Originally Posted by factory81

I think the trip was full of excitement from pretty much start to finish. I think my friend had some of his priorities in different places, but thats my opinion.

Who goes to Rome....to go to a strip club? I mentioned he had some troubles adjusting to the time zone differences, and as a result he chose to roam the streets of Rome until 5 in the morning a few nights...and sleep all through the day. Missing key historical sites over some boobs....while making himself a great target for theft.

On top of this I asked him how it was...and he replied back it was a bunch of girls from the eastern bloc who could speak russian better than italian or english. Really, who goes to Rome to go to strip clubs, sleep till noon, and miss things like the Pantheon?

I spent about 10 minutes looking at the Pantheon - and about 2 hours in the restaurant opposite drinking Italian wine. I grew up being dragged around museums and 'key hisotircal sites' in the four corners of the world, and, as such, now only do what I want to do, and for how long I want to do it. To me the experiences, the people watching, the wine, the food are all far more important to me than a pile of rocks where people once did [insert activity] a couple of thousand years ago. If he had fun at the strip club, and you and the Pantheon, then I don't see the issue - one is no more superior to the other.

The trip went well though because I didn't let things like this bother me and get in the way of exploring. The only major concerns were sleep at times because I was responsible for driving. We frequently ate different meals.

I found his shopping habits to be a bit humorous at times. He was a big fan of these "sold by the 100 gram buffets" in Switzerland, since he could buy what he liked by the 100g amounts. Well the food he bought was stuff that sat out under heat lamps all day - and was pretty mediocre many times (I tried some of his). And I sat and added up how much he spent on all the various foods and he would end up spending as much or more than what I would for a sit down "normal meal".

Speaking of this, he did have a bad habit of storing food that should be kept cool...in our rooms (letting it rot/spoil). He did this to save money because he would just eat it later when he was hungry again. I eventually did ask him to quit this because our room was starting to smell from the food sitting out. Switzerland was really breaking his bank (food wise) and he was resorting to all sorts of quite odd behavior.

Plenty of food that people keep cool out of preference can be just fine at room temperature. Cold pasta, for example, or leftover pizza will sit on the side with minimal health risks.

Another example, I bought a lasagna dish at a restaurant, he chose to tag along just to use their free wifi. When I was finished, he asked if I was going to eat some garnish and the leftover pasta sauce. I replied no, and he asked if he could have it. So here my friend is.....eating just pasta sauce and some garnish......

I thought to myself...what an idiotic choice. Buying suits in Italy and spending $100/nt at the strip club, but can't even afford to properly feed yourself? He also got himself spoken to by staff at the hostel in Switzerland for taking their breakfast breads and cold cuts/cheese and making sandwiches out of them. He was warned he would be charged 6 CHF for every sandwich he made and didn't eat at breakfast. (This also resorted to him spending like 2 hours at the all you can eat breakfast buffets gorging himself). I would take off, because I don't travel halfway around the world to hang out in a hostel and eat breakfast all morning to try and hold myself over till dinner.

People making sandwiches at hostels is common the world over - and most tell you not to - people are increasingly sneaky (pockets etc) - it sounds like your friend needs practice! And a big breakfast is the norm for my family when we travel, we don't typical stop for lunch if we have busy days planned, so fuel up for the day (it doesn't take 2 hours mind you!)

He is 23, I am 27. I felt he just doesn't appreciate "time" as much as myself. The fact that the time he has overseas is limited, his vacation time...is limited, and even if it means spending $15 USD for lunch, it sure beats wasting 1/12th of the day eating breakfast to try and hold yourself over till dinner. When you make that amount of money in 20 minutes at home....it just seems ridiculous.