Badenoch

I've had the experience of a travelling companion who was a not particularly adventuresome eater. He gravitated toward predictable foods while I would try just about anything new. He did make up for it by being an enthusiastic drinker.

Nick Art

jinkssick

A few years back we went to Florida with a cousin. We were to stay 14 days in FL and he was as excited as either me or my wife upon departure. Upon arrival his demeanour changed and he was moan this, moan that for a solid 2 days. From weather to the food. I convinced him (for lack of a better word) to visit a family member of his in Orlando. Next day took him to airport for a 7am flight and we went our separate ways. We are still in daily contact today and do not begrudge him but there was no way I am doing a holiday with that kind of behaviour.

Wiggums

A little late here. Went with a friend to London about a decade ago. I thought it would be great because he used to live in Bath, UK, and I knew London like the back of my hand. We were in Oxford, a city neither one of us has been.

Sir Browse-a-Lot liked to browse and I didn't know he would take a lot more time. He knew he had to meet me at a certain time a few blocks away from where the car was parked, then we could go together. Unfortunately, Sir Browse-a-Lot was 40 minutes late and I got a parking ticket. He was adamant that I be there at the corner because he wasn't familiar with the city and said he'd be there on time, but he wasn't. Not only that...

We got back to the hotel a little late, near midnight, very much to my chagrin since I wanted to be back at 7:00 p.m. That night, I told him we'd have to get up at 6:00 a.m. because the M-4 traffic could get bad. He immediately protested and informed me he had to get his eight hours of sleep. "We should leave at 8:00 a.m." He also made it clear it was not negotiable.

I warned him, "The M-4 will be a nightmare with the traffic. It could take more than an hour and you would be late. We need to leave at 7:00 a.m. even though that's pushing it. Leaving at 6:00, it could take an hour, but leaving at 8:00, that's two hours and you'll be late."

Sir Browse-a-Lot started panicking, "Great, that also means there's no time for yogurt and banana!" He neglected to inform me that part was also not negotiable. He had to have his eight hours of sleep and a yogurt and banana.

I suggested, "Okay, you can get up and then sleep in the car while I drive you. You'll have your eight hours of sleep and I'm sure I can find a Pret a Manger in London. I'll even let you still sleep in the car while I get that for you and then when you wake up, I'll have it ready."

I had to treat Sir Browse-a-Lot like a delicate flower, making sure he slept comfortably in the car while I drove at 6:00 a.m. I took great care not to wake him up by driving gently. He got there on time and I was back at the airport at 10:30 a.m. to drop off the rental car and catch my 1:40 p.m. flight. A month later, he sent me an e-mail suggesting a trip to Asia since he had so much fun with me in Oxford. Then another one a week later asking why I didn't respond and wondered if I got it. Then a couple weeks later, reminding me he wanted to go about two months later, and time was getting closer. Then, a week before the trip, it was a short e-mail wondering if I changed my e-mail.

StartinSanDiego

Moderator Note: I've moved the side discussion on Fast Food to a thread of its own. Please follow that topic thread here

darthbimmer

A business contact in Tokyo once thought I was "that guy". On the first of our two days working together he promised all morning long he had chosen "an appropriate local restaurant" for lunch. He wouldn't name it even as we were walking there... until we rounded the corner and he pointed to a Denny's. My equally gaijin-looking colleague who spoke fluent Japanese diplomatically explained that we were familiar with Japanese food and wished to eat truly local food. We ended up at a stand-up soup counter where we bought meal tickets from a vending machine. Our customer stared at us with a look of disbelief (in between mouthfuls of noodles) the whole time. Good times!

tentseller

That happens more often that you think. Mostly in Asia where the protocol is to please the visitor with their home cuisine.

GetSetJetSet

NYE Trip '15-'16. I put together a pretty intense itinerary with a bunch of friends. Goa-Zanzibar-Hong Kong-Boracay. This Monegasque girl i'd been friends with for a few years was having a tough time and pretty much invited herself along on the trip, so I said OK and helped her with some of her flight bookings. I'd known her for years, but never spent longer with her than a dinner or a night out at bars, never a long trip. She had done some eccentric things in the past, but I never really dug too deeply into it.

By DAY 1 in Goa, 100% of my friends hated her and were like "why did you bring this person." She was incredibly rude, and would basically treat my friends like servants. For example, we'd take a cab somewhere, and she would get out, hand the $ to one of my friends and demand they pay the driver, like it was beneath her or something. This aloof, snobbish behavior permeated everything she did.

I should also note that prior to coming on this trip, in her infinite wisdom, she had neglected to bring a credit card, or debit card and had lost her cell phone. She had some lunatic story about "crooks" trying to "hack" her accounts and harass her. All part of (what I know now) were her mentally ill paranoid delusions. So, in Goa she asks me to float her and she'll pay me back for the room we share. I grit my teeth and go along with it.

On the way to Zanzibar we are connecting through Doha. We have like a 5hour layover in Doha, we are all on the same QR flight. Not a peep from this girl until we start boarding. Once we're about to go down the jetway she informs us that she accidentally booked her flight for the next day, so everyone should get off the plane and help her change her ticket and we'll all go tomorrow. There's a collective "F&%$ Off" from the group, and everyone boards and leaves her in Doha.

Now, while she had neglected to bring credit cards or a debit card, she had about 1,000 Euro on her. Of course, being a sensible person, she spent ALL of this $ during her forced one night layover in Doha. She shows up in Zanzibar with no $, and one of us has to pay the cab. She again asks for credit to cover the hotel, and her mentally ill behavior continues.

We have all long since passed our breaking point with this girl, but what can we do? After NYE, her and I were on different flights from ZNZ back to DAR, and when I landed in DAR, which is a horror show of an airport; with a horrible post NYE hangover, I went straight to my hotel. The princess arrives later and is outraged that I didn't sit at the airport waiting for her (didn't even know what flight she was on), and decides that as a result of this perceived slight, she no longer owes me the $ I have floated her thus far on the trip.

I don't even care at this point. We're on the same SAA flight DAR-JNB, and when they pull her aside because her passport (I forgot) either didn't have any pages left to stamp, or perhaps wasn't valid for more than 6mo, I am PRAYING that they won't let her out of the country and we can close this chapter. No such luck. We get to JNB for our overnight before going to Hong Kong, and she of course has not actually made a hotel booking. I go directly to my room at the airport Intercon and turn my phone off. Princess eventually calls my family friend travel agent and gets the woman to book AND pay for a room for her at the hotel. She of course never paid my poor friend back, and I ended up reimbursing her because it wasn't her problem.

We get to Hong Kong, I am blissfully left alone except for one day when she runs into our group at a bar. My Hong Kong friends who by this point have heard plenty about this nightmare are openly rude to her face, she doesn't even get it. Instead of packing it in and going home, she inexplicably continues and follows me to the Philippines. Daily, when I am at Happy Hour, I regale people with tales of what a nightmare this trip has been and they are like "no, she can't be that bad, there's no way!" Without fail, all of them regret this sentiment, when within 15 minutes of meeting this girl they change their tune to "OMG, she really is that bad, I feel so sorry for you."

The trip ends, she of course welches on her debts, and I consider it a victory to cut my losses on the $ and never see this maniac again. For months after the trip she continues calling me, seemingly not understanding that I am not answering her calls or returning them for a reason. As a bonus, one of my close friends was mad at me for over a YEAR for this, because she blamed the inclusion of this nutter for "ruining" her NYE trip. As if I did it on purpose and it didn't also ruin mine! I mean it didn't ruin it, it was still really fun, but man was she a handful. Never again.

zitsky

Best story ever.

Beltway2A

It must have been a particularly harrowing experience to post about it twice, three years apart (see post 49).

Nick Art

I'm having a déja vu feeling here.

Edit: Knew It!

zitsky

Seems like a minor crime.

Nick Art

At least it is the same poster

zitsky

I can't remember what I did 5 minutes ago.

Nick Art

Yes you can, you've been posting here on why you think it's only a minor crime
But we're getting too much OT here.