese, body odor). The more drunk they got, the less they minded the seatbelt sign. .. long flight.

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    • Wow! That is certainly hard to stand. Thank goodness the flight was not much longer for you. Flights are already tough to endure for me so when you have people like that on your flight, it makes it worse!

      Thanks for reading!! 🙂

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  7. Loved this and completely know that feeling! I’m always happy when invited to join in on a group of people traveling together, but hate when they turn out to be unkind! As a fellow solo-travler, glad I’ve come across your blog!

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    • Well, hello!! I always welcome other solo travelers!! 🙂

      I’ve had good ones but this incident takes the cake for me, I was seriously pissed off at them but I suppose I kinda got back to them in the end…haha…I feel evil though…:)

      Hope you enjoy the rest and happy travels!!! 🙂

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  8. Ahhh I had an experience like that in a hostel in Tallinn. Heading off early the next morning a group of school children, high school, stayed in the adjacent room and talked loudly until about 4am. I got up at 7am, left by half past with someone else, and we had to walk through the large dorm room they were in. Oooops dropped my bag, bang! the door, chat chat chat chat.

    it only seemed fair

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    • Ah yes!! High school students…I had an encounter with them at hostels too…u were pretty kind to do that to them in my opinion…my room was sandwiched between 2 rooms full of teenage school boys for 5 nights!! Haha…thanks for reading!! 🙂

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  10. Ah yes, the vulnerability of travelers. Something that would be lame in “normal” life is ten times as cruel when you’re out swimming in the world. Sorry you had that, but I hope you had nicer waters nearby!

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    • Oh yes, definitely!! But it was just unfortunate that I still had to encounter such people on my travels..haha…thanks for reading!! 🙂

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  11. I am experiencing exactly that at this very moment. Been solo traveling almost 3 weeks now & currently in Yogjya. Lovely place but I consider Indonesia one of the trickiest south east Asian places I’ve been to (Thailand’s still the easiest. Singapore is awesome but I’m not gonna put in my list just cos). Afternoon plans got canceled with a group of people (they’re all friends, I’m just the hapless kitty they allowed to tag along) I met last night but was told to be on hold til further notice. About 4 hours now. Ok so I spent the last 2 shopping (whilst waiting). I had other friends around too but had to wait for them to get back to me. One canceled & no other replies except one. I’m grateful I got some company in the morning but man.. Waiting on a few people’s responses & getting none.. And here I’m thinking how much I loathe how good the McDonald’s meal I’m having right now.

    P.s
    At the risk of sounding racist, I’d say I had encounter a few of the same issues (like EXACTLY) with a certain groups of people. I’m not gonna name them but I find these people generally difficult to interact with with their reluctance to try to speak to others. They’re almost always super clique-y. Not majorly bad but not super great either. I find the most friendly travelers are Germans, the English, Australians, most Americans so far & south east Asians (I find they’re always making an effort even with poor English skills) & the Spanish too (always trying to be friendly).

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    • Oh dear, I hope you had a good ending to this…totally can relate to the feeling…in general, I find it easier to talk to solo travellers than those travelling together but it really depends on the person I meet. Hope you have a better time. Cheers! 🙂

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  12. Pingback: Worst Hostel Room Mates to Meet on Solo Travel | Lifetomyfullest

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