It is obvious that there are few things in life that I love more than packing a bag, heading to the airport and hopping on a fab plane to somewhere really nice. But travelling isn’t always so glamorous – mainly because of things that happen along the way. Here are 5 things that I hate about travel.
1. Really loud people
I always associate airplane time with down time, aka, sleep time, reading time, sipping champagne time… you get the idea. But every now and then, you get these really loud people who simply will not shut up. For the whole flight. On a recent red-eye flight from NYC to London, on a premium cabin, this family of 4 really thought they were in their living room at home. They just spoke to each other from one seat to the other and ignored everyone else. I did give them some evil Mrs. O stares, hoping they would get the message. It was when I put my headphones on to watch a film and could *still* hear them, that I could not take it anymore and had to ask them to keep it down – they looked at me as if I was mad. Thankfully, other people joined in.
I always feel really bad for snorers – most times I am sure they have no idea what is going on. But it isn’t so nice to be on a nice flat-bed and having the background noise. Has this happened to you?
2. Back-seat huggers
Do you know when people get up and hug the back of your seat? And maybe you are asleep? Or even if you are not… All airline seats have arm rests, and I believe one should use them to get up and walk around the cabin. Do not hug the seat in front of you – it really isn’t fun.
3. ‘I don’t do queues’ people
No one wants to be in a queue, but if we need to be in one, we need to be mindful of others. It really gets to me when people try to be sneaky and jump such queues… I was recently at an airline lounge and our flight got cancelled. Everyone obviously headed to the Customer Service desk located inside such lounge to get rebooked on another flight. The queue formed and most people were civilised and waited in turn. Until some people started to jump the queue stating ‘I am a gold cardholder, don’t I get priority?’. This lady got not one, but a good 50 stares. I couldn’t help but smile when the agent said ‘Yes madam, I am sure you are – like everybody else on this queue. Otherwise you would not be at the First lounge’. God, that was embarrassing.
4. Sun lounger thieves
I love when I get to a pool or beach after breakfast and see half the sun loungers with towels and no people. Why do people keep doing this? I particularly like it when then they do not turn up until 2 or 3pm. I do not know if this is cultural (and some nationalities are more prone to this than others), but I find it selfish and so unnecessary. I like it that some hotels are really trying to do something in this area – on a recent stay, we saw pool attendants moving people’s stuff away after 3o minutes. Are you guilty of this?
5. Renting cars
If I am not in an urban location (think weekend in Paris or New York), I always hire a car – I don’t like feeling trapped or limited in a destination and love a bit of exploring, even if it is just for dinner. Is it me or are airport rental locations further and further away from airport terminals? We have noticed this over the past year, where we rented cars more than 1o times. The journey from arrivals to the actual car rental place more often than not involves a bus or God forbid, a train – not ideal with 2 suitcases per person, for example. Airports like LAX or Miami really come to mind, as they both offer really difficult rental experiences. Lisbon and Mallorca were surprisingly good. I wonder if there is room for improvement here? I would pay good money to be able to pick up the car at the airport terminal at a short-term car park or something.
I also hate the queues and don’t understand why sometimes it takes so long to process a customer when all the details have been pre-sent. I am a member of a ‘preferred’ program which is really a godsend when it works, which again is only 50% of the time.
What are your travel frustrations? Don’t hold back!