The not so great overseas trip!

[JohnK]

So you went overseas and the trip was not that special, for various reasons, compared to previous trips.

Friends ask about the trip. What is the right answer?

- If you mention the truth that is not what they want to hear.
- Do you try and dodge the question?
- Do you lie?

Need to keep in mind these are the type of people that go on an overseas trip once every 2-3 years so the expectation is high. Some have never been overseas and hardly travel locally either. Frequent travellers understand that not every trip is going to be perfect and the next one is not that far away that will make amends for the previous trip.

 

[Simo]

This is the reason why I don't tell people when I am going OS.

I have forget to tell my parents and they rang me and they said your phone sounds funny and I mentioned I was in HKG for a few days.

I then got the lecture.

 

[Ewing]

Why lie?

As a regular traveller, why not tell them what you didn't like about the trip so that they don't make the same mistakes on their once every 2-3 years (or lifetime) trips?

 

[medhead]

Just say "it was good." Then give them the facts - I went to XYZ, etc.

 

[Skyring]

So you went overseas and the trip was not that special, for various reasons, compared to previous trips.

Friends ask about the trip. What is the right answer?

- If you mention the truth that is not what they want to hear.

Oooh, what rubbish! People LOVE to hear about disasters. The trips that go as planned and everyone has a great time, it's like reading a novel about a happy family. Bleh.

The trips where your luggage is stolen, you are kidnapped by rogue cabbies, smeared with vegemite and your upgrade seats on the transpacific leg given to rap musicians, those are the stories worth telling!

 

[Boris spatsky]

I used to travel to east coast USA frequently. I would leave AM on Sunday, arrive at the hotel at 1 am Monday morning US time, be at work 8am. Work until Friday early afternoon, then straight to the airport to come all the way home. Land Sunday, back to work Monday.

Problem was that people at work in Australia seemed to think it was just a holiday - i took a colleague once who was a whinger about my travel. After doing the trip (even in J), he said that i could have it!

Needless to say that the jetlag got to me.

 

[SeatBackForward]

So you went overseas and the trip was not that special, for various reasons, compared to previous trips.

Friends ask about the trip. What is the right answer?

- If you mention the truth that is not what they want to hear.
- Do you try and dodge the question?
- Do you lie?

Need to keep in mind these are the type of people that go on an overseas trip once every 2-3 years so the expectation is high. Some have never been overseas and hardly travel locally either. Frequent travellers understand that not every trip is going to be perfect and the next one is not that far away that will make amends for the previous trip.

If its a work related trip, more than happy to espouse all the problems with the trip. If its a leisure trip, I'm more likely to gloss over the details and simply say "it was ok" and maybemention the main reason why it was a problem.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Problem was that people at work in Australia seemed to think it was just a holiday - i took a colleague once who was a whinger about my travel. After doing the trip (even in J), he said that i could have it!

I hear you on that, I was commuting between SYD and MEL for a year a while ago and once got told that as I didn't live in Melbourne, I should be able to work longer hours than anyone else as thats the only reason I was there. Needless to say, it was a very counter-productive thing for that particular person to have said to me.

 

[albatross710]

I let them believe that I'm living the life. How good is this, I fly around the world doing what I enjoy AND I get paid for it. I can assure you I get better value from them thinking I'm living the life that trying to get empathy for digging out a packet of gastro-stop in the dark at 2:30am in a Manila hotel. I let them believe the myth.

 

[vetrade]

I think ppl who quiz their more well-travelled friends about their trips are most interested in finding out about the pitfalls they have experienced so that they can hopefully avoid them themselves.
That's why sites like TripAdvisor (and AFF, of course) are so popular - everyone knows what the must-see tourist attractions are but for infrequent travellers the trip can be spoiled by things like getting ripped off 40 Euros by a cabbie in Rome when your hotel is only 2 blocks away or having your wallet stolen by gypsy kids asking for money at the Eiffel Tower.
No need for sugar coating - if you can't get the honest info from your friends what's the world come to ?

 

[harvyk]

I think it very much depends on the friend.

For my non travelling friends, I'd probably just gloss over the trip saying something like "yeah it was good" and then changing the subject as I don't really like to rub it in that I get to (well used to) do so much travelling.

For my travelling friends who could end up where I'd just been, I'll usually give them the blow by blow encounter, as I both know that they won't come back with "well consider yourself lucky you get to travel so much" and I might be saving them from a waste of money / time / both / awful experience of their own.

 

[smit0847]

Im fairly honest - there's things/places/experiences on every trip I do and don't like (see my thread on BCN!) so I would say something like 'I liked this place but really didn't like this place and we were unlucky because .......'.

I think humans have an inherent desire to be liked, respected and desired and for others to be envious of them, so they will always boast about how great something was even if it wasn't that great. When I ask friends about experiences they often give me the 'glass half full' version even though I later find out thats not how they felt about it at all.

I'm trying to work out how to tell people I'm travelling J to Europe next month for the first time (thanks to USDM) - I'm expecting a lot of jealousy!!

 

[eric2011]

I have a personal holiday rule, which is, where ever possible, don't go back to a place a second time. The first time you visit a place you enjoy yourself finding those special hotels, restaurants, tourist spots, bars and local travel means. If you go back a second time suddenly the hotel isn't quite as nice, the tourist spots aren't as attractive, the restaurant you remember has changed owners and the bus timetables have changed. In other words you come home and your expectations, your memories etc are not upto the previous trip.
If you do decide to go back, try to stay in a different place, different island, frequent different places so that everything is new and you have something to remember .

 

[Pushka]

The trouble is, if you say it wasn't a great trip, then others dismiss it and say that you should just be grateful you get the chance to travel overseas. Like what was posted on BR thread.
Why don't you just say it was fine and change the subject. Less details the better.

I just wouldn't be bothered telling people I was flying in J. Why does everyone need to know all the details these days. I think that's the problem with Facebook.

 

[JohnK]

If its a leisure trip, I'm more likely to gloss over the details and simply say "it was ok" and maybemention the main reason why it was a problem.

The problem is setting a precedence.

Most of my "friends" know where I go for a holiday and know I love golf.

I have been known to say "I had a great trip" but generally to most people say "the trip was OK". It is at this point they want to know the details why it was not a great trip like previous trips and the never ending questions.

FWIW my tendonitis was really bad and I did not play golf as well as I would have liked and made me more tired as well. It was a good trip but not a great trip. Unfortunately these things cannot be planned in advance.

 

[significance]

Unless they are planning a similar trip themselves, your friends are just being polite when they ask how the trip was. If you are passionately happy about something you did -- something new and different -- they might want to hear about it. If you can give an entertaining disaster story or a WTF cultural learning story, they'll be happy to hear about it. Otherwise, be brief! If your friends travel overseas every 2-3 years, that's enough for them to understand that not every trip will be great. If an overseas trip is a once in a lifetime thing for them, OTOH, you'll sound ungrateful for your privilege if you complain.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

try deflection.

'My trip was fine, thanks. But more importantly... how are you?'

 

[JohnK]

The trouble is, if you say it wasn't a great trip, then others dismiss it and say that you should just be grateful you get the chance to travel overseas. Like what was posted on BR thread.
Why don't you just say it was fine and change the subject. Less details the better.

If someone was paying for my overseas trips then I should be grateful.

I am entitled to 4 weeks annual leave a year, I purchase another 2 weeks and then take 4 weeks unpaid leave. The thing with my overseas trips is I have worked hard, made sacrifices and saved my money and choose to spend it that way. The trips are my reward for suffering with the weekly commute.

As the purpose of my trip is to play golf and relax in familiar surroundings going to the same place all the time means that some trips are not going to be that good. I accept that.

And I think you are right. The less said the better but I try to be honest.